Cognitive psychology has provided an information processing model that distinguishes between input processes such as listening to speech or reading and output processes such as speaking or writing. It is useful for spelling reformers to consider reading (input) and writing (output) processes separately, because the demands of the reader and of the writer are, to a large extent, incompatible. The writer might wish to use a sound-to-letter strategy, possibly an individual shorthand. On the other hand, the reader may find phonetic or shorthand writing very demanding since reading rarely uses a letter-to-sound strategy. Readers tend to rely on a variety of cues present in conventional English orthography. These cues may relate directly (visually rather than phonologically) to the meaning, origin, and syntactic function of words. As seen from this point of view, a purely phonetic spelling reform would favor only the writer and penalize the reader. An ideally efficient communication system for written language would have to allow for the different requirements of the reader and writer. One solution would be a device that could be linked to a keyboard or writing pad and transform input written phonetically or in individual shorthand into output that would appear on screen or in print as widely readable copy and that could be programed to give as much graphic and orthographic information as is desirable. (Author/HOD)