An action research project was conducted to measure any difference in spelling achievement after Word Study activities were used during spelling instruction. Word Study approaches to spelling instruction offer hands-on experiences with the manipulation of letters to form words. It was hypothesized that students taught spelling skills with a Word Study approach would demonstrate greater achievement as measured by the Developmental Spelling Analysis (K. Ganske, 1999) than those taught using a basal-based approach. In this quasi-experimental study, the research used a nonindependent "t" test design with matched pairs. The convenience sample consisted of 12 students in a Developmentally Handicapped classroom in a large urban school district in Ohio. The students were tested before Word Study activities were incorporated into spelling instruction. Students were grouped into developmental spelling groups based on their scores from the Developmental Spelling Analysis and then engaged in Word Study activities. AT the end of 4 weeks, the students were posttested using the same instrument. The scores were matched and correlated to measure any increase in spelling achievement. Significant differences were found in sores before and after treatment. The non-independent "t" test scores showed t(1)=2.602p>0.05. This outcome suggests that the use of Word Study activities increases spelling achievement. (Contains 23 references.) (Author/SLD)