The Neuropsychological Basis of Problems in Writing, Spelling, and Arithmetic

Abstract

In this chapter we discuss the processes of writing and spelling as the logical sequence to the discussion in Chapter 8 of reading and reading problems, because a child who “has difficulty in the comprehension and use of spoken or read language ... will probably have difficulty learning to use written language” (Chalfant & Scheffelin, 1969). The reader will remember that according to Myklebust’s developmental hierarchy of language skills, written language is the last to be acquired and is only learned normally if all of the preceding stages have been successfully established. Not only is writing the last language function to be acquired, but it is practiced and used least, even by highly educated people. This may account for its being the first language skill to suffer following any type of diffuse brain damage or deterioration. It is a common observation that many elderly people lose their ability to write letters while still retaining the competence for normal simple conversation.

Man’s language systems, the auditory and the written, develop sequentially according to a pattern determined phylogenetically and ontogenetically, neurologically and psychologically.

Helmer R. Myklebust (1965)

The indispensable instrument of the writer is not so much the pen as the left cerebral hemisphere.

Oliver L. Zangwill (1976)