Dyslexic subtypes and phonological and orthographical processes in spelling

The purpose of this study was to examine whether there are differences between dyslexic subtypes and normally achieving readers matched in age in phonological and orthographical processes in word spelling. The sample consisted of a total of 104 students and it was distributed as follows: 36 normally achieving readers matched for chronological age with the dyslexic subtypes, 26 phonological dyslexics and 42 surface dyslexics. Dictation tasks were administered using words containing syllables which sounds correspond to more than one spelling for the evaluation of the path spelling in writing. In addition, pseudoword writing tasks were administered for the assessment of phonological processes in writing. The results showed that surface dyslexics used less efficient orthographic route in writing compared to normally achieving readers. In contrast, there were no significant differences between groups in the use of the phonological route in writing.