Recent research has established the link between disorders of spoken and written language. Consequently, speech and language therapists serving paediatric populations often need to assess children's spelling abilities. However, there are few appropriate assessments of normal abilities available. In order to describe, quantitatively and qualitatively, the normal development of spelling ability in the primary school years, a modified version of the Schonell Graded Spelling Test (1956) was used to assess 1372 children in grades 2-6 in five city and two rural schools. The results were analysed in terms of three scores: percentage of words spelled correctly; words not attempted; and misspellings that were phonologically plausible. Spelling ability varied according to the school attended and the social status of the child. Children in higher socioeconomic status groups were better spellers. Children who were good spellers tended to generate more phonologically plausible misspellings. Further, there was a strong tendency for the percentage of errors which were phonologically plausible to increase developmentally. Thus, the results support models of spelling development showing that phonological awareness is associated with the acquisition of adequate spelling ability. However, alternative strategies must also be acquired to account for the successful spelling of orthographically irregular words.

Children identified as having a reading disorder or a speech disorder are usually reported to have concurrent spelling difficulties. Does a central deficit involving phonological coding underlie all three abilities, so that if spelling is disordered, reading and speaking are also impaired to some degree? A group of five 11–12 year old children identified as poor spellers on an adaptation of the Schonell Graded Spelling Test were compared with reading age matched controls on a series of tasks tapping a variety of phonological skills. The tasks assessed real and nonsense word spelling and reading, the segmentation of speech sounds and syllables, rhyme judgement, and imitation of spoken polysyllabic words. The results indicated that children with disordered spelling had a general difficulty processing phonological information when reading, spelling and speaking. Performance deteriorated when phonological complexity increased. Qualitative analyses of errors provided some indication of compensatory strategy use. A tentative description of the nature of the underlying phonological deficit is offered.