Spelling Errors and Language Disorders

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One interesting aspect of my work with professionals within and outside of the profession is that I encounter diagnoses or labels that I've never heard before. This is one of those labels. My guess is that it means your son has a language-learning disability that is moderately interfering with communication and academics. Having said that, I can definitely answer your second question.

Spelling is a language skill, so students who struggle in other areas of language (written or verbal) are at-risk, if nothing else, for a spelling deficit. I believe that when assessing a school-age student, it is important (and crucial) to assess spelling as well because spelling assessment provides a view into what the student knows about different language components. By conducting a multiple-linguistic approach to spelling assessment, in which one looks at the underlying linguistic skills that might be leading to deficient spelling skills, one can identify and then target specific causes for the deficit in students' spelling (and, in reality, word-level reading) difficulties. I would need a much lengthier sample to get an idea of the language skills with which your son struggles.

The small sample of three words suggests he may be struggling with inaccurate mental orthographic images (MOIs) because he is, as you say, mixing his letters in the words music and snow. The issue is somewhat broader, though, as he is either not monitoring his spelling, or not using his phonemic (sound) awareness skills to determine that those letter orderings can't "say" the intended words. For 'guys,' one hypothesis is that he hears the long 'I' sound, and is trying to represent it. However, 'iy' can never be used to spell the long 'I' sound, so that one instance may suggest some difficulties with orthographic knowledge (knowledge of the rules/patterns for putting speech onto paper).

Obviously, there is no way to adequately answer your question, but I do support you in bringing his difficulties to the attention of school professionals. Sometimes, school professionals will not give as much emphasis to spelling as they do reading. This is unfortunate in that spelling instruction, when provided in a multiple-linguistic manner, can not only improve spelling, but also word-level reading.

One final comment (not that you asked me!): a simple strategy you can encourage your son to use when writing words he thinks he knows how to spell (snow) but are written with the wrong word order (sonw) is the following: tell him to "listen" to his mouth. Encourage him to write a letter(s) for each sound as he sounds out a word during spelling. As his mouth makes a new sound, he should be writing a letter(s). Now, this won't help in necessarily getting the right letters, but at least the word spelling will be closer. Thank you for your question.

Kenn Apel, PhD, CCC-SLP is professor of Communication Disorders at The Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, and a Fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Over the last two decades, he has conducted research on spoken and written language and literacy abilities and has authored or co-authored numerous peer-reviewed articles, books, book chapters, software programs, and a spelling instructional curriculum. Currently, his research focuses on the underlying linguistic components that support the development of reading and spelling, including morphological awareness and orthographic processing. He is the Editor-in-Chief for Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in the Schools (2007-2009) and has served as a guest editor or associate editor for other professional journals.