Spelling acquisition in French children with developmental language disorder: An analysis of spelling error patterns

Abstract

The aim of this longitudinal study was to examine spelling acquisition in French children with developmental language disorder (DLD) over a school year. Through a fine-grained spelling error analysis, we investigated whether spelling profiles could be established in the DLD population. This study comprised three groups: a typically developing (TD) group ( n = 16), a group of DLD children matched on spelling skills with the TD group ( n = 8), and a group of DLD children matched on chronological age and phonological awareness skills with their DLD peers ( n = 8), but showing weaker spelling skills. Results indicated that the DLD group matched on spelling skills with the TD group tended to produce more phonologically accurate spellings than the other DLD group. However, the two DLD groups did not differ on phonological awareness skills or vocabulary. Throughout the school year, the TD group and their DLD peers matched on spelling skills tended to add more silent letters in their spelling attempts than the other DLD group. With respect to phase models of spelling acquisition, our findings suggest that more advanced phases – like the orthographic and morphographic literacy phases – can be acquired even if the foundation processes are not well developed.