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Language-­‐Based  Spelling  Assessment  and  Interven<on  for  

School-­‐Age  Children  

Krystal  L.  Werfel,  PhD,  CCC-­‐SLP  University  of  South  Carolina  

 Ohio  School  Speech  Pathology  Educa<onal  Audiology  Coali<on  Conference  

October  19,  2014  

Disclosure  

•  travel  expenses  paid  by  OSSPEAC  •  grant  funding:  ASHA,  ASHF,  IRA  

 Children  with  language  impairments  have  poorer  literacy  outcomes  than  children  

with  typical  language.      

(e.g.,  Bishop  &  Adams,  1990;  CaWs  et  al.,  1999;  2008;  Mackie  &  Dockrell,  2004;  Paul,  2009)  

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Literacy  

PRE-­‐LITERACY  

WORD-­‐LEVEL  LITERACY  

TEXT-­‐LEVEL  LITERACY  

READING  Phonemic  awareness  

Print  awareness  

Word  recogni<on  (decoding  and  sight  

words)  Comprehension  

WRITING  Scribbling  LeWer-­‐like  drawing  

Spelling  words  in  isola<on  

Wri<ng  sentences,  paragraphs,  etc.  

Why  spelling?  

How  do  we  spell?  

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Write  these  words.  Think  about  the  skills  you  use  to  produce  each  spelling.    

   

LET’S  TALK  ABOUT:    VISUAL  MEMORY  

Visual  memory  deficits  do  not  characterize  poor  spellers  

Individual  differences  in  spelling  not  aWributable  to  differences  in  visual  memory    

 (Holmes,  Malone,  &  Redenbach,  2008;  Kamhi  &  Hinton,  2000)    

Visual  Memory  

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Spelling  Development  

Stage  Theory  of  Spelling  Development  

Precommunica<ve  

Semiphone<c  

Transi<onal  

Morphophonemic  

Phone<c  

BR  

J  K  

BATR  

BATTR  

BATTER  

(Moats,  1995)  

P

reschool Early Elementary School Late Elementary School - Adult

Repertoire  Theory  of  Spelling  

Conven<onal  Spelling  

MGR  Knowledge  

Phonemic  Awareness  

Morphological  Knowledge  

Orthographic  PaWern  

Knowledge  

(Masterson  &  Apel,  2000)  

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Influence  of  Linguistic  Knowledge  on  Spelling  

Phonological  Processing  Morphological  Knowledge  

Orthographic  PaWern  Knowledge  MGR  Knowledge    

 

Phonological  Processing  the  use  of  one’s  knowledge  of  the  sounds  of  language  to  process  spoken  

language      

3  Components:  Phonological  Awareness  

 ability  to  analyze  the  sounds  of  spoken  language    

Phonological  Memory  element  of  working  memory  that  stores  speech-­‐based  informa<on  

 Phonological  Recoding  (RAN)  

efficiency  with  which  an  individual  can  retrieve  phonological  codes  from  long-­‐term  memory    

     

 (Wagner  &  Torgesen,  1987)  

Orthographic  Knowledge    

 Word-­‐  and  language-­‐specific  knowledge  of  how  

spoken  words  are  represented  in  print      

Includes:    Alphabet  Knowledge  

Orthographic  PaWern  Knowledge  Mental  Grapheme  Representa<on  Knowledge  

         

(Apel,  2011)    

 

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Orthographic  Pattern  Knowledge  

Language-­‐specific  knowledge  of    how  spoken  words  are  represented  in  print  

   

Mental  Grapheme  Representations  

(PIAT-R/NU)

Word-­‐specific  knowledge  of  how  spoken  words  are  represented  in  print:    the  mental  representa<on  of  the  string  of  leWers  that  comprises  a  wriWen  word  

 

Can  be:    fully-­‐formed:        inaccurate:      incomplete:  

 knowledge  about  the  structure  of  words  in  terms  of  the  smallest  meaningful  units  and  to  analyze  and  

manipulate  these  units                      

(Apel  &  Werfel,  2014;  Carlisle,  1995;  Larsen  &  Nippold,  2007;  Nagy  et  al.,  2003)      

 

Morphological  Knowledge  

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•  score  lower  on  measures  of  spelling  than  children  with  typical  language    

•  diffuse  difficulty  with  spelling    •  propor<onately  more  phonologically  inaccurate  and  orthographic  errors  

(Bishop  &  Adams,  1990;  Mackie  &  Dockrell,  2004;  Silliman  et  al.,  2006;  Young  et  al.,  2002)    

Spelling  of  Children  with  SLI  

knife  

Phonologically  Accurate  vs  Inaccurate  Spelling  Errors  

Phonologically  Accurate   Phonologically  Inaccurate  

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How  do  we  assess  spelling?  

How  should  we  assess  spelling?  

Problem  Solving  Model    of  Spelling  Assessment  

1.  Iden<fy  Problem  

2.  Define  Problem  

3.  Select  Interven<on    

4.  Monitor  Progress  

5.  Evaluate  Outcomes  

(Werfel,  2014)  

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Types  of  Measures  in  Each  Step  

(Werfel,  2014)  

Spelling  Sensi<vity  Score  

•  analyzes  use  of  linguis<c  knowledge  in  spelling  

1.  Divide  words  into  elements.  2.  Assign  score  to  each  element.  3.  Calculate  desired  score.    Two  Scores:  Word  Score  Element  Score  

Spelling  Sensi<vity  Score  

Element Scoring with the Spelling Sensitivity Score

Element Score Description

3 Spelling correct

2 Spelling incorrect, orthographically plausible

1 Spelling incorrect, orthographically implausible

0 Element omitted

(Masterson  &  Apel,  2010)  

Word Scoring with the Spelling Sensitivity Score

Word Score Description

3 Spelling correct

2 Word contains at least one orthographically plausible substitution

1 Word contains at least one orthographically implausible substitution

0 Word contains at least one omission

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Example  Scoring  Example: birds

Spelling b ir d s Word Score

Element score

birds b (3) ir (3) d (3) s (3) 3 3

berds b (3) er (2) d (3) s (3) 2 2.75

brids b (3) ri (1) d (3) s (3) 1 2.5

bird b (3) ir (3) d (3) -- (0) 0 2.0

Let’s  Prac<ce  using  the  SSS  Target  Word    yes    bed  shake    eight    strong    pile    knife  knew    tardy    nineteen    sec<on    signal    expect      

Child  Spelling  yes    bead  shak    eat    strog    polde    life    new    drowe  nite    shesh    sehen    shepena    

Why  teach  spelling?  

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•  Spelling  and  reading  tap  similar  linguis<c  knowledge  –  BUT:  success  in  reading  does  not  ensure  success  in  spelling    

•  Spelling  requires  more  complete  mental  grapheme  representa<ons  of  words  than  reading    

•  Teaching  reading  alone  is  not  an  effec<ve  means  to  teach  spelling  –  BUT:  interven<on  in  spelling  has  a  posi<ve  impact  on  reading  

   

(Ehri,  1997;  Graham  &  Hebert,  2010;  Perfel,  1997)  

•  Gains  in:  –   automa<city  of  word  recogni<on  – oral  reading  fluency    – nonword  decoding    – real  word  decoding  

•  Spelling  interven<on  =  accurate  reading  of  all  words  learned  to  spell  •  Reading  interven<on  ≠  accurate  spelling  of  all  words  learned  to  read  

     

(Conrad,  2008;  Graham,  Harris,  &  Chorzempa,  2002;  Uhry  &  Shepherd,  1993;  Weber  &  Henderson,  1989)    

Impact  of  Spelling  Training  on  Reading  

The  more  complete  mental  grapheme  representa<ons  obtained  

in  spelling  instruc<on  increase  automa<city  of  word  recogni<on  

and  spelling  expression.    

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How  do  we  teach  spelling?  

“Write  the  word  a  lot”  Approach  

“Copy,  Cover,  Write”  

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What  happens  at  your  school?  

How  should  we  teach  spelling?  

•  Takes  advantage  of  children’s  linguis<c  knowledge    

•  Systema<c  instruc<onal  approach    •  Teaches  children  to  no<ce  the  paWerns  of  English  spelling    

•  Two-­‐fold  purpose:  –  develop  general  knowledge  about  the  English  spelling  system  

–  increase  specific  word  knowledge      

Language-­‐Based  Word  Study  

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•  Encourages  children  to  search,  compare,  contrast,  and  analyze  words    

•  Organize  what  they  already  know  about  words  and  apply  that  knowledge  to  new  words    

•  Can  be  either  closed  or  open    •  Can  sort  by  sounds,  paWerns,  or  meaning    •  Consistently  improves  spelling  performance  

Word  Sorting  

play  paid  freight  fate  

Vowel  PaWerns:  /e/  

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badge    age  

Spelling  of  final  /dʒ/  

Word  Building  

•  Children  begin  with  components  and  combine  them  to  build  words  

•  Components  can  be:  –  leWers  – onsets/rimes  – base  words/affixes  

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