Does your student labor over his spelling list, copying and recopying, only to find that the letters don’t stay put in the words? If all his work spells frustration, stay tuned! Today on Home School Heartbeat, host Mike Farris and his guest discuss one possible reason.
Mike Farris:
Andrew Pudewa, who is the director of the Institute for Excellence in Writing, is with me again today. Andrew, last time you explained why it seems like some children have a natural aptitude for spelling and some just don’t. How does Mom’s teaching method affect the way her son’s brain stores those spelling words?
Andrew Pudewa:
Well, some children learn visually more easily than other children. A lot of young children, especially boys, tend to have an immature visual pathway, and don’t necessarily have the ability to see things exactly as they are. You know, if you’re looking at a word and it’s getting a little scrambled on the way in, then certainly it’s going to have the likelihood of getting scrambled on the way out.
So the input method of looking at something will work for some children. But for those who are in that kind of mildly dyslexic category, they’ll probably outgrow that and be fine, but at the time we’re trying to teach basic spelling information, an auditory input approach can be more helpful. Unfortunately, a lot of the methods of teaching do focus on the paper, the visual input, the workbook, and so helping moms look at an auditory option is always a good one.
Mike:
Andrew, that makes a lot of sense. We’ll learn more next time. I’m Mike Farris.
