Invented spelling is a phonemic awareness activity that has the added advantage of being meaningful and functional (Richgels 2001). Children nonconventionally but systematically match sounds in words that they want to write with letters that they know. For example, they may use letter names and sounds in letter names (/ch/ in H, /Al as the name of the letter A, and /r/ in R) when spelling chair as HAR.
Invented spelling begins before children's phonemic awareness is completely developed and before they know all the names of the letters of the alphabet.
With encouragement from adults, it develops through stages that culminate in conventional spelling.
The meanings of both spoken and written language serve real purposes in our daily lives (Halliday 1975). We usually do not speak without wanting to accomplish something useful. For example, we might want to influence others' behavior (“Would you turn that down, please?) express our feelings ("I hate loud music"), or convey information (“Habitual listening to loud music is a danger to one's hearing?) Similarly, with written messages we can influence behavior (NOSMOKING), express feelings (I LOVE NY), and inform (Boston 24 mi) while serving such added purposes as communicating across distances or preserving a message as a record or a reminder.
These added purposes require that written messages be able to stand on their own (Olson 1977 Written language is decontextual- ized; that is, the sender and re- ceiver of a written communication usually do not share the same time and space. The writer is not present to clarify and extend his or her message for the reader. This means that young readers' and writers' extra work includes, in addition to dealing with phonemes and letters dealing with decontextualization.