Comparison of the effectiveness of Fernald and Rossner's multisensory teaching method on reducing the spelling disorder of elementary students

Abstract

Background: Writing disorders have an adverse effect on a student's academic achievement in school. These children need to learn new concepts or skills that they have not learned in the usual way through new methods such as multisensory teaching. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to compare the effectiveness of Fernald and Rossner multisensory teaching method on reducing the spelling disorder of elementary school students in Tehran. Materials and Methods: Using multi-stage cluster sampling method, 120 research samples were selected from third and fourth grade elementary school students in districts 6 and 11 of Tehran in the academic year of 2018-2019 and randomly divided into two experimental groups (60 students). And witnesses (60 people) were divided. The research instruments included the Fallah Chai Spelling Test (1974), the Wechsler Intelligence Test for Children, and the Fernald and Rossner Multisensory Teaching Protocol.Results: Students who were influenced by Fernald's multisensory teaching method were more effective than Rossner in reducing post-test spelling disorders. Also, students who were influenced by Rossner's multisensory teaching method were more effective than the control group in reducing spelling disorders in the post-test. Finally, the effectiveness of Fernald's sensory method was greater than that of Rossner's sensory training method.Conclusion: The results showed that Fernald and Rossner's multisensory teaching method was effective on students with spelling disorders. There is also a difference between the effectiveness of Fernald and Rossner's sensory training method in reducing spelling disorders, stating that Fernand's sensory method is more effective than Rossner's sensory method.