Are your voraceous readers also good spellers?

[Hannah]

Someone on an eloop I'm on made the comment that "a voracious reader seldom has to spend lots of time on learning spelling rules as they can 'see' a word is incorrectly spelt".

 

Have you found this to be true?

 

It's not the case for my dd (an auditory learner). She devours books, but struggles with spelling. I'm wondering if she is the exception to a general "rule".

[kdeno]

but I do not know in general. Children are so so different and gifted in such different areas.:)

[hsmamainva]

My oldest is a voracious reader - and she's a natural speller.

 

My third child is an excellent speller, and reads well, but he's not what I would call voracious...at least not yet!

[Hannah]

And of course I had to make a spelling error in the title of the post!! :glare: It's so frustrating that I can't edit it.

[8filltheheart]

Someone on an eloop I'm on made the comment that "a voracious reader seldom has to spend lots of time on learning spelling rules as they can 'see' a word is incorrectly spelt".

 

Have you found this to be true?

 

It's not the case for my dd (an auditory learner). She devours books, but struggles with spelling. I'm wondering if she is the exception to a general "rule".

 

 

No, I do not believe that is true. Nor do I believe learning a lot of spelling rules will help the truly spelling impaired. (ask me how I know!!) Good spellers have good visual imprinting/recall in the language portion of the brain. Correct spelling is a strong visual skill. Poor spellers without that easy visual recall have to rely on memorization.......lots and lots of repeated drilling. :tongue_smilie: bleh!!

[King Alfred Academy]

Not true here. My first grader is reading at nearly a 5th grade level, but his spelling is not good at all. We've been working through AAS hoping to help that issue.

[Miss Marple]

I've found that to be true with my voracious reader. He is my 3rd son and he learned to read differently than the others (he is very right-brained). While the others are good readers, they don't derive the same pleasure from reading as does #3. He also reads above his age/grade level. We do a spelling program with him just to get the rules in written form. He tends to "know" how to spell most words, but those occasional words that he isn't familiar with cause him problems - hence the spelling program. But honestly, if I were looking for something to omit in his curriculum line-up, it would be vocabulary and spelling.

[Crissy]

That is the case with both of my boys, but I hadn't considered their spelling skills to be a result of their reading.

Interesting.

[kRenee]

Not true with my dd.

[Jenny in Atl]

Both dd12 and I read a ton. She spells beautifully. I on the other hand, could not spell well to save my life. Dd7 is not old enough for me to say na or ya to, but she does already read on a 5-6th grade level. So, we will see.

[~Tara~]

My voracious reader is my nearly 9 yr old and he's a pretty good speller.

Eldest is a good reader, just a bit slower (I think mostly he gets lost in imagining the story) and is also a good speller.

 

Thinking of a friend whose eldest is a rather voracious reader..she can't spell to save her life. Apparently all the kids inherited mom's less than perfect spelling skills.

[dangermom]

I come from a very reading family--there are 5 of us. I am a natural speller and have never struggled with it. My brother and my baby sister have always been terrible spellers--as adults they are still not very good at it. They both read constantly and always have.

 

So IMO reading can help, especially if you're already a natural speller, but there are plenty of people who read all the time but still struggle with spelling, it just doesn't transfer or something. Some people just aren't natural spellers, irrelevant to their intelligence or love of reading.

 

(As an example, my sister used to read a lot of books about astronomy. Then she would draw an accurate solar system, and mis-spell every planet name: Mrcry, Erf, Pudo...)

[Laurie4b]

One is, one isn't. The one who isn't had some dyslexia, which is remediated in reading. In spelling, he'll always need to use Spellcheck.

[Heather in the Kootenays]

My 13 yo ds is a great reader and a poor speller. So am I.

[Reesegirl]

My oldest daughter reads all the time but spelling and her penmanship both need to be improved! Reese

[Margo out of lurking]

(I lol'ed at your spelling error too, that's a mistake many of us can imagine making!)

 

My dd is like yours. She's always been a voracious reader; but she's never been an awesome speller. She's also very auditory.

 

Otoh, my ds is a natural speller. He's not a big fan of reading, but he can look at a word and usually tell that it's wrong, or know how to spell a not-so-familiar word. He's four years younger than my dd, but just a year behind in spelling. (I don't tell them that!)

 

I think many big readers ARE visual and that's why they find spelling easy. But I believe my dd is a big reader because I read to her a lot as a child AND she can "hear" the words in her head as she reads, instead of "seeing" them the way my ds does. (Does that make sense? I'm reading Cynthia's answer, agreeing that it has to do with reading "differently.")

 

Or maybe I can come up with that answer because it just happens to fit in my own family, lol.

 

:) Kristine

[Karenciavo]

Mine aren't.

[GreenKitty]

My voracious reader is not a good speller.

[siloam]

I read a lot and am a horrible speller, my oldest is a natural speller. She can recall and "see" a word and I have a hard time doing that.

 

Heather

 

[Plaid Dad]

It's true of my dd, but in my teaching experience not true across the board. My guess is that strongly visual learners will be more likely to pick up correct spelling from their reading than other types of learners.

[camibami]

I'm a wonderful speller ;) and always a very good reader. I can "see" the words in my head, iif you know what I mean.

 

My oldest is a voracious reader and can't spell to save her life. She can listen to a book on CD and read a different book at the same time and follow both- which gives me the willies just thinking about! Obviously, we have very different brains and styles, though we both are great readers.

 

Cami

[Kanga]

My voracious readers have spent too much time reading British novels and would be great spellers…if we lived in England! I would say that they tend to be able to tell if a word is spelled incorrectly because it doesn't look right rather than because they are familiar with spelling rules. Unfortunately, colour and practise look fine ;)

[Hannah]

Unfortunately, colour and practise look fine ;)

 

We follow British spelling - so they look completely fine to me too!

[Diana in OR]

My 14yo is a voraceous reader but can't spell his way out of a bucket!

[nancypants]

So far it is true with my oldest. He is like a carpenter ant with his books and spells incredibly well even though we've only really done one formal spelling curriculum in his four years of formal schooling.

[Andie]

Someone on an eloop I'm on made the comment that "a voracious reader seldom has to spend lots of time on learning spelling rules as they can 'see' a word is incorrectly spelt".

 

Have you found this to be true?

 

It's not the case for my dd (an auditory learner). She devours books, but struggles with spelling. I'm wondering if she is the exception to a general "rule".

 

It's held true with my kids.

[RoughCollie]

Yes, they are great spellers. Two of them read a lot of books published in Great Britain and they prefer the British spellings sometimes because it is exotic to them. In those instances, they know both spellings.

[Storm Bay]

True for one dd, false for the other dd. The jury is out for ds because so far he hates reading unless it's Nate the Great and I'm sitting with him.

 

Both my dd's are visual learners, but my 10 yo is strongly visual-spatial and I think that is the difference. She has improved a lot though, this year, in part from lots of rote drill and in part from general work. Also, when my 10 learned to read she started writing phonetically on her own (I don't like that) and this did not help her. She makes up ways to remember spelling now.

[Nestof3]

I have known voracious readers who were horrible spellers. I don't think there is the necessary connection people tend to make between them.

 

From what I've learned, spelling is a visual ability to "see" a word.

[j.griff]

It's true for my dd and myself, but IIRC, her spelling wasn't always wonderful when she was 8yo. It takes time for those things to "take". OTOH, DD is definitely a visual learner- I have no idea how she'd fair if she were an auditory learner.

[Just a Jen in Mississippi]

My avid readers are also natural spellers.

[Plucky]

No. I have 3 voracious readers. Two are natural spellers but my one novelist is not a good speller. She's a 5th grader that writes for an hour or two a day on her own time. I'm hoping she'll get better soon. I really don't understand how someone that is so natural in all aspects of Lang. Arts can make so many spelling mistakes.

[lwilliams1922]

my book worm / 12 yo dd has been maxing out standardized test/spelling sections since she was in 2nd grade. She's always in a book. Many times I have to restict access to books till she completes her work or cleans her room. In that situation it's not uncommon to find her reading a dictionary or my toddlers readers!

 

 

She is a kid that wins spelling bees without lifting a finger. She did 4th this year in the scrips regional bee. If she were willing to actually 'study' spelling who knows how far she could go.

 

She sees the words in her head. Actually this is a constant. when ever we go out she is finding things that are spelled wrong. Things that I don't even notice. She even catches misstates from her teachers, published books, stores, offices, restaurants, mom and dad :) ...

 

It's hard because many times we politely let people know but we still run into people that seem angry when we make the suggestion. I learned tattoo parlors can be very unpleasant, even if you are very polite and just trying to let them know before they print another batch of expensive fliers.

 

Then again a few months back there was a natural/health food catalog I received. She found quite a few spelling issues. My husband knew the owner and actually got her the job of editing the catalog for them. It wasn’t a paid job but they did send her a small gift.

 

Ever since then I've been wondering if there are people that use/need people to edit written material. It was a great since of accomplishment for her to get to use her talents.

 

[Halftime Hope]

You know, many people think that because they learn a certain way, or think a certain way, that their method is true and/or *is the only true way* for everyone else. (No, I'm not talking about religion! :D)

 

This person apparently believes that everyone who is a voracious reader also has great visual recall. Others in this thread have told you that they know of exceptions to his statement. We have one such exception in our family.

 

OTOH, I am both a voracious reader and, typos aside, generally a good speller, and the success in spelling is directly attributable to my ability to access a mental picture of the word.

 

Once, someone quoted William Sapphire as saying something to the effect that the only way to be a good thinker was to be a good writer. He hasn't met my husband...not true for all!!

 

At one point in her early years of tutoring, ds' language therapist (dyslexia remediation) maintained, as she was taught, that students could not comprehend written material unless they could read fluently. She has learned over the years that this is not always the case. Like ds before remediation, a student may not read fluently but may have near perfect comprehension.

 

We should all be careful not to be dogmatic about such things...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Someone on an eloop I'm on made the comment that "a voracious reader seldom has to spend lots of time on learning spelling rules as they can 'see' a word is incorrectly spelt".

 

Have you found this to be true?

 

It's not the case for my dd (an auditory learner). She devours books, but struggles with spelling. I'm wondering if she is the exception to a general "rule".

[Oak Knoll Mom]

Both dd12 and I read a ton. She spells beautifully. I on the other hand, could not spell well to save my life. Dd7 is not old enough for me to say na or ya to, but she does already read on a 5-6th grade level. So, we will see.

 

Same with me. I was a voracious reader and couldn't spell--something clicked when I was in high school. However, my voracious reader is an awesome speller. My husband, who hates to read, can spell well also.

[KAR120C]

It's true for my dd and myself, but IIRC, her spelling wasn't always wonderful when she was 8yo. It takes time for those things to "take". OTOH, DD is definitely a visual learner- I have no idea how she'd fair if she were an auditory learner.

DS has been a voracious reader FOR EVER and strongly visual, but only this year (8) has started to improve his spelling. I'm hoping it's a maturity thing... I know there are words that he spells by sight and that he rarely thinks to sound things out (sigh), but fortunately it seems to be working...

[lovemyboys]

My guess is that strongly visual learners will be more likely to pick up correct spelling from their reading than other types of learners.

 

Dh and I are excellent spellers but ds struggle with spelling to a certain degree but are great readers, ds7 especially who is voracious and way above level.

 

I've been wondering why dh and I have it so easy but not so for dc, I think you just answered my question. They are not as much visual learners as we are.....thanks.

[Kim in Appalachia]

but the girl can not spell above a 5th, maybe 6th grade level. (She is completing 8th grade).

 

I have spent a lot of time working on spelling with her. So I know it is not from my lack of trying or discipline that she can not spell. I think it will be something she always struggles with. Neither her dad nor I am good at spelling, so it is not a shock. I do wish she would care and at least try.

[mom42terrificgirls]

my mom is a veracious reader (one book each night) and she is a pathetic speller.

[Mommy22alyns]

I've always been a voracious reader and became a natural speller as well. It is the visual learner in me, since a word just looks wrong to me when it's misspelled. I was a nasty, red-pen-wielding copy editor on my high school newspaper! :D I also did well in spelling bees as a child, but I would have gone further if I could have truly seen the words instead of spelling them orally.

 

So I'm hoping that Becca might follow along in my footsteps there.

[PrairieAir]

When my older two children were young, we spent a lot more time on formal spelling instruction and memorizing words than I have with the younger two. I eventually quit teaching spelling regularly because a) it was easier to forget to get that subject done and b) it didn't seem to be helping. What I did find helped their spelling ability was reading more. The more they read the better they spelled.

 

13yods has had the most difficulty with spelling. He had a convergence deficiency and needed vision therapy. He completed vision therapy sometime in his 3rd grade year and began to catch up to grade level in reading. By 5th grade he was reading for enjoyment rather than because he was being forced to.:party: His spelling was still so far behind that it wasn't worth measuring. The more he read, though, the better his spelling became. By the time he started public school this year (8th grade) his spelling was still lacking, but vastly improved from where it had been. The final thing that has made the difference is not any special instruction he's received in public school, but a desire to spell correctly because he doesn't want to be embarassed in front of his peers. I don't know that he'll ever be a natural speller, though. Dh had the same vision problem and still struggles with how to spell words sometimes even though he reads even more (and more difficult material) than I do.

[SheilaZ]

Mine is. He's also a very natural speller. He does the basics in Spelling workout and very seldom misses a word.

 

His younger brother also is a good speller. However, he is not a big reader. He has to work at it though.

[Nestof3]

the success in spelling is directly attributable to my ability to access a mental picture of the word.

 

Same here. I have a hard time spelling out loud, but if I can write it down, I do quite well. I also remember getting questions right on a biology test in high school -- not because I remembered the material, but because I recalled where the information was in the textbook including chapter and section title, I was able to get the answer right.

 

I would consider that to be a visual learner.

[Melinda in VT]

My voracious readers have spent too much time reading British novels and would be great spellers…if we lived in England! I would say that they tend to be able to tell if a word is spelled incorrectly because it doesn't look right rather than because they are familiar with spelling rules. Unfortunately, colour and practise look fine ;)

 

When I was young, I got very frustrated when my teachers marked "grey" incorrect because I *swore* I had seen that spelling in my fairy books. Sure enough, "grey" in England and "gray" in America.

[Pamela H in Texas]

I personally have heard of more exceptions to the rule than those who follow the rule. I think it's just hogwash. They may well be able to tell it's wrong but if you can't tell what's right, what good is it?

 

As for our family?

 

1) I learned to read early, read voraciously, and spelled very well as a child

2) My dd read very early, reads voraciously, and struggles with spelling

3) My son was a late bloomer but spells as well as he reads (both need a little help still)

4) My dh was a late bloomer, dyslexic, and has horrid spelling in beautiful handwriting.

[Catherine]

are both good spellers, one a natural, the other OK. I take issue with momof7's thoughts though-while no amount of learning rules will turn a poor speller into a natural speller, it has to be the way if the child has poor memory skills. Ask ME how I know! My 6 yo just has much more difficulty putting things into long term memory than my other kids, so SWO was a total failure for him. He could hang onto the words for a day or two, but they NEVER stuck. He would look at the old lists truly saying he had never seen them before.

[Jennifer in MI]

This has not been true for my ds12. He is a voracious reader and his spelling is atrocious! We work VERY hard at it.

 

Now, ds10, is a natural speller and a voracious reader. So, if I only had him I might be tempted to think that good spelling is a result of good reading. My ds7 seems to be following in his big brother's steps!

[Mommy22alyns]

When I was young, I got very frustrated when my teachers marked "grey" incorrect because I *swore* I had seen that spelling in my fairy books. Sure enough, "grey" in England and "gray" in America.

 

 

In 11th grade, I butted heads with my English teacher over judgement vs. judgment. She marked me off on a paper for spelling it with the extra "e" and I maintained it was a valid spelling. I didn't get the point back. :glare: It just looks better with the "e" to me!

[WTMCassandra]

Plaid Dad, as usual, puts things concisely and clearly. This rings true with me. I was a tremendously voracious reader (and a dismal mathematician, but that's another post). Spelling has always come easily and naturally--I never had to study (and this from an over-diligent studier). But I am a strongly visual learner. So I agree that it is (a little math lingo here):

 

Voracious reader + visual learner = strong natural speller

[Rhonda in TX]

My best friend's DD is a great reader, but can't spell worth a flip. She has dyslexia, but it only affects her spelling. Her brain can't put the letters in the right order. So no, this is not universally true.