The effects of a spelling task on the subsequent performance of dyslexics

This study investigates the effects of a prior spelling task on the performance of subsequent tasks by adult dyslexics and non-dyslexics. The findings suggest that dyslexics' performance in a non-verbal memory task and, to a lesser extent, a spatial reasoning task are detrimentally affected by the prior spelling task. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of the anxiety felt and the lowering of self-esteem produced by consistent failure in a task, the effects of spelling performance in examinations, and the problems of using pre-tests in studies of differential performance between dyslexics and non-dyslexics.