Does visuospatial orientation influence repetition and transposed character (TC) priming effects in logographic scripts? According to perceptual learning accounts, the nature of orthographic (form) priming effects should be influenced by text orientation (Dehaene, Cohen, Sigman, & Vinckier, 2005; Grainger & Holcomb, 2009). In contrast,…

Some aspects of Chinese literacy development do not conform to patterns of literacy development in alphabetic orthographies. Four are highlighted here. First, semantic radicals are one aspect of Chinese characters that have no analogy to alphabetic orthographies. Second, the unreliability of phonological cues in Chinese along with the fact that…

Problems with handwriting can negatively impact the writing of students with learning disabilities. In this article, an example is provided of a fourth-grade special education teacher's efforts to assist a new student by using a problem-solving approach to help determine an efficient course of action for special education teachers who are trying…

The pronunciation of a word represented in an alphabetic writing system (such as this one) is relatively transparent--but a language's sounds change over time and vary across space, while its spellings remain relatively static, resulting in some amount of divergence between the written and spoken forms. The introduction of loanwords and…

The authors explored "Itchy's Alphabet" as an innovative approach to teaching letter-sound connections through multisensory cues. This is the initial demonstration of this instructional method for increasing students' sublexical skills (letter identification, letter-sound knowledge, and phonological awareness). To examine the effectiveness of the…

Purpose: This study examined the independent and combined effects of two sources of linguistic knowledge (alphabet cues and semantic predictability) on the intelligibility of speakers with dysarthria. The study also examined the extent to which each source of knowledge accounted for variability in intelligibility gains. Method: Eight speakers with…

Two codes that provide access to the identity of an item in memory are the initial letter of its name and the name of a category to which it belongs. This research compares the characteristics of these two modes of access to the identity of a memory trace. (Author/RK)

Most models of visual word recognition in alphabetic orthographies assume that words are lexically organized according to orthographic similarity. Support for this is provided by form-priming experiments that demonstrate robust facilitation when primes and targets share similar sequences of letters. The authors examined form-orthographic priming…

Three studies evaluated Tier 1 early intervention for handwriting at a critical period for literacy development in first grade and one study evaluated Tier 2 early intervention in the critical period between third and fourth grades for composing on high stakes tests. The results contribute to knowledge of research-supported handwriting and…

Purpose: This study compared the influence of speaker-implemented iconic hand gestures and alphabet cues on speech intelligibility scores and strategy helpfulness ratings for 3 adults with cerebral palsy and dysarthria who differed from one another in their overall motor abilities. Method: A total of 144 listeners (48 per speaker) orthographically…