05/15/2021
Long, but well worth reading for parents and educators.
Learning to spell English words is definitely more complicated than to read them. But those skills are not mutually exclusive.
I absolutely love how the Barton Reading & Spelling System from Bright Solutions for Dyslexia combines the two, taking a very systematic approach using multi-sensory methodology.
Starting with basic phonemic awareness and phonological skills, Barton builds early spelling skills via segmentation, using tiles and finger-spelling. Then in Level 3, Barton also begins to incorporate memorable spelling rules (complete with picture cards and plenty of practice) and incremental introductions to high-frequency, rule-breaker words.
Later, word origins and more are considered, making the Barton approach coordinate well with the most recent research about teaching spelling to struggling readers—which can be much more effective than spell checkers, by the way! (For words with tricky parts, such as the /schwa/ sound, students are taught how to strategically implement technology to check for spelling, too.)
The article linked is quite lengthy, but I highly recommend that you as a parent or tutor (or both) of a dyslexic student read it in its entirety.
(This kind of continuing education relates to my third tip in the tips for parents of kids suspected of or formally identified as dyslexic. You can also read more of my posts about the importance of phonemic awareness by clicking on .)
For now, though, I’ve included a few key quotes (and a handy chart I created based on the data in it):
“[Research] has shown that learning to spell and learning to read rely on much of the same underlying knowledge — such as the relationships between letters and sounds — and, not surprisingly, that spelling instruction can be designed to help children better understand that key knowledge, resulting in better reading.
“Catherine Snow et al. summarize the real importance of spelling for reading as follows: ‘Spelling and reading build and rely on the same mental representation of a word. Knowing the spelling of a word makes the representation of it sturdy and accessible for fluent reading.’ In fact, Ehri and Snowling found that the ability to read words ‘by sight’ (i.e. automatically) rests on the ability to map letters and letter combinations to sounds.
“Because words are not very visually distinctive (for example, car, can, cane), it is impossible for children to memorize more than a few dozen words unless they have developed insights into how letters and sounds correspond.
“Learning to spell requires instruction and gradual integration of information about print, speech sounds, and meaning — these, in turn, support memory for whole words, which is used in both spelling and sight reading.
“Research also bears out a strong relationship between spelling and writing: Writers who must think too hard about how to spell use up valuable cognitive resources needed for higher level aspects of composition.
“Spell checkers do not catch all errors. Students who are very poor spellers do not produce the close approximations of target words necessary for the spell checker to suggest the right word. In fact, one study reported that spell checkers usually catch just 30 to 80 percent of misspellings overall (partly because they miss errors like here vs. hear), and that spell checkers identified the target word from the misspellings of students with learning disabilities only 53 percent of the time.
“The spelling of words in English is more regular and pattern-based than commonly believed. According to Hanna, Hanna, Hodges, and Rudorf (1966), half of all English words can be spelled accurately on the basis of sound-symbol correspondences alone, meaning that the letters used to spell these words predictably represent their sound patterns (e.g., back, clay, baby).
“These patterns, though, are somewhat complex and must be learned (e.g., when to use ‘ck’ as in back and when to use ‘k’ as in book). Another 34 percent of English words would only have one error if they were spelled on the basis of sound-symbol correspondences alone.(1)
“That means that the spelling of 84 percent of words is mostly predictable. Many more words could be spelled correctly if other information was taken into account, such as word meaning and word origin. The authors estimated that only four percent of English words were truly irregular.(2)
“Thus, the spelling of almost any word can be explained if one or more of the following five principles of English spelling is taken into account:
* Words’ language of origin and history of use can explain their spelling.
* Words’ meaning and part of speech can determine their spelling.
* Speech sounds are spelled with single letters and/or combinations of up to four letters.
* The spelling of a given sound can vary according to its position within a word.
* The spellings of some sounds are governed by established conventions of letter sequences and patterns.
“Clearly, we should not assume that progress in reading will necessarily result in progress in spelling. So, how then should spelling be taught?
“Given English’s complexity, teachers cannot hope to cover all of the rules of spelling. Instead, they should focus on teaching the ways in which English spelling is regular and predictable, as well as helping students memorize the most common irregular words.
“Even with young children, such instruction need not focus just on rules:
Spelling can be approached as an exploration of language and then applied in various writing exercises.
“The less easily a child intuits the structure of words, the more vital is direct, systematic, longterm instruction in how our writing system works.”
Shout out to The Literacy Nest for posting this helpful article (link in comments).
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1️⃣ For those wanting to DIY Barton, I have an “Unofficial Guide to Getting Started with Barton” coming out later in May!
2️⃣ If you’re looking for a Barton tutor, let me know. If I don’t have a current opening to suit your child’s level and schedule, I can help connect you with another homeschool-friendly tutor who does.
3️⃣ For those looking for a “third option,” I also offer Dyslexia screening services and homeschool consultations for parents as well as individual game, assessment, or help sessions for your child, to help equip you and complement the great instruction you’re already providing! 🙌🏻
