Theory-Guided Spelling Assessment and Intervention: A Case Study.

PURPOSE Current research and theory in spelling development and best practices for literacy instruction were reviewed to develop a set of theoretically guided assessment and intervention procedures. These procedures were applied to the case of a 13-year-old student with spelling difficulties. METHOD The student was involved in an intensive group intervention program that focused on increasing foundational skills for spelling and on oral word-level reading. Assessment results led to an intervention program targeting phonemic and morphological awareness skills and orthographic knowledge. RESULTS The student demonstrated clinically significant growth in phonemic and morphological awareness, orthographic knowledge, spelling, and word-level reading. CONCLUSION Results of the case study suggest that assessment and intervention procedures guided by theory and research can lead speech-language pathologists to effective participation in aspects of spelling remediation. Additionally, the case study may serve as a model for clinical services and evidence-based practice within clinical settings.

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