Spelling Woes

[daybreaking]

I could use some insight on spelling with my son. Here's the situation:

I have a very bright son who, for years, has scored at the 99th percentile on any standardized test he has taken. He recently took the IOWA and in many areas, got all of the questions correct. Even in areas where he didn't score perfectly, he only missed a few ... except for spelling. He missed 19! This is not an "off" year. He consistently scores much lower on spelling than the other areas. We've done copywork and dictation, we've done R&S spelling, we've done All About Spelling, we've done all three at once, but he still struggles. The odd thing is that he does extremely well with all other language arts areas. He scored perfectly on the reading and the usage and expression sections, and only made a couple of careless errors in the capitalization and punctuation sections. So what is going on?

He's 14, so we didn't do any R&S spelling this past year, but we did "some" dictation. Unfortunately, I wasn't very consistent due to other subjects eating away that time. Do I just resume the dictation and do it five days a week? Will that eventually make a difference? Is it possible that he has some kind of disability with spelling? It would seem strange to me for that to be the case, since that is the only place he struggles. As I look at the big picture, he is making slow, but steady progress, but he consistently lags several grade levels behind in spelling compared to his level in other areas. For example, in first grade, he would fail the first grade spelling test, but several years later would be able to master it. What he couldn't spell in third grade, he could do in fifth or sixth.

I welcome any suggestions! (Well, other than, "Forget spelling. Just have him use a spell checker." Ha Ha)

Thank you!

[kidsforHim]

I don't have any great insight or help for you, but my inclination would be to give dictation a try, using it consistently several days a week if not all 5 & not worry about how 'behind' he is. You are seeing he's making progress and that is what counts . Does color help him? Maybe use some colored pencils or markers on white board to help certain sounds stand out if you see he is having trouble in an area of that nature. ( for aid in using dictation should you choose to do so)
I'm sure someone with more experience will chime in and give good advice
Becky

[LovingJesus]

He sounds a lot like my ds13. Similar to you I think we have used multiple approaches to spelling. The one I find that has the most impact and works the best for him is dictation. He remembers spelling when it is in context. I remember early on someone telling me that a great reader didn't necessarily make for a great speller; I was always glad that was said to me.

This being said though did you look at the break down of the IOWA below the top scores. Under spelling is the break down of affixes, root words, and correct spelling. Are you talking about the break down of correct spelling or the total spelling score at the top?

What I find is from dictation he learns to spell and scores 100 on correct spelling. His top score though is always low from affixes and root words despite R&S spelling being added too many times to dictation.

We have to test annually, and I agree with kidsforHim that the main goal is progress in their day to day spelling.

[daybreaking]

This being said though did you look at the break down of the IOWA below the top scores. Under spelling is the break down of affixes, root words, and correct spelling. Are you talking about the break down of correct spelling or the total spelling score at the top?

His scores are a bit all over the place. For his 5th grade IOWA, he missed half of the "correct" spelling ones, a little less than a quarter of the words with affixes, and about a sixth of the root words. For his 6th grade IOWA, he was just the opposite and did the best on the correct spelling ones and worst on the root words. We didn't test in 7th and for this year, 8th grade, I went through the test myself, just to see how many he had wrong, but we haven't gotten our scores back yet. I do know, for all of the years, a large majority of his mistakes are his marking "no error," when there really was an error. In other words, he's not noticing when a word is spelled incorrectly.

I appreciate both of your thoughts. It sounds like focusing on dictation is the recommended route. Hopefully spelling will click for him someday.

[jellybeanmum]

We do not have natural spellers in our home. We've tried many programmes, but the best was Sequential Spelling.

[Taramisu]

I do not have any experience with this yet, as my children are very young, but when you said that the majority of the errors had to do with visually identifying incorrectly spelled words, I just wondered if he is having problems because he just isn't a visual learner? I have always been a good speller, but with certain words, I still have trouble recognizing whether a word is spelled correctly or not by looking at it. If I physically write the word (even in the air), however, I know for sure. I don't know how the test works, but do you think it might help if he wrote the word out to check the spelling? Again, I don't have first hand experience with you scenario, but I wonder if it just has to do with his learning style? I'm not sure how to strengthen that visual skill, though.

[Rice]

My oldest (now 15) has always been a terrible speller, too. We've always used CM (never another formal spelling program other than dictation) and it took at least 2 1/2 years of dictation before improvement started to show in his everyday spelling. I must say, though that the first 1 1/2 years was like you've mentioned - I tried to get to it but it often got pushed aside by the other subjects.

When we moved to HOD, however, I started doing dictation EVERY. SINGLE. DAY that I could. All 3 of my oldest (next year 4) do dictation at the same time in their own level and I read a sentence at a time to whoever is ready. Although I often let them choose one day off per week, doing it 4-5 days per week has made all the difference. Although this DS still usually takes 2-4 days for each passage (and yes, we started lower than I thought we "should" and he did better - 1-3 times per passage - for a while, they've become harder for him again and he still struggles), he is doing much better than he used to in spelling his daily work! I think a spell checker actually WOULD help him now! (His spelling is close enough to what he's trying to spell.)

My DS struggles with EFD symptoms (no diagnosis) and I believe that's a huge part of it for him, and I also think that colors in his spelling words might help since he's so right-brained/creative, but I'm very left brained so I personally struggle with how to even teach him to do that!

IMO, dictation is the best. The least painful and the most effective. I'm so thankful I didn't jump all over and fight with him over lists all these years; I think we both would have been truly miserable.

A little anecdote: The other day, DS wrote a fairly lengthy text on my phone to his cousin about how to pass a level of a video game. There were NO SPELLING MISTAKES!!! I don't think I ever dreamed that possible from him! But I know you'll understand!

[daybreaking]

Thank you, all, for such great insights. It is reassuring to know we are not the only ones with this issue, and it is especially encouraging to hear that you are seeing progress through sticking with the dictation. That's going to be a priority for us in the fall, as well as trying some auditory and coloring-pencil components.

Thank you so much!

[eclaire]

I just wondered if he is having problems because he just isn't a visual learner? I have always been a good speller, but with certain words, I still have trouble recognizing whether a word is spelled correctly or not by looking at it. If I physically write the word (even in the air), however, I know for sure. I don't know how the test works, but do you think it might help if he wrote the word out to check the spelling? .

Wow. I think this just explained what happened with DS on the Iowa this year. He's normally a very good speller, so what happened on that section really surprised me. It was our first experience with the Iowa test so I watched very carefully to see how he handled things, and that spelling section was pretty much a disaster. I knew that if he'd been given the words to write from memory (like we normally test at home), he probably would have received a high score. Perhaps next time I will suggest that he write the word in the air or on the table with his finger. Many thanks, Taramisu!