Abstract
The development of the automaticity of reading subskills lays the foundation for a future of fluent reading abilities in young students. To build a foundation of early reading subskills for fluent reading, iPad applications may be able to assist students in the development of these skills. Seven students in a class of twenty-one kindergarten students at an elementary school in a town of average socioeconomic status in the northeast United States participated in the 10-week investigation of using iPads as a learning tool to support the development of early reading subskills. The sample of seven students were assessed in September 2013 and again in January 2014 using the Marie Clay Observation Survey Letter Identification subtest; AIMSweb Letter Naming, Letter Sound, Phoneme Segmentation, and Nonsense Word Fluency subtests; Qualitative Reading Inventory–5 (QRI-5) Word Lists; and a teacher-made high-frequency word list from the Scott Foresman Reading Street curriculum. It was hypothesized that this investigation would possibly yield results to support iPad applications to be a highly effective means to deliver literacy instruction that would foster the development and automaticity of early reading subskills to set a foundation for fluent reading success. It was observed that using an iPad to practice reading subskills was highly engaging and motivating for students. With the capacity to differentiate instruction, the iPad promoted independence among struggling readers and encouraged positive attitudes toward learning. The sample of seven students representing the general kindergarten classroom population showed a substantial increase in acquiring early reading subskills as demonstrated by pre and post intervention assessments and performance observations. Analysis of pre and post intervention assessment results from this investigation indicate a positive correlation between the use of iPad applications and the development of early reading subskills, suggesting the iPad to be an effective means of transmitting literacy instruction to kindergarten students.