A linguistic awareness intervention targeting spelling and written expression in a 10-year-old dyslexic child

PDF
Published: Apr 17, 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681/ppej.22278
Keywords:
Phonological dyslexia intervention linguistic awareness
Georgia Niolaki
Coventry University
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1825-141X
Janet Vousden
Nottingham Trent University
Aris Terzopoulos
Coventry University
Laura Taylor
Coventry University
Jackie Masterson
University College London, Institute of Education
Abstract

We report the case of a monolingual English-speaking boy (AM) aged 10-years, and the intervention targeting spelling and written expression difficulties that AM had. AM’s performance was contrasted in all experimental measures to a group of 13 typically developing spellers attending the same class. Literacy and cognitive assessments revealed for AM non-word reading difficulties, and deficits in spelling, written expression, phonological ability, verbal memory and rapid automatized naming. AM took part in nine sessions of linguistic awareness intervention that focused on promoting simultaneous attention to phonology, orthography, morphology, semantics and syntax. Results revealed a significant improvement in spelling, non-word reading, writing and handwriting. The results indicate that raising linguistic awareness can have a robust impact on spelling and written expression.

Article Details
  • Section
  • Articles
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g. post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (preferably in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
References
Authors, 2014.
Authors, 2015.
Authors, 2016.
Authors, 2017.
Authors, 2019.
Apel, K., & Masterson, J. J. (2001). Theory-Guided Spelling Assessment and Intervention A Case Study. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 32(3), 182-195. https://doi.org/10.1044/0161-1461(2001/017)
Apel, K., & Swank, L. K. (1999). Second Chances Improving Decoding Skills in the Older Student. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 30(3), 231-242. https://doi.org/10.1044/0161-1461.3003.231
Apel, K., & Werfel, K. (2014). Using morphological awareness instruction to improve written language skills. Language, speech, and hearing services in schools, 45(4), 251-260. https://doi.org/10.1044/2014_LSHSS-14-0039
Berninger, V. W., Vaughan, K., Abbott, R. D., Begay, K., Coleman, K. B., Curtin, G., & Graham, S. (2002). Teaching spelling and composition alone and together: Implications for the simple view of writing. Journal of Educational Psychology, 94(2), 291. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.94.2.291
Bourassa, D. C., & Treiman, R. (2001). Spelling Development and Disability the Importance of Linguistic Factors. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 32(3), 172-181. https://doi.org/10.1044/0161-1461(2001/016)
Bosse, M. L. (2015). Learning to read and spell: How children acquire word orthographic knowledge. Child Development Perspectives, 9(4), 222-226. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12133
Bosse, M. L., Tainturier, M. J., & Valdois, S. (2007). Developmental dyslexia: The visual attention span deficit hypothesis. Cognition, 104(2), 198-230. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2006.05.009
Broom, Y. M., & Doctor, E. A. (1995a). Developmental phonological dyslexia: A case study of the efficacy of a remediation programme. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 12(7), 725-766. https://doi.org/10.1080/02643299508251400
Broom, Y. M., & Doctor, E. A. (1995b). Developmental surface dyslexia: A case study of the efficacy of a remediation programme. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 12(1), 69-110. https://doi.org/10.1080/02643299508251992
Bruck, M., & Waters, G. (1988). An analysis of the spelling errors of children who differ in their reading and spelling skills. Applied psycholinguistics, 9(1), 77-92. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716400000461
Brunsdon, R., Coltheart, M., & Nickels, L. (2005). Treatment of irregular word spelling in developmental surface dysgraphia. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 22(2), 213-251. https://doi.org/10.1080/02643290442000077
Brunsdon, R. K., Hannan, T. J., Coltheart, M., & Nickels, L. (2002). Treatment of lexical processing in mixed dyslexia: A case study. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 12(5), 385-418. https://doi.org/10.1080/09602010244000174
Carbol, B. (2015). Nessy Reading Pilot Case Studies – Initial Findings. Unpublished Research Report, ERS Research & Consultancy, Bristol, UK.
Castles, A., & Coltheart, M. (1993). Varieties of developmental dyslexia. Cognition, 47(2), 149-180. https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0277(93)90003-E
Coltheart, M., Rastle, K., Perry, C., Langdon, R., & Ziegler, J. (2001). DRC: a dual route cascaded model of visual word recognition and reading aloud. Psychological review, 108(1), 204. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.108.1.204
Coltheart, M., & Leahy, J. (1996). Assessment of lexical and nonlexical reading abilities in children: Some normative data. Australian Journal of Psychology, 48(3), 136-140. DOI: 10.1080/00049539608259520
Connelly, V., Gee, D., & Walsh, E. (2007). A comparison of keyboarded and handwritten compositions and the relationship with transcription speed. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 77(2), 479-492.
https://doi.org/10.1348/000709906X116768
Crawford, J. R., & Garthwaite, P. H. (2002). Investigation of the single case in neuropsychology: Confidence limits on the abnormality of test scores and test score differences. Neuropsychologia, 40(8), 1196-1208. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0028-3932(01)00224-X
Department for Education [DfE]. (2013). The national curriculum for England. Retrieved May 4, 2018, from http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/teachingandlearning/curriculum
Dunn, L. M., & Dunn, D. M. (2009). The British picture vocabulary scale. GL Assessment Limited.
Ehri, L. C. (2000). Learning to read and learning to spell: Two sides of a coin. Topics in Language Disorders, 20(3), 19-36. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00011363-200020030-00005
Ehri, L. C., Nunes, S. R., Stahl, S. A., & Willows, D. M. (2001). Systematic phonics instruction helps students learn to read: Evidence from the National Reading Panel’s meta-analysis. Review of educational research, 71(3), 393-447. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543071003393
Elliot, J. (2015). The dyslexia debate continues. The psychologist, 18(12), 1-3.
Forum for Research into Language and Literacy (FRLL, 2009-2012). Diagnostic Test of Word Reading Processes (DTWRP). London: GL Assessment.
Frith, U. (1999). Paradoxes in the definition of dyslexia. Dyslexia, 5(4), 192. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-0909(199912)5:4<192::AID-DYS144>3.0.CO;2-N
Georgiou, G. K., Torppa, M., Manolitsis, G., Lyytinen, H., & Parrila, R. (2012). Longitudinal predictors of reading and spelling across languages varying in orthographic consistency. Reading and Writing, 25(2), 321-346.https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-010-9271-x
Giles, D. C., & Terrell, C. D. (1997). Visual sequential memory and spelling ability. Educational Psychology, 17(3), 245-253.
Gillingham, A., & Stillman, B. W. (1997). The Gillingham manual. Cambridge, MA: Educators.
Glutting, J., Adams, W., & Sheslow, D. (2000). Wide Range Intelligence Test: WRIT. Wilmington, DE: Wide Range.
Goulandris, N. K., & Snowling, M. (1991). Visual memory deficits: A plausible cause of developmental dyslexia? Evidence from a single case study. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 8(2), 127-154. https://doi.org/10.1080/02643299108253369
Graham, S. E., & Harris, K. R. (2014). Conducting High Quality Writing Intervention Research: Twelve Recommendations. Journal of Writing Research, 6(2). https://doi.org/10.17239/jowr-2014.06.02.1
Graham, S., Harris, K. R., & Chorzempa, B. F. (2002). Contribution of spelling instruction to the spelling, writing, and reading of poor spellers. Journal of educational psychology, 94(4), 669. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.94.4.669
Griffiths, Y. M., & Snowling, M. J. (2002). Predictors of exception word and nonword reading in dyslexic children: The severity hypothesis. Journal of Educational Psychology, 94(1), 34. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.94.1.34
Hagiliassis, N., Pratt, C., & Johnston, M. (2006). Orthographic and phonological processes in reading. Reading and Writing, 19(3), 235-263. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-005-4123-9
Hatcher, P. J. (1999). Sound linkage: An integrated programme for overcoming reading difficulties. John Wiley & Sons.
Hulme, C., & Snowling, M. J. (2009). Reading disorders I: Developmental dyslexia. Developmental disorders of language learning and cognition, 37-89.
Juel, C. (1988). Learning to read and write: A longitudinal study of 54 children from first through fourth grades. Journal of educational Psychology, 80(4), 437. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.80.4.437
Juel, C., Griffith, P. L., & Gough, P. B. (1986). Acquisition of literacy: A longitudinal study of children in first and second grade. Journal of educational psychology, 78(4), 243. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.78.4.243
Kay, J., Lesser, R., & Coltheart, M. (1996). Psycholinguistic assessments of language processing in aphasia (PALPA): An introduction. Aphasiology, 10(2), 159-180. https://doi.org/10.1080/02687039608248403
Kirk, C., & Gillon, G. T. (2009). Integrated morphological awareness intervention as a tool for improving literacy. Language, speech, and hearing services in schools, 40(3), 341-351. https://doi.org/10.1044/0161-1461(2008/08-0009)
Kohnen, S., Nickels, L., Brunsdon, R., & Coltheart, M. (2008). Patterns of generalisation after treating sublexical spelling deficits in a child with mixed dysgraphia. Journal of Research in Reading, 31(1), 157-177. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9817.2007.00366.x
Kromrey, J. D., & Foster-Johnson, L. (1996). Determining the efficacy of intervention: The use of effect sizes for data analysis in single-subject research. The Journal of Experimental Education, 65(1), 73-93.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00220973.1996.9943464
Landerl, K., Ramus, F., Moll, K., Lyytinen, H., Leppänen, P. H., Lohvansuu, K., & Kunze, S. (2013). Predictors of developmental dyslexia in European orthographies with varying complexity. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 54(6), 686-694. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12029
Melby-Lervåg, M., Lyster, S. A. H., & Hulme, C. (2012). Phonological skills and their role in learning to read: a meta-analytic review. Psychological bulletin, 138(2), 322. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0026744
Moats, L. C. (1993). Spelling error interpretation: Beyond the phonetic/dysphonetic dichotomy. Annals of Dyslexia, 43(1), 174-185. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02928180
Montgomery, D. (2006). Spelling, handwriting and dyslexia: overcoming barriers to learning. Routledge.
National Reading Panel (US), National Institute of Child Health, & Human Development (US). (2000). Report of the national reading panel: Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction: Reports of the subgroups. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health.
Nickels, L., Best, W., & Howard, D. (2015). Optimising the ingredients for evaluation of the effects of intervention. Aphasiology, 29(5), 619-643. https://doi.org/10.1080/02687038.2014.1000613
Nickels, L., Rapp, B., & Kohnen, S. (2015). Challenges in the use of treatment to investigate cognition. https://doi.org/10.1080/02643294.2015.1056652
Partz, M. P. D., Seron, X., & Linden, M. V. D. (1992). Re-education of a surface dysgraphia with a visual imagery strategy. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 9(5), 369-401. https://doi.org/10.1080/02643299208252065
Pennington, B. F. (2006). From single to multiple deficit models of developmental disorders. Cognition, 101(2), 385-413.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2006.04.008
Pennington, B. F., Cardoso-Martins, C., Green, P. A., & Lefly, D. L. (2001). Comparing the phonological and double deficit hypotheses for developmental dyslexia. Reading and Writing, 14(7), 707-755. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1012239018038
Piers, E. V., & Herzberg, D. S. (2002). Piers-Harris 2: Piers-Harris children's self-concept scale. Western Psychological Services.
Reid, G., & Came, F. (2009). Identifying and overcoming the barriers to learning in an inclusive context. The Routledge Companion to Dyslexia, 193.
Ricketts, J., Davies, R., Masterson, J., Stuart, M., & Duff, F.J. (2016). Evidence for semantic involvement in regular and exception word reading in emergent readers of English. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 150(1), 330-345. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2016.05.013
Riley, J., & Reedy, D. (2005). Developing young children’s thinking through learning to write argument. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 5(1), 29-51. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468798405050593
Rose, J. (2009). Identifying and teaching children and young people with dyslexia and literacy difficulties: an independent report.
Savage, R., & Frederickson, N. (2005). Evidence of a highly specific relationship between rapid automatic naming of digits and text-reading speed. Brain and language, 93(2), 152-159. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandl.2004.09.005
Sheslow, D., & Adams, W. (2003). Wide Range Assessment of Memory and Learning–Revised (WRAML-2). Administration and Technical Manual. Wide Range. Inc.: Wilmington, DE.
Snowling, M. J. (2000). Dyslexia. Blackwell publishing.
Stainthorp, R., Powell, D., & Stuart, M. (2013). The relationship between rapid naming and word spelling in English. Journal of Research in Reading, 36(4), 371-388. https://doi.org/10.1111/jrir.12002
Treiman, R., & Kessler, B. (2014). How children learn to write words. Oxford University Press.
Treiman, R. (2017). Learning to Spell Words: Findings, Theories, and Issues. Scientific Studies of Reading, 1-12. DOI: 10.1207/s1532799xssr0902_4
Tse, L., & Nicholson, T. (2014). The effect of phonics-enhanced Big Book reading on the language and literacy skills of 6-year-old pupils of different reading ability attending lower SES schools. Frontiers in psychology, 5. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01222
Valdois, S., Bosse, M. L., Ans, B., Carbonnel, S., Zorman, M., David, D., & Pellat, J. (2003). Phonological and visual processing deficits can dissociate in developmental dyslexia: Evidence from two case studies. Reading and Writing, 16(6), 541-572. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025501406971
Valdois, S., Lassus‐Sangosse, D., & Lobier, M. (2012). Impaired Letter‐String Processing in Developmental Dyslexia: What Visual‐to‐Phonology Code Mapping Disorder?. Dyslexia, 18(2), 77-93. https://doi.org/10.1002/dys.1437
van Bergen, E., van der Leij, A., & de Jong, P. F. (2014). The intergenerational multiple deficit model and the case of dyslexia. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 8, 346. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00346
Vaughn, S., Schumm, J. S., & Gordon, J. (1993). Which motoric condition is most effective for teaching spelling to students with and without learning disabilities? Journal of Learning Disabilities, 26(3), 191-198.
https://doi.org/10.1177/002221949302600306
Wagner, R. K., Torgesen, J. K., Rashotte, C. A., & Pearson, N. A. (2013). CTOPP-2: Comprehensive test of phonological processing. Pro-ed.
Wechsler, D. (2005). Wechsler Individual Attainment Test–Second UK Edition (WIAT-II UK). Psychological Corporation, London, UK.
Wolf, M., & Bowers, P. G. (1999). The double-deficit hypothesis for the developmental dyslexias. Journal of educational psychology, 91(3), 415. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.91.3.415
Wray, D., & Lewis, M. (1997). Extending literacy: Children reading and writing non-fiction. Psychology Press.
Most read articles by the same author(s)