Your Thoughts on the Importance of Good Spelling?

Hooked on Phonics...you must understand the phonics of words, and this program is an excellent learning tool.

I read a lot growing up, and I think that helped with my spelling. I think it is important in real life, because if you can't spell even easy words, people tend to think of you as not being very bright, even though you may be. Just like improper grammar gives a bad impression. I can spell, but my grammar is not very good, and it bothers me as an adult. I wish I had tried harder in school in that subject. You could hold "spelling bees" at home and offer prizes to the winner, and each level make the words harder and harder. Good Luck.

I was always a great speller and my husband not so great, but very smart and a prolific reader. My teenage highly functional autistic son has always been a great speller and that has always been the only subject he has done well on, even without studying, but he struggles with every other subject and does not enjoy reading very much.

My teenage straight A daughter has always had trouble with spelling, but is a prolific reader and does great in every other subject. I say it is no biggee either way.

There are a lot of great programs out there, phonics being one of them. I am 34 yrs old and taught school for 8 years before staying at home with my kids. I am a terrible speller. It just wasn't my strong suit. Now I grew up in the generation where phonics was not taught...I think whole language was real big then. I use the dictionary quite a bit and I let my students see me use it. I just explained that some people are good at spelling, some at math, some at science...I just explained that when we are not good at something we practice, but you also need to know how to get help. So, everyone of my thrid graders saw me use a dictionary from time to time and would even get up and use the dictionary instead of just spelling it wrong. There are a lot of tools out there so make sure your son has access to these tools.

I just had to laugh when I saw this question because my husband has an MBA from a university and I have only a community college certificate. He calls me and asks how to spell words! Obviously he is doing just fine without knowing how to spell. Tell him to marry a woman who knows how to spell and he will be just fine!! LOL! But seriously, boys generally have a harder time with spelling than girls do. They are better at math than girls because their brains are wired differently. With all of the technology that we have now, spelling will not be a problem for him. Right now however, phonics and practice along with the IEP will help him along the way. Don't expect a 5th grader to know how to spell every word in the dictionary. He will be fine in life!! Trust me, I'm married to living proof!! Oh and you should see the emails from my husband's CEO-Terrible spelling!!

My best advice is to work on his computer skills! My older son, who was a straight A student and went on to win scholarships to college, could NEVER pass a spelling test!!! He finally told me he was going to stop worrying about it since all computers have spell check. It will be in issue probably until junior high, then most schools quit giving spelling tests and allow more work to be written on computers.
The only other suggestion I have is to encourage his reading. I am a good speller and I always thought it might be partly because I read alot. But that still didn't seem to help my son. For me the most important thing was to not make a big deal out of it and not let my son feel stupid because of it. He obviously was NOT stupid - and neither is your son (or your friend who is a lit professor!). Good luck.
One more thing I would like to add - after reading some other responses - my son DID learn to proof read and edit his own work before turning it in. As other people have said, spell check does not catch everything. But as far as "more practice" or "making practice fun" - NOTHING worked with my son, and all it did was make him more frustrated. I just think we need to understand that all people have different strenghths and weaknesses, and if spelling is his weakness, it's ok. He will survive!

Hi A.,
We have just had a new grandbaby and they name her A..

Are you familiar with the program called FREERICE? I really enjoy playing it (It is not really a spelling program I don't think) but you do have to be on your toes to know what the words are and their meaning. It gives you a choice of answers to choose from and best of all for every right answer you donate 20 grains of rice to feed hungry people. If one misses the meaming it comes around again in just a few minutes and one has another chance.

All I have to do is type in the word FREERICE and it comes up on the search engine for one to click the mouse on and it goes right to the program.

I think the program is really educational and I do not know when to stop playing once I get started.

E. H

A.,

Hi. I have always been much the same. I read tons, loved to write, did well in school, but my spelling was below par. The more he reads and as he goes through school, he'll get it. I wouldn't worry too much about it. I have naturally gotten better simply through growing older. I am not great at it, but I know how to use a dictionary, so... Tada! One of the best things that helped me was taking foreign languages. Spelling is something that can be overcome. =) I am sure he'll get it.

In my local elementary school they have encouraged writing prior to teaching spelling. In K-1, the children wrote daily journals and were allowed to include drawings and never required to spell. They were encouraged by their teachers if they got the first and last sound of the words correct; not the actual letters, just the sound. So, you could easily substitute a K for a C, etc. This was very difficult for my son to understand. He knew there was a correct spelling for the words and he didn't like not being able to spell the words he wanted to write. Now he's in 4th grade, has been given weekly spelling test for the past three years and is an OK speller, but he long ago gave up the internal drive he once had to spell correctly. Most of his writing is peppered with mispelled words. For my own school training, we were taught to sound out the words and required to memorize spellings. I don't recall it being a difficult concept for me at the time it was started, but I know that it was more like 3rd grade vs what is happening today. I think we push kids too hard in elementary school to learn concepts that their brains may simply not be mature enough to grasp.

Hi A.,

As a business and marketing education teacher, spelling is VERY important. I teach several computer classes and I am constantly remind my students that spell check doesn't catch everything. If you mispell an intended word as another correctly spelled word, spell check skips over it. Some times it will be caught with the grammar check, but not usually. If they type one instead of won it won't catch it.

Resumes are your first impression on a prospecitve employer. Before I left my job in marketing to become a teacher, I had to hire my replacement. We probably received over 150 resumes. If there was a typo on it, it quickly found a new home in the trash can and I never looked at it further. Now, I certainly make plenty of mistakes, especially when I am in a hurry. But on the important stuff (resumes, reports, things I am turning in to someone else) I go through it with a fine tooth comb to make sure it is 100% correct.

Ok - that is my two cents worth.

Hello A.

I have 4 children and my oldest is in 4th. What we do with her and my younger kids are to remember their age and grade level. Take one step back and teach the basics.

What my mother did to me and what I do now with my 10 year old is - when she asks me how to spell something, I say
LOOK IT UP! yes. get the dictionary out and let them look it up. Your son may hate it but simple things like that help.

If he has spelling words, teach him all week by making your own flashcards. Break words down into syllables. One important thing while teaching a hard subject... MAKE IT FUN!
Forcing a lesson, just looses their attention.

Ps. I'm sure I spelt some words wrong... but it's all ok.
Proof read is yet another skill to use.

J.
www.youravon.com/jdolby

If your child likes to read, that will be a great way to help their spelling. My daughters (luckily) enjoy reading and were always great spellers. I really think reading is a big part of that.
As your child goes into the workforce, they will be glad they can spell. A good friend of mine owns a pizza place. He said you wouldn't belive the number of kids that spell "cheif" for "chef".
In the applications I used to work on for a former employers, over half the applicants answered what county they lived in as "USA or America".
Hope you have a great Thanksgiving with your family.
W.

I think that poor spelling really gives people a bad impression, especially if their first impression is of your written words.

If he can't learn to be a better speller, then he will need to learn to proofread his work carefully. I'm not talking about a spell-checker program on a computer, either. It is not fool proof. A spell-checker won't catch common errors like "Their", "There" and "They're". The words can be spelled correctly, but if the wrong word is used, it won't matter.

If a person can not take the time to ensure that they are spelling things correctly, then how will teachers and employers know that they will take the time to make sure their work is double-checked and completed correctly?

I would encourage his other skills and not make the bad spelling seem like a weakness. Maybe just teach him other wways of compensating (like proofreading manually as well as with a spell-checker), how to use a dictionary and thesaurus, etc. With some kids, repetition does the trick. If that doesn't help your son learn to spell, and games to help him remember (I teach my son to spell words by remembering a funny sentence - the word NEST for example, he learned Never Eat Slimy Toads to remember how to spell it).

I agree with everyone that spelling is really important! I used to help in my children's classrooms with the spelling lesson and I would help children improve their spelling test grades by telling them a little secret - the teacher gives the answers to the spelling test when she gives them their words! For example, the word "frog" was spelled the same way when I was a child, it was spelled the same when they were in first grade, and it will still be spelled the same way when they are adults teaching their children to spell "frog." I always told them that there is no reason to fail a spelling test because it is one of the only tests they will ever have where the teacher gives them all the right answers! (Well, a straight math facts test is the same - 1+1 will always equal 2).

This piece of advice has helped a lot of children.

Another helpful piece of advice I can give you is to watch the movie "Akeela and the Bee." Great movie about a girl who goes to the National Spelling Bee.

One final piece of advice - take your poor spellers to Learning Rx. They really helped my son transform from being a poor speller to a very good one. (I have no ownership in Learning Rx).

Good luck!

A.,
My daughter is in the 8th grade, also has an IEP for spellling. It is a big issue for her as she spells everything exactly the way it sounds. I work with her during the summer with "everyday" words that I know she will come in contact with the most. Try this though. Most of the time my daughter can spell the words out loud correctly even though she writes the wrong. Just to give you the "insight" LOL of some of the teachers I have dealt with though, one of them actually said to me, "With computers and spell check, how important is spelling anymore anyway?" Just help him along and hopefully he won't let him affect him too much.

A.,
I am a terrible speller. As a child Spelling was nightmare beacause I never had phonics, sounding out words was a cruel joke I never caught on and still have trouble sounding out words for my children's phonics homework.
As a young teen I carried a dictonary to every class and became adept at using it when any spelling question came up.
I also paid people to proof read all my major papers in college(this was back in the day before spell check).
I have 2 college degrees a BS in Secondary Ed Biology and A BS in Pharmacy. Bad spelling did not stop me from acchieving my goals.
Does your child recognize sounds and is able to sound out new words? Does he know how to use a dictionary? Using the dictionary might help instead of using spell check.
I hope this helps.

Just my thoughts....Spelling is important and should continue to be a focus for your son. I struggled with math (really, really struggled) all my life, but no one ever let me stop just because there were calculators. Learning how to fight for my accomplishments gave me the resolve to finish school, get my MBA (which included math classes)and work in a computer software business - in marketing - but I still had to do number crunching. Spelling is no different, even with fabulous software you never know what he might need/want to do in the future. Just keep trying. So you know, my father (MS in Chemistry is an atrocious speller and it didn't affect his career). As for suggestions - I can only offer you one but it works well with my daughter. Make spelling practice a routine every night, but make it fun - using the entire body. Create an obstacle in the house for each word, over the sofa is "B", down the hall is "A", a jump on the bed is "D". Do this with each word and practice over and over again. Tying the letter to a physical activity might help your son retain the letter, and then when taking the test he can visually see the word BAD was "over the sofa, down the hall, jump on the bed"

I am amazed at the spelling and poor grammar that I see, here and in the workplace. I get memos all of the time, done by secretaries who have mispelled words. I thought you had spell check on a computer. I think that some have a learning disability when it comes to what words sound like, therefore, they just can't envision anything. I was always really tuned into words, and couldn't do math. Everyone has something. I don't know what you can do by 5th grade, but get in touch with his teacher and see if he can have a tutor. My schooling was to get the words on Mon, and every day of that week, I wrote them and used them in sentences atc. So, it was repetition. Good luck. K.

My sister (22 now) is dyslexic and one of the ways it affects her is that she is a horrible speller. Sometimes it doesn't really affect a person's life too much, especially if their strengths lie in a field geared more towards science or technology- her engineer husband is also a terrible speller. So is mine, but I have definitely seen that it makes a terrible first impression in his life. He asks me to spell everything for him. Good communication skills are important and spelling is a huge part of that. Even now, my sister always has either me or my mom proofread every school paper she turns in- don't rely on spellcheck!

Some things we always did to help my sis- We practiced spelling all the time, not just phonics either, but the rules behind how english works. In every day life we looked at everything we came across that was printed. Also, text messaging can cause huge problems in children with spelling issues. You need to encourage him to always spell out everything correctly, don't take a shortcut just because it is easier that way. Texting has caused spelling problems in lots of children. And reading (for fun, whatever he is interested in, not just for homework) is really important. The more a person sees a printed word, the better. And the fact that she knows she can still have one of us edit her papers, no matter how long, really helps her. Spelling has nothing to do with her intelligence level, she has just had to learn how to work with her disability.

Hi A.,
Both my son, 15, and my daughter, 13, have trouble spelling (and like yours are really creative writers and thirsty and competent readers). I tried for years to get them help in school on spelling and by 6th grade they actually "stop teaching" spelling, though they still grade for it!

Last summer we had a tutor that taught phonetic spelling (most phonetic rules cover a LARGE percent of words, before the exceptions kick in). She said she was a poor speller until COLLEGE (training to be a teacher!) where she finally learned HOW to spell--phonetically.

There is still hope for your son...

We decided to go straight to spell check (now that our kids are beyond 6th grade). One takes her laptop to writing class (written into her IEP) and the other somehow gets by without it in class. Their teachers tell us they spell as well or BETTER than most kids in their classes. That is very hard for me to take in (though I believe it); just how bad do American kids spell???

One las thing: have you seen those spelling demonstrations? ( see http://www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk/~mattd/Cmabrigde/l) They spell words with only the first and last letters correct and misc. other letters correct, but all others wrong...and you can still read it! That gives me confidence that my kids will make it in the world.

H.

Hi A.,
I've always been a decent speller, so it's hard for me to relate to someone who has trouble with it. My ADHD physician-husband and ADHD 21 year-old math-whiz son, however, are both appalling spellers.
Although they are both avid readers, my son has little self-confidence when he writes.
My husband also has a degree in literature, which I suspect was an overreaction to his spelling problems (although I didn't know him then).
I'm hoping that in the long run, my son's interest in reading help him with his spelling and sentence structure.
I wish I knew if there were any good programs nowadays to help poor spellers. Good luck!

im 24 and still cant spell! I wasnt taught phonics and many people say that is why i have a hard time... however this day in age i have learned that spell check is my best friend! so i really dont worry about it that much!

Spelling... I was always bad at spelling! I sounded everything out. My mom saved some of my funniest papers from childhood and it's amusing to look back at them. I personally think that with the invention of the spell check, a lot of kids are less responsible for their spelling habits. It's like with the invention of the cell phone... how many phone numbers do you actually remember now as compared to 20 years ago when you had to actually remember the number to call someone. What I am getting at it that with the way the world is today, chances are that spelling is not AS big a deal, yet still important. The computer will correct you if you are wrong. If you are worried about it, maybe you can make a fun game out of it. Buy one of those erasable wite board calendars and put a new word on it every day. Challenge the whole family to remember the word and it's spelling. If they can tell you what it means and how to spell it at dinner time, they get dessert or a mini candy bar. Making things fun always worked for me.
I read several other posts...don't let them panic you. Your child will do fine even if he is a bad speller!
You could always try to go back to the basics. Get a phonics workbook to do at home.

Spelling is not a lost art yet, and you've received some great responses. I agree with one, when I am hiring staff if the applicant didn't take the time to check their resume for errors, will they check their work? Perhaps this will change as the computer generation become adults, but until then use the great advice you received to work with your son. He will thank you for it one day. In the future being a good speller just might be that special skill that get's him ahead in life, but will probably not hamper him if he uses his resources and knows if its a weakness.

I remember back to about 4th grade being very involved in spelling B's. I remember being very proud that I could spell. Oddly enough, to this day, it is very important to me that I spell correctly and have correct grammar. Not sure why I care so much but b/c of it, I often find myself correcting others as I read things...never to their face. :o)
I found that little rhymes or games helped me learn. Like, when I try to spell Their instead of ThIEr, I say to myself, T H E I R as I am writing it, so I don't mix up the e and the i. And the rhyme "i before e except after c" and things like that. I truly think the teachers had a lot to do with it b/c certain teachers can teach better, have fun ways of helping you remember. You might be able to google some help books on fun ways to spell correctly. I am not sure how it would affect someone later in life but I do think correct spelling can help. When I was working, I know that I was well known for my letters and grammar and therefor many asked me to write the letters for them to other corporations and businesses. It is not hard to get by if you can't spell, I would not worry so much but I would try my best to help him b/c it could help his self esteem.

good for you for helping him.

Oh, this was so interesting for me to read! I have taught first and second grades, but also had a dad that would always say I couldn't even spell cat! All in all, it is important, but not that big of a deal. I want students to keep self esteem high, if you are nagging them over every word they start to dislike writing all together.
Even on the 4th grade writing assessments, is spelling part of their score? Not really, evaluators look to see if the kids are using larger vocabulary more so than spelling correctly. Thus, he will score higher for using terifide (mispelled for terrified) rather than writing scared (spelled correctly).
In this day and age, they just need to know how to use the resouces to spell correctly. (dictionary.com, a regular dictionary, spell check, etc.) Especially like the one mom said, now with texting kids are misspelling everything. So make sure he knows HOW to find the right spelling and practice using those skills.

He will grow up to be much more successful with confidence rather than spelling skills!
Blessings :)

Focus on his strengths. He loves school. right? You want to keep it that way!

IF he still has problems in Jr./high school, be sure to teach him how to use spell check & the dictionary & other (life saving) tools (The dictionary is a really terrifying place for poor spellers...)

As a very bright, dyslexic kid (and adult) Learning to utilize strengths was key in overcoming my own academic weaknesses. Don't let one little stumbling block ruin his love of learning! Take a cue from your Lit Prof friend.