Spelling Help: How to Improve Spelling

Spelling is one curriculum area in which neither creativity nor divergent thinking is encouraged. Only one sequence or arrangement of letters can be accepted as correct; there is no compromise or leeway. What makes spelling even more difficult is that the written form of the English language has an inconsistent pattern, illustrated in the following limerick:

A young lady crossing the ocean
Grew ill from the ship's dizzy mocean,
She called with a sigh
And a tear in her eigh,
For the doctor to give her a pocean.

Although learning to spell correctly is a difficult task to master for most children, it is especially difficult — and sometimes impossible — if there are underlying shortcomings. The skill of spelling embraces many subskills. Subskills of particular importance are (1.) the ability to analyze, i.e to perceive the whole in its individual parts, (2.) auditory perception of letter sounds and auditory memory (3.) decoding skills, and (4.) visual memory for sequences. Shortcomings in one or more of these subskills can greatly affect a person's spelling ability. Audiblox is effective in overcoming spelling problems by addressing these underlying shortcomings.

Click on the case studies below for examples of how Audiblox improves spelling:

Our success
Defeated: Severe problems in reading, spelling, and handwriting
Improvement in reading, spelling, and mathematics
Beating dyslexia: Poor reading, letter reversals, spelling problems
Improvement in reading, spelling, handwriting & creative writing
Learning to spell with Audiblox
Reading fluency and spelling improve; Dean now a top achiever
Spelling now on par with her grade
Child with severe learning problems makes “incredible progress”

It is important to note that whatever Audiblox program one decides to follow, one would probably see improvement in reading, spelling and handwriting. As an example, see the Audiblox Pilot Study at Keswick, UK. The only form of application that these children did was an exercise called the Reading exercise. They did not do any exercise specifically aimed at spelling or handwriting. Yet, the majority of these children's spelling and handwriting improved too. Nevertheless, it is quite possible to put greater emphasis on specific aspects of learning when it is required, such as spelling or handwriting.

When a child's reading is more or less on par — including his ability to read aloud and read with comprehension — but his ability to spell is not, the Audiblox Spelling Program in the Audiblox kit is is highly recommended. You will find this program in the Supplementary manual. This program places more emphasis on the underlying shortcomings that interfere with spelling performance than the standard Audiblox program. Application is done not only by means of the Reading exercise — which improves spelling too — but also by means of the Spelling exercise.

However, if a child's spelling problems co-exist with moderate to severe reading problems, it is advisable to follow the standard program in chapter 20 of the book The Right to Read.

To order an Audiblox kit, click here.