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Spelling is a challenging subject for many people, and many people do not take spelling seriously. Often, spelling is seen as an impossible hurdle, and adults brush it off with “I can't spell”.

Fortunately, education has come far since the days when children merely wrote their spelling words over and over. While rote learning can help some children, most children soon forget how to spell difficult words once their weekly spelling test is over.

Spelling is an important subject because it applies to many areas of life. The ability to write fluently and the ability to spell correctly are directly related. Reading ability is also tied directly to spelling ability. The ability to spell gives a child the power to put their thoughts onto paper, and express themselves fully.

Understanding the roots and origins of words is an important part of proper spelling. Rather than memorizing unrelated words, children need to know the roots and sources of those words, which will give them the power to spell and to use other words with the same roots.

As Gentry (2007) shows, word-sorting is another extremely useful activity. Children can group words based on the way the words begin and end, or by similar letter clusters or vowels. Once a child understands how to sort words, they can group them into columns and practice speed-sorting to help them automatically make the right connections.

Spelling tests by themselves are not entirely useful, but they do have a place. Spelling lists should be tailored to the word knowledge of the child. A pre-test is a useful way to tell a child’s initial word knowledge.

Another way to help a child who has difficulty spelling is to focus on a particular word pattern and have the child proofread their own or others' writing for that particular pattern. Rather than rely on worksheets, the child may enjoy hunting for the pattern in a favorite comic book, novel, or webpage.

Another helpful way to help a child who has difficulty spelling is through reading. Daily reading helps familiarize a child with new words. Since children with spelling difficulties often have reading issues as well, reading to the child while the child looks at the words is a helpful way to tackle both issues at once (Pumfrey & Elliot (1990)).

To give the child some independence, parents can record themselves reading a book out loud. The child can then listen to the recording while they read it themselves. For older children who would like to read longer books, parents may be able to find unabridged audiobooks for them to read along with. For all ages and grade levels, this technique is most helpful when the child and parent discuss the story afterward.

Writing stories using a carefully selected list of words is another way to help a creative child to overcome spelling difficulties.

Overall, it is important for children to see spelling as a tool and a part of their relationship with words, rather than an isolated subject.

REFERENCES

Gentry, JR 2007, 'Spelling Counts,' Scholastic, New York, NY.

Pumfrey, PD & Elliot, CD 1990, 'Children's Difficulties in Reading, Writing, and Spelling,' The falmer Press, Bristol, PA.