Date Approved

7-16-2018

Embargo Period

7-17-2018

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

MA Special Education

Department

Interdisciplinary and Inclusive Education

College

College of Education

Advisor

Accardo, Amy

Committee Member 1

Kuder, Sydney J.

Committee Member 2

Xin, Joy

Keywords

Foreign language, learning disabilities, multisensory, Spanish

Subject(s)

Learning disabled youth--Education; Language and languages--Study and teaching; Spanish language

Disciplines

Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education | Special Education and Teaching

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of a multisensory approach to Spanish instruction founded in Orton-Gillingham on the (1) foreign language writing, and (2) foreign language reading comprehension of students with learning disabilities in the middle school Spanish classroom. Additionally, the study inquired about the students' satisfaction with the Orton-Gillingham approach to learning to read in Spanish. Four middle school Spanish students with SLD, three male and one female, participated in the study. A single subject ABAB design was used. During the baseline phases, students received Spanish instruction in the traditional mainstream classroom. During the intervention, students received instruction through an alphabetic based multisensory program for teaching reading and spelling in the target language. Daily assessment scores were collected on reading comprehension and written expression across all phases. Results show all four participants improved their reading comprehension and writing scores from baseline data. The student satisfaction surveys suggest that students enjoyed the use of a multisensory approach to Spanish instruction. Further research is suggested investigating the effect of a multisensory approach on Spanish students with learning disabilities.

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