Development of an Integrated Word-Reading and Spelling Intervention for Middle School Students With Word-Level Reading Disabilities

The project will use a design-based research approach to develop, test, and revise the intervention across several successive iterations, with each iteration informing the next phase of the study. Year 1 will focus on developing the word-reading component and activities and year 2 will focus on developing and integrating the spelling activities. During each of these years, design trials will be used to test and revise the lesson activities and procedures. Teachers will deliver the lessons to small groups of students and both teachers and students will provide feedback about the activities after implementation. In year 3, the usability and feasibility of the complete set of lessons will be field tested using three pre-post studies, one in each grade level (6th, 7th, and 8th). Following each study, the intervention will be revised. In year 4, the PI will pilot test the intervention in a small randomized controlled trial. Students with WLRD in grades 6 through 8 will be randomly assigned to the intervention or a business-as-usual comparison condition. They will be assessed at pre- and post-intervention on measures of word reading, spelling, fluency, and sentence-level comprehension. Across all years, other data sources (e.g., interviews, surveys, audio recordings, observations) will be collected and analyzed to inform revisions to the intervention. Data from the pilot study will be analyzed to determine the effects of the intervention on reading and spelling outcomes for adolescents with WLRD as well as the extent to which the intervention is feasible, usable, and able to be implemented with fidelity by teachers. The PI will also conduct a cost analysis of the intervention using data collected during the pilot study.