Children's Spelling Errors on Syllable-Initial Consonant Clusters

Read (1975) discovered that children sometimes fail to spell consonants when the consonants occur in clusters at the ends of words. For example, children may spell sink as "sek," leaving out the/ n ̧. The present research shows that children also omit consonants in clusters at the beginnings of words. For example, children may spell play as "pay." Some 1st graders make these errors in their classroom writings; some kindergarteners and 1st graders make them in experimental tasks. Second-consonant omissions occur whether the cluster is at the beginning of a word, as in play, or at the beginning of a syllable within a word, as in diploma. Although children sometimes add an l to their spelling of play when shown that they have written play and pay alike, they do not always do so. The linguistic basis of the omission errors and their educational implications are discussed.