Developmental surface and phonological dysgraphia in German 3rd graders

Abstract

The investigation of developmental reading and spelling disorders within the framework provided by cognitive neuropsychology has yielded interesting results for several alphabetic orthographies, for example English, Italian, and French. However, this approach has not attracted much attention in German speaking countries up to now. The following study, carried out with 35 German dysgraphic 3rd graders provides evidence that there is no less reason to apply this line of research to German children than to children acquiring other alphabetic orthographies. By evaluating the individual scores of the dysgraphic children on spelling nonwords and orthographically irregular or inconsistent words against the corresponding mean scores established for two non-dysgraphic control samples (grade-matched and 2nd grade), nine children could be assigned to the surface dysgraphic and 12 to the phonological dysgraphic subtype. In order to restrict the range of cognitive deficits which might have caused the spelling patterns of the two dysgraphic subgroups at more distal links of the causal chain, individual performance profiles were determined for several spelling-related phonological and visual-graphemic tasks. On average, the phonological dysgraphic children showed poorer performance in different phonological tasks than the children assigned to the surface subtype. In addition, both subgroups showed subnormal skills in visualgraphemic tasks. Dissociations between the different spelling related tasks were observed not only between but also within the subgroups. This may reflect individually varying cognitive processing deficits underlying developmental dysgraphia in German.

Varieties of developmental dyslexia in Greek children

“…However, research on diverse writing systems (Pae, Senvcik, & Morris, 2010;Cholewa et al, 2010;Deacon, Wade-Woolley, & Kirby, 2009) shows that stumbling blocks faced by Englishspeaking children appear to be similar to those encountered by children learning other languages.…”

Literacy development in children with cochlear implants

“…Thus, for both reading and spelling, it may be valuable to assess an individual's accuracy across various word types, since different profiles may emerge which indicate the presence of specific weaknesses in underlying literacy sub-skills. In particular, and in accordance with proponents of both cascading (e.g., Figure 1.1) and interactive (e.g., Figure 1.2) theoretical models, nonword spelling (and reading) difficulties may be attributed to weak phonological processing abilities in typically hearing children (Bullinaria, 1997;Cholewa et al, 2008).…”

“…The same theoretical underpinnings of reading development are sometimes also applied to the study of spelling. Accordingly, the partial separability of underlying phonological, orthographic and semantic sub-skills means that, as with reading, patterns of inaccuracy in nonword and irregular word spelling have been associated with weaknesses in sublexical and lexical processing mechanisms, respectively (Brunsdon, Coltheart & Nickels, 2005;Cholewa, Mantey, Heber & Hollweg, 2008). Thus, for both reading and spelling, it may be valuable to assess an individual's accuracy across various word types, since different profiles may emerge which indicate the presence of specific weaknesses in underlying literacy sub-skills.…”

Developmental dysgraphia: An overview and framework for research

“…The complementary pattern—better spelling performance for words than pseudowords—has also been reported (Campbell & Butterworth, 1985; Cholewa et al, 2010; Funnell & Davison, 1989; Snowling, Stackhouse and Rack, 1986; Temple, 1986; Temple & Marshall, 1983). This pattern, often labelled developmental phonological dysgraphia, can be understood as a selective deficit affecting the sound-to-spelling conversion process.…”

“…Briefly, these individuals are impaired in spelling words (especially irregular words), and produce phonologically plausible errors, but have little or no difficulty spelling pseudowords. This pattern, sometimes referred to as developmental surface dysgraphia, has been reported in several languages (English: Brunsdon, Coltheart & Nickels, 2005; Coltheart et al, 1983; Goulandris & Snowling, 1991; Hanley & Gard, 1995; Hanley & Kay, 1992; Romani, Ward & Olson, 1999; Seymour & Evans, 1993; Seymour, 1986; Temple, 1985, 1986; Italian: Angelelli et al, 2004; Angelelli et al, 2010; Spanish: Afonso, Suarez-Coalla & Cuetos, 2015; German: Stadie & van de Vijver, 2003; Cholewa, Mantey, Heber & Hollweg, 2010; see also, in this special issue, Angelelli, Marinelli, Cellini, & Zoccolotti, 2017; Hanley & Sotiropolous, 2017; and Hepner, McCloskey & Rapp, 2017). …”