How Can I Help My Child To Learn To Spell | KalliKids

How can I help my child to learn to spell?

The importance of learning to spell

Learning to spell is important for your child’s education and for their future adulthood. Without the confidence to spell or ‘give it a go’, children will opt to use shorter, easier words in their work, forming a barrier to achieving their potential both academically and in their career.

Spelling helps a child to read and communicate and it helps cement the connection that is shared between sounds and letters. Even with modern day technology it is important to have a good grasp of spelling as writing becomes a life skill and we cannot rely on spellcheck as being 100% reliable!

Research suggests that all children, including those with quite severe learning difficulties can improve their learning considerably by being taught appropriate spelling strategies.

Ways to help your child learn how to spell

You can help your child to improve their spelling and learn the words sent home from school using multiple strategies. You or a tutor can help them to:

Shut their eyes and try to picture the word in their head
Repeat the words several times over
Write out the word a few times
See if the word reminds them of any others which they can spell
Compare their version with the correct spelling and, if theirs is wrong, concentrate on the bit they got wrong
If you and they haven’t got access to the correct spelling, write your version down and see if it looks right
If the word is familiar but spelled in an unusual way (for example, with a silent letter) try deliberately mispronouncing it in accordance with the way it is spelled to get used to the spelling. An example of this is the word "Wednesday".

Strategies from Merry, R & J. Rogers (2007) ‘Inside the learning mind: primary children and their learning processes’ in Moyles, J. Beginning Teaching Beginning Learning, Open University Press: Berkshire.