Spelling

There are three kinds of difficulty that may cause a child’s written work to be incomprehensible. First, specific spelling difficulty, where some words may be so badly spelt that they are difficult to recognize. Secondly, specific writing difficulty, where the handwriting may be so untidy that it is illegible see Figure 7.3, p. 65). And, thirdly, language disorder, where the language used by the child may be so full of errors that it does not make sense. Specific spelling difficulty will be described in this chapter, specific writing difficulty in the next chapter, and language disorders will be described in Chapter 9. . . . What is specific spelling difficulty? . . . specific spelling difficulty can be defined as an unexplained, significant spelling difficulty. A significant difficulty is usually defined as a spelling age more than two standard deviations below the mean for the child’s age (see Chapter 1, p. 5 for the explanation of this term). Specific spelling difficulty is often associated with specific reading difficulty. In some children, specific spelling difficulty is an isolated problem. Although such children will have average reading ability, research studies suggest that subtle reading problems can be detected in such children on special testing. . . . How spelling is assessed . . . There are several standardized spelling tests in general use. These differ in the ways in which they test spelling. Some present the child with words that are part of his sight vocabulary, others present a wider range of words. Tests usually involve spelling from dictation. Some may also involve recognizing whether a printed word is correctly spelt or not. The psychologist will choose the test, or tests, that will provide information about the child’s spelling level, as well as about the nature of his difficulties. For example, a test that shows that a child has difficulties with spelling from dictation, but not with identifying words that are incorrectly spelt, may demonstrate particular problems with word memory. The psychologist will also try to differentiate between the different kinds of spelling errors, such as phonetic, visual, and sequential errors, which are described later in this chapter.