Spelling remediation for dyslexic children using the selfspell programs

Abstract

This paper describes the SelfSpell Hypercard environment for dyslexic children which helps them to learn to spell their problem words. Synthesised speech is used to augment the written text and different levels of help are available at all times. Two versions are available, with one in which the children are encouraged to enter rules to help them remember how to spell each word, and one in which a mastery learning technique is used. Evaluations of the effectiveness of the software indicated substantial improvements with either version in the spelling and motivation of two groups of dyslexic children. The results indicate that, with an appropriate remedial environment, even children with minimal initial spelling ability are able to acquire the spellings of even quite difficult words. The positive results with the mastery-based approach suggest that SelfSpell can help dyslexic children to surmount the barrier of alphabetic coding.