What are the main types of dysorthography?

There are three main types of dysorthography: Phonological dysorthography (affects phoneme-grapheme conversion), Surface dysorthography (affects orthographic lexicon), and Mixed dysorthography (affects both pathways, resulting in all types of errors).

What are typical phonological errors in dysorthography?

Phonological errors include omissions (like 'arbre' becoming 'abre'), additions (like 'partir' becoming 'paretir'), substitutions (like 'chapeau' becoming 'sapeau'), and inversions (like 'pour' becoming 'poru').

How is dysorthography different from dyslexia?

While dyslexia is a reading disorder, dysorthography specifically affects spelling abilities. They are often associated and can occur together (called dyslexia-dysorthography), but dysorthography can also exist in isolation as a standalone spelling disorder.

What are usage or lexical errors in dysorthography?

Usage or lexical errors primarily affect irregular words and involve difficulties with the orthographic lexicon. For example, writing 'monsieur' incorrectly due to its irregular spelling pattern that doesn't follow standard phoneme-grapheme conversion rules.

What causes phonetically implausible errors in dysorthography?

Phonetically implausible errors are caused by phonological dysorthography, which affects the phoneme-grapheme conversion mechanism. This results in spelling errors where the written word doesn't sound like the intended word, such as writing 'bateau' as 'pato'.

Dysorthography: Complete Guide for Speech Therapists

Q: What is dysorthography?

Dysorthography is a specific disorder of spelling acquisition, of neurobiological origin. It manifests as persistent difficulties in writing words correctly, in the absence of intellectual disability, sensory disorder, or lack of instruction. It is often associated with dyslexia but can exist in isolation.

Dysorthography is a specific learning disorder related to spelling. Often associated with dyslexia, it can also exist in isolation. It is characterized by persistent difficulties in correctly spelling words despite appropriate teaching. This guide presents the types of dysorthography, assessment, and rehabilitation strategies.

✍️ Resources for Dysorthography

Spelling exercises, visual rules, mnemonic strategies

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What is Dysorthography?

Dysorthography is a specific disorder of spelling acquisition, of neurobiological origin. It manifests as persistent difficulties in writing words correctly, in the absence of intellectual disability, sensory disorder, or lack of instruction.

It is often associated with dyslexia (reading disorder), but can exist in isolation. When both disorders are present, it is referred to as dyslexia-dysorthography.

Types of Dysorthography

Type	Affected Mechanism	Typical Errors
Phonological	Phoneme-grapheme conversion	Phonetically implausible errors: "bateau" → "pato"
Surface	Orthographic lexicon	Errors on irregular words: "femme" → "fame"
Mixed	Both pathways	All types of errors

Types of Spelling Errors

Phonological Errors

Omissions: "arbre" → "abre"
Additions: "partir" → "paretir"
Substitutions: "chapeau" → "sapeau"
Inversions: "pour" → "poru"

Usage/Lexical Errors

Irregular Words: "monsieur" → "mesieu"
Homophones: "a/à", "son/sont"
Silent Letters: "temps" → "temp"

Grammatical Errors

Agreements: "les chats noir"
Conjugations: "ils mange"
Grammatical Homophones: "et/est", "ce/se"

Assessment

Word Dictation: regular, irregular, pseudo-words
Sentence/Text Dictation
Spontaneous Written Production
Qualitative Analysis of errors
Reading Assessment (often associated)
Phonological Awareness

Speech Therapy Intervention

💡 Rehabilitation Principles

Target the type of dysorthography (phonological, surface, grammatical)
Clarify rules and strategies
Multi-sensory: see, hear, write, spell
Repetition and automation
Metacognition: learning to proofread

Work Areas

Phonological Awareness: segmentation, manipulation of sounds
Phoneme-Grapheme Correspondences: systematic learning
Orthographic Lexicon: memorization of frequent and irregular words
Spelling Rules: explicit, with mnemonic aids
Grammar: agreements, conjugations
Proofreading Strategies

School Accommodations

Extra Time
Computer with spell checker
No Penalty for spelling (except dictation)
Adapted Dictation: fill-in-the-blanks, multiple choice, shortened
Oral Assessment when possible
Supports: memos, displayed rules

Our Downloadable Tools

🎶 Phonological Awareness

Foundation of phonetic spelling.

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📝 Visual Spelling Rules

Illustrated memos of the main rules.

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🔤 Frequent Words Cards

Words to memorize globally.

Download

✅ Proofreading Checklist

Check-list for self-correction.

Download

Frequently Asked Questions

📌 Is dysorthography always associated with dyslexia?

No, not always. Most dyslexics also have dysorthography (reading and writing share mechanisms). But dysorthography can exist without dyslexia: the person reads correctly but has difficulties writing. This is particularly the case when the lexical pathway (orthographic memory) is affected.

📌 Is the spell checker sufficient?

The spell checker is a valuable aid but is not sufficient. It does not correct everything (grammatical homophones, misspelled but existing words) and does not replace understanding of the rules. Rehabilitation aims to improve spelling skills, and the spell checker is a complementary compensatory tool.

✍️ Supporting Dysorthography

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