A comparison of the spelling errors of older dyslexic and second-grade normal children

Abstract

The spelling errors of dyslexic students have frequently been cited in the literature as qualitatively different from those of normal learners (Bannatyne, 1971; Critchley, 1975; Farnham-Diggory, 1978; Orton, 1937). Not only are spelling errors often regarded as diagnostic of dyslexia, but particular error patterns have been attributed to dyslexic subgroups (Boder, 1973; Camp and Dolcourt, 1977; Johnson and Myklebust, 1967; Nelson and Warrington, 1974). Specifically, the errors most commonly attributed to dyslexies are (a) those indicating poor audiophonic analysis, (b) letter order confusions, and (c) failure to recall "sight" vocabulary or the specific arrangement of letter sequences in words. While some authors view "dysphonetic" spelling as symptomatic of a primary processing deficit in dyslexia involving auditory analysis (Boder, 1973; Ingram, Mason, and Blackburn, 1970), others have em phasized the close relationship between dysphonetic errors and general ized language dysfunction (Sweeney and Rourke, 1978; Nelson and Warrington, 1974). These studies, regardless of emphasis, however, share a psychoneurological view of dyslexia which attributes to under lying process dysfunctions the supposed differences in spelling error types, and which minimizes the importance of school instruction, intelli gence, grade, age, and spelling achievement level on error patterns. Some evidence exists that spelling error pattern differences may be more apparent than real. Both Holmes and Peper (1977) and Nelson (1980) compared normal and dyslexic spelling error types and found no differences in the characteristic errors of their subjects. The first study compared the spelling test performance of good and poor fifth-grade readers, but the study suffered from problems with subject selection and validity of the error analysis scheme. The second study (by Nelson) provides a more convincing base for reassessing common beliefs about spelling error significance. Nelson recognized that spelling error patterns change according to developmental level and achievement, and chose achievement-level peers as the appropriate comparison group for her dyslexic population.