Spelling and Writing "Spelling problems, like reading problems, originate with language learning weaknesses." Spelling disability does not reflect a general “visual memory” problem but a more specific problem with awareness of and memory for language structure, including the letters in words. People who are poor spellers typically have trouble analyzing the sounds, syllables, and meaningful parts of words in both spoken language and written language. In addition, they often have trouble learning other types of symbolic codes such as math facts and math operation signs. Almost all people with developmental reading or language disabilities have great difficulty spelling. People with the condition known as dyslexia are noted to have “conspicuous” problems with spelling and writing. People can also have specific spelling disabilities -- that is, they can be poor spellers, even though they are pretty good readers. These problems are very common, although no one has done an accurate estimate of the prevalence to date. 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. Even more than reading, writing is a mental juggling act that depends on automatic deployment of basic skills such as handwriting, spelling, grammar, and punctuation so that the writer can keep track of such concerns as topic, organization, word choice, and audience needs. Poor spellers may restrict what they write to words they can spell, with inevitable loss of verbal power, or they may lose track of their thoughts when they get stuck trying to spell a word. But what about spell check? It’s true that spell checkers work reasonably well for those of us who can spell reasonably well. 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 identified the target word from the misspellings of students with learning disabilities only 53 percent of the time. Spelling instruction may be old fashioned, but its importance has not diminished. The National Commission on Writing for America's Families, School's, and Colleges reported that 80 percent of the time an employment application is doomed if it is poorly written or contains misspelled words. Our society expects that any educated person can spell. How do children learn to spell? Spelling develops in a more or less predictable sequence. Children begin by writing strings of letters and symbols that do not represent the sounds in words. Next, they begin to write a few of the sounds in words that are easily detected; then, get better at "inventing" spellings by sound, using the letters they have learned. This stage, called phonetic spelling or temporary spelling, usually occurs in kindergarten or early first grade, before children learn to spell words correctly. At this crucial early stage, inventing spellings by sounds is an effective way of discovering the separate sounds that make up words. However, invented spellings should never replace the organized instruction that should begin about the middle of first grade. Phonetic spelling (spelling by sounds rather that by correct letters) is a desirable but brief stage of early spelling development. If a student has a good phonetic awareness, that is, can segment all the sounds in a simple word, the student is much more likely to remember the "true" letters and letter combinations in the word. Whole word, or "sight" word learning, is also bolstered by good phonetic awareness. Dyslexic students have difficulty going through these stages of spelling development. They must be taught through multisensory channels how to segment words and then how to put the sounds together again to form words. What methods of instruction are most effective? A well designed program for students who do not learn easily emphasizes the sounds in words, the letter combinations that usually spell those sounds, the spellings of six basic syllable types, and how the spelling rules of English work. Spelling patterns should be taught in a structured, sequential way. At the more advanced levels, spelling instruction should focus on the meaningful parts of words: the prefixes, roots, suffixes, and grammatical endings that are often spelled consistently. Multisensory techniques, those that join auditory, visual, and kinesthetic-tactile in various combinations, and that consciously engage the student in feeling how the word is spoken and how it is written, are most successful. Word lists should emphasize the regular spellings for sounds and sound patterns. Special memorization techniques are necessary for the odd words that must be learned as wholes. In summary, effective spelling instruction should emphasize these principles:
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