Predicting early spelling difficulties in children with specific language impairment: a clinical perspective.
Letter ID plus a quick January spelling test spots SLI kindergarteners who will fail June spelling.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team followed 49 kindergarteners who had specific language impairment (SLI).
In September they tested how many letters each child knew. In January they gave a short spelling test.
They waited until June and looked at who failed the final spelling test.
What they found
Kids who knew fewer letters in September and spelled poorly in January were the same ones who failed in June.
Letter knowledge plus mid-year spelling correctly flagged 9 out of 10 future poor spellers.
How this fits with other research
Broc et al. (2013) extends this work. They showed that older SLI students spell better when they write stories than when they take dictation.
Henton (1972) gives us a teaching tool. That study proved that four-year-olds learn letters faster when we reinforce the critical features of each letter.
Lee et al. (2014) shows the risk is real. Taiwanese kids with ADHD had the same low writing scores that our SLI group faced.
Together the papers say: screen early, teach the features, and let kids write in meaningful contexts.
Why it matters
You can spot spelling trouble before it happens. Give every SLI kindergartener a one-minute letter ID probe in September and a five-word spelling check in January. Flag the bottom 25 % for extra help. Pair the screen with feature-based letter teaching and story writing to build both accuracy and motivation.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study focused on the precursors of spelling difficulties in first grade for children with specific language impairment (SLI). A sample of 58 second-year kindergartners in The Netherlands was followed until the end of first grade. Linguistic, phonological, orthographic, letter knowledge, memory, and nonverbal-reasoning skills were considered as precursors, as was spelling level at an earlier point in time. Spelling difficulties at the end of first grade were most accurately identified by letter knowledge at the beginning of first grade and word spelling at the middle of first grade. It is concluded that spelling development in children with SLI can be seen as an autocatalytic process in which, without intervention, poor spellers generally remain poor spellers, and good spellers remain good spellers. A focus on early spelling intervention is thus emphasized.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2012 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2012.07.003