[What are the differences between average readings with writing difficulties and children with reading and writing...

As part of the Viennese longitudinal study on the development of reading and writing skills, children with spelling problems were differentiated from children with combined reading and spelling problems. It could be shown that children with spelling problems only are a rather inhomogeneous group with regard to their further development. At the end of the eighth grade some children still have circumscribed spelling problems, whereas others have overcome their early problems, and still others have also fallen behind in their reading skills. These groups of children can be differentiated early on by the type of spelling errors they make, by their cognitive abilities and by social factors. Children with combined reading and spelling problems are characterized especially by a lack of phonemic awareness.