N. Dale Bryant

Designing Spelling Instruction for Learning-Disabled Children: An Emphasis on Unit Size, Distributed Practice, and Training for Transfer

This paper describes an intervention designed to enhance spelling achievement for learning-disabled (LD) elementary school children. A total of 39 LD children were instructed for 8 sessions over a period of 3 weeks. An experimental group (n = 24) was taught with lessons that incorporated reduced unit size, distributed practice and review, and training for transfer, and a comparison group (n = 15) with methods that are typically used in the teaching of spelling. While all children could spell less than 10% of the words on the pretest, the experimental group achieved 80% accuracy on spelling words taught and 75% accuracy on transfer words on a delayed posttest. This was higher than the average posttest performance of the comparison group (60% accuracy on training items and 50% accuracy on transfer items). These findings suggest that LD children can improve their spelling skills if sound remedial principles are applied consistently. The instructional sequence described in this paper can serve both as a model of effective spelling instruction and as a diagnostic, trial-remediation technique for a disabled population.

Effects of Varying Unit Size on Spelling Achievement in Learning Disabled Children

The investigation looked at the degree to which varying the number of spelling words taught relates to the percentage of words spelled correctly by learning disabled children. Sixty-four LD children were divided into three treatment groups that differed only in the number of phonemically irregular spelling words taught (three, four, or five per day) across three days of instruction. Results show that, even with efficient instructional procedures, overloading, higher failure rate, and percentage of transposition spelling errors and greater variance in performance may occur when the number of words presented each day exceeds three. The findings support the notion that LD children, in particular, may be subject to overloading if presented with more material than they may be able to handle.

Correcting Correlations for Restrictions in Range Due to Selection on an Unmeasured Variable

THE size of a correlation coefficient is dependent in part upon the variability of the measured values in the correlation sample. Any time that a sample is restricted in range on either or both of the measures, the correlations between those two measures will tend to be lowered as compared to the same correlation based upon a representative sample of the population. If prediction within the restricted sample is the purpose of the correlation, then the obtained value is the meaningful and correct

Disturbed Children Under Reduced Auditory Input: A Pilot Study.

This study investigated attention and performance on simple tasks as well as classroom attention of seriously disturbed, communication impaired, “autistic” children under conditions of reduced auditory input (using ear protectors) and under conditions of normal auditory input (using a placebo device). Under ear protector conditions, there was a significant increase in the amount of attention given to most of the tasks and a significant improvement in performance on two of five tasks. In addition, teacher ratings indicated a significant improvement in classroom attention under ear protector conditions. It was concluded that a significant number of “autistic” children do improve in classroom attention and show some gains in attention and performance on certain tasks under conditions of reduced auditory input.

Applying the Mastery Learning Model to Sight Word Instruction for Disabled Readers.

The present study evaluated the effect of applying a mastery learning model to sight word instruction for learning disabled (LD), elementary school children. A total of 48 LD children were taught 30 sight words in 9 lessons which incorporated mastery learning strategies, and a comparison group (W = 16) with methods that are typically used in the teaching of sight words. While all children could read less than 10% of the words on the pretest, the experimental group achieved over 90% accuracy on the posttest. This was higher than the average posttest performance of the comparison group (72% accuracy). Results of this investigation suggest that a majority of LD children can reach mastery on sight words within a reasonable time framework if sound remedial principles are applied consistently. The procedures described in this paper can serve both as a model of effective sight word instruction and as a diagnostic, trial-remediation technique for a disabled population.

Eliminating Differences between Learning Disabled and Nondisabled Children on a Paired-Associate Learning Task

AbstractThirty learning disabled (LD) children and thirty nondisabled children were compared on a paired-associate learning task that simulated the process of sight word learning. Two instructional variables that have been hypothesized as contributing to overloading in children were manipulated during the teaching of 16 symbol-word associations. Stimulus complexity was manipulated by showing single or multiple geometric objects as stimuli for word responses. Response competition was manipulated by excluding or including previously learned items in decks of four objects. Results indicate that while the LD group performed lower than the non-LD group, reducing stimulus complexity and response competition differentially facilitated learning by LD children more than non-LD children. The study demonstrated that differences in LD and non-LD children’s paired-associate learning can be eliminated by using the instructional modifications.