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Dictation Lessons Not Working
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Hello, my daughter is almost 11 and has mild dyslexia. Spelling is very difficult for her. Dictation lessons don’t always seem to help. She struggles with visual memory. We have tried programs like All About Spelling, but they really don’t help either. What should I do? How do I make dictation work? I honestly don’t know how to really help her at this point.
Thank you for any suggestions.
I have been using AAS with my dyslexia son. We don’t do it as written exactly. He studies on his own 2x a week just say spell saying his words. We use the old edition. It’s slow, but it is all that’s helped him at all. Turning 12 and then 13 really helped too. It’s like his brain matured to be more ready for spelling then.
I did AAS for awhile and she could write the words with the rules while we were studying them, but she couldn’t hold onto them long term. The rules didn’t really help her visual memory.
Copywork and say spell saying the words out loud seems to help him also. His visual memory isn’t strong either but his audio memory is better. Maybe studying the words she needs to learn out loud? Also a year or 2 for her brain to mature may help a lot.
I also have an 11 year old daughter who seems somewhat dyslexic. She was stuck at a first grade reading level for four years and then finally moved up to about a 3rd grade level. But spelling is very discouraging. I’ve been using AAS and have the same issue; she might be able to recite rules when asked, but they don’t affect her spelling. Even during the same 15 minute session, she’ll spell a word wrong, I’ll help her correct it, then she’ll spell it wrong two lines later. Sometimes we’ll practice a word several times a day for five days in a row, it seems like she finally gets it, and then we move on to the next lesson and when the previous word shows up in dictation it’s totally forgotten. I’ve reached out to the company for advice and they just say to take it slow and review a lot…
Rurualmama, now that your son is a little older and doing better, does he remember and apply the rules more to his own writing? And are you able to move forward in the program at a faster pace?
Yes, say spell say! You can also incorporate physical work such as spelling each word with the ASL alphabet or forming each letter in the air with large sweeping arm motions. So will cursive, from what I’ve read! 🙂
My kids used Memoria Press spelling for a while. Some of the assignments were to color code and mark letters with diacritical marks.
This may or may not help you, but it made a world of difference to our situation.
My daughter has issues with spelling as well (among other things). One of the tips we were given by the testing professionals who diagnosed her was to set up a memory box like the scripture one here – write the complete word on the front of an index card, on the back write the word minus the vowels. So the front would read “cat” and the back would be “c_t.” We put the cards in the memory box as we go – the current spelling words are in daily, ones she passes on the test but still struggles to remember after the test went in odd/even days, and the rest were divided among the days. Every day we do written practice (5 times each) in her spelling notebook, and do the memory box. We pull out the cards, she reads the word to me, I flip the card over. On the back, she is to tell which vowels are missing, spell the word, then I flip it back over and she reads the complete word aloud again. It is fairly quick and quite effective. We then review the odd or even days cards depending on the date, then review all the cards in the day of the week. If she struggles to read it, we review the spelling. It’s fairly quick and is effective for her.
I have mild dyslexia and struggled with spelling for years. The thing that helped me the most was using spell-check on the computer, particularly the old version that made me choose the correct spelling and did not autocorrect (I think that is still a setting option on some word processing software). Before there was spell check, I was given a Franklin speller, which is a device like a calculator where you could type in the word and it would suggest correct spellings. You still had to choose the correct option and, if your spelling was too far off, you might have to try again to find the right word. This really helped me learn. You type “sed” into the device enough times and eventually it will stick that the correct spelling is “said”. The speller can be used to help while the student is writing or during the editing process. They still make Franklin Spellers and I used one with my older child.
My children are also both mildly dyslexic. My 9-year-old is doing Explode the Code phonics workbooks to help both his reading and his spelling. They are not a magic bullet but they do help to teach common patterns and syllabication. He’s also uses speech to text on my phone for writing. He says the word he does not know how to spell into the notes program and then copies correct spelling. This prevents him from becoming paralyzed in his writing due to not knowing how to spell. We also work on typing regularly. There is a computer program called Nessy that is designed for dyslexic students and includes spelling and typing programs. You can find 60% off offers for it several times per year. Another program called Touch, Type, Read, and Spell is designed to teach dyslexic students typing and spelling to students simultaneously. We used this for my older child but my younger child prefers Nessy because it has animations and TTRS is mostly text.
Logic of English Essentials has a good method for teaching spelling called “spelling analysis”. You can find an example video on YouTube or their website. It’s an excellent program but my 9-year-old prefers Explode The Code.
Those are a few options that have helped The dyslexics in my family.
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