Can anyone help me find resources for spelling? Slightly complex situation!

[SinkGirl]

Before I start to make them myself, I’m wondering if anyone has come across anything we could use, any downloadable resources etc

My twins are 4.5 and both autistic and non verbal. However, DT1 is obsessed with the alphabet and over the last six months we’ve discovered he can spell a lot of words.

At first we were surprised when he could copy out words from a card with a picture and the word on it. Then surprised when he could spell the numbers 1-10 (he uses magnetic letters for this - he can’t write).

I managed to find some cards that he loves - they have a drawing on them and then boxes at the bottom for the letters to go in. But they’re all 3 letter CVC words and he’s already able to spell much more complicated words (elephant, eight, monkey, house etc).

I tried printing off some flash cards with just pictures on - he wouldn’t put letters down even when he knew the words because there were no boxes for the letters to go in 🤦‍♀️ Obviously he’s now decided those are necessary!

I can design some and print them off but I wonder if anyone has seen any cards, or more substantial things like maybe a board you can slot a picture into and then space for the letters etc. I tried one of those plastic things with the letter tiles and the cards sit it in the top, but he won’t let me cover the words so it’s a bit pointless.

If anyone has seen anything like this, please let me know!

I was on your thread when you found out he could spell, it was so exciting!

It's a shame he feels he needs the boxes for the letters! But would he accept other letter 'markers' do you think? There are quite a lot of books with _ instead?

I'll keep my eye out for boxes!

There should be some children's crossword puzzles with picture too, but yes, he probably exceeding the words used in those

Is a childrens crossword too complicated for him? What's fluffy & meows? Type thing?

My son was two and a half when I learned he could spell. He was dx ASD and non verbal. It's a fabulous communication aid. My son taught himself to read and spell from the subtitles on TV. I discovered he could spell when he used magnetic letters to spell oracle (which was the tv text service at the time) He wanted me to put subtitles on.
My advice would be use this skill he has to help him communicate, don't get hung up on one sort of letters introduce him to all ways he can use letters to get his needs met. My son had magnetic letters, and those magnetic boards a typewriter (son is 26 now) and so many toys to teach spelling. He'd flick through books picking up new words and as I read to him he'd be memorising words that he'd reproduce later.
We had some tricky times as it was difficult for teachers to grasp that the child who would use one or two words could read the fire escape notice and write stuff most uncomplementary about his teachers
My son was seven before he had a semblance of normal speech but was writing sentences from five. Even now if he needs to talk about something outside of football or Grand Prix he writes me a note sends an email or a text.

It’s so difficult isn’t it @hiredandsqueak - hard to grasp that a child can have this level of understanding of written words / ability to spell them but be non verbal or struggle to understand spoken words. It quite hard to get your head round it.

What I find quite amazing is that he can look at any drawing of say a cat or a dog and spell the word - I’m amazed he associates them as they all look so different. Yet if I pointed to our cat he wouldn’t spell cat.

He does seem to be spelling words we say, sometimes even when he doesn’t know the word I think. Like there was a card with a duck with an umbrella and the word was wet - he had no idea, but as soon as I said wet he spelled it, and I think he did so phonetically.

He’s nowhere near as advanced as some of the hyperlexic kids I know of but I think there’s a lot he knows that we haven’t accessed yet.

Crosswords etc would be tricky - he wouldn’t understand the clues, and I doubt he even knows that a cat miaows. That’s part of the issue - all the resources assume typical development so a child who can spell would usually be able to read first and speak and have a wider understanding generally.

Tomorrow I’ll try a marker and just write boxes in the flash cards I printed - then I think I’ll make some. There definitely needs to be a line of educational stuff for children with different needs!

He also made his first sentence with PECS this week “I want banana please” - he’s coming on so well and he’s getting his AAC device shortly :)

With technology his ability to spell is going to be such a positive thing for him. For my son it cut down on so much frustration because he'd just spell the word to get what he wanted whereas previously he'd just scream or attack me.

Yes I am so much less worried about whether he will eventually learn to talk or not (I think he may be one of the few who don’t as he can only make one sound, and even now he understands more words he’s not attempting to - or maybe can’t - make more). I just want him to be able to communicate, he’s so bright and it must be awful not being able to communicate well.

Are your twins in reception or nursery?

If they are in reception my DS1 has been taught to write with letters (or diagraphs/trigraphs) in boxes first and then taken away. I'm not 100% sure where the teacher got her resources from, but they exist!

He might also enjoy a simple wordsearch? (because of the boxes)
.

You're looking for Elkonin boxes :)

www.amazon.co.uk/Orchard-Toys-Match-Spell-Game/dp/B00STBQDO4/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=orchard+games+letters&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1622837473&sr=8-1

The Match and Spell Next Steps Board from the game I linked to looks great for him.

I wonder could you use a scrabble set with your printed flash cards.

He has to find the letters and put them on the letter tray. It would fit longer words.

Twinkl have lots of phoneme frames if that's what you're looking for.

Thank you so much everyone - I will investigate all of these!

He can get a bit fixed in his view of how things should go, and he’s not really paying much attention to the boxes - eg one card there was a cob of corn and three boxes. He doesn’t know the word cob, so he wrote corn. Didn’t matter there were only 3 boxes. But when I tried to use cards without boxes he seemed to think the letters shouldn’t go there - had the same issue when I tried showing him a picture and getting him to use his letters to spell on his whiteboard so I expect the scrabble idea may not work right now but I’m definitely storing that one away. It’s hard to know what will work for him.

Will investigate Twinkl more thoroughly when I have a minute and check out the links, thank you so much for all the suggestions!

They are in the early years building at a specialist school (not due to start reception until September but fortunately the school takes them earlier).

He’s become really poorly today so going to get some sleep while I can!

@DollyMixtureLulus

The Match and Spell Next Steps Board from the game I linked to looks great for him.

Thank you, that looks perfect! Have ordered both - not sure how he will do with two letters on the same tile so will be interesting!

I’m definitely going to design something myself longer term but that should keep us going!

Another thing he might find interesting is Colourful Semantics. It teaches children how to create sentences using colour coded boxes. His school will probably use it so you might want to leave it to them, but it's so clear and can really help children.

Hope you're all feeling better soon

Ah phenome frames - that's the name of the thing DS1 used at school.

Hope your DS feels better soon.

Ooh these could be good - but I don’t know how he’ll respond to the fact they’re separate from the picture. Will give it a go!