After 10 years working
with young struggling readers, I realized that poorly developed vocabulary knowledge seemed to be a factor limiting their ability to access more advanced texts.
Teaching and Learning Toolkit (2015): Feedback McGraham, S. and Harris, K.R. (2005) «Improving the writing performance
of young struggling readers writers: theoretical and programmatic research from the center on accelerating student learning», The Journal of Special Education, 39 (1), 19 — 33.
Young struggling readers who engaged in this type of word study demonstrated significant improvements in phonemic awareness, word decoding, and comprehension...
This finding led researchers to examine the brain scans
of young struggling readers, many diagnosed with dyslexia, and eventually to devise computer programs and procedures that actually rewired their cerebral networks to perform more like good readers.
A study of an activity very similar to Word Ladders, conducted by Isabel Beck and colleagues, found that
young struggling readers who engaged in this type of word study demonstrated significant improvements in phonemic awareness, word decoding, and comprehension over students who were in an alternative form of word study.