Spelling

[mymommy1]

DD11 spells very little on his own, CVC words and some others.  He reads above grade level with equal comprehension.  His issues are HFA, very low working memory, and slow processing speed.  We did AAS 1 and AAS 2 a few years ago, dictation, SWO B, some Sequential Spelling, Natural Speller.  Some of these were before I really understood his skill levels.  We thought if he read well, he would learn to spell or at least recognize the words weren't right.  No.  He needs tons of time, repetition, and practice to retain.  He hates it because it's boring.

 

Ideas for now 6th grader who realizes he needs to learn to spell to write, but hates to work, needs tiny pieces, and tons of repetition?

[PeterPan]

Not saying it's an answer, but have you had his vision checked? If he has poor visual memory, that would make the rest even harder. 

 

Where is he at for the skills in AAS1/2? 

[Terabith]

I think my daughter may be moonlighting as your son.

 

Honestly, I don't think she will ever be able to spell normally. We are putting our efforts into learning to type and technology.

[mymommy1]

He can do AAS1 and most of 2.

[PeterPan]

Has he had fresh evals within the last few years to consider SLDs? My ds has SLDs in math, reading, and writing, but like your ds reads adequately. I've kind of taken his utter lack of interest in spelling as part of the overall delay effect from the autism. Like if it's not on your radar to write or have that kind of communication, then spelling isn't worth much, kwim? Since my ds has his SLD diagnoses and doesn't seem on a path to do much functional handwriting, I'm sort of not making it the highest priority thing. But that's because the dsygraphia label gives you the out to type. Not ideal, but it's something. So anyway, it's something to consider, whether updating evals might turn up SLD diagnoses to give you some explanation. 

 

As far as methodologies, I'm not sure any is astonishingly better than another from your list, but doing them in a way that clicks with how he processes could help. Like have you tried visualization? Or maybe going more auditory? Phonetic Zoo has them spell aloud. Many kids with alphabet soup labels will be good at visualization. For that, he'd close his eyes, visualize the word, and then spell it aloud backward. It can actually be a really strong method for some kids!

 

If he's having trouble with visualization, again I go back to the developmental vision exam and getting his visual memory checked. When my dd struggled, turns out she had the visual memory of a 2 yo. She was newly 11. Kinda explained why spelling was having trouble sticking.  :lol:

[MerryAtHope]

Is there a reason you don't want to go back to AAS? I didn't even find that until my son was 11, and he worked through level 1, 2, and most of 3 in his 6th grade year. He too needed tons of repetition. Use the card box to really modify the review to your son's needs. I reviewed all mastered sound, phonogram, and key cards at least monthly (we would work through one type of card each week, and then spent a couple of weeks reviewing mastered word cards, a few each day, from the most recent level).

 

This report on how to help your child's memory really helped me see how to break things down. Here's how I generally approached lessons:

 

Day 1: Review and teach a new concept. See if your son can teach it back to you using the tiles.

 

Day 2: quickly review the new concept by stating what you’ve been working on. For example, “This week we are learning how to add silent E. Do you remember how silent E changes a word?â€

 

or, “This week we are studying how to spell the /k/ sound at the end of a word. Do you remember what our choices are for that sound?†If he remembers, great, praise him! Then ask a follow-up question, such as, “How do we decide which one to use?†At whatever point he doesn’t remember, review it. Then, walk through a tile demonstration whether he remembered or not, and have him teach it back to you. If he doesn't like the tiles any more, write on a whiteboard or on notebook paper, and use underlining to show when two or more letters are part of one phonogram.

 

Then pick up where you left off in the book. If you get to the 10 words the first day, review the 10 words with a different medium (if he used tiles day 1, write on a white board on day 2, or go outside and use sidewalk chalk, or use kinesthetic methods). You may or may not get to sentences yet this day.  Put all of the words in daily review.

 

Day 3: again ask questions, model, have him teach back. Do a few dictations and some of the more words.

 

And so on. Do this type of review daily until your son can easily remember the new concept and teach it back to you with the tiles without your help or prompting (but while he is working towards mastery, give all the help and prompting needed. Don’t stop helping/prompting until it’s obvious he doesn’t need it.)

 

Days 4 and 5 would be similar to day 3, until you are through with the words, the more words, and the dictations. Often I kept many of the words in daily review for another full week, mixing them in with other words that needed review so it wasn’t all one type of spelling pattern in a row.

 

Lesson time should only be about 15-20 minutes, so you’ll likely be able to spread the step over 4-5 days, or maybe even longer if the dictations slow him down or he needs more review along the way. Each day you’ll start with the daily review cards for about 3-5 minutes, then do the review of the latest concept, and then into the book.

 

Cards should stay in daily review until he can answer them quickly and easily, without self-correcting or having to stop and think about them. The word cards need to go into daily review after he gets them right in the book, so that she gets additional practice after that. I used to review 2-3 new words each day, rather than a whole list of matching-pattern words, and mixed in a few words of other patterns (either other daily review words, or some mastered words). This extends the number of days after the lesson that they are still thinking about and reinforcing the newly-learned information. I also used to wait until a Monday to move any cards to the Mastered section. This way they have to remember over the weekend, and it seems to stick in their long-term memory better.

 

With my son, after he mastered a word card, I reviewed it weekly for a few more weeks before I moved it to that mastered tab. If it was really solid, then I moved it. If not, it went back to daily review. 

 

Don’t move on from a step until he is very solid on the concept. (However, cards stay in daily review even after the step is mastered, until each word is also mastered.) You’ll know he thoroughly understands a step when he can easily teach it back.  If he forgets something in a dictation later on, go to the tiles for that word and have him teach it back again, unless he can correct his mistake readily. Put that word back in daily review.

 

HTH some! Don't get discouraged, you can make a lot of progress and really help him if you are consistent with short, daily lesson times. It really was worth it for my kids to work through the series. 

[PeterPan]

You could also put the AAS words into Quizlet and play the Quizlet games with them. They have some cute ones like falling letters, etc. 

[mymommy1]

OhElizabeth, evals last spring and this January.  I pick up the report tomorrow, so I can give numbers then, but both evaluaters said no LDs.  I'll look into vision screening.  You mean with a COVD, right?

 

MerryAtHope, I love your explanation.  Thank you!  AAS 1 seemed to help.  AAS 2 was hit or miss.  With the expense, time required, and not thinking it worked, I quit.  Now, I realize the inconsistency that comes with his diagnosis and that those lapses are going to come. 

 

My other option is to just skip it, but I'd really like to try to get him to a functional level to write his own sentences.  Right now, I write and he copies.

[PeterPan]

Have you worked on typing or dictation? 

 

Is he print aware? Like does he have any use for writing or a reason to want to be able to get something into text? With my ds (ASD1 plus SLDs) there's just this general obliviousness to it. Writing, spelling, it's just not on his radar. I think it's the autism and the delays. When you subtract two years, his writing interest seems to about match what you'd expect for that age.

[mymommy1]

We have done dictation within spelling programs and grammar, which I found helpful, depending on where he was on the functioning level that day.  I even tried Spelling Wisdom because of that, but he needs something a bit more explicit. 

He is print aware.  He asks me how to spell words to name his Minecraft worlds or chat (limited because of spelling and typing speed).  He writes lists and comics sometimes, so a limited amount.  Yes, on the delay.  If I look at where his quick 8.75 brother is, they are almost at the same spot in all subjects.

 

[PeterPan]

Lists and comics are good! Is he doing any writing? It sounds like that's really crunchy right now. If it is, you might focus on that, like just upping his useful, engaged text. See that's the weird part about adding the ASD to it. It's like if they don't have a reason and aren't ready to use it, are they really going to learn it? 

[Peaceseeker]

My daughter was similar and I think I tried more spelling programs than anything. I had started sequential spelling when she was too young and she totally freaked out about the length of the word lists and melted down. So we jumped around for a few years. In 4th grade I realised nothing was sticking. She could not remember all the rules for AAS. Rote memorization of facts is really difficult for her and she struggles getting things into long term memory. She could barely write and was becoming highly self conscious in a group of her peers if writing or spelling was required.

 

We took a pause from spelling lists to do Spelling Wisdom for a few months at the end of fourth which did help. We used some visualization exercises on the tricky words and it did cement a lot of common every day words. Then I circled back to sequential spelling in 5th grade and this time she was ready for it. I did it regular pace for a few months while learning keyboarding and then doubled the pace, doing one 5-10 minute list at the start of school and another at the end of school or in the evening.

 

She starting seeing the patterns and things got so much better. She couldn't remember all the rules but the patterns really help her. Then she got a laptop with a word processor in 6th grade and suddenly she was writing her own stories and plays. Her whole world opened up with that computer. The stories in her head could finally come out. The spell checker really boosted her confidence. We are now in 7th grade and level 4 of SS. It takes 5-10 minutes a day and it is working for this child. I am slowing it back down as the lists are harder and just accepting that we will probably still be doing spelling in high school.

 

I have also accepted she will never be a phenomenal natural speller. But she no longer berates herself or calls herself a terrible speller. She is an adequate functioning 7th grader at spelling. And thank goodness this generation has the technology to help them. Because it is really ok and I am glad she has the help as it has done wonders for her confidence and creativity. They will most likely spend more time typing and texting with spell check in this generation than writing on paper anyways.

Edited March 3, 2017 by CaliforniaDreaming

[Ottakee]

If the vision checks out, take a look at Apples and Pears Spelling.  I love it and it worked here when nothing else did.

[Terabith]

My almost 12 year old sent me a text tonight suggesting "Cinees" for dinner.

[PeterPan]

Terabith, her Siri needs auto correct, lol.

[kbutton]

My ASD kiddo does really well with Sequential Spelling. Once he was a fluent typist, we started typing the lists. It rocks for us. Both of my kids are pattern/visual spellers in spite of learning phonics quite well. I learned phonics, and I am also a very visual speller. 

 

BTW, both of my kids had more trouble with Level 1 than any other level for some reason. If Level 1 doesn't work, and you have access to Level 2, you might just skip and come back to it. (I know that sounds odd, but it worked with my second one.)