Thanks all for the replies. Brian Barker was most helpful. It was in the Tools - Options - Languages and the default language was set to English (Canada). When I first attempted to try to problem solve there was nothing to indicate that this might be a problem - but once you start browsing the list, you notice that some have the spell checking feature icon beside particular languages. If English (Canada) is visible - a simple click arrow to view the languages, does not show any of the spell checker icons. Perhaps a button should be visible on the dialog box ( checked or not checked ) to indicate spell check support. I changed it to English (UK) and everything is great now. My student is so happy to have her computer working with Open Office and a working spell checker.
Thanks again all! PS - Hagar - Thank you too. The link you sent was great. - and I think I did register to use the forum - but under a different email account.
