Poor spelling and copying things wrong - should I press for investigation?

[LadyWellian]

DD (10.7) is going into year 6 but her spelling has been consistently poor and her school 'don't really do spelling' after year 2, apparently. She has great oral vocabulary and reads well though she would rather watch TV, but her spelling is dreadful and she seems incapable of spelling things right even when copying them from a piece of paper right next to her. I always thought this was just lack of attention to detail but apparently it can indicate a form or element of dyslexia. With secondary choices looming, should I press for an investigation, or might she 'grow out of it'? She's bright and it hasn't stood in her way at primary school, but I worry about the transition to secondary and the attendant increase in written work.

It's more likely that she's a whole-word reader with an excellent visual memory.
Have a read here -it includes suggestions to help with spelling if you scroll down:
www.dyslexics.org.uk/spelling.htm

Test out her alphabet code knowledge with the nonsense word test:
www.rrf.org.uk/pdf/Ruth%20Miskin%20Nonsense%20Word%20Test.pdf Ruth Miskin's nonsense word test.

Thanks very much - I'll have a look.

Hi my dd (10 in dec yr 5) sounds very similar to ur dd she is fleunt in reading and avg at maths, but is poor at spelling (even copying) esp simple phonics! she had a fab teacher last year and made a huge difference she had a IEP and extra 1-2-1, but i'm dreading this year as she has had this teacher in yr 3 and she did nothing for her just kept telling us she's falling behind! so i'm going to see how it goes till the end of this half term and if i feel she's not getting the help she needs i will set an appointment up with the schools senco. also have you had her eyes tested? my dd had hers done 3 months ago and turns out she's long sighted and needs glasses for reading etc and it has helped with her writing/spelling.

I thought that it could be an indicator of poor short term memory (if, for example, there is a good score on the Miskin nonsense word test), and there is poor spelling and inaccurate calculation even when mathmatical grasp is good.

Does anyone have any experience of this? (Ot have I got it all wrong?) Is it something you can just beast them through, or is a more specialist intervention required?

I suppose i could say my dd hasn't got a great STM. (but then again this is a marker for dyslexia)
But i think she would fall behind quickly if she didn't have the extra support, i'm hoping she'll have a IEP and the teacher takes intrest in her again this year and this is all she'll need.

Short term (working) memory difficulties aren't a marker for dyslexia. It is a 'soft' sign.

'In a highly regarded study conducted by Joseph Torgesen, a psychologist at the University of Florida, out of 60 children with severe reading difficulties, only eight had poor short-term memories, while almost as many ? seven ? had very good short-term memories' (CH4 TV. The Dyslexia Myth)

Hi, I just came across this as I am looking for advice for my DD who has just started High school. Sounds exactly the same as my DD who had an assessment done by Learning Support Service arranged by the primary school. I think this was at the end of year 4. This was an in depth appointment and confirmed she had dyslexia. Her reading is good but spelling poor. Her primary school provided some small group support for spelling and it improved a bit but to be honest it is still poor. However she got 3 level 5s at the end of year 6 and passed the 11+. My advice is to ask for an assessment to be done, especially if spelling does not match general ability. At least then you will have something written to support you along the way eg extra time for 11+, or more understanding from teachers in secondary school. My DD will still do things like spell "they" wrong. She is in Y 7. My other 2 DSs do not have any problem with spelling at all.

Not being able to copy words can also be a visual problem, and she might just need to do eye tracking exercises.

You will need to get tested by a BABO optometrest for this as normal opticians don't seem to check for it at all.

Definately sounds like a vision problem to me....

I found a letter that my DD wrote saying she was a disaster at school, and rubbish at spelling, and she also put a note in a worry box at school saying she's worried she'll never be able to spell, This broke my heart :( I spoke to the school senco (who has taught her in yr 2 that's when she started to struggle with words) and just wanted to know if she would get the same support that she had in yr4, but she said she's spoke to sense and they were coming to look at her, she had an hearing test and failed on her left ear and also she needs an coloured overlay and having more test to find out which colour she needs.

its an indicator of bad teaching, you said the school doesnt really do spelling.

do some work with her and help her to spell because it seems that your teacher either cant or wont do her job

Is her handwriting bad too??? Could it be dyslexic dysgraphia. My son is under his schools senco for this, spelling terrible, writing very poor.

It looks like she is dyslexic, and she needs a double overlay as all the letters against a white background jump about and are blurred which as amazed me as she's good at reading?
You can take her to Optometrists yourself to test for this it's a scotopic eye test and cost about 35 pounds, but it wasn't picked up at ours as she needs a double overlay so it more saturated, but he is testing her again in a couple of weeks and hopefully she'll get some tinted glasses to help reading off the white board and writing.