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

The primary purpose of this four-year Early Career project is to develop an integrated word-reading and spelling intervention that leverages models of word-reading and spelling to improve reading and spelling outcomes of adolescents with word-level reading difficulties and disabilities (WLRD) in grades 6 through 8 (i.e., middle school).

• Sponsor
  U.S. Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences
  Research Training Programs in Special Education, Early Career Development and Mentoring
  $697,178

• Principal investigator
  Kelly Williams
  Assistant professor, Department of Communication Sciences and Special Education
  

• Mentors
  Marcia Barnes, primary mentor
  Professor, Vanderbilt University
  

  Scott Ardoin , co-mentor
  Professor, Department of Educational Psychology; associate dean for research and graduate education
  

  Deborah Reed, co-mentor
  Associate professor and director, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
  

• Active since
  August 2023

View the project website

Abstract

The goal is for the intervention to be feasible, usable, and socially valid for the end users, middle school teachers, and students. This project is informed by an integrated research and career development plan that will be completed under the guidance of mentors and consultants who have specific expertise to support the PI’s acquisition of the knowledge and skills necessary to successfully complete the project and develop an independent line of special education research.

This project uses a design-based research approach to design, test, and revise the proposed word-reading and spelling intervention across several successive iterations, with each iteration informing the next phase of the study. Participants will include current middle school teachers and their students with WLRD.

• Year 1: Word-reading component and activities will be developed
• Year 2: Focus on developing and integrating spelling activities

Years 1 and 2 will include design trials to test and revise the lesson activities and procedures.

• Year 3: Usability and feasibility of complete set of lessons will be tested across three iterative cycles
• Year 4: Intervention’s promise for efficacy will be evaluated through an underpowered pilot randomized controlled trial

Participating teachers will be trained on the intervention components and implementation procedures, in addition to the structure of the English language. Approximately 70 students with WLRD in grades 6 through 8 will receive intervention lessons, and 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.

The three central goals of the career development plan are:

1. To acquire knowledge and skills to develop an intervention through an iterative process
   
2. To advance the PI’s content knowledge about models of word-reading and spelling to inform intervention development
   
3. To acquire skills to develop and disseminate products to education stakeholders
   

The planned mentoring and training activities directly support these goals and are inextricably linked to the research plan through both the content and timing of the activities. Activities include regular structured meetings and directed readings with mentors, qualitative workshops on data collection and analysis, frequent consultations with methodological and statistical consultants, and support for product development and dissemination.