Can't Spell, Won't Spell
Does this describe your child, or some of the children you teach? Or maybe,even, you? If so, take heart: there are some lifelines coming: not magic curesor instant remedies, but practical tips that can help make at least some senseof our language and its strange and wonderful patterns. What's more, someof these ideas are actually fun!
Spelling is not an impossible skill to learn: there ARE strategies. The moresenses your child uses, the better and it helps to remember those two keywords: patterns, and fun.
Get messy: write in flour, sand, or finger paint.
Encourage the use of different colours when writing.
Make up codes with your child- cracking codes makes good use of visualsequential skills that are a key to spelling.
Put the letters of difficult words to the tune of favourite pop songs – agood idea for children with strong auditory memory.
Get your child to shout the letters of a word to you while you areupstairs: whacky = memorable!
Hide the letters of key words around the room on bits of card, with anumber on saying if they are letter number 3 etc. of whatever the totalis. Have a prize of a sweet (or whatever), with an extra sweet for everyletter missing if the word is guessed early. Again, this encouragesmemorising and predicting sequences.
The key is fun. And if you still get nowhere, don't panic if the big "D" word(Dyslexia) comes up - that means your child is in good company. Einstein,Churchill, Wordsworth, General Patten and many other "greats" were and areall dyslexic. Dyslexic people can often see the "Big Picture" when meremortals like you and I can just about manage a little corner of it.
So lift the burden, get out the card, scissors and felt-tips, and ENJOY!
© 2000 Bob Hext
Bob Hext qualified to teach English and French in 1973, and has been workingfor the last 13 years with children experiencing dyslexia and other learningdifficulties. He founded Crossbow Education in 1993 to concentrate onpublishing fun resources for learning literacy and numeracy skills and alsolectures and leads workshops on using games as effective teaching tools