Use of finger spelling as an instructional technique to attain spelling competencies in learning handicapped adolescents

Includes bibliographical references (pages 40-42)This study was undertaken to test the effectiveness of an innovative technique using\ud the manual alphabet (finger spelling) in the spelling instruction of learning disabled junior high\ud school students. Two Special Education classes at two different schools in Ventura County,\ud California, (twenty-five students in all), were each divided into experimental and control\ud groups. After a 200-word pretest was administered to all, and finger spelling taught to the\ud experimental groups, students studied 60 words similar to those on the pretest over a six-week\ud period, ten words per week. The program for the two groups differed only in that the\ud experimental group students practiced words by finger spelling and the control group by\ud repeated writing. Analysis of the subsequent posttest, composed of the same words as the\ud pretest, indicated a superiority of the control method over the experimental for transferability\ud to new words, but the experimental group in one class improved far more in words studied\ud than did the control group. (Such records for the other class could not be compared.) The\ud indication is that, using the experimental design of this study, words studied may be learned\ud more effectively with finger spelling than with writing repeatedly, but the latter method is\ud more beneficial for learning spelling patterns and applying them to new words not studied.\ud Numerous ideas for future scientific studies of finger spelling were generated from this\ud experiment. Such studies are well justified by the positive outcomes of the study---the\ud enthusiasm of teachers and students for using finger spelling and the effect of the method on self-esteem, motivation, and behavior of the students involved