I have a student who is dyslexic and very bright. He has been tutored in both LIPS and Wilson reading, and his reading is much improved. He continues to have problems with spelling. For instance, he will write a sentence using the word “barn” and spell it “b-r-n” (no vowel). When you ask him to spell barn orally, he will spell it correctly. Then, if you show him how he spelled it on the paper (with no “a”), he seems to have no idea as to why he spelled it incorrectly. His writing assignments have many errors. He is in fifth grade at a parochial school, and his spelling is now as issue due to the amount of writing required. ANY insight anyone could offer would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Lynda
Re: spelling errors
I’d actually question the LIPS training because I haven’t yet had a child whom I’ve taken through the LIPS program who’d continue to make spelling errors by leaving out the vowel with any of the the “crazy r’s” (ir, er, ur, ar, or). Many of my kids aren’t intuitive spellers and in fact, most could barely spell at all when they came to me. The LIPS program, especially when done in conjunction with the Seeing Stars program (which is how it should be done) ought to remediate that. Since it didn’t, and again I think it’s because it either wasn’t done properly or for a long enough period, then following through with another program such as the one MaryMN suggests, would be good. But not with the same person who did the LIPS program!
Re: spelling errors
This is a bit off the subject, but…I’m in search of someone to go through the LIPS program with my 13 year old son. When I contacted LMB, they told me the only way was to go to one of their centers, which would cost thousands, being as there isn’t one nearby and they charge $75/hr. Apparently, there are people out there who are trained to do the LMB programs. Is there any way to locate them? I’m in the Pittsburgh area and would appreciate any guidance.
Re: spelling errors
I would call private schools in the area. I’d also call neuropsychologists who work with children. The neuropsyches usually have a list of people who specialize in various tutoring programs. Private schools often have a list of private tutors that they recommend to parents. Many of these tutors are experienced in the LMB programs.
LMB themselves, although they offer courses in how to use their programs, won’t endorse any individual who isn’t working at one of their centers. (And even then, it’s the center they’ll recommend, not the individual). But there are lots of trained people out there doing it privately.
Re: spelling errors
Dysgraphics tend to leave things out of their writing. Does he have a touch of that?
Is he allowed to type? Typing and using grammarcheck and spellcheck could be helpful to him.
My 11yo is a remediated dyslexic — meaning in our case that she now reads and comprehends on a beginning 7th grade level, but spells on a beginning 3rd grade level.
What has helped us more than anything else we have tried is Sequential Spelling by Avko (http://www.avko.org). We have seen significant improvements in dd’s spelling when writing, and we have not even finished the first book (there are 7). It is a very simple and easy approach. We are doing two lessons a day (about 10 minutes each, separated by at least an hour). These lessons could be done at home by interested parents.
Many dyslexics get improvement in spelling after several years of keyboarding their writing. It is thought that the combination of different kinesthetic input (from handwriting) and persistent and immediate spellchecker helps eventually train correct spelling.
Mary