Effects of ABRACADABRA Instruction on Spelling in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

ABSTRACT

This study explored the effects of an evidence-based literacy program, ABRACADABRA, on the spelling abilities of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Twenty children with ASD aged 5–11 years were assigned to matched instruction and waitlist control groups. Children in the instruction group received 26 hrs of individualized, home-based instruction using ABRACADABRA over a 13-week period. Results showed no change in children’s conventional spelling accuracy skills following ABRACADABRA instruction. However, an analysis of spelling attempts using the Computerized Spelling Sensitivity System (Masterson & Hrbec, 2011) revealed statistically significant gains in linguistic spelling accuracy for children in the instruction group relative to the waitlist control group, with large effect sizes. These findings suggest that ABRACADABRA improves aspects of spelling ability in children with ASD and that the Computerized Spelling Sensitivity System is a useful tool for detecting changes in the spelling abilities of children with ASD following literacy instruction.

Acknowledgments

All authors are members of the Centre for Disability Research and Policy at The University of Sydney. Benjamin Bailey conducted this research as part of his PhD under the supervision of Joanne Arciuli (primary supervisor) and Roger J. Stancliffe (auxiliary supervisor). The authors thank the children and families who participated in this study. The authors also thank the staff at the Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance for their assistance in implementing the ABRACADABRA program in this study.

Funding

This work was partly supported by a mid-career research fellowship awarded to Joanne Arciuli by the Australian Research Council (FT130101570).

Notes

¹ The DSM-5 conceptualisation of ASD is used throughout this article, as it is prominent in Australia. However, it should be noted that different conceptualisations, such as that provided in the International Classification of Diseases–10th edition (World Health Organization, 1992), are prominent in other settings.

² The term “linguistic accuracy” has been used previously (e.g., Apel & Masterson, 2015). Here, this term has been modified slightly to “linguistic spelling accuracy” and used throughout to remind readers that spelling is the focus of the article.

³ η_p² of .01 is considered to be a small effect size, .06 a medium effect size, and .14 a large effect size (Richardson, 2011).

Additional information

Funding

This work was partly supported by a mid-career research fellowship awarded to Joanne Arciuli by the Australian Research Council (FT130101570).