Raising Readers, Writers, and Spellers

While we're at it, could we create spelling refresher courses for adults? Between electronic spell-check and cellphone text abbreviations, it seems that people have forgotten the rules or, worse, gotten lazy. A perfect example is using the incorrect homonym in a sentence, i.e., "there car" instead of "their car."

Dr. Gentry is right on! The Spelling Bus is operating in reverse gear in most schools. I have been in private and public school education for 30 years and have seen such a decline in spelling and reading achievement. The two are so very connected.
The current trends coming from state leaders across the country are to not only derail the wheels of the bus but to lock the steering wheel in one direction. This is not in the direction of
of proficiency! Spelling is the core of learning to read and write correctly. Electronic communication and its abbreviated languages have made this task even more daunting for teachers. As a counselor of high school seniors, and a life coach for adults, I can relay with confidence that these poor spellers will face the music the day they must apply for a meaningful job, or to perform on most jobs. Education is preparation for life and for career. We are failing a generation, or two or three, if they cannot spell correctly and thus, cannot read or write well.

My son's school uses the Words their Way program and teaches a unique word list based on patterns 30 minutes 4 days a week. My son gets 100% on each test on Friday, but when assessed at a later date to see how much he has learned over time he doesn't do well. He had double vision last year and went through intensive vision therapy to correct it. The vision therapist felt it would take a year for his brain to learn the spelling patterns. We are at 9 months. I am wondering if my son can't visualize the words in his hand and if he needs to learn how to spell using a different method. He say he can't see the word.

He is a voracious reader, but will struggle sounding out people's names and difficult words.

Your son’s situation is complex. I wouldn’t pretend to diagnose the problem from afar, but I do think some other method might be tried because he’s not responding well to what’s being done currently. We do know that dyslexics who learn to read continue to be lousy spellers because they can’t “see” words in their mind’s eye. They have much less brain activation in language areas linking sound to visual cues. They may be voracious readers but often they have slower reading rates. Could your son be a dyslexic who has learned to read well with the tell-tale sign of lousy spelling? I don’t know. The vision therapist’s comment doesn’t comport with anything I know about spelling. I would be surprised if vision therapy alone corrected a major spelling disability but if it does in your son’s case please let me know.