Robin van Rijthoven

122 Chapter 5 Figure 5.1 Group AverageWords Remembered from Trial 1-5 and Delayed Recall for Children with Dyslexia (n = 54) and Typically Developing Children (n = 36). Predicting reading and spelling by verbal learning and consolidation To answer the first part of the research question, regarding the effect of verbal learning and consolidation on reading and spelling outcomes before the intervention, six hierarchical regression analyses were conducted. Three hierarchical regression analyses were performed to test the effect of verbal learning on word decoding, pseudoword decoding, and spelling followed by three hierarchical regression analysis to test the effect of verbal consolidation using the same outcome measures. In the first set of three hierarchical regression analyses, Group was entered in Step 1 (typically developing children = 0, children with dyslexia = 1), followed by the intercept and the slope of verbal learning (trial 1-5) in Step 2. In Step 3, finally, the corresponding interaction terms between Group and the predictor measures were included to test whether the effects of the predictors are stronger for one of both groups. In the second set of three hierarchical regression analyses Trial 5 and Verbal Consolidation were entered in Step 2. The results (see Table 5.3) showed that Group was a significant predictor for all three outcome measures. Children with dyslexia read and spelled fewer words correctly (Step 1). Adding Step 2 to the model, resulted in a significant improvement for all three dependent variables. In Step 2, Group predicted again all outcome measures. Furthermore, Slope predicted Pseudoword Decoding and Intercept predicted Spelling: a less steep slope indicated higher pseudoword decoding scores and a higher intercept indicated higher spelling scores. Better verbal learning appears to be associated with lower pseudoword decoding scores. A higher immediatememory span appears to result in better spelling skills. Step 3 was a significant improvement of the model for spelling,

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