Good reader, poor speller?

[Anonymous]

My husband was a big reader once he discovered material that interested him (Tolkien). I say "was" because he's a workaholic now and doesn't read a lot outside of work and technology-related stuff. He has absolutely horrible spelling, similar to PP where he can't write a grocery list without hilarious misspellings. This is part of what made me opt for private testing for our rising 2nd grader when he was struggling with reading. Yep, he's dyslexic. While I believe DH is also dyslexic, he's never been tested and he's successful professionally.

I absolutely don't know your DD but horrible and inconsistent spelling CAN be a sign of dyslexia. Dyslexia does not affect comprehension and there are many people with dyslexia with highly successful writing careers (John Irving, anyone?). If the only problem my child was having was with spelling, I would probably not worry about it and just teach strategies. If DC started having problems keeping up with increasing reading demands, I would probably push for an evaluation. YMMV.

[Anonymous]

13:29: I just realized I said "not worry about it" from my own context of having a child who's dyslexia is his most manageable SN. Of course I would work with the school on the appropriate interventions. I would just not pay the $3k for private diagnostic testing.

[Anonymous]

Another big reader, bad speller (4th grader) here. Doesn't help that they don't actually teach spelling in MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another big reader, bad speller (4th grader) here. Doesn't help that they don't actually teach spelling in MCPS.

My 3rd and 4th graders both have spelling as part of the curriculum at their MCPS -- words each week with weekly spelling test.

[Anonymous]

My DD has the same problem. Last year (3rd grade) I actually asked her teacher about dysphagia (?) because we couldn't get over the issues with her spelling. He had the specialist come in and check her out -- nope, not the problem. He gave us a list of sight words to just work on memorizing with her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD has the same problem. Last year (3rd grade) I actually asked her teacher about dysphagia (?) because we couldn't get over the issues with her spelling. He had the specialist come in and check her out -- nope, not the problem. He gave us a list of sight words to just work on memorizing with her.

Acck. Meant dyslexia. Saw dysgraphia earlier in the post and I had my own brain fart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DH is a highly successful lawyer. He's a beautiful writer and his mother says he's always had great reading comprehension and argument skills. The man cannot entire out a grocery list without misspelling something! He cannot spell. He tries, but spell check was invented for people like him. Some people just never get it, but they can be very successful anyway!

This is me, too.

I was a very early and advanced reader, and I was always great with comprehension and picking up on subtleties and nuance in books, arguments etc. Similarly, I've always been a very strong writer. Great at putting my ideas into words, organizing coherent essays and arguments. Also quite detail-oriented when it comes to grammar, sentence structure and punctuation (posts on DCUM excluded.)

And . . . I'm terrible with spelling. Truly terrible. I can't explain it, but I've always been this way. Learning words for spelling tests was crazy difficult for me growing up. And I often just forgot it all soon after. As an adult, I'm still amazed sometimes by my spelling errors. How is that possible? I read like crazy for both work and fun. My guess is it has something to do with that part of my brain and memory. Spelling (and other details) just don't stick as well as ideas, concepts etc.

Interestingly, my DD is completely different. She loves to read and has an incredible memory for spelling. I'm amazed by how quickly she picks it up and how long she retains it. I don't think her methodology is anything special. My guess is it has something to do with the way her brain is wired.

[Anonymous]

My DD was a horrible speller in elementary school (she would either skip vowels completely or use 3 or 4 of them sequentially - there was no in between). She would do fine with spelling lists if she studied a little, but she would normally go back to spelling certain words incorrectly.

She's a little better in high school, but most of her written work is typed with autocorrect. I have no idea how her handwritten essays on test come out, but her handwriting is also terrible, so maybe the teachers can't tell how badly mangled some of the spelling is. She seems to do just fine.

[Anonymous]

My 4th grader is like that - reads on a level T, can't spell at all. He does have dysgraphia and an IEP now, but it took 1.5 years of going around in circles with his MCPS to get it (1st -mid 3rd).

[Anonymous]

Two of my four kids have SN, including language based LDs (dyslexia is one type of language based LD). Poor spelling isn't always an indication of a LD. It depends on how much the skill has been practiced and taught. IME, FCPS doesn't assign a lot of importance to spelling in elementary school. My NT kids aren't any better at writing/spelling than my NT kids. When I was growing up, we practiced a lot. I'm a great speller. However, I learned to speak a number of foreign languages. Some through immersion, some through study. Those I learned through immersion (where spelling wasn't practiced a lot), I'm a horrible writer and speller. Those I didn't learn through immersion, I'm an excellent writer/speller. Same thing with my DH. His family is Spanish and he's a fluent Spanish speaker. He's a great at reading Spanish but not a good writer/speller because he has minimal practice at it.

[Anonymous]

What spelling RULES should a 2nd grader know? Dd is same as your child OP - great reader and awful speller. I feel though that they do not teach any rules.

[Anonymous]

This is a very interesting post! DH is brilliant and successful, but he's a horrible speller and his handwriting is practically illegible. He's a voracious reader, and is able to understand and remember the most esoteric topics you could possibly imagine. It always boggled my mind. He also uses the wrong words for things all the time... like he calls sweet potatoes orange potatoes. And he never remembers what certain words mean, like "pantry". He really ignores specifics, but he's always able to grasp the bigger picture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a very interesting post! DH is brilliant and successful, but he's a horrible speller and his handwriting is practically illegible. He's a voracious reader, and is able to understand and remember the most esoteric topics you could possibly imagine. It always boggled my mind. He also uses the wrong words for things all the time... like he calls sweet potatoes orange potatoes. And he never remembers what certain words mean, like "pantry". He really ignores specifics, but he's always able to grasp the bigger picture.

Oh and I forgot to mention another weird thing: he writes all his letters backwards and in unusual ways. As in, he writes the letter "N" starting the top right and ending in the bottom left in continuous line.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a very interesting post! DH is brilliant and successful, but he's a horrible speller and his handwriting is practically illegible. He's a voracious reader, and is able to understand and remember the most esoteric topics you could possibly imagine. It always boggled my mind. He also uses the wrong words for things all the time... like he calls sweet potatoes orange potatoes. And he never remembers what certain words mean, like "pantry". He really ignores specifics, but he's always able to grasp the bigger picture.

Oh and I forgot to mention another weird thing: he writes all his letters backwards and in unusual ways. As in, he writes the letter "N" starting the top right and ending in the bottom left in continuous line.

My husband does his too!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 2nd grader final hit her stride with reading last year. She now is a voracious reader. She reads, reads, reads, reads, and reads. She loves reading!

But her spelling is abominable! I just don't understand how one could be a good reader, but a poor speller? She still leans on sounding words out, but doesn't supplement that from words in her memory bank that she should know by now. For example, just yesterday, she tried to spell "bubbles" as "bubls." WHAT? What is going on here?

My son is the same way, though I'd say his spelling is worse than your daughter's. I would be happy with that rendering of bubbles. It's a good Phonetic approximation. He would have no problem reading bubbles for sure. Like your daughter, his reading really took off in first (though I wouldn't say finally. I think that is a fine time dor reading to take off.) He wants to read read read. But he hates writing. I wrote to his teacher about it. He was tested in K for some fine motor strength and behavior issues, which are now way better. But because of that I know he has a low porcesdjng speed. So I imagine that could've elated. He gets cry frustrated about not knowing what to write. Does this happen to he other poor spellers on the thread?