Dysorthography refers to a set of writing errors that affect spelling, but do not affect the layout, shape or direction of written letters and words. Therefore, it must be differentiated from syslexia and dysgraphia. Dysorthography affects the ability to transcribe spoken or written vocabulary with the corresponding graphemes and complying with spelling rules. To learn more about dysorthography, do not hesitate to continue reading this Psychology-Online article: What is dysorthography: symptoms, causes, treatment and examples.
Symptoms of dysorthography
People who suffer from dysorthography usually present a series of common characteristics in their errors:
- They replace phonemes due to their similar mode of articulation (for example: f/z, t/d, p/b).
- Omissions: both in symphonies (two consonants in the same syllable, for example, write “spleen” instead of “arm”), and in syllabic distension (letters that lose strength in their pronunciation, for example, write “la” instead of “las”) and also in syllables in their entirety (they write “pron” instead of “pronto”). The letter “h” is also omitted, or even entire words can be omitted.
- Additions: that is, adding letters (for example, they write “bacalado” instead of “bacalao”), syllables (for example, they write “patatata” instead of “patata”) or even words.
- Investments: of graphemes (for example, they write “bulsa” instead of “blouse”), of syllables (for example, they write “telenofo” instead of “telephone”) or even of words.
- Another symptom of dysorthography is characterized by substituting letters that are similar by their position (d/b, b/p), or letters that have similar visual characteristics (m/n, a/e).
- They confuse words that have different meanings depending on which phonemes they are written with (throw and vote).
- People who suffer from dysorthography also confuse words that allow different sounds depending on the vowels, that is, words that are pronounced in one way or another depending on the vowels (cat, guitar, shoe, cherry, vase, spin).
- Difficulty separating words into syllables.
- Another characteristic of people who suffer from dysorthography is the presence of errors in punctuation marks and accents.
- They do not use capital letters after a period or at the beginning of the text.
Causes of dysorthography
There are a variety of causes of dysorthography:
- Deficit in perception
- Deficits in visual memory and auditory memory
- Spatiotemporal deficiency (difficulties locating oneself in space and time)
- Dysorthography can also be caused by intellectual immaturity
- Phonological problems or difficulties
- Poor knowledge and use of vocabulary
- Another cause of dysorthography is low motivation
- Difficulties in attending to the task that writing entails. In this case, it is important.
- Problems in the teaching method
Treatment of dysorthography
Firstly, an evaluation will be carried out to rule out that the patient has other disorders related to writing such as or .
Next, in order to carry out adequate treatment for dysorthography, it is essential to take into account the factors related to learning spelling. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the patient’s cognitive level, since knowing this level allows us to obtain relevant data about their spelling, such as short-term memory capacity, reasoning ability, verbal comprehension and processing speed. It can be done specifically for children to rule out other difficulties. It is also of utmost importance evaluate the patient’s spelling, as well as their reading-writing ability in order to observe the difficulties and errors made by the patient. This evaluation can be carried out through psychological tests and/or through exercises such as dictation, copying a text or free writing.
Therefore, it is appropriate to work with the patient strategies to improve your spellingalways respecting their learning pace, so that little by little they can master these strategies and allow themselves to learn the same as their peers who do not suffer from dysorthography.
One of the tasks external to the school, which can be carried out by the family or external professionals, is the review of the exercises done at school, in order to correct your mistakes and try to work to improve themeither by explaining its correct form or practicing similar exercises.
Furthermore, the fact that the school, the family and an external professional can work together to improve the situation of the patient with dysorthography is very enriching, since it allows sharing knowledge and resources in order to provide greater support to the patient.
Examples of dysorthography
With the following examples we can demonstrate that there are different situations in which signs of dysorthography can be detected, in this case we exemplify two situations: at school and at home.
Example of dysorthography detected at school
On the first day of first grade class, the teacher asks his students to write about how their summer went. When the teacher corrects the essays, he detects that one of his students has a large number of spelling mistakes, especially inverts syllables, eliminates letters and confuses letters that are pronounced in the same sound, such as “b” and “v”. Then, the teacher decides to talk to his parents to propose a joint project so that his son can improve his writing and thus be able to advance more fluidly in his learning. Furthermore, he proposes that they have the support of the school’s educational psychologist, and therefore asks for her authorization.
Example of dysorthography detected at home
During the Christmas holidays, a girl is writing the letter for the wise men. When the girl finishes writing she shows it to her mother so she can read it. Then, the mother detects that there are spelling mistakes in her writing, specifically, she realizes that her daughter change the order of the syllables that complete the words or add extra syllables. What the mother decides to do is explain to the girl how those words are written and the mistakes she has made, at the same time that she tells her daughter’s father what has happened. After a long conversation, the parents decide to contact a psychologist so she can help them.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
If you want to read more articles similar to What is dysorthography: symptoms, causes, treatment and exampleswe recommend that you enter our category.
Bibliography
- Celdrán, IM, and Zamorano, F. (1998). Difficulties in the acquisition of reading-writing and other learning.
- Cobo, B. (2011). Disorders in learning reading, calculation and writingUra. Magna Pedagogy, 11, 56-65.
- Ramírez, MC (2010). ¿What is dysorthography? Digital magazine for teaching professionals, 9, 1-10.