Is there any specific behaviour that comes with dyslexia?

[SweetSkull]

That is it really.

As for Liam, Lyam

I'm mildly dyslexic (my readings reasonable), but my spelling is truly awful.

I simply don't see, remember the internal structure of words.

I'm 45, how many thousand times have a read, and written, words I still can't spell?

Rember, seniour, Libray, ocationally, ocasionally that one is a different variety of wrong every sodding time.

Vowels are a nightmare, a/e like everyone does in things like separate (which has just autocorrected for me and calendar which I have at least 3 miss spellings of and decide (becoming dicide which totally bemuses my phone)

I have 8 grade A O'levels, including Eng lit and lang and a postgrad (RG) science degree, but still these simple words defeat me.

Was having to write Liam 50 times a punishment or part of the one on one writing time? It sounds like a completely pointless activity. It's not as if knowing how to write Liam matters very much in the scheme of things. I'd be concerned if this is the type of 'help' your dd is receiving.

We found with ds that pressuring him to learn his spellings and do his reading (both of which he hated) was very counterproductive, made him very upset, took an inordinate amount of time and didn't achieve anything anyway. For him what helped (with the reading anyway) was a specialist tutor who took him back to the basic key steps of phonics and essentially taught him how to read again. ds is 14 so in the last days of mixed reading, but it's quite possible that your dd just hasn't been taught very well.

As a side point my ds is also scatty, disorganised, forgetful and an incredible fiddler with stuff. He is very bright and especially good at making lateral connections. He is also very loyal and (unfortunately) very combative. We think if he gets through school and finds a passion then he will go far. For reassurance we have his dyslexic uncle and three cousins all of whom are successful in their chosen fields.

Writing out a word repeatedly is definitely not a 'pointless activity'. A key component of 'good spelling' is muscle memory; as no two words are the same (apart from homonyms -read/read, wind/wind etc) every word has a unique 'feel' to it Repeatedly writing it, while saying its sounds, is a good way to secure muscle memory. This is an example of the oft quoted 'multi-sensory' approach to learning and it actually has practical value (unlike some 'multi-sensory' strategies). The strength of muscle memory can be seen in children who have repeatedly used the wrong spelling of a word over a number of years. While they may consciously try to learn its spelling, and can get it right when they are concentrating on it, the minute they lose concentration (doing some creative writing, perhaps) the muscle memory of the wrong spelling takes over and bingo, it's wrong again...

It is essential to 'say the sounds' when practising as it links the 'sounds' to their spellings and their 'feel' - just copying a spelling doesn't make any meaningful connections.

That's also why it is best not to let wrong spellings go uncorrected; every incorrect spelling just reinforces the wrong connections..

Though I partialy agree; 50 repetitions is probably a bit of overkill.

I simply don't see, remember the internal structure of words.

A good illustration of the result of teachers perpetuating the myth that spelling is a visual skill! It's not. It's about breaking words into their component 'sounds' and spelling each sound in the order in which it comes in the word. I always told my 'strugglers' that, while correct spelling is best, as long as they got the right 'sounds' in the right place in a word they would be understood. Which is the 'point' of writing.

I printed out a dot to dot sheet of the name Liam so Liam could started to learn how to write his own name.
Than DD found this sheet and was so surprised that about the right Liam spelling that she decided to do it all, since Liam wasn't interested anyway.
She did it with felt colour pens and very colourful so I guess she was more worried about the aesthetics than spellings anyway. LOL

I did not know we should't leave spellings uncorrected.

I always thought that we were meant to let them try their best and make their own connections and mistakes...her Y2 teacher even said not to hoover over the home work so much because they want to see what the child can or can not do...

So how should I behave during homework now?
Correct every spelling mistake?

I can see that spelling your brother's name correctly would have some advantages! I thought it was the teacher making your dd do the exercise, as opposed to your dd choosing to do it herself. She obviously enjoyed the art aspect :)

Oh it is not a brother, just a friend but thanks!

I'd say don't correct all her mistakes - depends on how many mistakes obviously, but if it's a lot that would be so demoralising for her. I was told by nice wise yr2 teacher to pick a few, so keep it minimal and show where it's wrong but to heap praise on all writing.

I think Maizie's spot on in terms of muscle memory, but writing and re-writing can cause rebellion in kids who struggle to write. We do a sort of a middle ground, so use an app on the iPad - think it's called Squeebies - you put the words in and record them, then they get a chance to look at the word for as long as they like, then type it in. They get little avatar rewards if they get a few right. With my DS once he's confident with the spellings that way, we get him to write the words. He never minds writing them now as he's confident he'll get them right. I start him on 2 words, then gradually add as he starts getting them. He's regularly getting 8 out of 10 words right in school spelling tests now and seems to be retaining them too.

This is from a FB page for dyspraxia, dyslexia etc:

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smee,

I don't mean to sound rude but; if you have a child who finds it easy to learn then your method may be fine but we are talking in this thread about a child who apparently doesn't find learning easy. Trying to memorise what a word 'looks' like is never going to work for a child with a poor memory, nor is it going to teach the vital connection between sounds and the way they are spelled unless the child has intuited this by itself or the person working with it emphasises the connection.

Typing a word can only develop muscle memory if the person typing it is a reasonable fluent touch typist. They will develop automaticity inn the finger movements needed for each unique word (even I, who am not a touch typist, can type 'the' without having to think where my fingers are meant to go!). 'Hunt and peck' won't do it...

As for correcting, I can appreciate that where homework is concerned it won't help a teacher to find out where a child needs help if all spellings are corrected at home. There needs to be something of a judgement call on the part of the parent. But I don't think that allowing a child to continually spell a word wrong because correcting them might be 'discouraging' is really doing the child any favours.

If I am correcting a child's written work I praise good phonetic spelling before correcting the error (usually just a wrong choice of spelling for a sound). If the word is profoundly wrong I get the child to read exactly what it has written (not what it 'thinks' it's written), so that it can see for itself that it hasn't got the sounds right, and ask the child to suggest what would need to be done to get it to 'sound' right.

Sorry Maizie, but you do sound rude!

It's great to hear all of your wisdom, but my son is dyslexic and sounds very similar to the OP's at that age. Surely if I have something that I've found works it's okay for me to report it?

For him, chanting then trying to type the word has really helped - in fact it's been a breakthrough for him. If it works for him you never know it might work for the OP's daughter. I spent a long time getting him to write and re-write, but if you have a child who's struggling to write asking them to write repeated spellings can be a battleground, which is obviously hugely counterproductive. Sometimes you have to try other methods. Using the iPad app was actually suggested to me by his very good teacher, who happens to be dyslexic herself!

Also with your view on spelling corrections, well yes ideally you're right, but honestly if I'd corrected all of my DS's at that age he'd have felt a complete failure as every word was wrong. The advice I was given was to encourage the flow and a love of writing and slowly get the spellings right. Again that worked for him, as in time and slowly he's got there with his key words and the best part is he hasn't lost his confidence.

It is only my experience, but I was just trying to be helpful.

Maize nothing to do with a teacher's opinion. My teachers if 35 years ago would have fallen about at the idea if the brightest pupil in the school being dyslexic.

No I don't hear the sounds in words either, but I'm a visual person, a diagram makes everything better. I would expect to see words better than I hear them and I don't.

I don't see the details in people's faces either, so I find people out of their usual context very confusing.

Also my dyslexic, DD1 is a seriously good singer, who sometimes can't remember the words to a song until the music starts and yet she spells worse than I do.

She can sing in Latin, so can hold meaningless patterns of sounds in her head, so why not every day spellings?

Probably because she's trying to remember a letter string and not relating the letters to the sounds they spell. But then, I don't know your sister.

Written and spoken language require very different skills

Just wanted to come and comment on Dd's progress this week.
10 out of 10 for spelling.
Chosen by the HT for coming up with the most interesting word on the speech bubble board, the word was insidiously and she learned when we were reading Road Dahl.
Chosen by her class teacher for improving hand writing.
Moved up on her phonic group.

But the most exciting of all. Her big front tooth nearly fell out. She is just waiting for her next big front tooth so she can start trumpet lessons. Apparently the tooth fairy will give her 2 £10 and chocolate .