Trouble with visual processing can make it hard to do things like memorize spelling patterns or notice the difference between letters like p and q. Work with a speech therapist on perception of individual sounds in words. This can also help develop active listening skills. Give spelling tests one-on-one in a quiet room or with headphones playing a recording of the words that need to be spelled.
Computer spellchecking programs can be a big help for kids and adults who struggle with spelling. Focus on building a solid foundation. Share Learning and thinking differences that cause trouble with spelling. Podcast Wunder community app. Main menu Our work Blog Surveys and research. Join our team Privacy policy Terms of use Fundraising disclosure Sitemap. At a Glance Many kids and adults struggle with spelling.
Trouble with spelling can be a sign of learning and thinking differences, like dyslexia. Here are learning and thinking differences that can cause trouble with spelling. Let students take spelling tests orally instead of writing the answers.
Offer oral spelling tests instead of written ones. Sit near the teacher and away from noisy doors or windows. Avoid crowding spelling words together on a page. Richard Gentry offers timely and practical solutions to many of the problems parents of K-8 children face. The book is packed with tools, guidelines, and strategies that parents can immediately use, including:. Contents: 1. Spelling Right from the Start 2. The Spelling Guideposts 3.
Is Your Child on Grade Level? First, we now know that a child learns to spell in a roughly predictable series of steps that build on one another Ehri , ; Gill, ; Henderson, Second, we also now understand that spelling memory is dependent on a child's growing knowledge of spoken and written word structure.
While visual memory — more specifically, "orthographic" memory — is vital for learning to spell, it doesn't work alone. Spelling memory — memory for letter sequences — is enhanced by a child's awareness of phonemes, or speech sounds. At more advanced levels, spelling memory draws on a child's knowledge of word structure, words' meaningful parts, a word's relationship to other words, and so on.
Word knowledge builds systematically on other word knowledge. It's that cycle of success that teachers love to see develop: Learning begets learning. Most young children who are exposed to print in their homes spontaneously begin to experiment with writing.
Although they may know the names of some letters, recognize letter forms, and realize that letters represent speech sounds, they may not understand what a word is or realize that print represents words and that spaces represent boundaries between them. Reading at this stage is "logographic," meaning that a child guesses at whole words based on their visual features Ehri, After children have experimented with imitative writing and developed an awareness of alphabet letter names, a shift occurs.
They begin to realize that letters represent speech sounds Bissex, ; Gentry, ; Henderson, , and selectively and predictably use abbreviated spellings. For example, a child may use a few letters, usually consonants, to represent words, syllables, initial letters, or pieces of words. Often these consonants correspond to an alphabet letter name. At this stage, children may use their knowledge of letter names and partial phonetic cues to read Ehri , but their ability to identify and segment word sounds is still limited.
As children gain more knowledge of print and develop an awareness of speech sounds, sound-letter correspondences, and letter names, they often employ a "one letter spells one sound" strategy.
This typically occurs in kindergarten and early first grade. At this point, children "spell" by matching sounds to letters and consistently representing all of a word's sounds. To do this they rely on how words feel in their mouths.
Widely known as "invented spelling" or "temporary spelling," this process means that children use phonetic spellings and letter names to represent long or short vowels and consonants. This stage is typical of five- and six-year-olds who are signaling their readiness to learn conventional spelling patterns. Here are some typical examples of invented spellings:. As children gain exposure to print, practice writing, and become even more aware of the sounds in words, they begin to recognize and recall larger orthographic patterns, or "chunks", and use them to spell other words.
For example, a typical first grader's spellings of common words might change over a period of several months as follows:.
What do children need to know to move beyond temporary spellings? A lot! To progress, children must master letter combinations, spelling patterns, and ending rules. They must also master the phonic elements of consonants, vowels, consonant blends, and consonant digraphs — and much more.
When they move from early to transitional stages, they're on the way to learning the patterns and rules that make for good spelling.
After children gain more experience with print, receive systematic instruction, and improve their reading ability, they begin to understand that most sounds are represented by letter combinations. They see that syllables are spelled in predictable ways and meaningful parts of words, such as grammatical endings and Latin and Greek roots and affixes, are preserved in English. A child at this stage is likely to make errors such as the following:.
Scholastic offers a helpful printable chart that summarizes spelling rules for ei vs. Once your child memorizes these basics, he or she will be able to apply them consistently and catch his or her spelling mistakes more easily. Practice, practice, practice. Provided a student has a basic understanding of word structure, letter sounds, common spelling rules and relationships between words, repetition is critical to master spelling.
As your child studies his or her new weekly spelling words, try the look, visualize, write, check approach. If your child gets tripped up with the same words over and over, practice them in the same way you would if they were brand new spelling words.
Spelling takes continued practice—and even adults can struggle with it throughout their lives. Frequent reading and repeated exposure to the spoken and written word are the best ways for students to acquire strong spelling skills. And when problems arise, early intervention is critical as with all literacy skills. The sooner you can spot and correct spelling difficulties, the easier it will be for your child to become a good speller.
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