Spelling and reading help with stealth dyslexia

[Cake and Pi]

I've got a 2e rising 4th grader in full time public school with stealth dyslexia.  He is really struggling with spelling.  He's frustrated and feeling bad about his writing (typed) because of all the red squiggles under his words and because even spell check is unable to tell what he was trying to write.  

From the diagnostics I've given him at home, he's spelling around a 1st grade level, though his mistakes are often not phonetic.  He reads at about a 6th grade level, but his reading level has completely plateaued.  He's been reading at about this level for the past 3-4 years.  His school isn't concerned because he's still above grade level, but I am! 

 

What program or book do you recommend for afterschooling/ mom tutoring?  Is there something to address both spelling and reading when there is such a spread between the two?  Or should we address each separately?  He would prefer to get as little instruction from me as possible (one of the reasons he goes to PS!). Is there a computer program or app or the like that would work?  Or something that could be largely self-study or self-correcting?

 

ETA: I tried Sequential Spelling for a few weeks earlier this summer, but he got so upset at his mistakes and needing to write the word over that it really didn't work well.  He has perfectionism issues and probably dysgraphia (not diagnosed) and loathes rewriting anything.

[Kanin]

Since he’s reading above grade level, does his public school not give him services for reading? What about spelling? I would first request a special education evaluation, if you haven’t already done that.

It sounds to me like he’s not distinguishing the sounds within words very well, and maybe he doesn’t have a good grasp of different sounds, either. Is it mostly vowel sounds he messes up, or just everything? How does he do with basic phonological awareness tasks, like rhyming and clapping syllables?

The PAST is an informal phonological awareness screener that can help you get some idea of where his troubles are coming from. It’s not as good as “official” tests like the CTOPP, but you can do it at home. He might do fine with some parts and not-fine with others. When I give it to kids, I usually break it up into a couple chunks given over a few days. 

http://www.idealconsultingservices.com/FORMS/Data Meeting Forms/Phonological_Awareness_Skills_Test_PAST.pdf

Sorry he’s so frustrated ?

[FairProspects]

All About Spelling for the spelling. Just start with book 1. For the reading, I'd really have to hear him read aloud (I do language based assessments as a certified teacher IRL). Have him read aloud a passage to you and underline every mistake he makes. Is he missing the endings of words? Is he giving up and not trying to decode multi-syllabic words and substituting another word in those places? The reading issue is different and could be a decoding, comprehension, inference, or a speed issue.

[Cake and Pi]

1 minute ago, Mainer said:

Since he’s reading above grade level, does his public school not give him services for reading? What about spelling? I would first request a special education evaluation, if you haven’t already done that. Sorry he’s so frustrated ?

 

No he doesn't get any special services.  He has a 504 for his dyslexia and ADHD, but it doesn't address reading itself, it just (theoretically) gives him some accommodations like longer time, that audio books are supposed to be available, etc.  When he was tested for IEP consideration in 2nd grade, he was spelling 1.5 years behind grade level and they only do anything if the gap is >2 years.  He'd probably qualify now only for spelling, if one can qualify just for spelling (I don't know), but the determination process is lengthy and not worth it yet IMO since he's at or above grade level in all other subjects.  I'd rather address what I can with him at home for now.

[Kanin]

5 minutes ago, Cake and Pi said:

 

No he doesn't get any special services.  He has a 504 for his dyslexia and ADHD, but it doesn't address reading itself, it just (theoretically) gives him some accommodations like longer time, that audio books are supposed to be available, etc.  When he was tested for IEP consideration in 2nd grade, he was spelling 1.5 years behind grade level and they only do anything if the gap is >2 years.  He'd probably qualify now only for spelling, if one can qualify just for spelling (I don't know), but the determination process is lengthy and not worth it yet IMO since he's at or above grade level in all other subjects.  I'd rather address what I can with him at home for now.

>2 years is horrible! I wonder why that’s seen as reasonable. Grr.

I’d do the PAST at home, and see what happens, and then start at the beginning of a reputable, Orton-Gillingham-based spelling program. I’m not familiar with All About Spelling, but others here are. I have a particular fondness for the Wilson program, partially because the materials are so cheap. I also find it easy to follow.

The Recipe for Reading is another inexpensive book that is well-organized, and goes through elementary grades of spelling I believe.

[Kanin]

As far as working with mom, well... you may have to employ some intense bribing ? You can also invest in a visual timer, pick a lesson length and then stick with it. That may soothe some of his anxiety, since the lessons will just end at the ending time, no wish-washy interminable lessons. 

[ktgrok]

Nessy.com is based on OG methods and is online, maybe that would work? 

[PeterPan]

The challenge with going back to something like AAS is that it won't spell anything he's wanting to spell. He's super bright, so what his brain is ready for is morphology. You might actually get farther doing harder spelling that he wants to do rather than easy words he doesn't care about.

I don't know, my ds is in the same place. He's been reading at about a 6th grade level since 1st so we just focused on other (much more pressing) things. We've done a couple levels of AAS and he's fine with it. He's always fine with it, but it's not useful or inspiring or clicking or making him go oh yeah I want to spell. 

http://www.dynamicphonics.com/samples.htm

https://www.proedinc.com/Products/12626/words-integrated-decoding-and-spelling-instruction-based-on-word-origin-and-word-structuresecond-edition.aspx

http://www.readingrockets.org/podcasts/experts/transcripts/graham Here Steve Graham (big name in literacy) talks about his daughter being bunk in spelling till around 6th grade when you found an online game she really wanted to be able to type for. So maybe he'd go farther if he had a REASON to type.

 I can tell you that when OG people have eval'd my ds, they've said they'd move on to morphology. Your dc is at an age and a functional level, sounds like, where that might be the case. And maybe he'd eat it up, dunno.

Also don't underestimate the need for working memory in the process. If you built it up before (to get him reading) and then put him in school, it's probably gone down again. Yes, it sounds like requiring him to write is making it harder. My ds has scribing in his IEP for anything longer than a sentence. He does NOT have typing in his IEP, because they didn't want that as a forced requirement. He's not there yet to be able to do that. My ds is comfortable writing words on a whiteboard right now, and if I offer to do the writing with him spelling aloud, he takes the pen from me. So that's something you can play with, using a whiteboard or tile app or tiles and seeing what happens.

The OG people emphasize that spelling needs to go through the same steps our reading did (words, phrases, sentences), so maybe don't jump too far too fast.

I thought this was interesting as a way to get in some more passive syllable work with some debates. http://www.englishforeveryone.org/Topics/Divided-Syllables.htm  What you'll see there is that actually you could have multiple correct answers, depending on whether you divide the syllables for typical spelling syllabication (OG rules) or if you divide them morphologically. Again, if the point is to get him to ENGAGE and be interested and attend and notice more spelling, then that would be a discussion to have with a very bright child. For instance, the word sparkle can be divided spar/kle or spark/le. And the point of the latter is that it is looking at the morphology (I speak as a fool). 

I don't know, I just thought that was interesting. I'm just not sure beating a super dead horse helps. See where he is and meet him where he is. Maybe he needs to do some harder things (things that make him think and involve analysis) and some easier things (phonogram-driven spelling) at the same time. Maybe you'll be able to make more interesting sentences that way and keep him engaged.

Also, have you had his vision checked? If he has poor visual memory, that's going to hold things back. My dd had poor visual memory underlying her spelling issues. Some VT ridded it up.

I think the program Spell-Links, which is very popular right now with the SLP literacy specialists, has an online tutorial option. They also like Dynamic Roots, which is the 4th and up roots program from that Morgan site I listed above. You can buy it at WVCED also. I'm not sure it's better than any other roots program, but there you go.

 

[Pen]

Consider Spelling Power

 

For reading, what is he currently reading at a comfortable level for fun if anything. 

[Pen]

That was supposed to be a question. 

[Pen]

Also games that involve spelling like hangman or bananagrams could help 

[PeterPan]

 

55 minutes ago, Pen said:

Also games that involve spelling like hangman or bananagrams could help 

Spelfabet has games. They're not too expensive either, more just the work of printing and laminating.

[PeterPan]

This is kind of nifty. They're making a sound string, sort of like an abacus but for spelling.

https://vimeo.com/143616954

[Cake and Pi]

Wow, guys, you've given me a lot to look into!  Thanks!  I'll check his phonological awareness with the PAST, look through all those links, and check back in in a bit.
 

14 hours ago, Mainer said:

>2 years is horrible! I wonder why that’s seen as reasonable. Grr.

Because, funding.  That's pretty much it.  Public schools have to set the threshold for help low enough that sufficiently few children will qualify for services (aka extra funding).  It's a very sad system, but no one wants to pay to fix it.

 

8 hours ago, PeterPan said:

The challenge with going back to something like AAS is that it won't spell anything he's wanting to spell. He's super bright, so what his brain is ready for is morphology. You might actually get farther doing harder spelling that he wants to do rather than easy words he doesn't care about.

...

Also, have you had his vision checked? If he has poor visual memory, that's going to hold things back. My dd had poor visual memory underlying her spelling issues. Some VT ridded it up.

I think you're spot on about needing to make it more complicated to keep him interested.  I came across Megawords in my searching.  Do you know anything about that?

He's sees a COVD optometrist yearly.  His vision is corrected with glasses, and she says he has normal tracking, etc.  How would one know if visual memory is a problem?  I don't think that's something the optometrist has ever checked.

1 hour ago, Pen said:

For reading, what is he currently reading at a comfortable level for fun if anything. 

He loves to read silently and reads CONSTANTLY.  It's hard to get him out of his books.  He mostly reads graphic novels, but he also likes the Beast Quest series, some random-seeming classics, like The Wizard of Oz (he's read that one over and over and over and over), and a bunch of others that generally seem like books aimed at boys his age.  I know he tends to skip around in books, and I doubt he reads anything thoroughly.

[Pen]

On reading, I’d suggest having him read aloud to you from the hardest of what he is already reading to make sure he can read all of it and isn’t skimming over parts. And also that he understands them  

If so, maybe just strew some books that seem similar in interest, but slightly harder in reading level. 

If not, maybe work with him on actual books at the same level (but not necessarily the ones he loves to be turned into “school “ which could make him dislike them). If you find a specific deficit such as in phonics or comprehension you could report back and maybe get some specific ideas for remedial work. 

[Pen]

A lot of people seem to like Megawords, for us it was a total waste of money. 

[PeterPan]

It's really smart that you've got him with a dev. optom and are keeping tabs on it. They will have additional visual processing tests, yes, that crank out standardized scores for visual memory, figure/ground, that kind of thing. 

http://www.islha.org/Resources/Documents/Apel 2.pdf  SpellLinks is one of the more popular spelling programs with literacy SLPs, and this link has a few of the strategies. One of them, the visualization, is not at all unique to SpellLinks, mercy, but it could be something to look into and try. Have you read Dyslexic Advantage? What are his strengths? 

It's possible his brain is just busy with other things. The brain only has so much energy to go around, and there's the maturation question. For my ds (admittedly with a bit longer list, including ASD but still bright), there just wasn't a need, an interest. So if he's doing math 4-5 grade levels ahead and thinking about that a lot, that's where the brain energy is going. 

If he's 8, he's rising 3rd by age, yes? So even though he's crazy bright presumably, he's barely into an age where some people even begin working on spelling. Like in the old days, 15 years ago, it used to be the norm for people to work on reading till 3rd or 4th and then transition that time spent working on reading to spelling. Now we're like oh no, must have it, he should be blah blah. And I agree to work on it, especially the foundational stuff, but there's a sense in which time matters, wanting it matters.

I'm not saying it will work, but what happens if you use a program that has them analyze and that throws it all together like WRTR/SWR? My ds, despite his dyslexia label, actually has a pretty strong ability to process a lot of things at once, which is NOT considered typical for dyslexics. You could just kinda see what happens. If you've taught him phonograms and the basic rules, then you could just play with it. That's another way to get him into more interesting words faster. Your library might have WRTR. Weakness is not enough help for some kids to see patterns. You're using SS, and that's nailing the patterns.

I've just got a lot of things around the house (things I tried with dd, haha) so I just tend to try things with ds for a little bit to see what happens, see if it gets a click. You never know. You might try kind of a multi-progronged approach, where you have a list of high frequency words that you'd really like to nail to help him be functional and then something for morphology and something for basics (phonograms, rules) and something for dictation (probably reinforcing the high frequency and rules-driven), and doing 30 minutes a day divided up like that across 3-4 strands. Not all just SS but hitting multiple bases. Or two hours a day (by adding in some practice with the words on Spelling City, typing the pattern-driven words, etc.) still across strands. That way it's at least not boring and all one thing. 

It's always the trick to generalize, to get him actually using it functionally. And if writing physically isn't going well, then you're like ok he's actually going to use this only for words during spelling time unless we make some effort. So the dictation (I'm looking into https://books.google.com/books?id=OdMAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA86&lpg=PA86&dq=dictation+day+by+day+first+year&source=bl&ots=B3wtdjrzlm&sig=byEVEB2xz_p1AP4HZy4TgMBT6GY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiM-YGmrtjbAhUD0YMKHfBeA34Q6AEINzAD#v=onepage&q=dictation day by day first year&f=false ) addresses that. Then for the typing, you could practice with patterns, sure. What you could also do though is pre-load vocabulary by making lists for his project and giving him access to some kind of spelling dictionary. There are print spelling dictionaries and also tools like the little electronic device Barton endorses. My dd spent YEARS asking for help with words. I tried to reward that and encourage it, because the self-monitoring (realizing you don't know the spelling) is valuable. I tell this story, but like do dictation and give m&ms every time they ask for help, hehe. Now you probably don't want that with so many boys, but self-monitoring is valuable. There's also word predicting software intended for dyslexics that might do WAY better than just the squiggles on mac/pc. Is it Ginger? I haven't looked into it yet for ds, but your ds sounds very ready. The school should have given it to him and you should raise a stink. DonJohnson sells all the best stuff.

[PeterPan]

9 minutes ago, Pen said:

On reading, I’d suggest having him read aloud to you from the hardest of what he is already reading to make sure he can read all of it and isn’t skimming over parts. And also that he understands them  

Pen, did you do a lot of reading aloud like that? I'm getting people mixed up, but I thought we had several people say they did that in significant quantities. I think my ds' language comprehension is finally to where I could do that and compel him to read aloud and have it be reasonable. (remember he's actually been hyperlexic at points because of comprehension issues) So I guess I'm wanting to pick your brain on how compelled reading aloud works, lol. 

When you do it, do you pick instructional level material or recreational level? Or you do both?

Any other brilliant tips?

For the op, have you pursued immersion reading. There's actually significant data (I just saw a post about this) on how comprehension in dyslexia improves when they both hear and see the word. So immersion reading is a logical thing for dyslexics. It bumped everyone but bumped dyslexics MORE. 

[Pen]

22 minutes ago, PeterPan said:

Pen, did you do a lot of reading aloud like that? I'm getting people mixed up, but I thought we had several people say they did that in significant quantities. I think my ds' language comprehension is finally to where I could do that and compel him to read aloud and have it be reasonable. (remember he's actually been hyperlexic at points because of comprehension issues) So I guess I'm wanting to pick your brain on how compelled reading aloud works, lol. 

When you do it, do you pick instructional level material or recreational level? Or you do both?

Any other brilliant tips?

For the op, have you pursued immersion reading. There's actually significant data (I just saw a post about this) on how comprehension in dyslexia improves when they both hear and see the word. So immersion reading is a logical thing for dyslexics. It bumped everyone but bumped dyslexics MORE. 

 

Yes.  Have used both instructional and recreational level materials.  Recreational level is good for gaining confidence and learning to read with feeling, good pacing, etc .    Instructional is good for making Forward progress  

 I had not  done any for several years, then in the middle of this past school year (9th grade) I had him do some more because he had regressed in his reading ability. And he had to back up to a prior level for both recreational and instructional. This may have been in large part because he had been using almost all audio materials and was out of practice. 

My guess is that it was the last time he will read aloud for instruction by me. He is at an Emotionally resistant and wanting more independence teen phase plus is no longer a home schooler so I can no longer assign it as part of school. 

 

My son btw was not helped by immersion reading. He can listen. Or he can read. But he cannot focus on the page while listening. The effort of trying to keep track of the written words at the same time as listening takes his comprehension down to near zero. It ends up being just words. He needs one piece of his mind free and available for turning the words into comprehensible images. I guess he would be an outlier in the dataset, generally. OTOH, when he is ready to take another DMV written test I plan to encourage him to use the audio they have available as an aid. 

[Pen]

OP: One thing I have noticed is that ds’s spelling has improved significantly this past year with out active work on it. As if maturation or lots more reading may have helped.

Another was that typing practice may have done as much for his spelling as spelling programs with less distress. 

A lot of words he can spell turn out to have been from games on Typing Instructor. 

[Pen]

At the height of reading remediation ds read aloud as much as a few hours per day in broken up segments of time, and not all to me. 

As he got good at it he would read to other relatives and even to a friend at one point. 

[Pen]

OP If he wants to skip around in a pleasure book, IMO that’s fine, but try to determine if he is able  to read I t all.  My ds will skip the “boring parts” of pleasure books—but can read them. 

That is different than needing to skip due to being unable to read parts. 

[PeterPan]

45 minutes ago, Pen said:

My son btw was not helped by immersion reading. He can listen. Or he can read. But he cannot focus on the page while listening. The effort of trying to keep track of the written words at the same time as listening takes his comprehension down to near zero. It ends up being just words. He needs one piece of his mind free and available for turning the words into comprehensible images.

Oh my goodness this is SUCH a good point. I had not thought of it that way, but you're right that's probably why my ds was bucking it. And it goes back to that idea of stress and that sometimes the person can't explain WHY it's not working and what we get is resistance and behaviors. But that explanation really makes sense and seems pivotal, thanks. 

47 minutes ago, Pen said:

he had regressed in his reading ability. And he had to back up to a prior level for both recreational and instructional. This may have been in large part because he had been using almost all audio materials and was out of practice. 

That's really interesting. I was just reading a debate on instruction vs. tech on a listserve, and an older adult with significant dyslexia was saying something similar, that at some point get over it and enjoy the real point which is that they're engaging. Like we teach and teach, but as long as there was equity (they GOT the instruction), we pursue excellence (moving forward, being able to engage). It's a hard line, but I think that's really reinforcing that it is a disability when you pull the instruction and he regresses. 

51 minutes ago, Pen said:

Recreational level is good for gaining confidence and learning to read with feeling, good pacing, etc .    Instructional is good for making Forward progress  

Somehow it seems really obvious when you put it that way, lol. And so with my ds, keeping it at recreational is probably the best idea, because it's the lowest stress. 

I'm looking at a really ridiculous series btw http://www.blake.com.au/Dangerous-Games-2-The-Maze-p/9781921852794.htm  It's the Dangerous Games books. Just looking for a deal at this point.

[PeterPan]

43 minutes ago, Pen said:

At the height of reading remediation ds read aloud as much as a few hours per day in broken up segments of time, and not all to me. 

As he got good at it he would read to other relatives and even to a friend at one point. 

You're right, this is how we've worked everything else. Don't know why I had in my mind that it had to be a long chunk (1 hour, boom). And yeah, that would be a hoot to read to the dog.

[PeterPan]

49 minutes ago, Pen said:

OP: One thing I have noticed is that ds’s spelling has improved significantly this past year with out active work on it. As if maturation or lots more reading may have helped.

Another was that typing practice may have done as much for his spelling as spelling programs with less distress. 

A lot of words he can spell turn out to have been from games on Typing Instructor. 

This is HUGE. I really think you're right there. 

[1shortmomto4]

You are getting much better suggestions that I could ever, ever come up with but something stood out to me in your most recent post - your ds' interest in graphic novels.  When I see/read that I begin to think something like visual/spatial (I know, many don't agree with this term) but has he learned multiplication tables yet?  What worked to master that skill?  Something that provides a picture - like Times Tales?  If so, then maybe learning those everyday words need to be approached similar to that - look at Dianne Craft's website for spelling to see an example.  Just maybe he'd make more connections with something visual versus lists of words.  I've also had great success with Spelling U See - the student marks the words with color and when they rewrite on dictation day I remind my ds that he marked the word and then he remembers and is able to most often come up with the correct spelling.

I personally understand your frustrations with the school - your child isn't "bad enough" to qualify for services -- oh man how I know that feeling!  Unfortunately, 4th grade is the big year when the kids are all supposed to be on the same playing field and if they aren't then things begin to fall apart quickly.  That is the year that my ds, who was never "bad enough" was pulled from PS because they didn't help him soon enough. 

[summerreading]

Seconding Nessy.com if he wants to work independently. 

[Pen]

It also might help to work on not getting bent out of shape emotionally  by a computer or teacher marking misspelled words in red. 

But so long as it is very disturbing, maybe turn off that feature on computer, and request live teachers not to put red squiggly marks on his work unless it is a spelling test. 

[Pen]

That is, the perfectionism itself could be worked on. 

[Pen]

At that age my ds had a Franklin talking electronic dictionary which could help some with spelling and had a bunch of built in games

[PeterPan]

1 minute ago, Pen said:

That is, the perfectionism itself could be worked on. 

At the local dyslexia school they are HUGE on Zones of Regulation and they integrate it ACTIVELY into their days. They have a social skills program as well that they put everyone through, but the Zones, yes, every morning they're talking about it. They have flip books for everyone with their pages of choices they like to make in each of the zones and they have a cart with all the options right there, handy, for the teacher to point and get them using their tools.

Also the kids can ask to work in a different location (in the living room style hall with couches and coffee tables, at tall tables, in a resource room, etc.). So when they're actively working on their zones and self-advocating and realizing they're going yellow, pink, red zone and making better choices, this is good!

It's not hard stuff to do. It's just a little effort to set it up or wrap your brain around it and then some preteaching each day to talk about the skills. For some kids (ADHD, SLDs), a little bit is like WOW big effect. My ds, we've worked on it for ages and he sorta has no clue. He's getting there, but that's autism. And say you say it's gifted perfectionism. Well fine but he still needs that self-regulation and Zones is the way to get there. They should be doing that in school too.

[Terabith]

I have a kid with stealth dyslexia...she's consistently been at 99th percentile for reading comprehension, but she's at like 0.5th percentile for spelling.  Like, she can't spell second grade words.  We have had some improvement with doing Wilson, but any OG system (Barton, etc) would probably be fine.  We had tried a zillion homeschool spelling curriculums.  I liked All About Spelling, but it wasn't transferring.  The steps were still too big, or maybe she just wasn't ready then.  I dunno.  I liked Apples and Pears, too, but again...didn't work.  Wilson is working.  But we've honestly gotten a HUGE bang for our buck by getting her a smart phone and letting her text her friends.  I mean, all her texts are misspelled, but the spellings are getting closer.  She has an investment.  To some extent, we've just decided that this is the way it's going to be.  She's never going to be able to spell.  I'm hoping that with Wilson, by high school or so we can get to a third or fourth grade spelling level, where spell check will work better, but she's always going to require a proofreader/ editor.  The smart phone features like word prediction and siri help.  And her errors are mostly logical now...she might use ir instead of er in a word, or ee instead of ea or e_e.  She spells phonetically.  Bible is spelled Bibull.  Stuff like that.  It's readable.  Repetition has zero effect for her.  She has absolutely no visual memory.  She probably could use vision therapy, but she has legit ptsd from our forays in that direction, so her mental health is better and we don't stress the spelling too much.  

I have noticed that her spelling and reading progress has never been linear.  She's always made these huge leaps.  And it's bizarre....for the longest time, we worked and worked on decoding, but when she picked up a book her friend was reading and read it, even though it was WAY above her reading level (back when she was about seven), she understood it.  Like, she got every single comprehension question right.  Nobody had read the book to her.  The only thing that she had heard about it was, "I like this book."  Test after test would show she could decode only about one word out of every ten or fifteen.  But she got EVERY SINGLE COMPREHENSION QUESTION right.  I have no idea how that's possible, but she did it on test after test.  Couldn't decode the words, but once it got to paragraph level, she was golden.  She can comprehend anything now, even technical college stuff, but her decoding, while infinitely better, is not anywheres near the same level.  It's like magic.  I have no idea how it works, but it does.  And she's made these leaps with her spelling skills, especially since we got her a phone.  

[PeterPan]

Terabith, with as bright as she is, the multiple choice reading comprehension stuff would be a breeze. My ds is like that. He was testing at 5th/6th grade in 1st for reading comprehension, EVEN THOUGH HE HAS A LANGUAGE DISABILITY. Like seriously, we just went through and qualified him because he failed language tests, couldn't get it out, but he could answer those stupid multiple choice questions supposedly showing he understood. If you change the testing to *open-ended* questions, scores totally change.

[FairProspects]

See and AAS has been a miracle curriculum for my stealth dyslexics and additional students that I have tutored. It just depends on the child. One of my recent students jumped several grade levels in spelling just in one year using AAS. But without testing the strengths and weaknesses of a child in front of me, it is hard to say. I have very specific information from the WIAT and CTOPP when I start tutoring.

[Terabith]

We checked Cat on both multiple choice and open ended reading comprehension questions.  Didn't make a difference, but she doesn't have a language disability.  But it boggled my mind.  How is it possible to know what it says when you can't read the words?  It's just bizarre.

[ElizabethB]

I would check his MWIA scores and nonsense words scores to see if my syllables program might help.  If he has a slowdown or is below age norms for the nonsense words, it should help.  The tests are at the end.  The syllables program has all the teaching done with videos by me, you would just need to listen to him read a few words and check his worksheet answers.  It works on both reading and spelling.

https://www.thephonicspage.org/On Reading/syllablesspellsu.html

For spelling, different students do well with different things.  Some people are helped by rule based learning, some by pattern based learning, some only repetition helps, some need an OG based program, it really depends.  I do like Spelling Plus for most students because it focuses on the most common 1,000 words, but someone with some kind of underlying problem may need other methods to be able to learn the words long term.

The Spelling Plus book is secular, and you can buy it from Amazon, but CBD has the best samples:

https://www.christianbook.com/spelling-plus-1000-words-toward-success/susan-anthony/9781879478206/pd/478207?kw=21439910172&mt=b&dv=c&event=PPCSRC&p=1186432&gclid=CjwKCAjw1ZbaBRBUEiwA4VQCIZ-L5Qp5W-Zn2J1taPtnZDXU0vRREtLtTHOACVveh-sQDPhlMkGfbBoCbUkQAvD_BwE

I think all the Spelling Plus lists are in Spelling City, which is mostly independent.