galtgrl Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 Houston, we have a problem. My 3rd dd (9) is extremely bright, accelerated in math and reading, and gifted artistically. BUT, I cannot figure out how to help her with her spelling!!! Any advice? She reads like a dream, and loves to write, but can't seem to figure out the spelling rules. When she misspells, it is always a *phonetically* acceptable version (e.g., "whirled" to her is spelled "whorld", "might" is "mite", etc.) We've gone over the rules, used "Natural Speller" and a few other resources, but nothing sticks.:confused: She did great with Explode the Code when she was younger, but still, when free-writing would make all the same mistakes. I wonder sometimes if she has a touch of dyslexia or something - she also used to write mirror-imaged and didn't realize it, but she no longer does that. I'm sorry this is so long! Any help would be appreciated. -J Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patchfire Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 Are you sure you aren't writing about my daughter?? ;) She still has difficulty with spelling, though I do see a steady, slow improvement year by year. I also still want to get her evaluated by a developmental optometrist, but we haven't yet managed that. We use All About Spelling, which has made a big difference. It's an investment of time and money, but we have seen Actual Results, which we haven't otherwise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaichiki Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 My dd spells like that. She has dyseidetic dyslexia (so there are other symptoms as well). She is also (diagnosed) gifted, so she actually reads above grade level just by her natural ability to compensate. That doesn't mean there aren't problems and frustrations for her, though. I wouldn't know where to suggest you start... but AAS has been working well for my dd. She needs a LOT of repetition to keep the spelling rules in her mental tool kit and have them available for everyday use. Without that repetition, her spelling seems to start going backwards...randomly... Here's an example of how dyslexia affects dd. She's been writing her name, which starts with an S, since she was 3... she's also been writing it in cursive for more than a year... and yesterday she asked me which way to write an S (She was printing, which she does every day.)! I have NO IDEA why that particluar skill seemed to elude her at that moment. She was not pretending. It's just part and parcel of the dyslexia, I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 I have a couple of kids like that. Apples and Pears spelling is the first program that has worked with them. They were not helped by an OG method b/c the rules for spelling don't negate appropriate alternative phonetic spellings (of which you obviously have realized that they are beyond numerous.) http://www.prometheantrust.org/usshop.htm Scroll down to the middle of the page. The entire program is viewable on line. You need to be able to see the TM and student book at the same time in order to understand how it works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeanM Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 We use All About Spelling, which has made a big difference. It's an investment of time and money, but we have seen Actual Results, which we haven't otherwise. :iagree::iagree: My ds is exactly the same. We tried a number of spelling programs, and All About Spelling is what has worked. Jean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
galtgrl Posted November 5, 2009 Author Share Posted November 5, 2009 Thanks for the suggestions - I'll be checking them out today. I think she's right-brained, stuck in a family of left-brainers, so it's hard for me to figure out how to help her. My older 2 just seemed to pick up spelling intuitively -J Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 AVKO Sequential Spelling is supposed to be a good one for right-brained VSL's. My brother is this way and to this day he's a horrible speller. Computerized spell-check helps him a lot but it doesn't pick up everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merry gardens Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 Houston, we have a problem. My 3rd dd (9) is extremely bright, accelerated in math and reading, and gifted artistically. BUT, I cannot figure out how to help her with her spelling!!! Any advice? She reads like a dream, and loves to write, but can't seem to figure out the spelling rules. When she misspells, it is always a *phonetically* acceptable version (e.g., "whirled" to her is spelled "whorld", "might" is "mite", etc.) We've gone over the rules, used "Natural Speller" and a few other resources, but nothing sticks.:confused: She did great with Explode the Code when she was younger, but still, when free-writing would make all the same mistakes. I wonder sometimes if she has a touch of dyslexia or something - she also used to write mirror-imaged and didn't realize it, but she no longer does that. I'm sorry this is so long! Any help would be appreciated. -J We have the same problem over here with two of my children. Teaching phonics exclusively won't solve all spelling problems. One book suggested to help children "picture" the proper spelling in their minds. Right now we're working on the proper spelling of the most common words. I also add misspelled words found in their assignments to their spelling tests. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storm Bay Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 My 11 yo VSL was like this, and I wasn't sure if she'd ever learn to spell. In the past year her spelling has improved enormously because she figured out her own mnemonics. Because she is also kinesthetic, prior to that the only way she learned to spell was by copying words a number of times every day the old rote way and NOT in sentences. This year I tried Sequential Spelling for ds, who is somewhat like this, but in the end it really didn't work well for him. I'm not sure what I'm going to do at this point, so he's just going to use what my 11 yo did at this age until I figure something else out or until he figures out his own mnemonics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
galtgrl Posted November 7, 2009 Author Share Posted November 7, 2009 I have a couple of kids like that. Apples and Pears spelling is the first program that has worked with them. They were not helped by an OG method b/c the rules for spelling don't negate appropriate alternative phonetic spellings (of which you obviously have realized that they are beyond numerous.) http://www.prometheantrust.org/usshop.htm Scroll down to the middle of the page. The entire program is viewable on line. You need to be able to see the TM and student book at the same time in order to understand how it works. I really like the looks of Apples and Pears...as you said, the issue isn't really the phonics - she gets that - but when to use "ea" vs. "ee" vs. "ie" etc. for the same sound. Karin - what kind of mnemonics? I can't picture how that would help, so I'm curious. It sounds like a lot of you had success with AAS, so if Apples/Pears doesn't work out, at least I have something else to try with her :tongue_smilie:. Thanks everyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaKinVA Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 Some gifted kids will simply have a difficult time with spelling. I was one of them -- although using rules helped some, it did not erase all of my issues. For words that I had trouble with, I created my own internal, "funny" pronunciation of them... which allowed me to break the word down into parts I spelled correctly. I still rely on this method and some of those funny internal pronunciations today. I know how to pronounce the words correctly, but when having to write them, my brain just breaks them down so I can actually spell them. My oldest is a very good speller, as is my 6yo son. My oldest thinks my funny pronunciations when I break down spelling words is a hoot. My 7yo dd, it's almost imperative. We talk about how the word "looks", versus how it's actually pronounced, and learn to spell the words based upon how they "look." I don't know if there is a spelling program that does this... but it worked very well for me, and is working for the small or large issues with my children. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truscifi Posted November 8, 2009 Share Posted November 8, 2009 Some gifted kids will simply have a difficult time with spelling. I was one of them -- although using rules helped some, it did not erase all of my issues. For words that I had trouble with, I created my own internal, "funny" pronunciation of them... which allowed me to break the word down into parts I spelled correctly. I still rely on this method and some of those funny internal pronunciations today. I know how to pronounce the words correctly, but when having to write them, my brain just breaks them down so I can actually spell them. My oldest is a very good speller, as is my 6yo son. My oldest thinks my funny pronunciations when I break down spelling words is a hoot. My 7yo dd, it's almost imperative. We talk about how the word "looks", versus how it's actually pronounced, and learn to spell the words based upon how they "look." I don't know if there is a spelling program that does this... but it worked very well for me, and is working for the small or large issues with my children. :iagree: I did this when I was a child as well, and I have recently started using the technique with my ds5. Especially with anything that has an 'alternative spelling'. Recent example: thread. When he was writing it for his spelling quiz he was saying it with a long 'e' to help himself remember. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storm Bay Posted November 8, 2009 Share Posted November 8, 2009 Karin - what kind of mnemonics? I can't picture how that would help, so I'm curious. Thanks everyone! She finds ways to pronounce the words so that they sound they way they're spelled to her and that works for her. But she has to do it herself and still practice the words so that, for example she remembers that "sin the tick" is "synthetic" with a y, not an i, and no k. I'm sure she remembers the first syllable with a y and know for a fact she remembers the last one with no k, but I wanted to show the pronounciation easily. However, she learned that one not realizing that the kind of tick that bites you is spelled with a k at the end (as opposed to a muscle tic or something.) Prior to that, she tended to spell everything phonetically, and not always the same way. She's very much a gifted VSL, and the trouble with spelling fit right into that (not that all gifted VSL learners have difficulty with spelling, but it's common.) As a natural speller (who makes plenty of typos and now even makes spelling mistakes I never used to) mnemonics seems very confusing and like a lot of work, even though it is how I learned that separate has 2 a's, because that was just one letter, not making a 3 word phrase. But it not only works for dd, it turns out that dh does this as well. I do want to emphasize that dd came up with this all by herself. It may work well for dc who are taught how to do this, too, but for quite a while I didn't even know she was doing this, and found out when I commented on how much her spelling had improved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.