Would you ask school about helping with spelling, or assessing if your child was still writing like this?

[stoppinattwo]

one day thir wos a prinsec hoow was crayin fur help ond day a pris cam and helpt her and thay litht (lived) hapile ethe (ever) insept (except) fur a wich hoew was cast a wich (wish) on hir

she is 7 in November, she writes fantastic stories but struggles increadibly with spelling. I have gone on and on about this in my head and to mnetters who are patient enough to listen.

School say oh dont worry she will catch up and we dont test them till they are 7..what is the best thing to do?

I agree with the school - don't panic yet, especially if they are likely to test her soon.

I think her writing is basically fine.

Does she have spelling tests at school? Can she learn them in the short term?

Agree with foofi - don't panic yet. When dd1 was in Y2 her teacher singled her out for a special reading thingy - then changed her mind. She can read very well now.

It does spook you out a bit, but I'd just wait a bit longer if I were you before I hit the panic button.

At least I can make sense of it!!!

Was going to ask about spelling tests. DS2 is in year 1 and had trouble with spelling (compared to his reading) until about 8 weeks ago. It suddenly clicked sometime this term. He does get a weekly spelling test though and has done since sometime mid reception (which I know leaves many on here aghast, but I learned ITA at school, never had a spelling test until age 9 and am still struggle now, so I'm not fussed).

Is she in year 1? If so, I think this is fine - lots of children can't do any continuous narrative writing at this age.

What I did with dd - who was, and to some extent still is (but it doesn't seem to have held her back!) -a bad speller is to say "That's an amazing story! There are one or two problems with the spelling - shall we have a look at a couple?" If she said no, I left it because I didn't want to detract from the story. If she said yes, I'd pick a word and we'd break it down into sounds together until we got it right.

Is she in Y1 currently?

If she's struggling with reading as well I'd really recommend Marion Blank's book on 'the reading remedy' (it's about literacy in general not just reading). But if her reading's fine then I wouldn't worry yet.

Sorry, cross posts - was thinking the same thing!

thanks foofi, mi just worried that 7 will be year 2 and if they decide that there is a problem an she hasnt caught up then the gap between her and the other children in her class is widening.

She does practice words which she takes home to learn but she doesnt seem to remember them for long and gets quite fed up with herself when she cant remember them.

She is reading quite well and has a reading age on a par with 6-7 yo so that doesnt worry me, but it is like the words fro reading and the words for writing are 2 completely different things and she doesnt apply the idea that they are both the same.

example her and hir...

There's nothing wrong with that kind of writing in Y1. You don't say what kind of school she is in, but in the state sector the Reception year is mostly about learning through play, and there is very little formal literacy work until Y1.

A lot of experts say that spelling tests don't really help - a child can spell a word brilliantly when they've learned it for tests but still can't when they have to use it in context. My dd was like this - 10 out of 10 for every test but still writing like stoppingattwo's dd the rest of the time!

IMHO spelling is always harder than reading. And, also IMHO, don't see the point in spelling tests - once they've mastered them for Friday, they've forgotten them by Monday. Still, that's the way they do it

sorry and thanks all...you know seeker, I may look through what she has written with her if she wants to, that would be a good idea, i do try not to correct her too much as sometimes that can put the brakes on iykwim

Sorry seeker, xposted.

oh again I feel a lot better...DS just seemed to pick it up with minimal problem, I dont compare the two but I did wonder why one could and one took a lot longer.....DD's stories are far more interesting though

That's exactly it - you don't want to stop her creativity by making her worry about how to spell each word at this stage - it will come.

watch how she spells the words, is she consistant with her mispelling? Can she spell simple words like and, what, when, then, the, that?

How is her reading?

If her reading is bad, and she is spelling words differently all the time and having trouble with the simple words, yes I'd be concerned.

I went through that with Dd where the school took a long time to pick up a problem, it was about 7 when they finally realised she did need extra help and wasn't just lazy. Dd is borderline dyslesic (schools term not mine), shes had a lot of extra help and its paid off. I'm not saying your daughter is the same though. Sometimes kids do need extra help to get them started. Sometimes it just takes them a little longer.

But yes I'd be concerned.

if she is not remembering the spelling try some different approaches when she practises for the test. e.g.

write the letters in a sand or salt tray (baking tray with handful of table salt or sand in it)

raninbow write the words - write the word really big in red say, then go over in yellow, blue, green etc.

Do you do look, cover write check?

Write the words up big and put them up on the back of the fronf door / opposite the toilet. Highlight any spelling pattern

get her to to spell out the words and record her, then play it back to her

get her to throw a beanbag up in the air as she says each letter, or skip as she says each letter.

little and every day is the key.
not all of these will be good for your child, it depends if she is a visual, aural or kinestetic (sp) learner.

Sorry, if you have heard all this before.

I would worry because i am a mother and that seems to be our default state but you should not really. Her spelling looks fine for a 6 year old.

Her spelling looks fine to me - at least, it looks like DS1's spelling, and he'll be 7 in September. His school is very good, he does fine on spelling tests, but spelling takes a while to sort out.

His reading is fine.

I do get a bit at spellings like 'forlinto' (fall in to), but school don't seem concerned.

I do plan to encourage him to write more at home - maybe by writing notes to him?

I think her spelling is OK for Yr 1. It is phonetically readable and she is spelling some words correctly. The inconsistencies (eg her/hir) may be because she is caught up in the story and getting that down rather than worrying about spelling, which is fine at this stage.

My ds wrote wonderful fluent stories long before he started bothering about spelling. He's 9 now and a pretty good speller. It's a good sign that she reads well and can write good stories. If she's a good reader the spelling will come, and as pp have said it will definitely be addressed Yr 2 onwards.

Don't panic yet.

Dd spelled like this at that age, and is now one of the best in Yr 6 at literacy. Not to worry. Spelling will come.

Mind you, I have just looked at dd's homework diary (12, and a high acheiving, selective grammar school) and found the following "Reserch extra information for knowladge stall" so maybe I was a bit too relaxed in year 1!

She is in year 1? Her writing looks fairly typical for that age group. Most of the words are spelled phonetically and that is the way spelling is taught in the early stages.

The "follinto" type spelling is also quite typical. Some kids don't necessarily hear them as separate words even though they may have seen them written down in a book. As many other posters have said reading always comes before writing.

One way to help with the non phonetic spellings is to make up little rhymes. e.g. "said"= seven ants in danger. "because" big elephants can add up sums easily".

This would be good for spellings tests but will stifle her obvious creativity when writing a story so try not to stress too much about it.

I really wouldn't worry. If she was still struggling at the end of year 2 then I would be asking for some help.