Pernilla Soderberg Juhlander (Linnaeus University)Ake Olofsson - Gavle University and Umea University - Spelling development during the first year of school. Purpose: To provide a detailed description of the development of spelling during the first year of schooling, and a comparison of the development of decoding and spelling. Method: One year longitudinal study of the first year of reading development in 35 seven year old Swedish children. Word decoding and letter knowledge was assessed with a computer based procedure and spelling was measured with paper and pencil tasks. The word material consisted of; (a) very familiar (content and functor) mono syllable simple words; (b) complex words which occur with high frequency in the early stages of children's reading schemes; (c) simple one-syllable pseudowords and (d) two-syllable pseudowords. Assessment of letter knowledge and phonological awareness was done prior to school entry. Results: The children had problems spelling words containing orthographic complexities, bi-syllabic nonwords were a bit easier to spell. The best result was found for simple words and for mono syllabic nonwords. Simple words and mono syllabic nonwords were relatively easier to spell than to read. On the contrary, complex words and bi-syllabic words were easier to read than to spell. Conclusions: When learning to read and spell, in the Swedish orthography, the beginning readers frequently encounter simple and short (mono syllabic) words. This may give the impression that spelling is easier than reading. This impression is reinforced by the phenomenon that it is often easier to interpret a misspelled word than a misread one. The pedagogical implications of these findings are discussed.