As a V-S who instinctively gets phonics these descriptions annoy me. Spelling is V-S!
It's VS & instinctive only if it is instinctively VS... Meaning, schools shower kids with bottom up phonics, but without some epiphany of the organization and structure and logic of language the system level organizational mind is left in the dust.
Spelling has phonological, orthographic, and morphological aspects to it. The phonological aspect is the main aspect of spelling for which VS learners would be predicted to be relatively weak. The orthographic dimension is affected by phonological awareness, but mainly has to do with mapping-to-automaticity (paired associations) of phonemes and graphemes. It also has a visual-symbolic component, because of the graphemes (not so much the literal visual image, but the symbol, as research finds that successful orthographic mapping is font independent). Morphology has visual dimensions to it, and more importantly for high-concept learners, meaning and context (based on word roots/etymology, grammar).
The interaction of these aspects of reading/spelling is why you may find individuals who can decode accurately at a very high level, but have poor fluency/speed. They have phonics, but have not achieved automaticity in their orthographic mapping. Or individuals with excellent reading comprehension, but labored decoding. They are able to employ morphological skills to capture the meaning of text, but aren't always precisely accurate with decoding. I actually have a student with excellent decoding/encoding and fluency, but weaker grammar/syntax, and limited comprehension.
The reason schools currently push phonics so strongly is that it is the more consistently successful method of reading instruction for the vast majority of people. Surprisingly, it does not require even average cognition to become a fluent reader using high-quality phonological awareness-based reading instruction. Programs like OG & Wilson are so effective because they combine PA with the rules and patterns that systems-minds need, so they teach explicitly to a wider segment of the population.
