Spelling in Adolescents With Dyslexia

Abstract

In this study we focused on the spelling of high-functioning students with dyslexia. We made a detailed classification of the errors in a word and sentence dictation task made by 100 students with dyslexia and 100 matched control students. All participants were in the first year of their bachelor’s studies and had Dutch as mother tongue. Three main error categories were distinguished: phonological, orthographic, and grammatical errors (on the basis of morphology and language-specific spelling rules). The results indicated that higher-education students with dyslexia made on average twice as many spelling errors as the controls, with effect sizes of d ≥ 2. When the errors were classified as phonological, orthographic, or grammatical, we found a slight dominance of phonological errors in students with dyslexia. Sentence dictation did not provide more information than word dictation in the correct classification of students with and without dyslexia.

Evidence-Based Reading and Writing Assessment for Dyslexia in Adolescents and Young Adults

“…Research has shown that both decoding during oral reading and encoding during written spelling may also be impaired in adolescents (Berninger & Miller, 2011; Lyon et al, 2003) and college students (Connelly, Campbell, MacLean, & Barnes, 2006; Wilson & Lesaux, 2001) with dyslexia. In fact, the persisting problems faced by individuals with dyslexia tends to be spelling (Lefly, & Pennington, 1991; Nergård-Nilssen & Hulme, 2014; Schulte-Korne et al, 1998; Tops, Callens, Bijn, & Brysbaert, 2014), which may be a more significant factor than word reading or phonological skills in distinguishing individuals with dyslexics from controls (Nergard-Nillson & Hulme, 2014). A study of Dutch college students with dyslexia showed that even students with dyslexia successfully attending school may still have spelling deficits that would benefit from intervention (Tops, Callen, Bijn, & Brysbaert, 2014).…”

“…In fact, the persisting problems faced by individuals with dyslexia tends to be spelling (Lefly, & Pennington, 1991; Nergård-Nilssen & Hulme, 2014; Schulte-Korne et al, 1998; Tops, Callens, Bijn, & Brysbaert, 2014), which may be a more significant factor than word reading or phonological skills in distinguishing individuals with dyslexics from controls (Nergard-Nillson & Hulme, 2014). A study of Dutch college students with dyslexia showed that even students with dyslexia successfully attending school may still have spelling deficits that would benefit from intervention (Tops, Callen, Bijn, & Brysbaert, 2014). Thus, the aim was to evaluate whether evidence-based criteria for diagnosing dyslexia validated in earlier studies for child probands and their middle-age adult parents would also identify dyslexia in adolescent and young adults in the family genetics study.…”

Spelling Errors among Arab English Speakers

“…We should note that the latter point has been critiqued by (Tops et al, 2014, P. 295) where he stated that "the mapping between sounds and letters is not always regular or predictable". So, although spelling is considered a major element when writing a language, it was rarely discussed by researcher (Cook, 1992, P. 83).…”

Empirical Studies on the Writing Abilities of Adolescents and Adults with Learning Difficulties

“…In their meta-analysis of the adult rd literature, Swanson and Hsieh (2009) found large effect sizes for both spelling (encoding) problems (d = 1.57) and word reading (decoding) difficulties (d = 1.33). More recently, Tops, Callens, Bijn, and Brysbaert (2014) found effect size differences of greater than 2 when comparing the spelling skills of college students with and without dyslexia indicating that the spelling scores of adults with dyslexia were substantially lower than those of adults without dyslexia. Comparing samples of adults with ld in college or rehabilitation settings to adults without ld, Gregg et al (1996) found that both ld groups possessed lower spelling skills than the group without ld and, surprisingly, that the spelling skills of college students with ld were lower than the skills of their counterparts in rehabilitation settings.…”

“…More recent research has indicated that adolescents and adults with ld have been found to experience the most difficulty with orthographic exception words and to struggle to memorize orthographic patterns (Kemp, Parrila, & Kirby, 2008;Meyler & Breznitz, 2003). Both Coleman et al (2009) andTops et al (2014) found that adolescents and adults with ld make more phonological, orthographic, and morphological errors in their spellings than do those without ld, suggesting that underdeveloped abilities in all three areas of processing tend to disrupt their spelling. These processing differences were found using both constrained and unconstrained tasks, although orthographic errors were found to be more common on word dictation tasks and morphological errors were more prevalent on sentence dictation tasks (Tops et al, 2014).…”