Precommunicative Spellers

My kindergarten buddy D is a very active young boy. When looking at D you can just see the wheels in his head turning around and around. He wrote a note on the back of a picture for me that if I remember correctly looked like this nIcEToMEETYA. When D wrote nice to meet ya, I think most if not all letters where capitalized without any spaces between them and all the same size letters throughout his writing. In another sample of writing he wrote, “HOWDOYOULIKEOURSCHOOL?” with help from me on spelling or finding words he wanted around the room and then writing them. He seems to be a precommunicative speller in that their is no spacing in between words but other than that he doesn't show any other of the characteristics of a precommunicative speller: mock letters mixed with real letters, pictures more visible than writing, same letter repeated, writing randomly around the page. When D uses resources around the room to spell how close is that to invented spelling? Is it a step before?

In relationship to his writing D seems to be ahead in his reading. We read, "The Giving Tree" and when I asked questions about it his answer showed comprehension of the story. He also did not just repeat words and phrases or paraphrase when he read the "long parts" which he specifically asked to read.

The progressive and relationship of writing to reading is very interesting to me. It seems similar to the chicken and the egg question in that when I ask myself which comes first it seems they both support the other. I am looking forward to the reading assessment to see if my observations will be supported or not. And just to add another level of mystery and consideration for myself as I was leaving on Tuesday D held up his Hh card and proceeded to say don't forget your a Hh and with me, as he made the /h/ sound as he held up his card.