Investigating the additive effects of opportunities to spell words on word reading for students with significant reading difficulties

Integrating spelling with word reading instruction is commonly recommended. However, few studies have determined the unique effect of spelling activities on word reading skills for students with reading difficulties. Considering the limited time available for intervention and the fact that several words can be read in the time it takes to spell one, additional research is needed to optimize intervention time. We randomly assigned 68 students with significant word-reading difficulties in Grades 2 through 4 to one of two intervention conditions in which decoding instruction and practice were identical, but in one condition, students also practiced spelling the words (with feedback). While controlling for pretest scores and clustering, group comparisons at post-test indicated statistically significant differences favoring the Decoding + Spelling condition on silent word recognition ( g = 0.36) and handwriting fluency ( g = 0.70). Non-statistically significant effects favored the Decoding + Spelling condition on word reading efficiency ( g = 0.14) and oral reading fluency at students’ grade level ( g = 0.17). Effect sizes were small to negligible on proximal measures of word reading, spelling, letter combinations targeted in the intervention, and a third-grade passage of oral reading fluency. Non-significant effects favored the decoding-only condition on norm-referenced silent sentence verification fluency ( g = − 0.16). Results offer some support for integrating spelling within decoding intervention, but the modest effects suggest that the time needed to include spelling should be considered carefully.