Reading and Spelling in Good and Poor Readers

Abstract

To more easily distinguish patterns of reading and spelling errors, two parallel, standardized reading and spelling forms were designed, based on Boder's work 1971, 1973. They were used in a large metropolitan elementary school to test two groups of children: a normal sample of 34 children from regular fifth-grade classes, and a sample of 18 fourth- to sixth-grade children previously diagnosed as retarded readers. Reliability and validity were examined. The correlation between parallel forms given to the normal sample was 0.96, and correlations with the Wide Range Achievement Test for the combined samples was 0.95. Criteria were established to differentiate between normal, dyseidetic, dysphonetic, and alexic patterns. The two samples were combined to determine the frequency with which these patterns occurred in High, Average and Low readers. Boder's atypical patterns were significantly more common in Average and Low readers.