IS THERE A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SPELLING RE TARDATION AND COMBINED READING AND SPELLING RETARDATION - DEVELOPMENTAL COURSE, PATTERN OF SPELLING-ERRORS AND COGNITIVE PREREQUISITES

As part of the Viennese longitudinal study on the development of readi ng and writing skills, children with spelling problems were differenti ated from children with combined reading and spelling problems. It cou ld be shown that children with spelling problems only are a rather inh omogeneous group with regard to their further development. At the end of the eighth grade some children still have circumscribed spelling pr oblems, whereas others have overcome their early problems, and still o thers have also fallen behind in their reading skills. These groups of children can be differentiated early on by the type of spelling error s they make, by their cognitive abilities and by social factors. Child ren with combined reading and spelling problems are characterized espe cially by a lack of phonemic awareness.