Advice on teaching spelling; using visual or auditory method

Submitted by an LD OnLine user on

I am currently comparing two programmes for reading and spelling support of dyslexic learners.

One programme groups spelling patterns according to sound eg eu (neutral) ew (new) and oo (goose). When spelling, the children then have to choose the right pattern according to sound. All the graphemes for a particular phoneme are introduced simultaneously and then each pattern is worked with individually so kids have time with each, but also learn all the patterns for a sound at once.

The other programme groups spelling patterns according to visual characteristics - all words with an ‘a’ are grouped such as air (hair)/are (dare), ar (car), ai (rain), all (ball) and then moves onto all words grouped with an ‘e’. While this approach has had good results for reading, I am not sure if it is appropriate for spelling. Each pattern is worked with individually and then linked to other patterns also with an ‘a’. So for example, the child may learn au/aw (sauce/saw) in the ‘a’ group but then only come across or/our/oar (horse/pour/boar) in the ‘o’ group.

Dyslexics are generally stronger with processing visual information so does this grouping make more sense for visual learners?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Submitted by ellen on Thu, 03/12/2015 - 11:12 AM

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hello. I am by no means an expert, but for what it’s worth-
I took a workshop in Phonographics.
They pointed out something, which is obvious, but which I had never realized.
Letters represent sounds, not the other way around.
But we teach as if letters HAVE sounds. For ex, we point to a “B” and say ‘sounds like bbbb….’
But in fact, “B” doesn’t sound like anything. It is a written symbol to represent a sound.
I think this is an important distinction.
So to my mind, it is preferable to start with the sound and then show the different ways it can be represented.
Ex. , say aloud the word “eat”, the sound focused on is “ee”
And then show the different ways that sound can be presented- ee, ea, etc.

I hope someone else chimes in with more opinions/information. It is an interesting question you ask.

Submitted by eteacher on Sun, 06/07/2015 - 2:55 PM

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Submitted by eteacher on Sun, 06/07/2015 - 3:07 PM

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Submitted by ericromm on Mon, 07/01/2019 - 10:07 AM

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Hi, this had such a natural ring of a question that I have asked several times to myself. Encountered in so many newer teachers. I have definitely always gravitated toward visual aids in teaching English. I am an English tutor to kids who need individual attention. I combine my experience as a drama teacher along with my degree in English to teach kids and use methods which would by no means be considered traditional. I have found [url=https://www.cram.com/]flashcards[/url] extremely important in this process. They really use phonetics but also give a visual anchor for the students to ground themselves in.
[Modified by: ericromm on July 01, 2019 06:08 AM]

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