8 year old's spelling

[Scarletti]

Hi, I am posting on behalf of my sister who has a DD age 8. She has noticed that her spelling has always been poor and appears to be deteriorating. it is now being surpassed by her 5 year old brother's. My niece is an otherwise bright, articulate, chatty and artistic girl who appears confident when talking and telling stories and also when reading but her spelling appears quite concerning. Sometimes things are spelt phonetically so that if you read things outloud you can get the idea but sometimes the meaning is completely obscured by the poor spelling.

I wonder whether anyone has experienced this or has any idea why there may be an apparently isolated problem with the spelling.

dd is same age and is still erratic despite being in top spelling group. She can usually get by for the weekly tests but using words correctly in a written context is another matter. Don't think this is particularly unusual tbh.

ds(11) is dyspraxic and struggles with spelling especially since his verbal skills are well advanced - he cannot accurately express in writing what he wants to say, either in speed or vocabulary. Touch typing has helped.

Thanks

Sorry posted on wrong thread.

Could be a SpLD. I have one with a weakness in phonological processing.

I have always been able to read well and scored highly, yet my spelling was always poor and spelt as it sounded. Took till I was 22 and had completed a MSc till it was diagnosed.

Speak to your DD teacher about your concerns.

One way to do a quick check at home is give your DD a list of words to read aloud, some she knows, some she doesn't, the key is that some should be spelt as they are pronounced and others should not be. If she only struggles with the words that she does not know, which are also spelt differently than they are pronounced, it's a good indicator of a phonological problem.