spelling problems

[Anonymous]

My son who is in grade 2 was reading Harry Potter. Meanwhile, his spelling was poor and he would hate writing before we used the Barton system. After reading extensively, one day I decided to try the Barton system. No testing at all. I think this was one of the best things I could do for my son. In the beginning I thought that perhaps the three languages he speaks are guilty for his poor spelling. Then, the hint was offered by my first grade son whose spelling was amazingly good for a first grader.
You can find excellent info about the concept of "stealth dyslexia” and other great resources on Drs. Eide website. http://dyslexicadvantage.com/group/welcomeintroductions
Early intervention is KEY. Moms, trust your intuition and act quickly.
I feel forever grateful to Susan Barton. She is amazing. My son writes creative pieces and he can spell words he’s never seen before. His confidence fits his potential. Isn’t that great?

[Anonymous]

Look into the The Orton-Gillingham Multisensory Method. It approaches phonemic awareness from a visual, auditory and kinesthetic manner. Students who struggle need all three in a meaningful way.

[Anonymous]

I am a new poster. I have tutored reading and spelling for many years. I wasn't familiar with the Barton program, but it looks great. It seems quite similar to Read America (Phonographix) as well as Abecedarian. I would recommend looking into any of those programs.

I was unable to pull up prices for the Barton program products so I can't see how expensive they are. Read America (Phonographix) products can lack quality (typos, etc) but the Super Speller has been a standard for me for many years and it is dirt cheap; you would want to get the Phonographix manual for parents as well. The Abecedarian workbooks cost about $12 each and they are very parent and student friendly.

All of these programs work on a similar principle. First make sure the students are able to segment and blend individual phonemes (of one syllable words) automatically AND make sure they have one to one correspondence for a letter and a sound (called the Basic Code in phonographix). Then make sure they have mastered the relatin of common digraphs (2 letters represent 1 sound) and that they can segment consonant clusters (st, sl, tr, nd, etc.) Once all that is in place (and for older children it might only take a few lessons to review) start working on the various ways we show vowel sounds in English, and use visual memory/guessing only for the vowel sounds when necessary. Finally move into two syllable and multisyllable words, and words with Greek and Latin etymology (-tion/ -cian/ -ssion, -ture, "ch" for /k/, etc.)

http://www.abcdrp.com (Abecedarian) (sorry, link isn't working right now.)


https://www.readamerica.net/productdetail.asp?productid=77 (Read America Super Speller) $39

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look into the The Orton-Gillingham Multisensory Method. It approaches phonemic awareness from a visual, auditory and kinesthetic manner. Students who struggle need all three in a meaningful way.

The Barton system is an Orton-Gillingham based system.

[Anonymous]

I want to thank the people who recommended Barbara Marburry. We've been taking lessons for about a month, and my son is learning a great deal from her. Too bad the schools themselves don't give this kind of help, but I guess not that many kids need it.

[Anonymous]

OP, try Sequential Spelling.

[Anonymous]

I have never been a great speller. Impacted my schooling as long as I had to hand write anything, but now that I have spell check I don't worry. Is there an advantage to helping kids on the spelling front in terms of reading/writing that I am missing?

[Anonymous]

OP here. My son isn't "not a great speller". He is a HORRIBLE speller. Spell checks couldn't even figure out what he was trying to write. Also, watching him on a computer, having to go to the spell checkers solutions to check every third word was really slowing him down. As with memorizing the multiplication tables, memorizing spelling really still does help in speed. Also, once you have them memorized, writing is less boring, as there is less mechanical checking through spelling recommendations. In general, if you can, memorization will help make academic activities more enjoyable because your mind is then freed up to think, and you don't have to expend extra energy on the boring parts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. My son isn't "not a great speller". He is a HORRIBLE speller. Spell checks couldn't even figure out what he was trying to write. Also, watching him on a computer, having to go to the spell checkers solutions to check every third word was really slowing him down. As with memorizing the multiplication tables, memorizing spelling really still does help in speed. Also, once you have them memorized, writing is less boring, as there is less mechanical checking through spelling recommendations. In general, if you can, memorization will help make academic activities more enjoyable because your mind is then freed up to think, and you don't have to expend extra energy on the boring parts.

pp here:
OP, go to a site called homeschoolreviews.com and click on Language Arts on the left then Spelling. Look at the reviews of different curricula, and see what the moms had to say. We went with AVKO Sequential Spelling, and so far, so good. At least my dd is more confident.
In general, this site has been helpful in navigating curricula since I don't want to pay for a tutor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have never been a great speller. Impacted my schooling as long as I had to hand write anything, but now that I have spell check I don't worry. Is there an advantage to helping kids on the spelling front in terms of reading/writing that I am missing?

Well, sometimes spell check doesn't work, or you don't have access to spell check.

Also if you have to handwrite something as an adult and don't have access to spell check, you can feel a little bit incompetent (or be perceived that way) if you can't spell correctly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS is a horrible horrible speller. He is in the 5th grade. My PS does not give spelling tests past the 3rd grade. I guess they are all supposed to be great spellers by now. Does anybody know of any resources to help with spelling proficiency that I could use on my own to help him?

I have had good success with the following workbooks.

http://www.abcdrp.com

Even though you say your child has trouble with spelling, not reading, I'd go ahead and give him the placement test for the reading portion of this program. Link for that is here:

http://www.abcdrp.com/samples/ABCDAssessment.pdf

If your child has any trouble reading or spelling words in the Level B program, I'd recommend getting the B short form workbook.

If he's OK with Level B words, get Workbook C as well as the Spelling Patterns workbook.

Level D is great with older kids.

[Anonymous]

PP again.

Here is a spelling inventory of skills for elementary school

http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/sellensh/319A%20materials/Primary%20Spelling%20Inventory.pdf

If you give it to your child, post the mistakes here and I can give you some more suggestions on what to do.

[Anonymous]

Here's a spelling inventory list that goes to a higher grade level:

http://secondaryreading.mpls.k12.mn.us/uploads/wtwspellinginv_2_2.pdf

[Anonymous]

highest spelling inventory:

http://www.elko.k12.nv.us/wwelem/files/Download/Upper%20Elem%20Spelling%20Inventory.pdf

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for the additional suggestions. Right now, we are working with Barbara, and that seems to be helping. However, if that doesn't continue to work, we'll be back to try all these great suggestions!