February 24, 2026
How Do You Spell “scribble”?
Spelling and Speech Sound Disorders
“How do you spell ‘scribble‘?” I asked one of my school-aged friends as we worked on the complex consonant clusters. He replied, “cribble.” This little friend has a severe speech sound disorder that impacts his ability to spell many words. I am struck by how many of my friends with missing sounds, distorted sounds, or sound substitutions omit those sounds.
Another example included a friend who demonstrated difficulty with producing “R” and, as a result, omitted “R” from all of her words, whether she was orally spelling or actually writing words. It was as if the sound did not exist in her brain and was therefore omitted.
In Comprehensive Literacy for All, a model is discussed which helps to explain this phenomenon. There is a breakdown between the orthographic processor (print words recognition, spelling patterns) and the phonological processor (sounds of words). Ultimately, it is important to address the meaning processor to help children connect that “pring” is not a real word and therefore does not carry meaning. Another example from my school-aged friend was “top” for “stop.” When put into the highest level of the model known as the context processor, he understood and was motivated to include the “S” sound when telling his brothers to “STOP.” It is important to address all four components of the model when working with children who have severe speech sound disorders to help with spelling skills.