The spelling competence of partially sighted children

Abstract

The spelling of a group of 11 partially sighted children, aged 6-10 years, was compared with that of a matched group of 22 fully sighted children, all tested during 1986-7. There was evidence that young partially sighted children were slower to make a start with spelling. No differences were found between the two groups in terms of the reproduction of silent or anomalous letters, nor in the inappropriate use of letter-sound correspondences. However, the spelling of the partially sighted children was significantly less accurate than that of the fully sighted children and this was thought to reflect their visual impairment.