Effects of a Constant Time Delay Procedure on the Written Spelling Performance of a Learning Disabled Student

A constant time delay procedure was used to teach written spelling to an 11-year-old, school-labeled LD youngster who had severe spelling deficits. The time delay procedure is a near errorless instructional method that transfers stimulus control from a controlling stimulus (a prompt that signals the correct response) to a new stimulus (a target response). As a result of a 5-second constant delay procedure the student acquired, maintained, and generalized 15 spelling words. The procedure is easy to implement, requires little teacher preparation time, and results in a low student error rate. In the absence of published time delay research with LD individuals, the results are encouraging. Based on our findings, the time delay procedure is a viable alternative for LD students who have not benefited from traditional instructional procedures. Since the results of this study and those in the unpublished literature indicate that the time delay procedure is effective, further examination with other LD students is warranted.