Authors:

Patterson, K.

Reference:

Year of publication:

1988

CBU number:

1757

Abstract:

This selective review of acquired disorders of spelling is organised into three sections. The first describes two neurological patients whose written spelling follows the exact pattern of their spontaneous speech. These cases serve firstly to demonstrate that spelling performance can be dependent upon phonological processes and secondly to suggest that the phonology involved in spelling can be several different kinds or levels. The second, more extensive section concerns spelling without phonology: six patients are selected from the literature whose partial or total absence of phonological skills coupled with (at least relative) success in written spelling establishes the potential independence of spelling from phonology. The final section reviews neuropsychological evidence pertinent to the nature of various sub-components of spelling procedures. That is, while sections 1 and 2 concern the several sequences of sub-components which combine to form independent routines for spelling, section 3 focuses on what we know about the operation of the individual sub-components.