131 Compensatory role of verbal learning and consolidation in reading and spelling 5 that children are being taught at different schools. Future research could include schoolbound learning strategies in order to rule out the possibility that this caused the found differences. Finally, this study included a rather small sample. Although we calculated a priori that we should have enough statistical power to conduct the analyses, effect sizes in terms of Cohen’s f2 in the regression analyses were relatively small. Therefore, the results should be interpreted with caution. Follow-up studies with larger sample sizes are recommended. To conclude, the present findings showed that verbal learning is positively related to spelling skills for all children. Furthermore, the immediate memory span had a positive influence on spelling and word decoding of children with dyslexia and even more so for their typically developing peers. Moreover, both verbal learning and consolidation were not related to reading and spelling outcomes after a phonics through spelling intervention. The present findings also show that even before an intervention, verbal learning may facilitate spelling. Therefore, it can be recommended to monitor the verbal learning capacity of all children and not just children with dyslexia during their early spelling development. In a similar vein it is evidenced that, since younger children seem to rely on their phonological and semantic representations, spelling strategies like oral word repeating also may benefit spelling development.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTk4NDMw