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?

I hate how these targets discriminate against children who have difficulty spelling

And there's the handwriting element as well. Your handwriting has to be of a certain standard to hit the target.

I can write very well. I just struggle with handwriting.

Stopyour - That's brilliant - a 2.1 in philosophy is a fantastic achievement. I keep telling my ds about all the brilliant people who have struggled with spelling.

I am so glad my ds is home edded....Reality....really helpful.....

The only one I'd say shows concern is 'because' as it is one that he should be reading and using regularly. However, it is one that many children find difficult to learn. They usually learn a rhyme if they find it tricky - Big Elephants Can Always Understand Smaller Elephants.

If he's having trouble with this word I would see if the school can screen him for dyslexia.

What are they doing as an intervention to help him? Have they given you any pointers?

They're right that if he has trouble sounding out spellings he is not likely to use the higher level vocabulary as he will not know how to write it so that someone can recognise it. I would say he probably needs some phonics help so he can sound out multisyllable words and also some spelling strategies to help him learn and remember key spellings.

Yes, lots of people who became very successful struggled with spelling - Richard Branson being one. It's worth having that convo with your ds because having problems with spellings can reduce confidence.

On the bright side, word processors are great and you could get him to use one at home. As he goes through and checks the spellings he might learn the correct spelling over time.

I've run spelling intervention groups for that age range.
I try and give different strategies as some suit individuals better than others. For example, for business I would break it down into bus-i-ness, so it sounds funny said out loud, but that helps them remember it.

If the I before E rule doesn't work, you can try 'when 2 vowels go out walking, the first one does the talking' i.e when 2 vowels are together you (usually, but not always!) only say/hear the first one - which makes a long vowel sound. Obviously, this still relies on them knowing that the need 2 vowels to make the E sound!