Unraveling Cognitive and Literacy Mechanisms in Hebrew Reading and Spelling Profiles

Reading and spelling abilities typically show strong correlations, yet dissociations between these skills have been documented across languages. This study examined reading-spelling profiles among Hebrew-speaking children to identify distinct cognitive patterns in a morphologically rich, deep orthography. A total of 646 fourth-grade students (mean age 9.73 years) completed assessments of word reading fluency, spelling accuracy, phonological awareness, orthographic knowledge, morphological awareness, rapid automatized naming, vocabulary, and semantic judgment. Participants were classified into four groups based on reading and spelling performance using 25th percentile cutoffs, resulting in: Typical performers (59.9%), Low-Both (18.3%), Low-Reading (9.1%), and Low-Spelling (12.7%). ANOVA revealed significant group differences across most cognitive measures (all p < .001). Hierarchical regression analyses showed differential predictors of fluency for each profile: orthographic knowledge and phonological awareness predicted performance in Low-Both; morphological awareness in Low-Reading; rapid naming and orthographic knowledge in Low-Spelling; and multiple integrated skills in Typical performers. In addition, differential predictors of spelling were also found in each profile, which differed markedly from reading. These findings demonstrate that reading-spelling dissociations occur in Hebrew, a morphologically rich language, with each profile characterized by distinct cognitive strengths and weaknesses. These results have important implications for developing targeted literacy interventions that address profile-specific deficits rather than applying uniform approaches.