Learning disabled students' performance on visual and auditory spelling tests.

Abstract

Spelling has been an integral part of language arts programs as it is considered one of the basic achievement areas in the public schools. Special guidelines in the State of Nebraska allow classification of a child as learning disabled if there is a discrepancy of at least 1.3 standard deviations between the child's performance in one or more major academic areas, such as spelling, and his assessed intellectual ability. This study assessed whether the difference between grade level scores on visual and auditory spelling tests of learning disabled students was significant. Students previously identified as learning disabled were being reevaluated to meet state and federal guidelines. The 45 youths ranged in age from 7 yr. to 17 yr., with a mean age of 11 yr., 3 mo. The Caucasian participants were 20 girls and 25 boys from six school districts in a rural setting in southeast Nebraska. Students were given the Diagnostic Spelling Potential Test (1) which requires visual recognition of the correctly speUed form of a word from among four choices. The test has 90 multiple-choice questions. Then the students were given the auditory spelling test, a subtest from the Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement, Comprehensive Edition (2). This test has 50 words which are read aloud to students, who write the words on paper. Both Kaufman's test and the Diagnostic Spelling Potential Test were normed by equating the raw scores to grade equivalents. These tests were administered one after another to the students on the same day during the reevaluation period. The mean grade-equivalent scores on the visual and auditory spelling tests were 4.51 (SD: 2.65) and 4.23 (SD: 2.72). The difference of .28 between the means of the two sets of scores was not significant ( t = 1.24). This result shows that these spelling tests provided similar assessment; however, most students preferred the visual, multiple-choice response test which, of course, took less effort.