bethanyjoy Posted June 30, 2018 Share Posted June 30, 2018 I've asked for spelling help for my oldest daughter, but now I have a question about my youngest daughter. She will be going into the fourth grade, but is a struggling reader. She is probably reading on a first/second grade level. Would you recommend Sequential Spelling or Spelling You See for her? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2Peanuts Posted June 30, 2018 Share Posted June 30, 2018 I don't know anything about Sequential Spelling, but I can talk a bit about Spelling You See. I've got a rising 4th grader who can decode well but has trouble with comprehension. So, please understand that my feedback is from that frame of reference. Basically, I love SYS. DS is very visual so the color-coding has worked well for us. Also, it has helped his comprehension tremendously because he works with the same passage for the entire week. Lots of repetition, lots of exposure to the same words & ideas. Plus I love that each book is themed around something that is relevant to other aspects of learning --- we've done Wild Tales, Americana, and are now halfway through American Spirit. And I also love that it allowed us to do copywork & dictation. So, it's been a win-win-win for us! All that said, I have to admit that DS is naturally a good speller. I don't know how that came about, but he is. So, copying words like "mountain" and "Roosevelt" didn't bother him at all. When he did misspell something, it was usually one of the letter combos that we were NOT focusing on that week. In other words, if he had to color-code it, he usually remembered the letter combo. It seems to me that if a student has issues with decoding, SYS may be challenging because one of the ways we identified letter combos was whether or not the two letters made a single sound. (For example, "sp" is not a letter combo because it makes both the "s" and "p" sound; however, "sh" is a letter combo because they make a single sound.) So, if decoding is a challenge, this may add a layer of frustration. But again, this is just my observation as an outsider since my kiddo decodes well --- he just "can't see the forest through the trees" so this program has worked well to bolster his comprehension. Hope this helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terabith Posted June 30, 2018 Share Posted June 30, 2018 For a fourth grader who is on a first or second grade reading level, I would seriously look into Barton. The other possibility would be Apples and Pears, but probably you need Barton. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Targhee Posted July 1, 2018 Share Posted July 1, 2018 Echoing that you might want to look into the intensive programs designed for dyslexics (even if she’s not dyslexic). The skill of reading is more important than if spelling, and you will give her the best help by focusing your time on this. Not that you have to eliminate spelling, but that your focus be on reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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