spelling advice

[tenoraddict]

My DS 11 (5th grade) is dyslexic and has had vision therapy and Cellfield therapy for his reading/visual processing issues. He now reads silently (and comprehends) at about 3 grades above level, and is finally orally fluent at grade level. When he was in a brick and mortar school, he had 4 years of Spell to Write and Read, so he is solid with phonics; we are almost at the end of the Apples and Pears curriculum, which helped him more than SWR did.

 

So here's my question: where do I go from here? Do I go somewhere from here? When my elder DS finished his spelling curriculum at the end of 5th grade, we moved on to Vocab from Classical Roots and didn't do any more spelling. That son doesn't have the same issues as his brother, though, and is a confident speller. I'm concerned about stopping spelling with DS 11, but I don't want overkill, either.

 

I've looked at All About Spelling levels 1-3, and he's definitely beyond them. Maybe levels 4+? If you've had experience with a dyslexic child and spelling beyond 5th grade, I'd love to hear from you.

 

Thanks,

Becky

[ElizabethB]

I like Marcia Henry's words, it combines spelling with root word study. The sample pages are from early on, it gets more difficult and you could use it for several years.

 

http://www.proedinc.com/customer/ProductView.aspx?ID=989&sSearchWord=

[tenoraddict]

Thanks, Elizabeth. What ages have you used this with? I'm really looking to hear from people who have used a spelling program with a dyslexic child older than 5th grade...

I like Marcia Henry's words, it combines spelling with root word study. The sample pages are from early on, it gets more difficult and you could use it for several years.

 

http://www.proedinc.com/customer/ProductView.aspx?ID=989&sSearchWord=

[JenneinCA]

My ds10 is a fifth grader this year and sounds a lot like your son. He isn't officially dyslexic, but he has most of the symptoms. He still has left/right issues. He still reverses b and d. We finally got past the reversing of numbers, but only this year.

 

Last year we did Apples and Pears. We started in book one, mostly to deal with the handwriting issues. He needed the practice. We got all the way through book four last year. We worked on spelling for about an hour a day. Rough, but necessary. It didn't stick.

 

We tried Spelling Power. It was frustrating and he grew very annoyed at all the steps. We stopped because little brother (ds6) caught up to where he was and was about to pass him. We are currently using Spelling Workout. I am not sure it is working very well either. We are only on week three of it.

 

I think I am resigned to letting him type everything and use spell check. It seems that spell check is working better for him that anything else. It tells him when the word is wrong and it uses the words he is trying to spell. I wish I had a better plan, but it is just hard. If you find something that works well, please post. I would love to hear a success story.

[ElizabethB]

Thanks, Elizabeth. What ages have you used this with? I'm really looking to hear from people who have used a spelling program with a dyslexic child older than 5th grade...

 

I have used it with remedial students up to 6th grade, but the book has words that go up to about 8th grade level.