@part(ackn, root "thesis.mss")
@style(spacing 1)
@pageheading(immediate)
@begin(Titlepage)
@begin(titlebox)
@majorheading(A Computer Tool for Use by Children with 
Learning Difficulties in Spelling)


@majorheading(Helen Pain)

@end(titlebox)

@begin(researchcredit)
@heading(Ph.D.)
@heading(University of Edinburgh)
@heading(1985)
@end(researchcredit)
@end(titlepage)
@prefacesection(Abstract)

The development of a computer tool to be used by 
children with learning difficulties in spelling is described
in this thesis. 


Children with spelling disabilities were observed by the author, and their
errors were recorded. 
Based on analysis of these errors, a scheme of error classification
was devised. 
It was hypothesized that there were regularities in the errors;
that the classification scheme describing these errors
could provide adequate information to enable a computer program
to 'debug' the children's errors and to reconstruct the intended
words; and that the children would be able 
to recognize correct spellings even
if they could not produce them.

Two computer programs, the EDITCOST and the PHONCODE programs,
were developed.
These incorporated information about the types of errors that 
were made by the children, described in terms of the  classification scheme.
They were used both to test the hypotheses and
as potential components of a larger program to be used as a compensatory
tool.

The main conclusions drawn from this research are:

The errors made by children with learning difficulties in spelling
show regularities in both the phoneme-grapheme correspondences and
at the level of the orthography.

The classification scheme developed, based on the children's errors,
provides a description of these errors. 
It provides adequate information to enable
a computer program  to 'debug' the children's errors 
and to reconstruct the intended words.

Computer tools in the form of interactive spelling correctors
are able to offer a correction for a substantial 
proportion of the child's errors, and could be extended to provide
more information about the children's errors. They are
also suitable for use with other groups of children.

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@begin(verbatim)


            I DECLARE THAT THIS THESIS HAS BEEN COMPOSED
            BY MYSELF AND THAT THE WORK DESCRIBED IN IT
            IS MY OWN:

            _____________________________________________

                                    (Helen Pain)
@end(verbatim)

@newpage
@heading(Acknowledgements)
I would like to express my gratitude to the following people:

to my supervisors, Jim Howe and Ben du Boulay for comments,
encouragement, and advice;

to Jane Hesketh and Brian Sharratt for typing, comments, proof-reading,
and general support;

to Lincoln Wallen, Bernard Silver and Jeff Phillips for practical help
with Scribe, references and printers;

to Alan Bundy for giving me time for writing, and to all the other
people who gave me encouragement, advice, and comments, including 
Mike Sharples, Richard Young, Henry Thompson, Peter Ross and Graeme
Ritchie;

to Roger Mitton for the corpus of spelling errors, to Arthur
Biagi for judging them, and to Roland Backhouse
for explaining his algorithm;

to Alan, Boog, Bob and Heather for putting up with me while I did it,
and to Dave for the coffee;

and particularly to Mrs Wellwood, Mrs Raymond and the children of 
South Bridge Reading Unit, Edinburgh.


This work was supported by a Social Science Research Council
studentship.
@heading(Published Paper)

A paper proposing the research described in this thesis was
published in the proceedings of the W.C.C.E. (I.F.I.P) conference, (Lausanne,
Switzerland) 1981:
@i(Computers in Education), R. Lewis and D. Tagg (editors), North-Holland.
A copy of this paper is included, inside the back cover.
@newpage

@subheading(References) 