Reading aloud to students every day is a powerful, evidence‑based practice that fosters vocabulary development, increases background knowledge, improves comprehension, and builds motivation for reading. For students with intellectual disabilities, daily read-alouds—when designed thoughtfully—can be transformative.
Benefits of Reading Aloud to Students
A growing body of research highlights the academic and developmental benefits of daily read alouds. For example, Ceyhan and Yildiz (2020) found that interactive read-aloud sessions significantly improved students’ comprehension. Additionally, reading aloud serves as a natural way for teachers to model fluent, expressive reading, which supports both language development and communication skills (Badawi, et al., 2021). Beyond academics, read-aloud experiences stimulate creativity, imagination, and empathy, enriching students’ emotional and cognitive development (Batini, Bartolucci, & Timpone, 2018). The simple act of reading a text to your class offers many benefits to learners of all ages.
Additional benefits:
| Benefit | Why It Matters |
| Language & Vocabulary Development | Hearing fluent adults read helps students build vocabulary, phrases, and sentence structure. |
| Phonological Awareness & Phonics | Listening to sounds and wordplay supports emerging decoding skills. |
| Comprehension & Critical Thinking | Interactive read-alouds allows adults to model making inferences and engaging with text meaningfully. |
| Attention & Memory Boosts | The multimodal nature of hearing and seeing the text recruits interest and supports retention. |
| Social Engagement & Motivation | Read-aloud sessions can be inclusive, encouraging participation, predictions, and shared enjoyment. |
Reading Across Content Areas
Reading aloud to the class should not be confined to your scheduled literacy block. Offer more opportunities by reading texts that support other content areas including math and science. As follows are a few popular books.
Math-Focussed Texts:
- The Grapes of Math (Greg Tang) uses rhymes and playful visuals to explore addition, subtraction, and number sense.
- One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale (Demi) is a folktale that teaches about exponential growth and doubling.
- Sir Cumference and the First Round Table (Neuschwander & Geehan) Introduces geometry and measurement through a medieval story.
- Cheetah Math: Learning about Division from Baby Cheetahs (Nagda) offers an animal-focused narrative to teach division.
Science-Focussed Texts:
- Ada Twist, Scientist (Beaty & Roberts) celebrates scientific curiosity and inquiry, encouraging exploration in STEM.
- The Magic School Bus series (Cole & Degen) combines fantastical journeys with accurate science facts (e.g., the solar system, human body) and separates fact from fiction.
- Science Verse (Jon Scieszka) invites students to hear the “poetry of science” through humorous, science-themed verses adapted from iconic poems and nursery rhymes.
Supporting Students with Significant Disabilities
While reading aloud is beneficial for all students, there are a few strategies to help make it particularly meaningful for students with significant disabilities.
- Use simplified, accessible language. Simplify vocabulary when needed and use clear, concise phrasing. When possible, incorporate Core Vocabulary.
- Offer multimodal supports. Augment your read aloud with props, images, gestures, opportunities to respond, physical movement, and and expressive voice.
- Pause for comprehension. Ask literal questions (“What happened?”), inferential prompts (“Why did they do that?”), and real-world connections (“Have you ever…?”).
- Incorporate phonics cue. Point out rhymes, initial sounds, or letter patterns during read-aloud.
- Provide choice. Allow students to pick books, increasing motivation and ownership.
To learn more about quality literacy instruction for students with disabilities, check out Comprehensive Literacy for All by Karen Erickson and David Koppenhaver. It is also available in the T-TAC ODU lending library.
References
Badawi, A. M. M., Alnour, N. T. B., Alamin, M., & Sanhori, S. B. (2021). The role of reading aloud strategy on improving reading and pronunciation for EFL pupils at private basic schools: Teachers perspectives. LLT Journal: A Journal on Language and Language Teaching, 24(2), 461-470.
Batini, F., Bartolucci, M., & Timpone, A. (2018). The effects of reading aloud in the primary school. Psychology and education, 55(1-2), 111-122.
Ceyhan, S., & Yildiz, M. (2021). The Effect of Interactive Reading Aloud on Student Reading Comprehension, Reading Motivation and Reading Fluency. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 13(4), 421-431.