Orthographic mapping (OM) involves the formation of letter-sound connections to bond the spellings, pronunciations, and meanings of specific words in memory. It explains how children learn to read words by sight, to spell words from memory, and to acquire vocabulary words from print. This development is portrayed by Ehri (2005a) as a sequence of…

The present study examined the construct and predictive validity of a dynamic test of decoding. In theory, a dynamic test provides a direct measure of potential for learning. In this study, children were taught 3 novel letters and how to blend the sounds of those into new words, then they were tested on different words comprising the 3 letters.…

Examines effectiveness of three different reading interventions in reading disabled second and third graders. Compares growth in phonological and orthographic processing and word reading. Finds the most significant mediator of intervention effects was initial differences in phonological and orthographic processing skills. Concludes that synthetic…

Compares effectiveness of four different methods for acquiring initial reading vocabulary--onset plus vowel, rimes, phoneme segmentation and blending, and simple repetition of whole words. Finds that beginning nonreaders acquired the trained words fastest in the onset and rime conditions, and most slowly in the whole word condition. Finds the same…

Notes that 32 preschool children were trained to a high level in phonemic awareness over a 12-week period, and then in kindergarten, the children were taught 10 real words using either decoding and encoding techniques or a whole word method. Finds that children taught decoding and encoding techniques were superior in reading and writing compared…

Investigates strategies beginners use to learn to read words in a relatively regular writing system, Brazilian Portuguese. Finds strategies used depend on the method of instruction (phonics or whole-word), similar to what happens for children learning to read English. Suggests any differences between children learning to read more or less…