Spelling abilities of Dutch children with developmental language disorder on words differing in complexity

Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) often have spelling difficulties. Previous research has established that children with DLD, especially those with additional reading problems, perform below typically developing (TD) children on spelling, but it is unknown if they struggle with certain types of words. We compared the spelling dictation outcomes of 152 Dutch children with DLD attending special education in Grades 5/6, to that of 129 TD children in Grades 4/5, and 108 TD children in Grades 2/3. The dictation task included transparent words (spaarpot ‘piggy bank’), analogy-based words (maaien ‘to mow’), rule-based words (takken ‘branches’), and visual imprint words (cactus ‘cactus’). Within the group of children with DLD, we compared the performance of children with average-to-good reading abilities (n = 62) to that of children with poor reading abilities (n = 82). Children with DLD spelled significantly fewer words correctly than TD children in Grades 4/5, but performed similarly on mean spelling correct to TD children in Grades 2/3. When comparing word categories within groups, all three groups of children performed best on analogy-based words. A difference in spelling patterns on the complex word categories emerged between the groups: Children with DLD in Grades 5/6 and TD children in Grades 4/5 performed similarly on rule-based and visual imprint words, whereas TD children in Grades 2/3 performed better on rule-based than on visual imprint words. Finally, average-to-good readers with DLD outperformed poor readers with DLD on spelling. Children with DLD are delayed in their spelling development. Their spelling pattern on complex word categories is comparable to that of TD children slightly younger than them. A more substantial delay emerges for children with DLD with word reading difficulties compared to children with DLD-only, though their spelling patterns are similar. The results suggest that children with DLD still require continued intensive spelling instruction for all word categories at the end of elementary school.