ABSTRACT
There are some important principles for teaching and correcting children's spelling which apply equally well to hearing and hearing-impaired children. Reading is intimately related to a broad spectrum of language skills but the extent to which reading can teach language is under dispute. Reading is also, essentially, a language activity, although people disagree over which aspects of language are necessary for reading. Like reading, writing depends on the child's grasp of vocabulary, an underlying control of the organizing principles of grammar, and an awareness of intention: conveying meaning to the reader. The interactive view is a particularly useful way of accommodating 'bottom-up' and 'top-down' processes in reading. Bottom-up' skills, such as phonic strategies, may enable the child to attack new words never met before, and to build words up in writing. Children with more severe hearing-impairments are unlikely to master complex syntax and may depend on immature strategies, such as assuming that all sentences follow a Subject-Verb-Object pattern.
