Need input on spelling curriculum

[calledtobehome]

Looking for input on possibly changing our spelling curriculum for my 9.5 yr old dyslexic son.

We started AAS 1 over the summer. We're only a few lessons away from being complete but I'm not quite sure it's the right fit. I do feel he gained a lot from AAS 1. Especially the segmenting, syllabication, and the dictation. He's even able to old sentences and phrases more in his memory without me repeating more than two times. His short term memory is not that great but improving.

We were reviewing the cards today and he made a comment that the review cards and rules drive him crazy. They make him feel like he's stuck in a box and can't get out. I really don't know what to make of his comment. But I would like to check out other spelling curriculums just in case I need to make a change.

After searching the forum I came up with the following:

 

BTW I would like to keep a curriculum that incorporates dictation.

 

Spelling Plus/Dictaton book

Apples and Pears(does this have dictation)

Sequential Spelling

Or just forge ahead with AAS 2

 

Advice would be helpful. Thanks

Edited September 27, 2012 by calledtobehome

[sixpence1978]

Apples and Pears does have dictation. While my DD doesn't particularly like A&P, she realizes that it is helping her spelling. It has a lot of review that helps things to stick and transfer to work outside of spelling. AAS wasn't a good fit for her.

[cherylw]

Same here, I chose not to try AAS because I thought it would be just too much for him to try process at a time. A&P isn't all that fun to do but I do believe it gets the job done and his spelling is much better. DS is 10 and I started him in the spring with book A while skipping the first lessons.

 

A&P doesn't teach rules so with that I have typed about 9 or 10 spelling rules that I plan to go over when we get to that particular rule in A&P. I will be ordering book b for both my boys when we finish this one. DS 12 isn't dyslexic but a horrible speller.:tongue_smilie:

[eoffg1]

You wrote that: 'he made a comment that the review cards and rules drive him crazy. They make him feel like he's stuck in a box and can't get out.'

Where perhaps you've heard of 'whole to part thinkers', and 'part to whole thinkers'?

 

While part to whole thinkers, start inside with a box full of rules, and think their way out.

Whole to part thinkers, start outside the box, and work their way in, to find the rules.

Where Dyslexics are often described as 'big picture thinkers', who 'think outside the box'.

[ondreeuh]

You wrote that: 'he made a comment that the review cards and rules drive him crazy. They make him feel like he's stuck in a box and can't get out.'

Where perhaps you've heard of 'whole to part thinkers', and 'part to whole thinkers'?

 

While part to whole thinkers, start inside with a box full of rules, and think their way out.

Whole to part thinkers, start outside the box, and work their way in, to find the rules.

Where Dyslexics are often described as 'big picture thinkers', who 'think outside the box'.

 

:iagree:Very wise words. It took me too many years to figure this out about DS. Everyone said AAS was THE BOMB, especially for dyslexic students since it is based on O-G. My son couldn't apply rules that he could memorize because it was like accessing bits of information from different parts of his brain and trying to come up with a word. He just doesn't work that way.

 

A&P is not really strictly parts to whole or whole to parts - it is sort of rote memorizing. There are a few rules (like when to drop the e when adding a suffix, when to double a final consonant when adding a suffix) but not rules about which phonograms to use when. My son did well in books A and B, but in C couldn't keep up because he couldn't remember which phonogram to use when. The review is spaced out, but the lessons are so long that we were taking 3 days to complete a lesson which spaced the review out TOO far and he wasn't retaining. Bummer.

 

Saxon Phonics Intervention is whole to parts. Students code words to identify their parts. That's probably why it is working for him and not frustrating him.

[Shellers]

Apples & Pears helped with my DS's spelling and reading.

[Home_Mom]

Looking for input on possibly changing our spelling curriculum for my 9.5 yr old dyslexic son.

 

We were reviewing the cards today and he made a comment that the review cards and rules drive him crazy. They make him feel like he's stuck in a box and can't get out. I really don't know what to make of his comment.

 

 

I love the words children use to describe their situation. And it's great that you're trying to honor what he's saying even when you don't understand it. A potential good source for learning spelling for a learner like him could be a game like Rummy Roots (found here: http://www.amazon.com/Eternal-Hearts-Rummy-Roots/dp/B000GTBCBQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348809337&sr=8-1&keywords=greek+and+latin+roots+rummy) or something along the line of Greek and Latin roots. It shows the parts from the whole more clearly for them. When my builder son used it at around 11, he said, "Why didn't you tell me words were like LEGO?" So, I've experienced the sayings from children...