Comparing the Effectiveness of Two Kinds of Reading Interventions on Reading Outcomes in Third to Fifth Grade Farsi Speaker Students with Dyslexia: An Exploratory Study

Background: This research marks the exploration into comparing the effectiveness of two reading interventions in improving reading outcomes for third to fifth-grade Farsi-speaking students with dyslexia.

Methods: In this randomized control trial study, twenty students in Tehran were randomly assigned to a multi-component group and a comprehension-based intervention group, each receiving 36 sessions of 45 minutes. The effectiveness of the interventions was evaluated using adjusted mean differences with a one-way ANCOVA.

Results: The results revealed the comprehension-based intervention's superior effect size across most outcomes, except for the letters string. The effect size was large for word reading 0.93 (CI -0.002 to 1.85), medium for phoneme deletion 0.67 (CI -0.23 to 1.5), small for text comprehension 0.25 (CI -0.62 to 1.13), and trivial for both rhyme identification 0.1 (-0.77 to 0.98) and non-word reading 0.11 (CI -0.76 to 0.98). The multi-component intervention had a greater effect size on letters string than the other intervention, although it was small -0.21 (CI -1.09 to 0.66).

Conclusion: The study concluded that comprehension-based intervention was more effective for Farsi-speaking students with dyslexia in grades 3-5, emphasizing the need for diverse intervention approaches to address their specific needs.