Word Forms Not allowing Spell Checking

Users have created a template of a form. The form contains check boxes and text fields. The template was protected as a form. The end users want to spellcheck the text that they have entered, but Word 97 & 2000 have the spell check grayed out. If the protection is turned off, spell check returns, but it only checks the template, not the text entered into the fields. Is there a way to check this text?