Kidlet has me stumped

[Emagine]

Figured I would type this before heading to bed. I have a terrible headache. My DS will be 9 in Sept. He is on the Spectrum along with other issues. I have managed to get him nearly caught up in some areas after pulling him out of PS. We started from zero in every subject, and I do mean every single thing.

 

I have him reading now, very well. Not as great as most 9 year olds but wow he is willing to pick up a chapter book (of his interest) and read out loud. This is huge. Big words he needs help on but a year ago this was a major battle on.

 

Where we are still lagged on is spelling. I have tried spelling every which way to Sunday. SpellingCity, writing, jumping on letters, bouncing on a ball, basic writing book - but no matter what once you break into those 4 letter words it is like that little mind just shuts down. I am not sure if it is that he can not or he looses himself because I have not crossed that line yet to find out.

 

We are doing AAS with little brother to learn the basics, we are doing A Reason for Spelling A (which I find no better than any other ones I have tried).

 

The more hectic of a spelling book the more scattered in his thoughts I find him but I feel like I need something or I am missing something. We just began AAS and he is doing good with the phonics part.

 

I do not want him too far behind but really stumped. I am going to talk to DH tonight more about it because this is the first time I feel lost in how/what to do because I do not know why he is doing this. He does not mix up or put letters backwards it is either he can not or will not or both. I have no figured out the level here yet because of this. I know some of it is a can not but what do I do?

 

Thanks.

[Critterfixer]

I'd post this over on the Special Needs Forum. I've got a young son on the spectrum as well, but we're still working on the reading part. Since he spells every word to read it, his spelling is actually not half-bad.

[Emagine]

Thanks, I think I will. Prob best because I find I hardly get answers.

[Lily_Grace]

I don't know much about special needs, or more specifically, your son, but have you tried having him spell with a movable alphabet-plastic or wooden lowercase letters?

[ElizabethB]

I like Spelling Plus and Spelling Dictation, they are well organized, inexpensive, and focus on the most common 1,000 words, so you are working on the most important words. (They account for 90% of the words in any average passage!)

 

You could also have him watch through my phonics lessons and work through the program on my how to tutor page, focusing on spelling more than phonics while working through the resources on this page.

 

Spelling remediation usually lags phonics remediation, just keep working on it, you will get there!