Spelling, reading, and phonological processing abilities of children with histories of phonological disorder

Research has shown that phonological disorders adversely affect reading and spelling development. Few studies have examined the reading and spelling abilities of children with histories of phonological disorders. The purpose of the present study was to determine if children with histories of phonological disorders would show reading, spelling, and phonological processing problems in the primary grades. Of particular interest was the extent to which severity of the disorder and types of assessment measures influenced the outcomes.;Participants were 32 eight- and nine-year-old children. The children were divided into two groups. Nineteen of the children had histories of mild or moderate to severe disorders (PDH). A second group of 13 children had no history of phonological disorders (PN). Each participant was administered standardized and non-standardized reading, spelling, and phonological processing measures.;No overall significant differences were observed between the two groups. Further analyses revealed that children with histories of moderate-severe phonological disorders generated significantly lower scores than both mild PDH children and PN children. However, even for the moderate-severe PDH group, mean scores were within the normal range. An additional spelling measure showed that the PDH children also produced fewer constrained misspellings than the PN children.;The current study raises some important questions regarding the use of global measures and more detailed error analyses. Global measures are useful for providing a broad picture of children's abilities in relation to other children. However, more detailed error analyses tap into specific deviant behaviors that may be more useful in determining the exact nature of the problem. Further educational implications are outlined.