8 yr old daughter hard time with spelling

momwifedaughter

Fri, Mar 29 2019, 6:03 pm

My only child that can't spell for her life. 3rd grade and spells like a first grader. Any experience with that? She's a math whiz. Artistic and more. What needs to be the method of teaching her? I'm sitting with her and giving her all kinds of hints and tricks and still gets low marks. I need help and advice of someone that has experience with such.

amother

Slateblue

Sat, Mar 30 2019, 9:44 pm

Can you take her to be evaluated by a reading specialist? There are many informal assessments (including spelling inventories) that can tease out areas of need in spelling deficits. She probably needs systematic phonics instruction for those specific sounds/patterns.

amother

Beige

Sat, Mar 30 2019, 9:52 pm

I have a student who can't spell to save his life, a little older than that. He goes for private tutoring, where someone works with him, teaching hI'm spelling patterns. I'm not sure if it is Orton-Gillingham or Wilson. Maybe even Read Right.
It is a long, slow process. He's been going for about six months, and progress is very slow. I still can't read many of the words he writes, but some of the simple words are now being spelled correctly.
interestingly, while this student is not a very poor reader, when he was tested by this reading specialist they discover that he had very little phonetic awareness. Everything is like a sight word for him, meaning if he was reading an article with a sentence like: "He discovered a new use for the ingredient while studying at Harvard University" - he's get stuck on the word Harvard, because he isn't familiar with it.

momwifedaughter

Sat, Mar 30 2019, 9:52 pm

amother wrote:

Even if she reads well?

Do u have a name or reference or anything I can start out with? No idea where to turn. School if very ontop of her, giving her constant reading material to bring home for homework but her spelling is not improving with that.

momwifedaughter

Sat, Mar 30 2019, 9:56 pm

amother wrote:

I can relate to this sight word reading. Funny how I didn't actually realize it until I read what u wrote. Thx for that.

amother

Beige

Sat, Mar 30 2019, 9:57 pm

momwifedaughter wrote:

Wilson or Orton-Gillingham tutors. I am not sure which is better for spelling, but YES, reading more will not help.
She needs someone to teach her to "crack the code."

amother

Beige

Sat, Mar 30 2019, 10:02 pm

momwifedaughter wrote:

I can relate to this sight word reading. Funny how I didn't actually realize it until I read what u wrote. Thx for that.

My student hasn't been diagnosed officially, but tutor said he might have a very mild case of dyslexia.
Until tutor pointed out about the memorized reading (Not really able to decode), I hadn't noticed it.
Again, that was caught because the reading specialist tested him.

amother

Slateblue

Sat, Mar 30 2019, 10:05 pm

Sorry, I doubt I am in your area...maybe by asking around (friends/neighbors, etc), you could find the name of a certified reading specialist?
Last summer I took a refresher course on assessing reading, and one of the informal assessments I did was a spelling inventory, I don't recall the exact name of it, but it was very thorough and the results matched up with the information I got from the other reading and writing assessments I did for my case study.
I don't currently work as a reading specialist in any case, but based on my experience I am a big believer in systematic phonics instruction for readers who don't easily pick up reading/spelling patterns. And yes, Wilson would probably be a good intervention program (it's a more up to date version of the Orton Gillingham program).

amother

Papaya

Sat, Mar 30 2019, 10:39 pm

amother wrote:

The reason why he gets stuck on unfamiliar words is bec he memorized the words that are familiar to him. When a child with reading difficulties reads a story he can “guess “ what the word says as opposed to being able to read it phonetically . That is why , with the Wilson approach , we use ‘nonsense’ words as well to make sure the student is able to decode the word and not simply memorizing it .
FYI, I am a Wilson certified reading specialist And I work with students who are dyslexic .

momwifedaughter

Sat, Mar 30 2019, 10:40 pm

amother wrote:

Is it a method that people specialize with? Or it's a system that needs a special school for that?

Sorry for my ignorance. First time encountered such a problem. Tried to work with her myself but I'm only getting frustrated lately.

momwifedaughter

Sat, Mar 30 2019, 10:42 pm

amother wrote:

Papaya do u work j the Brooklyn area?

momwifedaughter

Sat, Mar 30 2019, 10:48 pm

octopus wrote:

Maybe you can look into it, and it's not cheap, but I once spoke to an educator par excellence about helping one of my own kids with same issue and she recommended buying Wilson just words. I never did though.

Whew I searched it, hell expensive Rolling Eyes

. Worth it?

octopus

Sat, Mar 30 2019, 10:59 pm

momwifedaughter wrote:

Whew I searched it, hell expensive Rolling Eyes

. Worth it?

The prohibitive cost always stopped me from buying. If I didn't use it, it would be a terrible waste! The principal that I spoke to said it's expensive because really this is a curriculum that a school would buy. She felt that even though I wasn't Wilson trained, I would be able to follow it. And this was the "quick" curriculum. Supposed to take a year to remediate. It's only for mild kids. Was too scared to buy though. Still thinking about it.