How to Teach a Dyslexic Child to Write

 

 If the child is trying to spell a word and chooses the wrong short vowel, say the name of the picture, emphasizing the short vowel sound.

 

Do exercises such as having them make words using plastic letters or letter tiles:

 

Give a word with a missing sound, vowel or consonant, and have your child fill it in to make real words.

 

p__g  - peg, pig, pug

 

r__g - rug, rag, rig

 

__in - pin, gin, win, thin, bin

 

cl__p - clip, clop, clap

 

 

Step 2

Now try spelling the words with long vowels.  Remember, there are two ways to do this as explained in How to Teach a Dyslexic Child to Read;  v-c-v or c-v-v-c (where v = vowels and c = consonants).

 

Teach long vowels: a, e, i, o, u

Show words with long vowels.

 

1.     c-v-v-c  as in pail, green, dream, goal

Here, when 2 vowels are next to each other, the first one is long and the second vowel is usually silent.  Here we have the common vowel combinations:

                       

ai (long 'a')

ee & ea (long 'e')

oa (long 'o')

  

2.     v-c-v    as in game, time, tune  

Here, when 2 vowels are separated by a consonant, the first vowel (on the left) is usually long.  The second vowel can be any vowel (not just the letter ‘e’).   Example : rhinoceros - here the ‘i’ is made long by the ‘o’. 

 

• There is no way to know which way a word is spelled (c-v-v-c or v-c-v), you simply must familiarize your child with the words (reading and spelling them repeatedly).
• Note also that there are 2 ways to get a long ‘e’ (for c-v-v-c):  ‘ee’ and ‘ea’.  Here is where familiarity with the words is very necessary.

 

Step 3

Teach the double vowel "rule breakers".  These are those words that break the double vowel  (c-v-v-c) rules and are as follows:

 

1. 'ea' has the short 'e' sound, such as "head", "measure", "instead", etc.

2. 'ie' has a long 'e' sound, such as "grief", "field", "piece", etc.

3.  ‘cei’ has the long ‘e’ sound, such as “receive” and “conceive”

4.  'ei' has a long 'a' sound, such as "weigh", "vein", "eight", etc.

 

‘i’ before ‘e’ except after ‘c’ and in words that have ‘a’ like “neighbor” and “weigh”.

 

 Step 4

Familiarize the child with all of the 'wh' words, such as "when", "whale", "why", etc.

Familiarize the child with all of the words that contain silent letters, such a "answer", "numb", "aisle", "know", etc.

Go over the words containing 'igh' (long 'i'), such as "night", "high", "sight", etc.

Practice writing the words that contain the sounds listed on How to Teach a Dyslexic Child to Read.

 

Step 5

Teach the spelling rules:

 1.  'k' (usually) cannot be next to a short vowel, you must have a 'c' before the 'k', such as in the words "duck", "track", "pick", etc. 

 

2.  'ch' (usually) cannot be next to a short vowel, you must have a 't' before the 'ch', such as in the words "patch", "hutch", "stitch", etc. 

 

3.  All one syllable words with a short vowel that end with a 'f', 'l' or 's' must have these letters doubled, such as "cross", "bliss", "fill", "fall", etc.  There are only a few exceptions: bus, gas & yes

 

4.  No words in the English language end with a 'v', if the word ends with the /v/ sound, then it must have an 'e' at the end.

 Example:  live, give, active, love, glove

Note that the 'e' in these words do not usually turn the short vowel long, even though it is only one consonant away.

 

5. To get the /j/ sound at the end of a word you cannot end with 'g' or 'j'; to end a word with a /j/ sound you must use a 'ge'.  In addition, a 'ge' cannot be next to a short vowel (in one syllable words), you must add a 'd' before the 'g':

Example:  fudge,  badge

* This also applies to some 2 syllable words, but not all:

Example: fidget, midget

 

6.  Teach contractions:

Example:

you are  →    you're

it is →     it's

they  are →   they're

 

 Step 6

Teach when ‘c’ is a /s/ sound. 

Rule:  When ‘c’ is followed by an ‘e’, ‘i’ or ‘y’, then ‘c’ always takes on the /s/ sound.

 

Teach when ‘g’ is a /j/ sound. 

Rule:  When ‘g’ is followed by an ‘e’, ‘i’ or ‘y’, then ‘g’ sometimes takes on the /j/ sound.

 

Teach the /k/ rule:  Always use the letter 'c' for the /k/ sound UNLESS:

• the /k/ sound is followed by an 'e', 'i' or 'y', in which case the 'c' becomes a /s/.
• the /k/ sound is at the end of a one syllable word.

In these two cases above, use the letter 'k'.

 

Step 7

Familiarize the child with all the homophones, words that sound the same, but have different meanings and are spelled differently.

Example:  steel and steal

                  made and maid

                 

Go over words that are not spelled the way they sound (there are a lot of these). 

 

Step 8

Go over the words that end with ‘tion’, ‘sion’, ‘ture’, ‘ous’ and ‘tial.  Have the child read these words and spell them out (spelling tests, dictions, etc.)

 

 

Step 9

For one syllable, short vowel words: teach how when adding an ending with a vowel, you must double the last consonant to protect the short vowel.

Example:        quit → quitting

                        hop → hopped

 

Only certain consonants can be doubled (they are highlighted below). 

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

can double - b d f g l m n p r s t z

cannot double - c h j k q v w x y

 

Example:         box →   boxing

                         box →   boxed

 

For words that have more than one syllable with a short vowel: only double the last consonant if the last syllable is stressed.  This is not normally the case, so usually you can just add the ending.

Example:        happen → happening

                        listen → listened

 

Note that words that end with ‘le’ that have a short vowel must also have their consonant (after the vowel) doubled since ‘le’ counts as just an ‘e’.

Example:       puzzle  - must have two ‘z’s to protect the short ‘u’

                        little - must have two ‘t’s to protect the short ‘i’

 

 

Step 10

Adding endings (suffixes) to words that end with a ‘y’:

For words that end with a consonant followed by a ‘y’, you must turn the ‘y’ to an ‘i’ and then add the ending.

Example:       bunny   → bunnies

                        heavy →   heavier

                        cry  → cries

 

BUT, if the ending starts with an ‘i’, then keep the ‘y’:

Example:       try  → trying

                       cry→  crying

                       shy →  shying

 

 

Each step should be accompanied by exercises, spelling drills and writing the words in sentences as they are dictated.

Also, study and test the high frequency words that don't sound like they are spelled.