My 10 y/o son can't spell these words.

[Swishies]

I have a 10 y/o DS. School has mentioned to me about it very frequently, so it's obviously quite a big issue. He's clever, but they're saying that his spelling will keep him behind.

He can't spell words like:

• because
• business
• receipt
• receive

etc.

They say the other problem is, he will then avoid words that he can't spell, instead of using them and getting the spelling wrong, so it doesn't help his English.

To be honest, I was never fussed. I learnt to spell business and receipt in Year 8! And I was good at spelling

Any advice?

[RealityCheque]

You clearly weren't as good at spelling as you thought you were.

[Swishies]

I won my school spelling bee for my year! but thanks...

[Swishies]

I'm glad that was the only answer you thought would be helpful?

[Snowflakes1122]

Have you looked into the possibility of dyslexia?

I'm not the most knowledgable about it, but my brother had it. It took many years to diagnose.

I do recall him having trouble spelling, and he still struggles now. He had an excellent score on his IQ test, which I do believe is quite common (you say your son is clever too)

[ABloodyDifficultWoman]

Well what does the school advise? Wouldn't that be a better place to start than here?

[ChazsBrilliantAttitude]

Is it specifically those words or does he have a more general issue with spelling?

If its just those words he needs to knuckle down and learn them. Both my DS are dyslexic and sometimes words just need to be learnt so they don't become a stumbling block.

Because - Big Elephants Can Always Understand Small Elephants

[memyselfandaye]

No need to be so nasty and superior Reality

[Blue4ever]

Similar here but ds is a bit younger. They are difficult words to spell, as they are leaning to read phonetically the words you mention are exceptions. Unfortunately they just have to be learned by heart, or with tricks. Make cards and stick them on the fridge and get him to learn an extra 3-4 words a week, practice over and over again. Some children (and adults) have a much better visual memory than others and some kids have to work that much harder.

[StarryIllusion]

I always had trouble with those last two and I'm sure I can remember struggling with business too. To this day it takes me a few tries to get necessary. I always put an extra A in it. They're talking shit imo. Just practice with him at home. Use look cover write check if you can. I used to find that really good for learning new spellings as a kid.

[oldlaundbooth]

' i before e except after c'.

[Bubbles135]

But that rule doesn't work.

Science is ie but after c...

[jmh740]

They are some of the spelling which they should know by the end of year 5 if he can't spell them consistently he will not achieve the levels for spelling, keep practicing look cover write should help and lots of practicing.

[sorenofthejnaii]

Rather than saying what words he can't spell, what words can he spell?

'i before e except after c

Is a stupid rule because it has so many exceptions.

The actual rule depends on how the 'ee' sound is spelt.

[TrinityForce]

Does he enjoy reading his own books?

[sorenofthejnaii]

They say the other problem is, he will then avoid words that he can't spell, instead of using them and getting the spelling wrong, so it doesn't help his English

Better to have a go and fail rather than not use them.



I do think we get too hung up on spelling such words when we do have spell checkers nowadays (although obviously that doesn't help with words which are homonyms such as bare and bear)

[eyebrowsonfleek]

My son in y5 is the same. He struggles with spellings and has been in spelling intervention. He knows "because" as they've worked on a mnemonic for it but no chance on the other 2.
I've looked at the y5 spelling list and he can't spell them at all so I suspect his y6 SATs spelling score will be extremely low.

[Dragongirl10]

Get the book .. Word Wasp...its very good

[NeckguardUnbespoke]

i before e except after c

That's an ancient rule which, in good conscience, I have to say is deficient. It's hard to learn efficient rules for spelling. I always fancied a job as a financier, but I loved animals, and I was prescient enough to realise that studying science, in today's society, would allow me to see more species.

[sorenofthejnaii]

That's an ancient rule
Have you told the DFE? From the current KS2 curriculum

The ‘i before e except after c’ rule applies to words where the sound
spelt by ei is /i:/.

Exceptions: protein, caffeine, seize (and either and if pronounced with an initial /i:/ sound)

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/335186/PRIMARY_national_curriculum_-_English_220714.pdf

[WreckingBallsInsideMyHead]

I was a terrible speller at that age! I would say I'm average to above average now. Certain words I just can't get into my head though like inconvenience and receipt

Are the school worried about dyslexia or just highlighting something he needs to work on? If the latter then don't worry, he'll get it (or he won't but then neither can many people... That's what spellcheck is for!).

I'd be most concerned that he avoids using difficult words, it's always better to try! His writing will be better if he uses more varied word choices. I'd encourage him to read, especially authors that don't shy away from unusual words like roald Dahl or lemony snickett

[NeckguardUnbespoke]

applies to words where the sound spelt by ei is /i:/.

That's a hell of a caveat. As well as closing off the examples I used, in the other direction it closes off feign, weight, neighbour, reign, rein, reinvention (and any number of re-something-beginning-with-i, like reincarnate and reinsert) sleigh, sovereign, surfeit...

[RamsayBoltonsConscience]

I suspect that the school is saying this because, under the new assessment arrangements, if a child can't spell the majority of age related spellings then they can't be at expected standards for writing. If he can't spell those words, he's definitely not going to hit the standards- the age related words are far more difficult than those.

[RamsayBoltonsConscience]

Page 61 of sore's attachment

[shggg245]

Oh I feel your pain. My 11 year old ds has dreadful spelling but with really simple words and finds the quite tricky ones that you mentioned in your op nigh on impossible.

It totally dragged his sats results down (think 4 out of 70 for spelling) and as a result he narrowly missed the 100 benchmark. His reading, vocabulary and comprehension are average but his spelling (and as a result his writing) is just out of this world bad.

I'm convinced there is some specific spelling difficulty / dyslexia and will be pushing hard for some sort of intervention when he moves to secondary school in September. Primary school have never been concerned enough to get the ed psych in, despite him being on the sen register.

It's heartbreaking to see him beating himself up and saying he's stupid.

I'd have a good talk with his class teacher and see if you can do extra stuff at home.

[Stopyourhavering]

I hate how these targets discriminate against children who have difficulty spelling
Our eldest dd was awful at spelling at school due to dyslexia but has just graduated with a 2:1 in Philosophy , thank goodness for spell check!( and I have found that her general spelling has gradually improved!)