Abstract
The present study examined effects of an instruction method based on the development of reading hiragana Yo-on in 2 elementary school children (1 boy, 1 girl) with reading difficulty. The first child often misread Yo-on combinations as Sei-on combinations, whereas the second child often misread Yo-on combinations as similarly read sounds. Instruction for the first child was aimed at facilitating how to read Yo-on combinations, and, for the second child, at facilitating the isolation of the reading sound in words with Yo-on combinations. The results indicated that the children performed well in reading some Yo-on combinations and printed words with Yo-on combinations. These results suggest that instruction in discriminating between Yo-on combinations and Sei-on combinations was effective for the child who had misread Yo-on combinations as Sei-on combinations, and that isolation of the reading sounds in familiar words was effective for the child who had misread Yo-on combinations as similarly read sounds. Further study is needed to determine whether these types of instruction would be effective for other individuals, and what kind of conditions are necessary to obtain an effect.
