Will spelling help my struggling reader?

[alisoncooks]

My 7.5 yr old has been struggling to learn to read for 2 years now. She is in 2nd grade and can't read long vowels. Even familiar words are a struggle. I'd guess she's on a low-1st grade level, maybe high-kindergarten level.

 

I have been postponing spelling and writing until she reads well... But we are at the point where I feel we can't wait forever (can we?!). Dd's spelling ability is nonexistent. She understands some phonics but can't put it together to spell words. Here is some of her writing:

 

Park -- qrack (backwards P, reversed AR, spelled the ending /k/ with "ck")

Pay -- qaiy (backwards P, spelled /ay/ with "ai" then tacked the Y on the end for good measure ;)

 

I'm wondering if this child would benefit from something like AAS? This is my "hates school" child (she is acutely aware of her reading shortcomings.). Do you think AAS would be helpful? I am afraid to heap more work on her when she already struggles with what we do...

 

((Not a discussion on testing. We can't afford it right now, though I am definitely saving up!!))

[Walking-Iris]

Yes! Spelling will definitely help her read. The language arts ought to be integrated. Reading/handwriting/spelling  especially work well together. My 1st grader is struggling with reading at times but loves spelling. Using the hands to spell and write help reinforce what the child is learning to read.

 

You might want to read Writing Road To Reading. Even if you do something else with phonics/spelling, it's a good read.

 

You could also reinforce with Explode the Code workbooks. Also use some of the phonics lesson as copywork.

 

I like Sequential Spelling for a phonics based spelling program. It also helps with phonics and vocabulary work. But AAS is a good choice too. You'd want to look for one that is based on phonics. You can also use the letter tiles/magnets/moveable alphabet approach with or without AAS. It's a great idea to get them spelling with those tiles or in a tray of sand or salt.

 

 

 

[Snow]

I agree writing is helping my 7.5 yr old ds. But, ds likes writing. He looked forward to it much more than trying to read so that's probably a big part.

 

I looked at AAS but decided it might go to fast for him and it wasn't as cheap as I thought it would be once you get all the components. I bought WRTR but then watched the LoE Teacher training videos to help me implement WRTR (highly recommend no matter what you go with!!) but I loved it so chose LoE foundations B instead. And he's finally starting to get it. I just ordered C. There are lots of games and physical stuff. It's simple to do, the lessons are pretty short. I actually enjoy teaching it, which I'm sure helps too.

 

So I don't know if it's the method, the specific curric or if he's just ready but writing definitely seems to be helping.

 

Let me know if I can answer anything about LoE or the 3 versions of WRTR I bought ;)

[OneStepAtATime]

You may need to go way, way back to sound associations first, not even sound letter associations.  My bright, very articulate kids actually ended up needing to go back another step, not just phonics but really, really basic sound associations.  I would never have guessed that and our evaluator didn't either.  They both were speaking complex sentences at 18-19 months.  And yet, they were actually tripping up on sound association when trying to read and spell, and in a way not easily associated with sound issues.  

 

Once we did Level 1 of Barton Reading and Spelling, things started to click.  It goes back to basic sound association.  Then Level 2 things moved further forward with systematic sound/letter association and CVC words..  With the completion of Level 3 we were finally reading and spelling much closer to grade level.  In fact, 3 months ago my 13 year old daughter was only reading at about 2nd grade level then suddenly it all made sense.  She read a nearly 500 page 7th grade book over Christmas and has passed several spelling tests with 100's or in the 90's.

 

 If we go through the whole system they will be into High School level material for language arts.   Level 1 of Barton only takes about a week, maybe a bit longer, depending on the child, but it is really expensive.  At the same time, it was worth every penny for us since it is what finally turned reading and spelling around for our kids.  Level 2 took longer, but still only about a month, and also was incredibly necessary.  Level 3 is where things start to get really meaty and take much longer to complete, but we wouldn't have been able to do Level 3 without the first two levels, basic as they seemed at the time.

 

There are programs besides Barton that are OG based,though, and many are really good.  AAR/AAS is one of them.  It has a good reputation.  You can try those.  I just want you to know that you may need to go a step further back.  

 

Also, you might consider getting an eye exam through a Developmental Optometrist, NOT a normal eye doctor.  There are several vision issues that do not show up in a normal eye exam that do NOT readily show up as vision issues in daily life that can actually have tremendous impact on the ability to read (such as convergence issues).  One listed on the COVD site would be best, but even a normal Developmental Optometrist would probably be better than a normal eye doctor.  This issue is more common than many people realize.

[Ellie]

Spalding (Spalding is the method. WRTR is the manual. You do Spalding with your children, not WRTR :D  ). Spalding teaches children to read by teaching them to spell; penmanship, capitalization and punctuation, and simple writing are integral parts of the method, making it a complete English literacy program. You only need the manual and a set of phonogram cards and you're good to go for a couple of years. :-)

[alisoncooks]

Thanks for the feedback. I am unsure which program I think would work best for her. I'm considering AAS or Sequential Spelling (which makes a lot of sense to me).

 

LOE looks interesting...but every time I check out their website, I walk away a bit confused. :D. I do like that I could start her right into cursive with it since we were planning on starting cursive soon anyway... Do they have a placement test?

[dbmamaz]

LOE has good customer service, you could call or email and they could probably help you choose where to start.  I started when my son was 9 and they only had essentials, but it definitely helped his reading.  I cant remember the word, but we were reading a book together and i corrected him on a 'tion' . . like connection or reaction or something . . .and he looked at me and said "Since when does t say 'sh'?" . . . I said "we'll get there soon!"  It really makes more sense once you've learned the deeper 'phonics' and rules.  

[Ellie]

Thanks for the feedback. I am unsure which program I think would work best for her. I'm considering AAS or Sequential Spelling (which makes a lot of sense to me).

 

LOE looks interesting...but every time I check out their website, I walk away a bit confused. :D. I do like that I could start her right into cursive with it since we were planning on starting cursive soon anyway... Do they have a placement test?

 

But if you're thinking about AAS or LOE, you might as well consider Spalding. One manual, one set of flash cards, that's it. And it will address the reading issue much more so than Sequential Spelling will.

[MerryAtHope]

Yes, it will. If you decide to go with AAS, the segmenting activities in the beginning of Level 1 will be very important. This will help her to break words down into sounds, and show her why "prack" couldn't spell park (the q for p not withstanding). It will also walk her through phonogram to sound and sound to phonogram correspondence. Some kids tend to think of letters somewhat arbitrarily--they memorize the letters in a word visually but without a strong sense of letters/phonograms standing for sounds, the order of those letters doesn't stand out as important. That can cause a lot of reversals in the order of letters. 

 

This reminds me a lot of my son--in 4th grade, he wrote "aic" for the word "ask." He thought the C could pull double duty and stand for /s/ and /k/ in the same word, and threw in the i for good measure (decorating with vowels--because some words just seemed to do that in his mind). AAS really turned things around for him; he needed that specific and incremental teaching. It's easy to go at the pace the student needs, and incorporate as much or as little review as the student needs to master things. 

 

For reversals in how she forms the letters check out this article on reversals for some ideas. 

 

If she tends to read by guessing at words or substituting different words, skipping words etc..., this article on how to Break the Word-Guessing Habit might be helpful. 

 

Are you using a reading program that is Orton-Gillingham based for struggling readers? If not, I'd encourage you to look into that as well. Her written reversals and struggles with understanding how our letters work make me think that focused work in a program designed for struggling learners would really be of benefit to her. You could check out All About Reading or other programs based on that OG research base.

[alisoncooks]

Hi Merry, thanks for chiming in.

We are using Dancing Bears for reading, which has really helped.... it's just slow-going.

(But we have seen the most growth with it, compared to other programs we tried.)

[Snow]

If dancing bears is helping, maybe you do just go with AAS or SS since they are well-regarded and within your comfort zone and would be supportive of what's currently working. It's always tempting to switch to another program because its working for someone else, but....that's how one ends up with 8 different programs.  :blushing:  

 

I don't think loe has a placement test. I looked at A and B and saw that A is primarily cvc words so i went with B. 

 

I deliberated a lot about which one also because i started with B...so then where does that leave me for cursive? (since it starts with upper case letters and only A lower case) and at the time he was still right in the middle of manuscript. Basically I skipped the cursive part and focused just on the phonemic awareness activities, phonics and spelling lessons. 

 

I really agree with onceuponatime about going back to basic awareness activities, i.e., how do we make the "B" sound? What happens in your mouth when you say it? What does your hand feel like when you write a picture of that sound? What is your favorite B word? What do you think is the silliest B word?  That kind of stuff.  I wanted to just ignore that, assuming it was too easy for him but I think that has really helped as well.

 

[Aurelia]

If you're already using Dancing Bears, you might try Apples & Pears by the same publisher. It integrates well with DB and starts at the very beginning.

[alisoncooks]

If you're already using Dancing Bears, you might try Apples & Pears by the same publisher. It integrates well with DB and starts at the very beginning.

 

We actually have A&P and have used about 45 pages of it.  Around that time, it starts to really ask more writing of the student and DD was getting frustrated (even breaking the lessons down into 2-3 days).  I do like the set-up of A&P; we'll probably hang on to it and pull it out again next year, maybe when she writes a bit more/better...

[Aurelia]

We actually have A&P and have used about 45 pages of it.  Around that time, it starts to really ask more writing of the student and DD was getting frustrated (even breaking the lessons down into 2-3 days).  I do like the set-up of A&P; we'll probably hang on to it and pull it out again next year, maybe when she writes a bit more/better...

 

 

In that case, you might try WRTR or AAS. My DD actually did better with WRTR because AAS required memorizing so many rules, she just wasn't retaining much. After we did WRTR for awhile, we switched (back) to A&P and have stuck with it since. We had done the same thing you did, got part way through A&P A, dropped it, and came back.