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Diagnosing unexpected spelling difficulties: A test of the developmental arrest model
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate level of spelling development in three types of spellers. First, two broad groups of spellers with average to above average intelligence were identified from an overall sample of 446 eleven to thirteen year old subjects based on K-TEA Spelling Test scores: high scores designated normal spellers, or the control group; low scores designated unexpected poor spellers, or the UPS group. Second, thirty-eight subjects in the control group and thirty-seven subjects in the UPS group were administered four word pronunciation, four spelling identification, and four spelling from recall tests. Scores on one of the word pronunciation tests (the Woodcock-Johnson) were used to divide the UPS group into two subgroups: above-mean scores designated dysgraphic spellers; below-mean scores designated dyslexic spellers. Mean scores by group for correct scores and error scores were analyzed by one way analyses of variance and follow-up Duncan's Multiple Range Tests to determine if and where significant differences occurred across groups. Prior to data collection, nine hypotheses were made based on Frith's (1986) three-phase model of reading and writing acquisition whereby children were hypothesized to develop through logographic, alphabetic, and orthographic phases of development, each phase marking a stage of normal development for normal spellers or a point of arrest for UPS spellers. Frith hypothesized an arrest at the logographic stage for dyslexic spellers; at the alphabetic stage for dysgraphic spellers. Data strongly support Frith's three-phase developmental model. Results from measures chosen to reflect functioning at different developmental levels tend to support that normal spellers have mastery of all three levels of development; that dysgraphic spellers have developed beginning level orthographic strategies; and that dyslexic spellers have developed beginning level alphabetic strategies. However, since both dysgraphics and dyslexics, unlike normals, seemed to show upper level skill loss in unfamiliar situations, a tentative alternative explanation to Frith's Developmental Arrest Theory is offered: that point of arrest for both dyslexic and dysgraphic spellers is at the logographic phase, with dysgraphics reaching higher developmental skill levels than dyslexics because of advanced verbal ability and compensatory strategies.
Subject Area
Educational psychology|Special education|Language arts
Recommended Citation
Schell, Beverley Joan, "Diagnosing unexpected spelling difficulties: A test of the developmental arrest model" (1991). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9132909.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9132909