How do i help my child with spelling

11 Research-Based Spelling Strategies Parents Can Try at Home

Preface: In this article, you will find a variety of fun and engaging ways to implement research-based spelling strategies such as:

teaching phonemic awareness, (a strategy to help students understand letter-sound correspondence and the individual parts that make up words)
teaching morphological awareness (understanding/recognizing similar chunks in words, word families, and word parts)
utilizing the whole-word approach (memorizing the spelling of a word without needing to understand the individual parts that make up the word)
utilizing the rule-based strategy (teaching explicit spelling rules)
implementing multi-modal teaching, which allows students to learn information through a variety of modes (e.g., seeing, feeling, hearing, creating)

Keep in mind that the strategies in this article are recommendations. Please do not try to pressure a child into using all or any of these strategies. This can lead to frustration which can turn your child off to spelling practice.

Every child is different and you have to examine their level and frustration tolerance when imposing academic tasks. For suggestions on ways to encourage children to complete tasks or assignments they do not want to do, see 3 Ways to Use Timers to Motivate Children and How to Use Schedules to Improve Children’s Behavior.

Common Spelling Mistakes

Using the wrong consonant (e.g., spelling cat as kat)
Using the wrong vowel (e.g., spelling seat as seet)
Leaving out consonants (e.g., spelling kicking as kiking)
Leaving out a vowel (e.g., spelling plain as plan)
Writing only one consonant, when a consonant should be doubled (e.g, spelling butter as buter)
Leaving in an “e” that should be dropped (e.g., spelling riding as rideing)
Reversing letters (e. g., spelling foil as fiol)
Leaving out the ”silent e” (e.g., spelling kite as kit)
Using ys instead of ies (e.g., cherrys instead of cherries)
Spelling words phonetically when a specific suffix should be used instead (e.g., spelling vacation as vacashin)
Using an “s” instead of a “c” or a “c” instead of an “s” (e.g., absense instead of absence or offence instead of offense)
Forgetting rules like “i before e except after c” (e.g., spelling receive as recieve)

While the errors above are the ones I have observed most frequently in my career as a school psychologist, there are many other types of spelling errors a person can make.

11 Research-Based Spelling Strategies

1) Practice phonemic awareness.

Phonemic awareness is hearing individual sounds in words, and letter sounds.

Let your child hear what it sounds like to break words up into their individual sounds. Show them what happens when you change a sound. For example, say the sounds in pig separately (p-i-g), then say the word. Then say the sounds in big (b-i-g) and say the word.

Put it on paper so they can see the change. Talk about which sounds are different and which sounds are the same. Have your child practice breaking words apart and blending them together.

For more strategies to teach your child or students phonemic awareness and letter sounds, see 10 Fun Activities to Teach Your Child Letter Sounds and How to Teach Phonemic Awareness.

2) Allow beginners to spell phonetically.

When first learning to spell, allow children to spell words exactly as they hear them. Teach them to say each sound in a word and write down the letter or letters that represent each sound, until they have spelled the word.

For example, they might spell lemon as l-e-m-i-n. Then review the word with them and talk about which letters they can change to make the word correct (help them figure out the correct replacement letters if needed).

You can practice this several times with different words. Let them rewrite the word the correct way and compare the changes.

For children who have trouble writing, allow them to use magnhttps://amzn.to/3b6LZLOetic letters to create the word, such as the ones below, or allow them to type on the computer if they are able to do so.

Magnetic Letters

They can also create the letters/words out of Play-Doh or Wikki Stix as shown below.

3) Teach children to notice chunks in words.

Chunks are more than one letter together that normally make the same sound (e.g., ch, sh, br, ple, all, ate, at).

Have your child practice writing several words that use the same chunks to establish a sense of word families (groups of words that have a common feature or pattern).

For a fun and effective way to teach sound chunks and spelling, let your children or students practice with the game Didax Chunks: The Incredible Word Building Game.

Great Interactive Spelling Games

4) Practice rhyming words.

Teach children about rhyming words and provide them with several examples. After teaching them how to rhyme, give them a word and ask them to come up with rhyming words.

Once they have the hang of it, encourage them to tell you a word and list several words that rhyme with it. Encourage them to write rhyming words down as well.

Allow them to start with a common word pattern such as “all.” Show them how adding a letter in front of “all” and changing that letter produces a list of several rhyming words (e.g., e.g. all, ball, call, fall, hall, mall, tall, wall).

Again, for children who have trouble writing, try typing, magnetic letters, or creating the words from Playdoh or Wikki Stix.

The strategies below are for students who have gotten the hang of phonetic spelling and are ready to or struggling to move to the next level; or for students who are struggling with phonetic spelling and may do better with memorization or rules.

5) Learn spelling rules.

See a list of some common spelling rules below (also known as rule-based strategies).

Short -Vowel Rule: When a one-syllable word has a vowel in the middle it is usually a short-vowel sound (e.g., hat, set, pit , lot, nut)
Doubling Consonants: If f, l, or s comes after a vowel, the letter is often doubled (e.g., stuff, call, grass)
Two-Vowels Together: If two vowels are together, the first vowel usually says its name and the second vowel is not heard (e.g. seat, rain, tie)
Silent e: When a short word has a vowel, a consonant, and then an “e” or a longer word has that same pattern in the last syllable, the first vowel is usually long and the e is silent (e.g., cake, kite, vote, mute, meditate, debate)
y as a long i: When the letter y comes at the end of a short word with no other vowel in the word, it makes a long i sound (e. g., dry, cry, sty, pry)
y as a long e: When a word has two syllables and the second syllable is composed of only a y or an ey, the y makes a long e sound. (e.g., honey, money, bunny, sunny)
I before E: The rule is “i before e except after c (e.g., receive, receipt, deceive, conceive) or when sounding like ‘a’ as in neighbor or weigh.”
Words with “ch”: Use “ch” at the beginning of words (e.g. chair, cheese, chin) and “tch” at the end (e.g., watch, witch, patch)

These are only some of the rules in spelling. You can do a Google Search for common spelling rules to learn more.

Please remember there are always exceptions to spelling rules, meaning that these rules will not apply to every word in the English language.

It can also be difficult and cumbersome to remember these rules. Strategies for remembering common spelling rules include the following:

keep the rules in a place where the child/student can easily refer to them when spelling, such as in his desk or in his notebook
discuss the rules when reviewing spelling errors with the child (for instance, if you and your child are editing his work and you see he spelled catch as cach, give him a gentle reminder “remember it is “ch” at the beginning of words and “tch” at the end” or have him read and say the rule out loud)
after reviewing the rule, have him rewrite the word he misspelled
make flashcards of the rules (you can do this on index cards), with the name of the rule on the front and the definition on the back as shown here.

After creating the flashcards, make a game out of it, to make it more fun for the child. For example, take turns (first you show the front of a flashcard and have your child state the rule. Then have him show a flashcard and you state the rule)

6) Teach children to use an online dictionary.

Use a site like dictionary.com. There your child can type in the word he is unsure of in the search box. If he spells the word wrong, but the spelling is somewhat close, the site will ask “Did you mean _________?”

For example, if you spell “vacashin” in the search box, a question on the bottom of the screen pops up that says “Did you mean vacation?”

7) Teach children to edit their work and use repetition.

Encourage children to review their work carefully and rewrite a word five to ten times when they find a misspelling (ten times is recommended but this may be too much for some children).

It is much easier to notice spelling errors when rereading work, than to notice them the first time around when the mistake is made.

Many times spelling errors get ingrained in one’s memory after repeating the same mistake several times. Writing the word several times in a row helps to retrain the child’s memory.

You can try to make repetition more fun by turning it into a game. To do this, take turns with the child. (e.g., have him write the first word 10 times while you watch, then you write the next word 10 times while he watches – or any other turn-taking variation).

Some children are more willing to complete this type of task when they can see a visual of how many times they are expected to write the word. For instance, number the paper 1 to 10. “After you write your words, you can pick a game to play!”

8) Show how different sounds can be represented different ways.

For example, the /k/ sound can be represented with a c as in cat, a k as in kangaroo, a ck as in kick, or a ch as in school.

9) Teach children how to test their spelling.

Create spelling lists or spelling flashcards on index cards. You can create them for your child, with your child, or encourage your child to create them himself.

You can also purchase spelling flashcards or search for free spelling lists on the internet such as the ones at VocabularySpellingCity.com.

Teach Your Child To Test Their Spelling Using These Four Steps:
1. Look at the word and pay attention to the spelling and what the word looks like
2. Cover up the word with his hand or turn the flashcard around.
3. Visualize the word in his mind, and then spell the word aloud, in his mind, or on paper
4. Check the flashcard or list to ensure his spelling was correct. You can show your child an example of how to do this and then let him practice on his own.

10) Allow children to replace and change letters.

You can use a dry erase board or chalkboard.

For an activity, try writing a word but leaving some letters blank (have your child fill in the missing letters-providing them with guidance as needed).

For example, for the word table you could write (t a b _ e) and have him/her try to fill in the missing letter.

As your child improves, you can make it more challenging. If your child has trouble thinking of the missing letter, try giving a choice of three letters to choose from.

As an alternative to a dry erase or chalkboard, you can put sand in a sand tray (you can place the sand in a shallow baking pan for a tray). See an example of writing in sand below.

or in shaving cream or whip cream (as shown below)

Just like with a dry erase or chalkboard, this will allow students to write and rewrite words, make corrections, replace letters, fill in missing letters, etc.

11) Use a tablet or device.

There are several spelling apps that allow children to have fun while learning to spell or improve their spelling skills.

Also, some children who are resistant to traditional writing are sometimes willing to write on a tablet. They can write with their finger or with a Stylus such as the one shown below.

If pen/pencil grip is a concern, see How to Help Your Child with Handwriting and Pencil Grip.

Additional Tips to Improve Spelling:

Read with your child and encourage your child to read as much as possible.

When you come across a word with a certain pattern or rule, you can point out the word to your child/students and reiterate the rule.

For example, if you see the word vacation you can remind your child that many words that end with a “shin” sound are spelled with the suffix “tion” such as creation, medication, or fiction.

If you see the word “cat” you can remind your child that several three-letter words end with “at” such as bat, hat, and, mat. Teach your child to try to pay attention to these types of patterns when reading.

Use spelling workbooks

Keep in mind that every child is different.

Some respond to several strategies, others respond to a few, while others may not respond to any of these strategies.

If your child is significantly struggling with spelling or acquiring other academic skills, despite consistent practice and guidance, talk to your child’s school and/or doctor.

They should be able to refer you to the appropriate professionals to determine what might be interfering with your child’s progress and what additional strategies might help.

Remember to always stay calm when working with a child or student, even if you think they should be getting something that they are not getting.

If you get frustrated with them, they may start to feel anxious, angry, inferior, stupid, etc. which will lead to a less productive learning session.

Keep practice sessions short (5 to 10 minutes for younger children or children who get easily frustrated and 10 to 15 minutes for older children or children who can work for longer periods without frustration), unless the child is eager to keep going.

It would really make my day if you could comment below after trying some of these strategies with a child or student. I would love to hear if you enjoyed doing the activity together and what you found most helpful.

An image of you and/or your child or student(s) completing some of these activities together would be a beautiful addition to the site so feel free to share pictures or videos if you are comfortable.

For questions contact [email protected].

You Might Also Like: How to Study Spelling Words: A Spelling Strategy for Students by Reading Rockets

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Narrated Video Presentation

Education and Behavior – Keeping Us on the Same Page for Children

Rachel Wise

Rachel Wise is a certified school psychologist and licensed behavior specialist with a Master’s Degree in Education. She is also the head author and CEO at educationandbehavior.com, a site for parents, caregivers, educators, counselors, and therapists to find effective, research-based strategies that work for children. Rachel has been working with individuals with academic and behavioral needs for over 20 years and has a passion for making a positive difference in the lives of children and the adults who support them. For Rachel’s top behavioral strategies all in one place, check out her book, Building Confidence and Improving Behavior in Children, a Guide for Parents and Teachers. If you want Rachel to write for your business, offer behavioral or academic consultation, or speak at your facility about research-based strategies that support children, email her at [email protected].

www.educationandbehavior.com

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Does Your Child Struggle With Spelling? Try This Spelling Help For Kids

Children who fall behind classmates in spelling, who forget words easily, or who mix up letters when writing, are children who need special, loving, considerate attention regularly at home to help them overcome their unique learning problems. Forcing an activity on them or making it over-demanding only serves to intensify the child’s negative feelings about it. Here are some suggestions other parents have successfully used to help their children in these areas.

RELATED: Download Our Free Homework Charts!

Develop auditory and vocal skills. Good spellers are usually good readers and good speakers and vice versa. Using the school or local library helps your child develop some of these skills. Restrict the amount of TV he watches. Your child cannot talk back to a television set. Children need to use the language they will be writing. Give your child the opportunity to talk with you.

Experience stories. Let your child write about the things he likes. He can illustrate the stones himself or cut pictures from magazines to illustrate them. Let him write the words without assistance unless he asks for help. Misspelled words can then be used in little games you play with your child. A one-line “story” may be all that he can handle. If so, fine.

Write letters. Corresponding with a friend or relative-or a simple statement at the bottom of a letter you write to someone your child knows-offers him opportunities to spell.

Trace words. This activity helps many children. Have your child sit next to you (or, if young, sit on your lap). Sit so that you can guide his writing hand. Make sure that only his index and middle fingers are extended, and that his eyes are closed. If your child is using manuscript, use that form. Take his hand and print (or write) the word that is confusing to him.

Finger paints are messy, but ever so helpful. Use oilcloth and a large table. Have your child roll up his sleeves and wear an old apron. Let him use both hands to write letters and words, It is a marvelous activity. Just gating the feel of large movements may be sufficient without introducing formal spelling to the activity.

All kids love codes, so why not encourage your child to decode messages diet you leave for him? Let him make up his own codes for you. You make up one but make sure he has a way to decode it.

If your child is working on a class spelling list and can only remember half of the words, speak to his teacher. Teachers are more than delighted to hear how their students respond to homework. Perhaps the list can be reduced so that your child has fewer words and can learn these more efficiently and comfortably.

Don’t tackle an entire spelling bar in one sitting. Take one-third for example, each evening, to work on with your child. Break the practice into small units. Try fifteen minutes of review when he gets home; fifteen minutes before supper; fifteen minutes after supper. Shorter periods given frequently are more effective than one massive review-which is also exhausting and frustrating.

Sometimes words on a spelling list can be “clustered” into similarities. For example, you might try attempting all of the five-letter words one day, all the words beginning with consonants the next day, all the words beginning with blends the next day. This kind of grouping will help your child to perceive similarities and differences in the words, and, hence, develop his recall.

An old trick that really works is to have your child practice. Write each of his words, and then draw with a black crayon around each word. Then he can lightly color the shape of the word. This is known as “studying the shape” (or configuration). Just make sure your child uses straight, not curved, lines when he outlines the word.

Before your child starts to silently study his list for that day, let him pronounce each word. Children must know how to properly pronounce a word before they attempt to spell it, If their pronunciation is not correct, they will indeed spell it as they would pronounce it in their own way. (Also make sure they know what the word means and can use it or understand it when they hear it.)

To start studying, a child should look at the word, pronounce it, spell it orally as he looks at it, cover it with his hand, and then attempt to spell it or, as he traces it on your kitchen table, letter by letter.

After your child has studied, let’s say five words, in the manner described, spell the words to him, in random order, and have him name the word you spelled.

Invest in a set of plastic magnetic letters that are available at many discount, toy, and variety stores. Let your child spell the word by successively placing the magnetic letters on the magnetic board. You can show him the word, then remove it Have him name each letter as he locates it and places it on the board. This is good for developing the correct order for letters within the words.

Word lists. These can be made using paper available in the house. Print or write the words being studied. Post one copy of the list on die refrigerator, another on the door to your child’s room, and another in the bathroom. Maybe another can go over the TV set. Use a different color crayon for each word-or use a different color for parts of each word regularly confusing your child. For example, if he continues to write “come” as “cum,” use black for the “c” and I’m” but red for the “o” and “e”.

Put movement into learning words. Have your child clap for each letter or take a step for each letter as he spells the word orally. This will help ” lock in” the correct sequence of letters, as well as develop full recall for the word.

Let your child play teacher. Let him teach you the words he is learning to spell. Spell them orally to him. Let him correct you. Then have him dictate to you and you write them. Have him score your paper. Make a game of it. He’ll know you really know how to spell them, so veil him it’s a game.

Commercial dice with letters rather than numbers. Take turns with your child in tossing them and building words. List the words as they are made. The list can be saved and added to each time you play. That way be can develop a “reference fist” to use over and over spin to reinforce his recall.

Listening skills do help spelling. “What letter does ‘chart, end with?” What letter does ‘piano’ begin with?” Play these games just for a few moments before supper, or after breakfast to develop your child’s ability to hear sounds in words.

RELATED: Download Our Free Homework Charts!

Rhyming words is another game that can build spelling skills. “Can you think of a word that rhymes with fill?” As your child says hill, Bill, till, and so on, write them down. He’ll soon notice, himself, that they have identical endings.

Remembering. This is a game to develop visual memory. Write one word on a piece of paper. Leave space underneath it. Tell your child to look at it as long as he wants, that is, until he can remember the letters, then have him fold the paper so that he cannot see the word. He is then to try to write the word from memory. Let him check it himself, and if he has misspelled, try again.

Practice in spelling can come in a variety of ways. For example, you might ask him to help you make a grocery list by looking at the advertisement for a local supermarket You could check the items you want to purchase, and you could ask him to make a list to help you out.

Find the wrong word. Write a short sentence for your child. Tell him that there is one word spelled incorrectly. Ask him to see if he can find it. To begin, make it a rather obviously misspelled word. Leave a letter out, or add an extra letter to a word. Ask him to first read the sentence, then to circle the misspelled word. Then make sure you erase it and write it correctly.

Helping your child at home with spelling requires patience and a non-school-like setting. Don’t try to be a teacher. Be a parent who teaches. Your child wants to please you-he wants your honest, sincere praise. Keep the activities short-and fun, and do them regularly, with variety.

How to teach a child to write correctly: advice from the author of school textbooks on the Russian language

Ekaterina Buneeva, Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences

All children are very different: some grasp everything on the fly, memorize a new rule already in class and perform exercises almost without errors, others memorize more slowly, others, no matter how much you fight with them, still make mistakes.

How to help a child at home? Repeat the rules with him? Do dictations? Do more exercise? In this regard, either a true story, or an anecdote, or an episode from the film immediately pops up: the teacher tells the student after the lessons to write the word “walked” a hundred times on the board, in which he is constantly mistaken. When she returns to class, the entire blackboard is covered with the word "walked", and at the bottom in large size: "I wrote everything and went home!"

The point is not how many exercises the child has done, how many times he has written a difficult word, and whether he recites the rule by heart. If there is no so-called "innate literacy", in order to write without errors, you need to be able to find (see) in words or between words those places to which the rules should be applied.

The vast majority of schoolchildren do not know how to do this, they do not have spelling vigilance. The same is with sentences: children do not see, do not know how to look for boundaries of semantic segments in a sentence - punctuation marks. They need to be specially trained for this.

If we want children to write correctly, we must be patient.

We adults should be well aware that spelling and punctuation skills develop slowly and in each child at their own pace. Unfortunately, only a few who are very lucky have "innate literacy", two or three school lessons and home exercises are enough for them. But most need regular classes, with constant repetition and a gradual expansion of the range of rules being studied.

Source.

4 important spelling skills

They help the child to write correctly. In other words: he can do this and that - he writes competently.

The ability to see spellings

That is, places in words and between words where you need to choose a spelling from several options (“o” or “a”, “e” or “and”, together or separately, “b” or “b” ", with or without "b", etc.). In this case, only one option is correct.

You need to find spellings in words according to special features. For example, if in a word we hear a deaf paired consonant sound at the end: “zu [p]”, “le [f]”, this is an identification sign of the spelling - the letter of the consonant being checked. Having found this "dangerous place", the child applies the rule. Each spelling can be found in a word according to certain signs, and this must be specially taught, to show these signs. Most often, this is why children (and adults too) write illiterately: knowing the rule, they do not see in the word the place to which it needs to be applied.

Ability to choose spelling

Once a child has found the point of application of a spelling rule in a word, he can easily apply this rule and choose the correct spelling. We use the same example: to select a letter at the end of the words "zu[p]", "le[f]", we select test words ("teeth", "lions"), we hear a distinct consonant sound before the vowel - and write "tooth" , "a lion".

The ability to explain the choice of spelling orally and graphically

This skill is needed both when the child writes and when he checks what is written. Easier, faster and more beneficial to do it graphically . For example, when explaining the choice of the letters "b" and "c" at the end of the words "zu [p]" and "le [f]", the child should write like this: "tooth - teeth"; “lion - lions” (he underlines the letter “y” with two lines, because it denotes a vowel sound under stress and helps to choose the spelling). By making such designations, the child essentially translates the content of the rule (text) into a different, more concise and visual, "speaking" form. Both he and the adult understand why this particular spelling was chosen.

Photo from the personal archive of the author.

Ability to find and correct errors

It is based on the previous three. To test himself (during a dictation, presentation, any written work), the child must do the same actions:

- make sure that the spelling is found correctly by identifying features;

— apply the rule;

- explain the spelling graphically.

That is why I recommend a simple technique for parents and teachers: write through the line. We always leave the top line above the sentence empty, and when checking, all the necessary designations and entries are made on this line. If, in the process of such a check, the child himself finds his mistake and corrects it, the mark should not only not decrease - on the contrary, the child should be praised and encouraged in every possible way. It is absolutely illogical and very harmful when at school a child is lowered for blots and corrections for written work.

Tips for parents who take care of the child themselves

1. Every child has typical, most frequent mistakes. First of all, it is necessary to determine which ones, arrange the rules in the order of their interconnection and increasing difficulty. Next, determine what necessary basic knowledge about the language and skills the child lacks in order to master these spellings. These gaps must first be filled and only then do the actual spelling. So consistently you need to work out all the rules relevant to the child.

2. It makes no sense to just do exercises and write dictations. We need a methodically competent system of exercises with special graphic symbols, which the child understands and accepts.

3. It is better if the child is motivated, that is, he writes meaningfully and with desire. As soon as he sees that everything is not so scary and the first results appear, the process will begin.

4. In no case should this process be artificially accelerated, rush the child, get angry with him, compare the child with his more successful classmates. You only need to compare with yourself: last time there were ten mistakes, and today there are only eight. You are great, you are moving forward.

If you follow these tips and work methodically correctly, the result will be sure.

Post cover: pexels.com.

How to teach a child to write without mistakes: we train in writing dictations

It would seem that in the age of high technology dominance, the ability to write correctly and express one's thoughts will disappear as unnecessary. But even the most perfect computer program cannot always recognize an error in the text and construct a sentence correctly.

Therefore, it was and remains important and necessary to know the rules of the Russian language and the ability to apply them in practice.

But what if the child constantly writes with errors? And is it possible for an adult to learn literate writing? You will learn how to teach a child to write without errors in this article.

Prostock-studio/Shutterstock.com

Content:

Causes of writing errors in children
What is dysgraphia?
How to write a dictation correctly: the secrets of teachers
Learning to write without mistakes
- Advice for elementary school students and their parents
- How to help a middle school child?
- Competent writing among high school students and adults: is it possible to learn?

Causes of writing errors in children

Teachers complain that with the popularity of gadgets, children have forgotten how to write dictations and essays correctly. In fact, the problem is not only this.

Let's try to figure out why not all children manage to write words without mistakes.

The reasons may be:

Ignorance of the rules

Often a child makes mistakes if he does not know how certain words are spelled correctly.

The Russian language has rules that require the traditional spelling of words, regardless of pronunciation. For example, "zhi-shi" write with the letter "and", "ca-cha" write with the letter "a".

Also, do not forget about the rule for selecting test words and dictionary words, the spelling of which you just need to remember.

If a child does not know these rules well enough and does not remember the correct spelling of words, then mistakes in writing are inevitable.

Fatigue

Prostock-studio/Shutterstock.com

Missing letters or misspellings of words also occur due to the child's fatigue, fatigue and malaise. Attention becomes distracted, and the student makes a mistake even in those words with the spelling of which he is perfectly familiar.

Read also About school workloads: how to prevent overwork in a child?

Fear of bad grades

The child is afraid of getting a bad grade for a dictation or an essay. Unable to concentrate on the task, distracted. And he definitely makes a mistake: he does not add words, he rearranges syllables in places.

The appearance of such a fear is often associated with the fact that parents are too strict with the child's progress.

Specific problems

These include left-handedness, including retrained, as well as bilingualism in the family. All this contributes to the fact that the child may have problems with the correct spelling of words.

Dysgraphia

Often mistakes in writing are due to the fact that the child suffers from dysgraphia.

Learn more about this violation in the next section.

What is dysgraphia?

Prostock-studio/Shutterstock.com

Dysgraphia is a writing disorder characterized by persistent and repetitive errors. Dysgraphia is associated with the underdevelopment of certain areas of the brain. Therefore, the child does not possess the skills of speech analysis and synthesis.

According to 2018 data, about 37% of Russian schoolchildren suffer from dysgraphia.

What errors indicate dysgraphia:

omissions of letters and whole syllables in words;
adding extra letters to words;
substitutions for letters that are similar in spelling;
mirror image of letters;
continuous spelling of words;
incorrect word agreement;
illegible handwriting.

A speech therapist and a neurologist deal with the correction of this disorder. In difficult cases, drug therapy is also used.

How to write a dictation correctly: teachers' secrets

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Many parents are concerned about the question - how to teach a child to write dictations without mistakes? After all, dictation texts begin to be given to students already in elementary school.

Teachers reveal the secrets of successful dictation writing.

Secret #1. Develop fine motor skills, train your fingers

Modeling, appliqué, finger games are useful. They contribute to the development of the skill of beautiful and accurate writing.

Secret #2. Regularity is important

To learn something, you need to practice this action as often as possible. This applies to both driving a car, playing a musical instrument, and the ability to write correctly.

Make it a rule to write two dictations a week with your child. Repeat difficult words for him 2-3 times.

Do not focus on misspellings by underlining errors with red ink. It is better to put the difficult word in the dictionary and repeat the rule with the child, which will help to write this word correctly.

Secret #3. Properly designed workplace

The place where the child learns lessons should be well lit and equipped with the necessary furniture.

It is also important to teach your son or daughter how to sit at a table with a straight back and hold a notebook at a 45 degree angle.

If the child sits in an uncomfortable position, there is excessive muscle tension, which leads to rapid fatigue.

Find out more about the proper organization of the workspace for a student of any grade.

Secret #4. Reading aloud

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It is recommended to start reading fairy tales, nursery rhymes, nursery rhymes to your child from early childhood. When he learns to read on his own, ask him to read each word as it is spelled so that he remembers the correct spelling. Let him pronounce all the words from the text clearly and distinctly.

After that, you can proceed to reading as we speak.

Children also like it when their parents read along with them in roles with a certain intonation corresponding to the character's character.

Secret #5. Teaching through passion

Any, even the most complex material, is easier to learn through play.

The school game will be useful, where the child appears both as a student and as a teacher. Let him try to conduct a dictation for his parents himself and check for mistakes.

Secret #6. Listen carefully

Explain to your child the rules for writing dictations:

Pay attention to the pauses when the teacher reads the text.
Do not start writing until the sentence has been read to the end.
Don't cheat from your neighbor. He may be wrong himself.
When you write a compound word, say it out loud in syllables.
Don't rush to turn in your notebook. Check your work carefully again.

When sending your child to school, take care not only of his readiness, but also of his safety. Purchase a children's GPS watch or install the Find My Kids app on your phone. With their help, you can check how your child's lessons are going, whether peers or teachers offend him at school. And if a student walks to school on his own, you can see which route he takes (and assess his safety) and where he is at the moment.

Learning to write without mistakes

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Tips for elementary school students and their parents

Proper motivation

The child must understand why he needs good writing. A competently writing and speaking person always commands respect from others. Moreover, these skills are sure to come in handy in business life. Yes, and a regular SMS message is more pleasant to read when it does not contain grammatical errors.

Education in the form of a game

As we have already said, it is easier for a preschooler, like a primary school student, to memorize the material if it is presented in a playful way. The following games will be useful:

1. Find and mark

The child is offered a text in which, for example, you need to circle the letter “l” and cross out the letter “a”.

2. Echo

Adult reads the word. The task of the child is to reproduce the ending of this word. Then write it in a notebook and highlight the ending with a special sign.

3. Find the word

The child is offered a text in which you need to find a word according to certain characteristics. For example, all words beginning with the letter "c" or all words ending in the letter "a".

4. Write a word

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Mom or dad lays out cards with letters in front of the child. The task of the child is to make a word out of them. It is better to start with simple words: “house”, “garden”, then move on to more complex ones: “hello”, “desk”, “chest of drawers”, etc. If the child finds it difficult to complete the task, he is given only the letters that make up the desired word.

You can complicate the game: make up the name of your favorite fruit or sweet from letters. In this case, the child chooses the word himself.

These and other games will help schoolchildren to learn how to write even the most complex words carefully and without mistakes.

Don't forget about physiology

You don't need to force your child to sit at the table for hours and achieve even calligraphic handwriting. Otherwise, classes will turn into torture for him. 20-30 minutes a day devoted to the development of literate writing is enough for a primary school student.

Also find out what to do if your child does not want to study and do homework.

How to help a middle school child?

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If your child hasn't developed the skill of literate writing after elementary school, then it is necessary to continue this work in the middle classes.

The following exercises will help students:

Find the mistake

The parent writes a text with errors in those words, the spelling of which the child cannot remember in any way. The child's task is to find a misspelled word and remember the rule that should be followed when writing this word.

Dictionary of compound words

It is necessary for recording vocabulary words and words in which the child constantly makes mistakes. An adult dictates words from it first, and then sentences with these words, checking the spelling.

Life hack: find the right motivation for student learning. Together come up with a desired goal for which the child will save by completing certain tasks from the parent. The Find My Kids app and the new Kids Tasks feature help make this happen!

Make up a sentence

The child is offered cards with words, from which he must make a sentence and write it down in a notebook. An adult checks the correct spelling of words and literacy of the text.

Missing words

The child picks up the missing words. For example: “It melts in the spring ...., they run ...., they fly in from the south ....”

Make a word

The same exercise as for elementary grades, but with more difficult words. For example, terms from any area (recycling, abbreviation, dissimilation, and others).

Compose a crossword puzzle

A child composes a crossword puzzle for parents on a specific topic, for example, based on the works of A.S. Pushkin, and for him they are from words that are difficult to spell.

Competent writing among high school students and adults: is it possible to learn?

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There is an opinion that if a child does not learn to write correctly from the first grade, then this skill will remain unattainable for him in the future.

But experts say that this is not so. Writing beautifully and without mistakes can be learned at any age.

Tips for high school students and adults to achieve good writing:

Be patient

If you really want to learn how to write well, it will take time and desire, as well as perseverance in achieving the goal. Classes should be regular. It is better if they take place at the same time. So your brain will quickly get used to the need to improve writing.

Get in the habit of using a spelling dictionary if you don't know the correct spelling of a word
Read a lot and enjoy it

Reading develops attention and visual memory. When reading a text, you unconsciously memorize the correct spelling of words, including complex ones. And if at the same time you also pronounce it, motor memory is included in the matter. Choose books that suit your interests, but it is better to give preference to the classics.

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Copy your favorite expressions, quotes from the book

The more the better. Pay attention not only to the correct spelling of words, but also to punctuation marks.

Learning poetry by heart also contributes to the development of literate speech
It will not be superfluous if you involve a friend, girlfriend, husband or wife in classes

You can even arrange a competition "Who will write more texts without errors?"