Lesson 5: Reading, Writing and 'Rithmetic
Surviving the Spelling Challenge
Spelling is a subject that drives many parents of special needs children out of their minds. We wonder if our children will forever look illiterate to people who read their writing. Your child may never become a natural speller, but there is every hope that he can improve. My daughter was recently hired because she got a perfect score on a pre-employment spelling test. I was shocked and still cannot say when the transformation took place!
Spelling is a combination of phonics knowledge and rote memory. Children who have a detailed understanding of phonics are generally good spellers. Those who don’t must rely on rote memory. Many of the methods described for other subjects will also work for spelling. As always, you increase your chances of success when you use multiple methods of studying and when you involve as many of the senses as possible.
If a child has a very hard time spelling, you will probably want to ignore standard spelling lists. Focus on the words your child really needs to know how to spell. Take the words directly from his own writing. I went through my children’s writings and compiled one hundred words they could not spell. The first day, I gave them five words, orally. If your child writes well, you may want to start with a written test. I put a checkmark in pencil by any word they spelled correctly. The words that were not spelled correctly became their spelling words for that day. They were invited to study them any way they chose. You might also select words for them to learn, particularly if they are younger. While the time-honored method is to write each word five times, this is not effective for many children. Although five words may not seem like very many, remember that your child may have had twenty words when he was in public school, but it is unlikely that he learned all twenty, or that he remembered how to spell them after the test was over. Your goal is to teach him to spell these words forever.
The next day, my children were given the five words before they looked them over to refresh their memories. They were on their honor not to cheat and study that day. If they could spell the word correctly, another checkmark went beside the word. If they misspelled it and there was already a checkmark by it, the mark was erased. If there were less than five words unchecked, I continued down the list, testing on new words until I had five. Every day the children had exactly five words to learn. Some children may need an even shorter list, but should never have more than five. If five words are too few, they will simply move more quickly through the list.
Once the children spelled a word correctly three times in a row, the word was moved to the weekly list and then the monthly list. Finally it became an occasional review word. Periodically, I gave written or typed tests, since the children would, in daily life, be writing or typing the words, not spelling them aloud.
There are many ways to study spelling words, and some of them are even fun. Don’t let spelling become the dull part of your day. It doesn’t have to be fun every day, but it should be fun several times a week.
Many children learn spelling words by using the sign language alphabet. You can learn this alphabet online. Fingerspelling adds a manual technique to spelling that is very valuable, especially for children who have difficulty with the physical task of writing.
Using ready-made shapes can make it easy to “write” words without actually writing. These can be alphabet cookies, plastic letters or letters written on cardboard squares.
Let your children act out the letters. Louisa May Alcott’s father taught letters by asking children to try to form the letters with their bodies. How would you make the letter A? After your children have mastered this, they can spell the words with their entire bodies.
Write letters in sidewalk chalk all over your driveway. Ask your children to spell the words by running from one letter to the next.
Write the word in large letters on banner paper or poster board. Have your children trace the letters in one crayon after another. This is called rainbow writing.
Form the word using the plastic letters mentioned above. Then scramble the letters and ask your child to put them back in order.
Have your children sing the letters, say them in silly voices, or even, if you are brave, scream them.
It really doesn’t matter what method you use as long as it is successful, focuses the child’s attention on the spelling, and is fun for both of you!
