A Synthesis of Spelling and Reading Interventions and Their Effects on the Spelling Outcomes of Students With LD
Journal of Learning Disabilities
Wanzek, J., Vaughn, S., et al. (2006).
Journal of Learning Disabilities, 39(6), 528-543.
This review investigates the effect of reading and spelling interventions on spelling outcomes in school-age students, grades K to 12, with learning disabilities.
Not stated
1995-2003
Treatment-comparison design studies; single-group design studies; single-subject design studies
19
"Taking all of the studies into account, this synthesis revealed that spelling outcomes were consistently improved after spelling interventions that included explicit instruction with multiple practice opportunities and immediate corrective feedback [either teacher-provided or through a student self-monitoring procedure] after the word was misspelled. Similar to previous syntheses, the most recent research also suggests that time delay methods and systematic study practices result in improved spelling outcomes. Positive findings associated with the use of error correction procedures are common across present and previous syntheses as well" (pp. 540-541).
Seven of the 19 studies examined the use of assistive technology to improve the spelling outcomes of children with learning disabilities. The findings suggest that the use of assistive technologies (e.g., word prediction, word processing, speech synthesis) have positive effects on student's spelling performance.
"Overall, interventions including spelling with assistive technology using various word processing programs that included components such as speech synthesis, word prediction, and spell checking yielded positive effects on measures of students' spelling accuracy and correction" (p. 538).
"In general, spelling outcomes were maintained over time for words taught in the intervention. Although few studies examined the generalization of spelling outcomes beyond taught words, moderate effects were found in several studies on measures of untaught words" (p. 540).
Nine of the 19 studies examined the effects of spelling interventions using explicit instruction and/or multiple practice with immediate feedback to improve the spelling outcomes of students with learning disabilities. Overall, students with learning disabilities demonstrated improved spelling outcomes as a result of spelling and reading interventions. Three additional studies examined the use of reading interventions to improve spelling outcomes for this same population. Although moderate effects were noted, further research is warranted given the small number of studies and varied reading interventions.
"The studies in this synthesis varied in the length of intervention (range = 2 days to 9 months).... Regardless of intervention duration, students participating in all studies demonstrated improved spelling outcomes after the intervention period for 17 of the 19 studies" (p. 539). "The highest effects in this synthesis were demonstrated for the shortest interventions (3 weeks or less)" (p. 541).
"Given the small number of studies examining the spelling outcomes of reading interventions for students with [learning disabilities] and the significant differences in the design of the studies, it is difficult to generalize the findings. Additional information regarding the effects of the reading interventions on spelling is needed" (pp. 538-539).
"All of the studies implementing interventions for less than [three] weeks were spelling interventions, and all of the interventions of longer duration were either reading interventions or spelling interventions with assistive technology. Therefore, the effects of duration are confounded with the type of intervention; thus, the factor related to the higher outcomes is unclear" (p. 541).
