Spelling Questions & Answers

Whether you are a school teacher, parent or tutor, you may well have a student who struggles with learning to read/spell.

The aim?

Provide real life examples of students who struggle with spelling, with suggestions on how to help
For others who may see similarities with students that they are supporting
To share knowledge/experience, and, (if relevant), mention specific Wordshark features that might help too

Question 1: How can I support my 7 year old child with their reading and spelling bearing in mind that they have dysgraphia? (Paraphrasing) Jump to answer (Question 1)

Question 2: How can I support my 11 year old son with his reading and spelling bearing in mind that they have severe ADHD? (Paraphrasing) Jump to answer (Question 2)

Question 3: My 10 year old is autistic and could possibly also have Dyspraxia too. Can spell phonetically but has problems remembering age re expected spellings e.g happiness. Can’t remember rules (doubles consonant after a vowel) but when prompted to look at word, can usually make the correction independently. Jump to answer (Question 3)

Question 4: My child (age 10), has been diagnosed with moderate dyslexia (in Australia), can read and is at the appropriate level, but spelling needs intervention. The school has no intervention for students with dyslexia. Jump to answer (Question 4)

Answer to Question 1

There are different types of dysgraphia but a common one is associated with difficulties in various aspects of handwriting. Typing is the easier skill so computer work should be easier than handwriting when putting words together – and when learning spellings.

A 7 year old with dysgraphia and struggling with spelling will need success at every stage. Small achievable steps forward need to be built in and celebrated.

It’s tempting to stress the usual advice of following a structured spelling course but it is also hugely important to ensure that learning remains fun. Exploring how letters commonly work together to represent a single sound could be fruitful, and spotting them visually. This is in words your child encounters (not just in school work) such as the simple example of ‘sh’ in ‘shop’ but also the bit more advanced ‘ti’ in ‘action’. Acknowledging the tricky words that don’t obey the rules is also important, spotting the rotten rule breakers with their unexpected spellings. Otherwise our English spelling can seem overwhelming.

A program such as Wordshark can provide a structured approach. Creating own lists to practise (with help of an adult), and recording your own voices can be fun, for words needed frequently for writing, or ones needed for school tests , or just ones that follow a special interest.

Plan with motivation and success in mind: note what works for your individual child and go for it!

Answer to Question 2

The focus is more on spelling here as that is generally the trickier skill.
There is a lot more to say about each of these 13 points, so get in touch if you need more details.
13 suggestions is a lot! Pick just a few at a time to try out.

Aim for every spelling or reading opportunity to produce some identifiable success e.g. reading a page together, getting a certain number of spellings right on the computer or writing them down when dictated etc etc
Often this is very tricky, but try to involve some element of fun wherever possible
Any sessions set aside for work on reading or spelling should be really short but more than once a week. They should have defined and achievable objectives!
Keep spelling sessions multisensory – using sound, sight, touch, and movement – and explore resources that foster an emotional ‘feel good’ factor that is associated with spelling, including the possible use of NLP
Explore the different ways to practise spellings including pencil & paper, pen & whiteboard, using computers, combining spelling with handwriting, using one’s voice etc
Celebrate each success in both reading and spelling and keep some sort of record (a recording on your phone?) to prove progress is being made over time – but accept there will always be good days and bad days short term
As a parent – try not to get cross when helping with homework, but have a strategy for dealing with this – including walking away for a while if this works if the mood gets tense
Agree on content for reading/spelling that is as relevant and meaningful wherever possible – hopefully giving some control over how and what is being worked on. This includes trying if possible to link any homework with the child or young person’s own interests
Remove distractions when working on spelling/reading at home/school
Explore general rules that govern whole sets of words and how they are constructed, thus giving a better attack for unknown words when reading and writing and cutting down the amount to be learnt Examples include noting any letters that work together to represent a single sound in words, and practising the splitting of longer words up into syllables to read and to spell
Have fun in spotting words together that do not ‘obey the rules’ of what you would expect in reading or spelling
Have a card with a dynamic list of words needed often in writing, including subject vocabulary. Ask ahead for more technical words that will be needed in class work
When out and about and in general life, look at words around you and try to turn this into games

Answer to Question 3

Though it may be no consolation, many adults spell words wrongly like ‘beginning’ with a double ‘g’ etc! There is a school of thought that claims some kids will never put much effort into remembering spelling rules so perhaps concentrating less on these and more on a broader approach in building self esteem and learning some spelling skills along the way will bear more fruit.

Your son’s spelling may well improve if he can be motivated to be a detective in his own right and start looking out for some broad principles – let’s not call them rules as this may be off-putting! (Yet maybe his autistic tendency may help here though). He might like for instance building up long words with each syllable a building block. He might like to proactively start looking at different endings and what part they play and how they spell. For instance you could both use a highlighter and mark all the words in some pages of a newspaper, that end in ‘al’ for example, and see who gets the most. You can do this with other letter patterns. You could talk about the ‘al’ words often being adjectives.*

Gathering a list of different ways to spell a particular sound can be very useful. Gathering different ways a given letter pattern can say different things can also be useful. It can also be fun to spot words that seem to be breaking rules.

Gather a list of any words that really puzzle him and send it to us. We would love to see it.

*In Wordshark, the Secondary School Subject Lists, Unit 7) Building from a base word could be useful if the right level of challenge. Creating lists with your own voice and images could be fun.

Answer to Question 4

Your child has done well to have appropriate reading skills with moderate dyslexia so congratulations!

You probably received the diagnosis from a psychologist or other relevant professional and that is the person who would best be able to advise on appropriate teaching help and programs.

Wordshark online is a program which offers structured support.

If you take out a subscription of Wordshark Online, add your child to the system. You could then together look at the Wordshark course summary and decide which Units are relevant and that you want to practise – the Teaching notes will help explain the content. Supershark (the automatic progression course) is highly structured in moving you through the Wordshark course after the initial placement test. If there are Units that you feel your child could leave out, you could go to ‘Set Work > Change Level – Supershark’ and manually move them to a new and different Unit. If, however, you wanted free access to all units and all games at all times for your child, you as adult could go to their personal settings and switch the Free Play slider to ‘ON’. When they sign on, they would need to use the grey ‘Switch’ button.

Additionally you can gather words that are of interest to your child and they could create some ‘own lists’. it would be fun to add their own recordings (and possibly their own images).

As your child is 10, they will soon be on to secondary curriculum words and these can be found in Wordshark under ‘Secondary school subject lists’ – if only to read them initially, and to understand their meaning using the ‘Sentence Crossword’ game.

Above all, try to keep a lightish touch and with enjoyment factored in.

Please note: the information provided on this page is not intended to diagnose any learning challenges, more about giving some free, helpful and supportive suggestions based on our 25 years of experience in this field. If you have any feedback about the responses, we would love to hear from you: online@wordshark.co.uk