Expressive phonological impairment and spelling performance: Change over time using a multisensory language intervention program

This study systematically investigated the effect of multisensory instruction on the spelling performance of 3 first grade students with persistent expressive phonological impairment by targeting a phonological process, cluster simplification, found in both speech and spelling. A single-subject multiple-baseline design was employed to measure the effect of the intervention on the spelling of a phonetic target and to examine generalization. The design included four phases: (1) baseline; (2) pre-intervention phase; (3) intervention phase; (4) post-intervention phase. The independent variable, multisensory strategy instruction, was systematically introduced. The dependent variable, spelling of the phonetic target, was measured concurrently and continuously under the same environmental conditions until a stable trend and level were established. Four types of generalization were examined. When subjects reached the criterion of 80% on the spelling of the phonetic target, generalization probes were administered. Five months following the completion of the intervention, maintenance effects were assessed. It was hypothesized that increasing the awareness of the oral-motor processes used in phoneme articulation and the utilization of the contrast strategy featured in multisensory structured language instruction would facilitate the development of the phonological processing skills critical to spelling in young students with expressive phonological impairment. Results were analyzed through visual and statistical analyses. Data showed that the intervention was effective in facilitating an improvement in the accuracy of spelling the phonetic target. Generalization effects were seen for untrained clusters, standardized spelling and developmental spelling levels in 2 out of 3 subjects. These results substantiate the claim that increasing awareness of the motor processes involved in the articulation of phonemes can support the phonological processing skills which are the conceptual basis for using the alphabetic principle in reading and spelling.