Dictation

[Limily]

I am new to dictation this year. I have a 4th grader who struggles with spelling. If we use the recommendations in Writing with Ease for narration, copywork, and dictation from their own narration, what happens when the child still struggles with writing their own narration after it’s dictated to them? 
 

We’ve been following the method of choosing our passages to copy and study for four days. And pulling spelling words from the passage and then dictating the passage by day 5. 
 

Is there a wrong way to do dictation? The Writing with Ease book goes about this method a little differently, but it seems very valuable because it’s the child’s own words and thoughts. 

[HomeAgain]

I think it's hard to see progress at the beginning of a skill.  I wonder if cutting back on the length of the passage might work better for yours.  We started dictation a little bit earlier, with Dictation Day by Day, and the first few passages were 3, maybe 4 words.  But the key part was that the words in the passages were a constant thing:
"See my doll."
"See my new doll."
"I have a new doll."

Three consecutive days, very similar sentences, all dictated.  I also would stop my kid as soon as he began to write something wrong, have him cross it out, and then spell the word for him.  I wanted to build the memory in writing it correctly from the beginning, not writing it wrongly and then having to remember the correction.  Because it was a short piece daily, he would have another chance the next day to write it properly without assistance.  And the next day, and probably the next week.

As he moved through this dictation method, I sprinkled in spelling rule study.  Eventually we moved to a rule based program - the dictation only helped for so long before he needed to be able to spell unknown words and break them out more effectively than with just word study.

[8filltheheart]

I have 3 dyslexic kids.  5 aren't or at least aren't bad enough for it to be obvious.  Dictation was a complete and utter failure in our home.  I feel bad for my oldest (my 1st dyslexic) bc he suffered through 2 yrs of our attempting studied dictation.  

I have used copywork with all of my children successfully.  I use their copywork for teaching grammar, mechanics, grammar, and proper sentence and paragraph construction.

I use Apples and Pears Spelling for my dyslexics (it incorporates dictation for words being studied.) They progress and all of my other kids use(d) How to Teach Spelling.  I use the TM only.  We start around pge 36 (or wherever the actual rules/words begin) and progress through at their pace.  It incorporates dictated phrases and sentences that spirals through words from previous lessons.  That combo is the only thing that has helped my poor spellers.

[wendyroo]

19 minutes ago, 8filltheheart said:

We start around pge 36 

I read this as "We start around age 36..." and I immediately liked the idea of putting spelling on the back burner for one of my kids - way, way on the back burner - and trying again in 30ish years. 😁

[SilverMoon]

My spelling struggler uses Megawords to work directly with rules. It doesn't make him memorize word lists. 

Combining spelling and writing would hold him back in both. 🙃 Even now in middle grades dictation would go over like a lead balloon. Most of the time he knows the word looks wrong, but he can't sort out how to fix it on his own so he'd just get frustrated. He did use Writing With Ease in elementary, but always a grade or more behind and I skipped the dictation or made it copywork. 

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nm

Edited September 1 by kathyl

[pmeilaen]

My last child is having problems with spelling and dictation and I decided to try using SpellingYouSee with her.  She is in grade 8, but we are doing SpellingYouSee level E.  This approach to dictation is perfect for her.

[Foofaraw]

On 9/21/2023 at 12:36 PM, 8filltheheart said:

I use Apples and Pears Spelling for my dyslexics (it incorporates dictation for words being studied.) They progress and all of my other kids use(d) How to Teach Spelling.  I use the TM only.  We start around pge 36 (or wherever the actual rules/words begin) and progress through at their pace.  It incorporates dictated phrases and sentences that spirals through words from previous lessons.  That combo is the only thing that has helped my poor spellers.

Sounds like How to Teach Spelling is a less intensive version of Apples and Pears?

My not dyslexic 8 year old is about to finish Apples & Pears B, and I find it astonishingly beneficial to her ability to write in real life.