Recognition of oral spelling is diagnostic of the central reading processes

Abstract

The task of recognition of oral spelling (stimulus: “C-A-T”, response: “cat”) is often administered to individuals with acquired written language disorders, yet there is no consensus about the underlying cognitive processes. We adjudicate between two existing hypotheses: Recognition of oral spelling uses central reading processes, or recognition of oral spelling uses central spelling processes in reverse. We tested the recognition of oral spelling and spelling to dictation abilities of a single individual with acquired dyslexia and dysgraphia. She was impaired relative to matched controls in spelling to dictation but unimpaired in recognition of oral spelling. Recognition of oral spelling for exception words (e.g., colonel) and pronounceable nonwords (e.g., larth) was intact. Our results were predicted by the hypothesis that recognition of oral spelling involves the central reading processes. We conclude that recognition of oral spelling is a useful tool for probing the integrity of the central reading processes.

Keywords:

• acquired dyslexia
• recognition of oral spelling
• reverse spelling
• reading
• spelling

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Brenda Rapp for her suggestion to address the mechanisms of recognition of oral spelling with these data. We are also grateful to L.H.D. for her cooperation and patience.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The first author was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) grant [grant number 9972807] to the Johns Hopkins Department of Cognitive Science.