Uncovering the cognitive architecture of spelling

A variety of different patterns of spelling impairment may be observed subsequent to neurological damage. For example, “sauce” might be spelled as SOSS or as SOUCF or as GRAVY. Errors such as these, as well as other aspects of the spelling performance of dysgraphic individuals, have made fundamental contributions to our understanding of the nature and organization of the mental operations that are normally involved in spelling words. In this chapter we will first provide an overview of our current understanding of the normal spelling process. We will then illustrate, through a series of case studies, how the performance of dysgraphic individuals has been used in uncovering this cognitive architecture of spelling. In a final section we review what we have learned from the study of acquired dysgraphia about the structure and organization of the representations of word spellings themselves.