Over the past 100 years, reading research employing eye movement has shown to have various applications in many disciplines associated with special populations. Among these applications is investigation of underlying cognitive processes in reading and the strategies all readers utilize while interacting with texts. In this entry, we aim to introduce eye-tracking through the lens of constructivist framework, mention major contributions of this method to understanding literacy in special populations, and point out the limitations of applying this technique to these populations specific to research and pedagogy.

Objective: Parent–child reminiscing is known to be facilitative of a child’s cognitive and language development. However, little research exists examining the reminiscing of preschoolers with language disorders. This article examines the interactional and symbolic challenges that parents and children with language disorders face during reminiscing. Method: Two small groups of parent–child participants – one including children with a diagnosed disorder impacting language function and one with typically developing children – were recruited. Reminiscing conversations were elicited, and qualitative methods of analysis were employed to describe patterns of interaction related to the accomplishing of mutual orientation. Results: Reminiscing interactions are framed as occurring in negotiations between topics and in negotiations within a topic. Parents and their children with language disorders faced greater challenges in aligning expectations and mutually orienting to shared understandings of past experiences. Understanding the mechanisms underlying these challenges can support parents in reminiscing and in recognizing learning opportunities.

Background: In the field of communication disorders, practitioners work regularly with school-age children with autism. Routinely, socialization issues impact literacy in this population and consequently become areas of clinical concern. This study addressed common themes from an inquiry into the socialization processes of school-age children with autism as they engaged in writing events as a sociocultural tool in clinical contexts. Method: A qualitative methodology was employed to investigate how three students with autism used writing as a sociocultural tool, and what opportunities the writing activities created for socialization over the course of one semester in a group intervention setting. Results: Three general patterns emerged that highlight the strategies employed by participants which demonstrated their use of writing for socialization, and the sociocultural opportunities the writing process provided. Discussion/conclusion: This study demonstrated that the context of the writing events, where the sociocultural nature of writing was appreciated and valued, created unique opportunities for the participants to engage, socialize, and essentially create a local peer culture.

This chapter provides the practicing clinician with an overview of the primary issues related to literacy and literacy impairments. It discusses the conceptualizations of literacy as a social practice and as a personal skill. The chapter defines literacy and literacy impairment and reviews how these definitions are dependent on contrasting views of how humans learn, and how these views influence aspects of research and service delivery in reading. It also discusses a clinically relevant resolution to some of the controversies by exploiting the advantages of clinical intervention and using these advantages to advance meaningfulness and functionality in the process of acquiring and using literacy. The chapter explores the two major theoretical perspectives of human learning: behaviorism and cognitivism. Based upon the two conceptions of human learning, the language arts literature has focused on literacy from two distinct perspectives. The first, a skills-based model and the second perspective, a meaning-based model.

Background: The literature on typically developing children’s literacy acquisition provides a conventional model of development; however, little is available regarding how children with communicative disorders develop literacy abilities over time. This study describes the temporal trajectories of reading development in three children with diagnoses of language disorders and histories of reading difficulty. Method: A qualitative research design employing ethnographic data collection and analysis procedures was used. One male (age 8 years 9 months) and two females (ages 7 years 8 months and 7 years 11 months) identified as having impaired language and a history of reading difficulty were followed for 10 months as they engaged in literacy instruction. Results: Each child demonstrated a unique trajectory of literacy improvement. Trajectories of development were observed across the complexity of the materials read, as well as across variables reflective of comprehension. Variables included formal miscue analysis data, retelling of stories read, and text complexity. Discussion/conclusion: This study suggests that each language-impaired individual should be considered separately in how they progress and in how progression is manifested. If norm-referenced, standardized evaluation methods had been applied, or if only one sampling period had been used, the changes and progress noted in each of these participants may have been missed.

Background: The literature on typically developing children's literacy acquisition provides a conventional model of development; however, little is available regarding how children with communicative disorders develop literacy abilities over time. This study describes the temporal trajectories of reading development in three children with diagnoses of language disorders and histories of reading difficulty. Method: A qualitative research design employing ethnographic data collection and analysis procedures was used. One male (age 8 years 9 months) and two females (ages 7 years 8 months and 7 years 11 months) identified as having impaired language and a history of reading difficulty were followed for 10 months as they engaged in literacy instruction. Results: Each child demonstrated a unique trajectory of literacy improvement. Trajectories of development were observed across the complexity of the materials read, as well as across variables reflective of comprehension. Variables included formal miscue analysis data, retelling of stories read, and text complexity. Discussion/conclusion: This study suggests that each language-impaired individual should be considered separately in how they progress and in how progression is manifested. If norm-referenced, standardized evaluation methods had been applied, or if only one sampling period had been used, the changes and progress noted in each of these participants may have been missed.

Oral reading fluency is recognized as an important variable associated with the assessment of reading proficiency. Frequently, fluency assessments distill a child’s overall reading fluency to a single numerical score. Even when multiple dimensions are considered, the processes informing the nuance of the reading fluency variations are ignored. In order to shed light on the issue, we use an instrumental case study approach to illuminate how a reader’s fluency varies within a passage. We describe the insight this variability provides to teachers and researchers interested in understanding how readers transact with print. Specifically, we apply a multiple lens approach to analyze one child’s oral reading fluency and address the question: What variables contribute to a reader’s fluency? We combine eye movement miscue analysis and Flurkey’s oral reading flow and compare these assessments to Rasinski’s well-established fluency instrument. This methodology led to the identification of six variables influencing oral reading fluency. Five of the influential factors could not be observed using the traditional fluency measure. These five variables illuminate the complexity of oral reading fluency and support greater understanding of a reader’s abilities. This strengths-based conceptualization of fluency offers supportive rather than subtractive insight into a reader’s fluctuations in oral reading fluency. Our findings highlight a need for professionals to more adequately consider the conceptualizations of oral reading fluency.

As clinicians become progressively more oriented toward literacy in disabled populations, it is important to appreciate and understand the complexity of this language based phenomenon. This article acknowledges the role of qualitative research in attempting to understand literacy as a social and linguistic action. Through over five decades of research we demonstrate how evidence from qualitative studies can be employed to discuss the acquisition process, the theoretical basis, and clinical implications of literacy.

Based on a study of 40 school-age children (20 identified as "language disordered" and 20 as "normal language users"), the discriminant validity of a direct observational assessment system is investigated. Results indicate strong discriminant validity on most of the measurement parameters of this tool, Systematic Observation of Communicative Interaction. Discussion of the implications of these findings is provided.

Background: As issues involving quality of life and overall functionality are discussed, more attention is being focused on literacy behaviours and use in aphasia. A viable approach to study reading in aphasia is the constructivist orientation, which has been at the centre of the disciplines focusing on literacy research and teaching for nearly forty-five years. Combining this orientation with qualitative research procedures provides numerous research opportunities in aphasia. Aims: The current qualitative study explores the reading strategies employed by persons with aphasia in naturalistic settings as they attempt to re-establish their reading proficiency during recovery. Methods & Procedures: Three persons with aphasia (two women, one man) with mild to moderate aphasia were studied across a number of contexts that required reading. Qualitative research procedures were employed to identify various reading strategies employed by these persons with aphasia. Outcomes & Results: Twenty-eight different salient reading strategies were identified across the three participants, with some of these also being typical of non-neurologically impaired individuals and some unique to the person with aphasia. These twenty-eight strategies served four specific functions (efficiency, contextualisation, comprehension, socialisation) and were employed during the process of reading recovery subsequent to aphasia. Conclusions: Despite their aphasia, these individuals exhibited a resiliency and an underlying proficiency that enabled them to create and/or employ various strategies while they re-established their reading proficiency. A number of implications regarding the need to recognise the complexity of reading as a process and the ways that this change might impact service delivery are discussed.

This research report provides additional data, manifestations and discussion about avoidance strategies employed by a language-learning disabled student during reading activities. Rather than seeing avoidance as due to random distractions or oppositional behaviours, these data provide a rationale for viewing many types of avoidance as systematic and compensatory efforts to sustain interactional success in the emergence of linguistic difficulty.

This article asserts the importance of explication of order and disorder in language as a privileged objective of clinical linguistics and service delivery and reviews the contributions of Martin Ball in advancing this agenda.

Abstract This paper presents an investigation into the reading eye movements of a 12-year-old child with Dandy-Walker syndrome and late onset stuttering. Conversation Analysis, video analysis, and Eye Movement Miscue Analysis (Paulson, 2000) were employed to evaluate visual sampling and oral production of this individual during a 27-second moment of difficulty during her reading of authentic texts. Initial clinical interpretations of this child's behavior during the period of difficulty suggested that she had opted-out of the reading process. However, fine-grain analysis of eye movement patterns during the selected segment of text demonstrates the structural and sequential ordering of her active engagement with the text throughout the period in question. Additionally, use of these multiple analyses revealed the meaningful confirmation strategies utilized by the child as she worked to make sense of print.

This investigation explores the detailed results of a qualitative study into the strategic use of finger-flapping during the oral reading of an eightyear-old boy identified with Asperger syndrome. Of particular interest was how the individual with AS attempted to make sense of text as he engaged in shared reading in a clinical setting. Findings indicate that finger-flapping by this child served at least three primary functions including consolidating information, demonstrating breakdowns in comprehension, and requesting mediation. This paper includes a detailed discussion of the methodology, clinical implications, and intervention strategies pertaining to this investigation.

This paper presents a research report on an investigation into the reading eye movements of a bilingual 10-year, 10-month old girl with language impairment secondary to Downs Syndrome. Eye movement miscue analysis (Paulson, 2000) was employed to evaluate the visual sampling and oral productions of this child as she read from complete texts presented in Spanish and English. Results are presented in relationship to misconceptions manifest in the clinical practice of intervention providers. Based upon the research and this data, readers do not fixate on every word and the miscues they produce are not the result of failing to fixate on the text.

Employing an interactional analysis and focusing on the complexity of meaning making, this study investigates the uses of several types of avoidance strategies generated by a language-disordered boy who is struggling with literacy. The results suggest that these avoidance strategies may function as compensatory adaptations that assist him in overcoming his literacy limitations so that he can still sustain effective social action even within contexts where his literacy difficulties are highlighted. There are both theoretical and practical implications for these findings.