My question is what is the best sequence of teaching spelling patterns to dyslexic students?

Which spelling patterns in particular will be the most tough for the dyslexics to grasp & what knock-on effect can they have
on the learning of other patterns?

Which doors would be opened in reading & writing by knowing a certain pattern & which would be closed if the pattern was not known??

Kindly explain.

Thanks

Aisha.

Aisha,

There are only 8 spelling patterns in the English language. I teach spelling with the spelling books – Making Spelling Sense and Making Spelling Sense II. The spelling books are designed to work with dyslexics of all ages. In addition to teaching spelling patterns it addresses both auditory and visual processing at the same time.

I always start with the vowel/consonant spelling  pattern as it is the easiest one to learn and the most predominant spelling pattern in the English language. Then I go on to the vowel consonant silent e spelling pattern. The other spelling patterns follow.

As you gradually introduce the patterns with multiple lessons per spelling pattern, I don’t think there is really one pattern that would be considered the hardest one.

When you understand the structure of the language you can not only spell thousands of words, you can also decode thousands of words. Teaching spelling with this spelling program addresses both encoding (spelling – writing the word down) and decoding (sounding out words – reading) simultaneously.

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET
http://bonnieterrylearning.com

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve purchased materials that haven’t worked. That is what I keep in mind when I design materials to use with my struggling (LD, dyslexic, ADHD, or gifted) students – whether they are in 1st grade, 5th grade, 8th grade, high school, or even adult students. I want to create materials that will work, that will improve their reading skills, writing skills, and spelling skills and be affordable at the same time. It truly is one of my passions.

Each reading, writing, and spelling product is developed out of the needs of my students and is tested with them to be sure they work. We look at ease of usage and the results the reading, writing, and spelling materials produce. But, I don’t want you to take my word for it. After all, I created the materials, although I am truly inspired when I create them, so I can’t take total credit at all!

What I would like to do is to share what Donna Morello has to say about our program here – our Awaken the Scholar Within Program where I coach you on how to help your children yourself and provide you with the reading, writing, and spelling materials to do so. Because I walk you through the materials – the program, holding your hand so to speak, they work. You are no longer alone just buying something and hoping it will work.

With our Awaken the Scholar Within Program you have the opportunity to ask me your questions twice a week. You have every avenue of support available to you. Do yourself a favor and listen in to hear what Donna Morello and Janet Landerholm have to say.

Donna Morello

Janet Landerholm

Awaken Your Scholar Within Today! Give our international office a call today: 530-888-0351

When I tell parents that there are only 8 spelling patterns they are usually quite surprised. But, we only put letters together 8 ways to make words. Then, they become curious as to how I teach the patterns to my students. They ask me all the time to show them how to use Making Spelling Sense.

Here is a home schooling family using Making Spelling Sense with their younger kids. They use Making Spelling Sense II with their older kids. You can even see one of their older kids helping the youngest (who is in preschool) join in the lesson. Spelling is really a family affair! Watch the Woods family using Making Spelling Sense (with one of the first lessons) and see how easy spelling can be. They are doing the spelling lesson with multiple age kids.

Scroll down and watch a family learning the 1st Spelling Pattern:

Hope this was helpful. Be sure to get your FREE teaching and Homework Tips – go to the upper right side to get them!

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET

I recently found you on the web and just watching your vids, I’m VERY interested. To wit: I’m homeschooling my 16 year old nephew who has been diagnosed ADHD and dyslexic. With the phonics reading materials I’ve found on the net and at my local library, I can only find elementary school age relative materials. Money is tight or I’d simply order EVERYTHING you offer.

Any suggestions?

Thank you for your time, and more importantly your efforts to bring REAL EDUCATION to this nation!

Sincerely,

Rich Brewer

Hi Rich,

Sorry for the delay in responding. I was out of town visiting my mom in Chicago.

I know what you mean about phonics reading materials being geared to elementary students. In fact, most are geared to kindergarten through 3rd grade. That is why I designed mine for all ages. I’ve always worked with students from kindergarten through adult ages. I figured that my younger students would feel like they were doing older kids stuff and my older students wouldn’t feel like they had to do little kid stuff.

You can always start small and gradually build what you are using. The first things I would get are the Making Spelling Sense, Making Spelling Sense II, and Five Minutes to Better Reading Skills. The Making Spelling Sense teaches all of the phonics, word attack skills, auditory processing, and word structure. The Five Minutes to Better Reading works on reading fluency and accuracy as well as visual and auditory processing skills.

The Spelling Pack saves you $4.00; the Five Minutes to Better Reading Set saves you $9.00

When you purchase all of them as the Reading Pack – which includes the Ten Minutes to Better Study Skills + the Comprehension Zone you get a $20.00 discount, plus you then have the comprehension piece in place. You also get a copy of my new e-book: Understanding LD and Dyslexia as a bonus with the Reading Pack.

Hope this is helpful.

I’m glad to see you signed up for the free teaching and homework tips from my blog. BTW: You can subscribe to the videos on You Tube too.

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET

http://bonnieterrylearning.com

We have a 7 year old who is in second grade and is having a difficulty spelling. Her spelling used to be great and she didn’t have a problem with it until this year. She wants to write her b’s as d’s and her d’s as b’s. It’s become very difficult to try to get her to focus on the word she is doing because she keeps trying to remember the word she did before it. What do you suggest we do to correct this so that she can start spelling the way she used to?

B and D Reversals is common for 1st graders. This is part of learning to write letters correctly. Think about it, the letters ‘b’, ‘d’, ‘p’, and “q’ are just flipped around from each other. There is no ‘form or shape constancy’. It is not like a shoe is a shoe is a shoe, no matter what the direction it is, even if it’s upside down. Learning the direction of letters can be a bit daunting. Remember, it is a learned skill. Most children are able to remember the different directions of the ‘b’ and ‘d’ and ‘p’ and ‘q’ by the 2nd or 3rd grade.

Knowing this about B & D reversals should ease your mind a bit, BUT, I still would not totally ignore it. Instead I would use a quick method to show her that she has her b’s and d’s on her body. I do that with the aide of ‘b and d’ poster and stickers. I don’t think they are up on my site yet, but they are available. The poster is  $5.00 and the stickers (10 of them in the pack) are $5.00. A story also comes with them.

You can order them by calling 530-888-7160 between 9 am and 4:30 pm Pacific Standard Time.

For other spelling help, check out the videos I have posted on my blog…

Spelling Problems? Learn How to Make Spelling Easy

Spelling Problems? What is the Cause and What Do I Do About Them?

Teaching Reading: The Short Vowels to Dyslexics, ADHD, & Homeschooling Kids

Hope this helps.

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET

Typically when a child has difficulty with spelling it is due to problems with the auditory processing areas of auditory discrimination, auditory closure, auditory memory, auditory visual integration. Visual processing may also impact spelling, specifically visual memory problems.

However, learning to spell doesn’t have to be hard. All children can learn to spell when you teach spelling in an auditory, visual, and tactile method that teaches the structure of the language at the same time.

One of the hidden secrets of spelling is that we only put letters together 8 ways to make words. See an example of how I teach the first of the 8 spelling patterns.

Hope this is helpful.

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET

P.S. Be sure to leave a comment below or ask a question to your right.

Hello,

I’m interested in a couple of your products.  Regarding the Spelling Sense book 1, what ages is this appropriate for?  How are the words arranged and how many do you give weekly?  I have tried a word family approach with my 9 year old  ( just turned 9).  He’ll do fine for that week and the next week, but after that he can’t remember them.  Do you have any suggestions?

Also, we just found out he has a visual processing disorder and recently began vision therapy.  We are doing vision therapy homework each day.  I’m wondering about your “How to improve reading in 5 minutes a day” to see if that would help as well.  Or I am thinking that maybe I should wait on it and focus just on vision therapy at the present time.  What are your thoughts?

Thank you.

Leah Cheshire

Hi Leah,

The Making Spelling Sense book covers the 500 most frequently used words. That is a basic vocabulary for 1st – 3rd. The Making Spelling Sense II carries on from there and gets into prefixes, suffixes, and root words which is a 4th – 6th level. I would start with the first one to give him a solid foundation. There are about 10 – 12 words per list.

The Five Minutes to Better Reading will actually augment the vision therapy you are doing as it also works on visual tracking at the same time as visual closure and fluency. You only do it for 5 minutes a day. Here is a link to a video where I’m using it with a student. How to Improve Reading in 5 Minutes a Day

I hope this has been helpful.

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET

Fortunately times have changed and we have computers with spell checker that make life a lot easier for us now. But, that still doesn’t solve the spelling dilemma. I shot this video to explain what is actually going on when you have difficulty with spelling. I also suggest in it what you need to look for in a spelling program to be sure it will be one that will actually help you to become a better speller. Hope you enjoy it.

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Be sure to leave your comments or questions.

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET

The conduct of successful business merely consists in doing things in a very simple way, doing them regularly, and never neglecting to do them.

Quoted by: William Lever of Lever Brothers

Think about this. Isn’t this also true of reading, whether you struggle with reading or not? If I change the word business to reading we have:

The conduct of successful reading merely consists in doing things in a very simple way, doing them regularly, and never neglecting to do them.

There are simple things you can do every day or 3 days a week, never neglecting them, to empower your students to become successful readers.

Remember, there are 3 roadblocks to reading:

1. Phonetic problems

2. Reading fluency/visual tracking problems

3. Lack of language or vocabulary

Successful reading needs activities that are simple, done regularly, and never neglected.

I suggest doing them at least 3 times a week. The activities need to incorporate phonics, fluency, and language/vocabulary training. The Reading Pack

addresses all 3 of these with simple activities that don’t take a lot of time. The Sentence Zone game also builds vocabulary.

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET

Board Certified Educational Therapist

I have a friend whose kindergartener (just turned 6) is having trouble reading. She hasn’t obtained EL and EL4 is the goal for the year and the year is ½ over in Kentucky. Would “Five Minutes to Better Reading Skills” be a good place to start?

Thanks for the question. Yes, Five Minutes to Better Reading Skills will make a big difference. It starts with 3 letter words so she should do well with it. Sometimes we make a copy of the sheet for the younger students – enlarging the print for them. This works really well!

I would also use Making Spelling Sense because she will see how letters (sounds) come together to make words. The beginning lessons all use short vowel words and you give a sound at a time to make the words, so she would be able to succeed and improve rather quickly. This is helping her phonics, phonemic awareness skills, and other areas of auditory processing. The special method is explained in a step-by-step process in the book. You can also do just 1/2 of the words per list to shorten the length of time for a kindergartner – doing only 5 words at a time.

Let me know if I can be of further help.

BTW: If you are not already receiving the FREE teaching/homework tips, you may want to sign up for them – in the upper right hand corner above my photo.

And, please spread the word….

Thanks!

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET