(2) The sound (word) becomes “bound” with performance of the very complex muscular act necessary for articulating it. (3) When school age is reached, certain printed and written symbols, arbitrarily chosen, visually representing sounds, become “bound” (_a_) with the recognized objects, acts, and so forth, and (_b_) with their vocal representatives, so that when the symbols are presented to sight, the word can be uttered by the perceiving individual. This is what we should call ability “to read” the word. (4) The separate elements of the symbols (letters) become associated with each other in the proper sequence, and have the effect of calling each other up to consciousness in the prescribed order. When this has taken place we say that the individual can _spell orally_. (5) The child by a slow, voluntary process “binds” the visual perception of the separate letters with the muscular movements of arm, hand, and fingers necessary to _copy_ the word. (6) The child “binds” the representatives in consciousness of the visual symbols with the motor responses necessary to produce the written word spontaneously, at pleasure. This analysis is probably not exhaustive, but it provides a foundation on which to construct an understanding of poor spellers. Obviously, poor spelling may be due to one or another of quite different defects, or to a combination of several defects. In an ability so complex there is opportunity for the occurrence of a great variety of deficiencies. In any particular case the underlying cause can be discovered only by means of a psychological examination covering the various processes involved. III. PSYCHOLOGICAL EXAMINATION OF POOR SPELLERS[14] Poor spelling, like poor reading, may be due to _sensory defects_, either of the ear or of the eye. If sounds are indistinct, or if visual stimuli are vague or distorted, the prescribed connections involving these elements will be difficult to form. Thus tests of auditory and visual acuity must be given. If any sensory defect is revealed, it should be corrected, if it is corrigible. The degree of _general intelligence_ must be determined. Failure to learn to spell is frequently symptomatic of general incompetence, though not so frequently as in the case of reading. The correlation coefficients cluster around .50 only, in the case of spelling and general intelligence. Quite a number of children will be found, whose achievement in spelling shows marked discrepancy with general capacity. Spelling is more mechanical than reading, so that the stupid may more easily master it by tireless drill, while the intelligent are not likely to derive so much pleasure from it or to practice it so much.