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13 Feb/25

Spelling-Development, Disability & Instruction

Spelling: Development, Disability, and Instruction

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Teachers and speech-language pathologists must know their language intimately to address the specific confusions experienced by the person with spelling disability. These opening words by Louisa Cook Moats answer the question: “Why is knowledge of language necessary?” Students spelling errors are predictable and logical and they can be remediated by those in possession of this detailed knowledge.

Spelling provides an overview of the factors that determine predictability in spelling such as sound-symbol correspondences, syllable patterns, orthographic rules, word meaning, word derivation, and word origin. A review of theories of the mental processes involved in spelling follows. These theories guide our approach to instruction and affect our interpretation of both spelling errors and successes.

Children follow a predictable sequence when they develop skills in spelling. This is true of those who are good spellers, poor spellers and those with a spelling disability. This valuable text describes these developmental steps involved in learning to spell, describes a study of errors in students¹ spontaneous writing samples, and provides extensive information on spelling assessment.

Descriptions of the components of effective spelling instruction furnish the reader with detailed information they can put to immediate use: 

 Instruction for good spellers
 Instruction for poor spellers
 Modeling and feedback
 Multisensory instruction
 Scope and sequence of spelling instruction
 Explicit practice with phonemic analysis
 Teaching sound-symbol correspondences
 Conditional word and syllable patterns
 Homophones
 Latin and Greek morpheme patterns
 Instructional strategies across the sequence
 Integrated lesson planning

This is an important book for anyone who teaches others to spell or who teaches those who teach others to spell.

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February 13, 2025
SR-Cognition