Straight A student but poor spelling

[Sloejelly]

My 16 yo DS is a ‘straight A’ student - top grades in everything but is terrible at spelling. School screened for dyslexia before Easter but only thing he struggled with was spelling. When I say ‘terrible’ it is relative - his spelling is a bit below average, but all his other scores were top end. They have finally admitted it will cost him marks in his exams.

Any ideas why his spelling alone could be so poor? The teacher said not dyslexia as other tests seemed fine/were so good. His spelling errors aren’t random - it is very phonetic.

does he make the same mistakes if he is spelling orally, written, or typing?

My ds has this, it’s only evident in his hand written work. Apparently some kids don’t take to the phonetic way of teaching spellings. But it’s not picked up until it’s way too late, we were told there’s nothing that can be done. He still did exceptionally well in his GCSEs

Same situation here with ds1. Although it's not his only issue - his grammar is also often poor in places. I've looked over some (extensive) notes he took during a revision session for English Lang today and he's even missing some capital letters after full stops. I mean FFS 🤦🏻‍♀️

Other than English he's also a straight A/A* student. In English he's predicted A/B but his teacher is hopeful for an A. I honestly sometimes wonder to myself how on Earth that's possible given some of his writing makes me want to get my own red pen out.

When my son was eventually screened for dyslexia in y6, it was broken down into three different areas - spelling (which he was really below average age in), writing (which he was pretty much right on for his age) and comprehension (which he was off the charts good for). When I spoke to the educational psychologist about it afterwards, she said there are a variety of different types of dyslexia and that ds was quite unusual in the way his scores had come out - only 2% of dyslexics got that sort of score. Also meant that they weren't very good at doing interventions for him subsequently (they only did the assessment as someone else dropped out on the day they were doing them and they wanted to get their money's worth as they were paying anyway.

The assessment was done in the latter part of the summer term of y6 - and I've never been able to get any support for him at school for his dyslexia because it was only his spelling that was bad. He's in y11 now and about to do GCSEs - he also has dyspraxia that was picked up in his screening and auditory processing disorder - the school eventually agreed that he could use a laptop (I think his writing is so bad still that they realised it was losing his many grades in every subject) but haven't done anything formally about his APD. When I raised why it wasn't on his statement they just said they didn't recognise the screening that he had had before and that I needed to get another one done if I wanted it on there formally but various other issues arose so that didn't happen. And when I asked about the dyslexia they just said well he hasn't had the accommodation before so he can't have it now - despite the fact that I've asked for it ever since he got there...

I think part of the problem is that he is very bright when it comes to some things (ridiculously good at maths for example) so they seem to feel that that wipes out the need for supporting all his weaknesses. Especially as he has had other inputs for typing instead of writing etc. And the APD I've usually just spoken to the teachers to ensure he sat near to the front of the class so he could see (also short sighted) and hear what was going on properly - occasionally a teacher has wanted people in a particular order but when asked after having the problem explained, they are usually fine and it is no longer a problem.

Sounds like your ds could be similar to mine and particularly struggle with just the spelling aspect of dyslexia which it seems schools aren't very good at supporting as they get much further up the school! Not sure what you can do about it though - would be interested to find out if you do get any extra feedback or help.

We had our ds retested in yr 13, still scoring very low for spelling but high for everything else. Still no support offered from school. Dont hold your breath.

Glad it is not just us! According to DS, in 2020 his English teacher mentioned wondering about getting him to type end of year exams - well we know what happened next. And from then on nearly all school work has been typed with a spell checker because Covid brought in chrome books (though he never learnt to touch type). So his spelling had been ‘hidden’ until his mocks.

Some kids might not take to phonetics but it seems DS embraced them and never let go.

They have finally admitted it will cost him marks in his exams.

The largest GCSE English Language cohort nationally is with AQA.

Of the 160 available marks, 32 are for SPAG, with spelling only accounting for a proportion of that.

Yes, spelling will cost some marks, but really not many.

Thanks MrsHamlet that is reassuring in some ways but he is aiming (and should achieve) high so is anxious about any lost marks.

This isn’t me being delusional about my DC - I have another for whom university won’t be on the cards,

My DD has terrible spelling. Even in reception they mentioned it. Got 9s for GCSE English lang and lit. She did two essay subjects for A levels and got A stars. I don't think the spelling was a huge issue (and she has improved over time).

Interesting thread, I have a DD with same similar profile: y11, predicted straight 9s, she read quite a lot when younger, but horrible spelling. I had always assumed that children who read regularly eventually picked up spelling... but no (e.g. from yesterday's mock essay: piece/peice, focus/focous, ridiculous/rediculous...).
Had her checked with the school speechtherapist in y7 who said DD wasn't dyslexic, but a bit too clever to be bothered with prosaic things like spelling ... how helpful.😑 We tried mnemonic techniques/mental imagery for spelling in the past, but the list of mis-spelled words is just too long and I've come to accept that she will loose all the spelling marks in the English exam.

Does he read much for pleasure?

Many, many, years ago, this was me. I was not tested for dyslexia but I was given a spelling book and spellings to practice all the way up to my GCSEs. I was the only kid in the top set with a spelling book, it was tedious and a bit embarrassing, but it did improve things.

Dd is dyslexic and a high achiever but we have been told the spelling aspect of GCSE is not going to see her drop marks unless it is used in a context where her point becomes unclear. I don't think it is very likely to happen so I am trying not to be overly concerned. I think it frustrates me more than anyone else!

I got high B's in all my A levels and I have specific learning no difficultly. I didn't get tested until university. It's elements of dyslexia and dyspraxia. I don't fit into either category. I managed to do well without support. I had already developed coping strategies by that point. Try not to worry about the spellings with regards to the marks very few will be lost.

I have been told the same for my daughter. She is top of the class in English. I understand the difficulties she has in spelling. You can understand what she has written and phonetically it makes sense. It's always been an issue. On the computer spell check is a massive help but obviously you can't use that in an exam.

I remember when I did my exams being surprised how my spelling didn't impact my marks (thankfully),

DD is severely dyslexic and spells everything semi-phonetically (and sometimes the same word 4 different ways in a single paragraph). She's still on track for top grades in a lot of subjects including English, and school have told me that she won't lose that many marks on the spelling that it's worth having spell-check enabled and losing all the SPAG marks.

We have not found anything that helps at all but once past GCSE she can just use spellcheck and grammarly forever.

Masses! Constantly working his way through series of novels.

One issue is the way English was taught in primary schools in UK. Very few wrong spelling words were highlighted so incorrect spelling continues. Overseas English school is a sea of red marks, wrong spellings highlighted and so corrected. Extensive reading is good idea but if words spell incorrectly for 5 years it becomes a bad habit to break when writing for speed in times exams.