Spelling woes!

[Mom in High Heels]

Indy simply cannot spell!  He's dyslexic, so I get that it's hard, but seriously, it's terrible.  He writes 'could' as 'coughd' and it's the same for would, and should.  Thought is 'that' and it's the same with caught.  These are just a few I can think of off the top of my head.  We have tried spelling programs, including Phonetics Zoo, but he just doesn't get it.  HELP!

[Cheryl in CA]

Have you looked at Apples and Pears?

[Ellie]

Indy simply cannot spell!  He's dyslexic, so I get that it's hard, but seriously, it's terrible.  He writes 'could' as 'coughd' and it's the same for would, and should.  Thought is 'that' and it's the same with caught.  These are just a few I can think of off the top of my head.  We have tried spelling programs, including Phonetics Zoo, but he just doesn't get it.  HELP!

 

Spalding. :-)

[sbgrace]

Is Phonetic Zoo a rule based program? I watched a video, and she kept talking about 47 rules, but I can't tell how it works.

 

At any rate, if this is rules you might look into a different approach like Apples and Pears. My son made much more progress with that.

[Mom in High Heels]

sbgrace, isn't that a British program though?  Do they have an America spelling version? I can't find it.

[OneStepAtATime]

What are you using to remediate his issues stemming from dyslexia?  Have you tried an actual Orton Gillingham based program?  Not something for an NT kid but for a true dyslexic?  Standard programs may not work at all.  

 

FWIW, DD could not spell to save her life.  She was in a brick and mortar for 7 years.  Spelling never improved.  And we wasted hours and hours and hours every single day, including weekends and summers, studying spelling.  Wasted time.  I feel sick inside at how much time we wasted on studying for spelling in totally ineffective ways for a dyslexic.  Starting her on a system for reading/spelling/grammar/writing that was designed specifically for dyslexics is what finally turned things around.  But I had to be willing to walk away from all preconceived notions of how to learn to spell and start her at the very beginning.  It worked.  It is still working.  

[Cheryl in CA]

sbgrace, isn't that a British program though?  Do they have an America spelling version? I can't find it.

 

It is a British program, but there aren't any issues with British spellings until Book D (the author purposely avoided British spellings in Books A - C).  The author plans to eventually make an American version of Book D but it likely won't be out for a while.  There aren't very many British spelling patterns in Book D, so they are easy to work around.  There are some British words in Books A - C, but we just look them up if we don't know what they are (such as "torch" instead of flashlight).

[Soror]

Well, my son has spelling issues and we did some All About Spelling early on and a full year with Logic of English Essentials, although it seemed to work well at first, it didn't stick at all. The words he knew were the same coming in and going out, the rules based approach didn't work for him and other kids like him, like your son. We are now using Apple and Pears since it has a great track record for similar kids. It is too early to comment on the success of it but I'd seriously consider it. I would also agree with OneStep it would be good to look at remediation, regular programs aren't going to work, no matter how many you use. 

[sbgrace]

sbgrace, isn't that a British program though?  Do they have an America spelling version? I can't find it.

 

I bought mine through the US shop on their site:

http://www.prometheantrust.org/usshop.htm

 

Book D has had a few British spellings, but they have been obvious to me (such as favourable).  I cross them out and write the US spelling in his book. I didn't see any spelling differences in the first 3 books.

[Mom in High Heels]

Thanks everyone. For those asking, he has had Davis Dyslexia Therapy, which helped so much with his reading, but his spelling didn't improve at all.  We've tried so many spelling programs, and none of them have really worked.  I found a used copy of Mega Words, so we're going to try that first.  I'm afraid this is really going to hurt him in high school and college.  He types some stuff, so there's spell check, but some of the words have such insane spelling, even spell check has no suggestions.  He's frustrated, and so am I.  I feel like I'm failing at this, and not prepping him well.  James Bond is also dyslexic, and his spelling is also horrible, which frustrates him terribly, as he has to write tons of reports for work.  Luckily no report ever gets sent up without someone else reviewing it for content, accuracy and grammar, so the spelling is always checked.  His medical record states that he's dyslexic, so he makes sure his command knows it.  Sigh.

[Guest RTB]

Look into All About Spelling.

[OneStepAtATime]

You might try another specialized dyslexia program, if you can afford it.  Look at Barton and Wilson and maybe Lindamood Bell.

 

He may need a different approach than Davis or a slightly different approach but in more depth.  You might contact Susan Barton directly (get on the Barton Reading and Spelling website for the contact info) and ask her.  She knows the Davis program and might be able to address whether a system like Barton or Wilson or Lindamood Bell might be of more benefit with spelling.  She is very willing to communicate.  Very supportive.  She was the one who told me definitely not to use her system with DS until we had remediated certain issues with LiPS, a Lindamood Bell program.  

 

FWIW, Barton turned spelling completely around for DD.  She couldn't spell anything to save her life before.  It has helped DS tremendously, too, but certain sound processing issues are tripping him up a bit with this program.  Still, DD and DS absolutely have made massive strides in spelling (and reading) compared to where they were.  It might help your child.  I would do some research first though.

 

And look into software assistance like Dragon Naturally Speaking paired with Ginger while you work on remediation.

[Chelli]

Apples and Pears. Seriously.

 

I don't even have a child that's dyslexic, but the improvement in her spelling in such a short amount of time was miraculous! 

[Haiku]

Two words: assistive technology. Get the kid a dictation program like Dragon or a predictive typing program like Ghotit or WordQ. I resisted it until I realized my son didn't want to create anything because the effort of physical writing and spelling was overwhelming for him.

 

Three words: Apples and Pears. It's the only spelling program we tried that has helped my son at all. Don't worry about British spellings. They are minimal.

 

One word: tutoring. If what he did before didn't help his spelling, try something else. My son gets OG tutoring twice a week. It's expensive but effective.

 

Just so you know where I'm coming from, here's how my son titled a recent story he typed: Who the tucans beek got its multupil culers.

[LaughingCat]

You can get the limited version of Ginger spell checker for free.

[OneStepAtATime]

You can get the limited version of Ginger spell checker for free.

What LaughingCat said.  :)

 

And Dragon was having a sale recently.  You might look.  Those two paired together might work wonders for helping him with output while you work on remediation.

[Haiku]

I've not been super impressed with Ginger, honestly. It offers either no or wrong suggestions for fixing my son's creative spelling. Ghotit has done a better job. It fixed the Who the tucans beek got its multupil culers issue I mentioned above, while Ginger wanted to change tucans to tokens and offered no suggestions for culers. Plus, you buy Ghotit and own it, whereas with Ginger you seem to just pay monthly ... forever. WordQ+SpeakQ is another option.

[AHASRADA]

Have you read the "Dyslexia Empowerment Plan"? It really opened my eyes to the fact that, while we should do our best to remediate to a point, we should make sure we aren't trying to "fix" our kids. The author suggests tutoring using an OG program for 2 years, then focus on using technology, like the ones recommended. He makes good points that we would never insist a blind person should be able to read print if they just work at it long enough and that somehow using braille is a cop out, or that a paralyzed person just needs to be given more time to be allowed to crawl up the stairs instead of providing a ramp. These analogies really helped me to see that I wasn't a failure if my dd never learned to spell as well as a NT student, and there is no shame in using technology or accommodations to level the playing field.

 

Go ahead and try different spelling programs, spend a few minutes a day on them (my dd is still working through Megawords). But, the greatest preparation you can give him for high school and college is figuring out what technologies work best for him, implementing them, and creating a paper trail of both his diagnosis and accommodations used so he will be allowed to continue to use them when he enters higher education.

[OneStepAtATime]

Have you read the "Dyslexia Empowerment Plan"? It really opened my eyes to the fact that, while we should do our best to remediate to a point, we should make sure we aren't trying to "fix" our kids. The author suggests tutoring using an OG program for 2 years, then focus on using technology, like the ones recommended. He makes good points that we would never insist a blind person should be able to read print if they just work at it long enough and that somehow using braille is a cop out, or that a paralyzed person just needs to be given more time to be allowed to crawl up the stairs instead of providing a ramp. These analogies really helped me to see that I wasn't a failure if my dd never learned to spell as well as a NT student, and there is no shame in using technology or accommodations to level the playing field. Go ahead and try different spelling programs, spend a few minutes a day on them (my dd is still working through Megawords). But, the greatest preparation you can give him for high school and college is figuring out what technologies work best for him, implementing them, and creating a paper trail of both his diagnosis and accommodations used so he will be allowed to continue to use them when he enters higher education.

 

Agree with this.   :iagree:

 

I would still try to run him through a very OG based system again, though.  Just as with anything, not every program works well for every child.  Davis does not have the same track record as other OG systems (if you read independent reviews, not the Davis sanctioned reviews).  Your son may find he does better with another program designed specifically for dyslexics.

[MyHandsAreFull]

Another vote for Apples and Pears. It's not a miracle but has definitely helped over the last 2-3 months. DD made little progress with various list based approaches over the 2 years prior to that. She doesn't love it (but doesn't hate it). It has worked for us. Free placement test on the website, although we just started with A because I was pretty desperate and worried we would miss a foundational step.

[MerryAtHope]

Have you read the "Dyslexia Empowerment Plan"? It really opened my eyes to the fact that, while we should do our best to remediate to a point, we should make sure we aren't trying to "fix" our kids. The author suggests tutoring using an OG program for 2 years, then focus on using technology, like the ones recommended. He makes good points that we would never insist a blind person should be able to read print if they just work at it long enough and that somehow using braille is a cop out, or that a paralyzed person just needs to be given more time to be allowed to crawl up the stairs instead of providing a ramp. These analogies really helped me to see that I wasn't a failure if my dd never learned to spell as well as a NT student, and there is no shame in using technology or accommodations to level the playing field. Go ahead and try different spelling programs, spend a few minutes a day on them (my dd is still working through Megawords). But, the greatest preparation you can give him for high school and college is figuring out what technologies work best for him, implementing them, and creating a paper trail of both his diagnosis and accommodations used so he will be allowed to continue to use them when he enters higher education.

 

I'd agree to a point--various accommodations and technology should be used to level the playing field, and education should make sure to highlight a person's strengths and not just focus on weaknesses. On the other hand, 2 years of remediation with an OG program for reading or spelling really won't be enough for many students who could make a lot more progress. I think we were just starting to turn the corner with spelling after 2 years, and I'm glad I didn't slow down or stop at that point. 

 

For us, All About Spelling was hugely beneficial. When we started, my oldest left out letters, switched the order of letters, decorated with vowels, and was confused about certain letters (he wrote "ask" as "aic" once in 4th grade--he thought the C could stand for both /s/ and /k/ in a word, and threw in the i because it looked like it needed another letter.) It's OG-based--here's the author's story (they were told their son would never read or write, and to prepare him for a life without reading). 

 

Anyway, don't give up on your son yet--I didn't even know about AAS until the end of my son's 5th grade year, and though it took us 4.5 years, it was so worth it. You can make a lot of progress (we started from "spellcheck doesn't make good suggestions because it doesn't know the words!") You don't have to aim for "perfect" or "looks like a natural speller," but you may get to "can hand-write a note or list without embarrassment," or "thoughts are easier to write because he doesn't have to think about how to spell every single word." That does a lot for a student's confidence.

 

Look at programs, see what's a good fit for your style and his, and then work on it daily--15-20 minutes a day can do a lot. 

[OneStepAtATime]

Agree with Merry at Hope.  DD is only half-way through Level 4 of Barton and we have 5 and a half levels to go so we are in this for the long haul.  BUT THE CHANGES ARE HAPPENING DAILY.   And Barton is now teaching her when she needs to use a spell checker and during what specific circumstances her own remediated skills won't be enough, so she isn't dependent on it but uses it only when absolutely necessary and how.  

 

Find another OG system.  I wouldn't give up.  Stick with it for the long haul.  Work on accomodations as well, certainly.  There are many great things out there to help.  But even just 20-30 minutes a day of solid OG remediation could make a tremendous difference long-term.

[kiwik]

Most of us who aren't from the US adapt spelling, measurement units and phonics from US books. You should be able to work around the few differences between English and US spelling.