At which spelling level is a child like Levi when they write the word "sailboat" as "PKLLEEP"?

The spelling level demonstrated by Levi when he spells "sailboat" as "PKLLEEP" indicates he is at the prephonemic stage. In this stage, children often rely on the shapes and visual aspects of letters rather than their phonetic sounds. Levi's attempt to represent "sailboat" with "PKLLEEP" shows that he is not connecting the sounds of the letters to the corresponding phonemes in the word. Instead, he is likely using an arbitrary combination of letters that may not reflect any sound structure typical of English words.

This level is characterized by young children's use of various letters, sometimes reflecting a recognition of the form of words rather than an understanding of how letters correspond to sounds. In prephonemic spelling, children may inclusively select letters based on visual preferences, showing early experimentation with writing but lacking phonemic awareness. As they progress toward phonemic levels, they will begin to connect sounds with letters more consistently, leading to more phonetically accurate spellings.