Phonological Spelling and Reading Deficits in Children With Spelling Disabilities

Spelling errors in the Wide Range Achievement Test were analyzed for 77 pairs of children, each of which included one older child with spelling disability (SD) and one spelling-level-matched younger child with normal spelling ability from the Colorado Learning Disabilities Research Center database. Spelling error analysis consisted of a percent graphotactic-accuracy (GA) score based on syllable position and existence in English, and a phonological accuracy score (PA). The SD group scored significantly worse in the PA measure and nonsignificantly better than controls on the GA measure. The Group × Measure interaction was significant. Spelling matched pairs had very similar scores for word recognition and orthographic coding, but the SD group exhibited significant deficits in reading measures of phonological decoding and in language measures of phonological awareness.