writing become increasingly important
and integral to a child’s learning as
they move up the years in school.
If you are concerned about
your child’s reading and spelling
skills you should talk to your child’s
class teacher. Ask whether the
teacher has concerns about the
child’s development and what they
suggest you do to assist with their
development. You could also try using
the following tasks to boost your
child’s underlying reading and spelling
skills. The stronger their foundation
skills are, the more able they will be to
read and write unknown words.
With all the strategies/games
below it is imperative to use sounds,
not letter names. For example, ‘d’ not
‘
dee’, ‘s’ not ‘es’, ‘z’ not ‘zed/zee’, etc.
Reading strategies
1.
Talk to your child about what
reading is: seeing something on a
page and making it come out of your
mouth. This may seem obvious,
but children who have reading
difficulties need to be specifically
taught about the metalinguistics
behind reading.
2.
Practise blending sounds together
without reading them. Give your
child some sounds that they have to
put together to guess the word. Start
with small words and increase the
length, sound by sound. For example,
‘
s-ee’ ‘see’, ‘u-p’ ‘up’, ‘s-ea-t’
‘
seat’, ‘s-t-ea-m’ ‘steam’ and ‘b-e-
s-t’ ‘best’. If your child finds this
task tricky, encourage them to repeat
the sounds before trying to blend
them together.
3.
Put all the letter-sound
correspondences your child is
expected to know for their age (their
class teacher will be able to tell you
which ones they have been taught)
on blank playing cards and practise
reading each sound. If you make
two sets of cards, you can play old-
fashioned card games, such as Snap,
Memory, Go Fish and many more.
The aim is for your child to be able
to read each letter-sound swiftly and
accurately. The quicker your child
can retrieve each sound they need
when reading, the less dependent
they are on their working memory to
support their reading skills and the
quicker they can read for meaning.
Spelling strategies
1.
Talk to your child about what
spelling is: saying something with
your mouth and making it come
out of your pencil. Knowing the
metalinguistics behind spelling can
help children master their spelling
difficulties.
2.
Practise sounding out words without
writing them down. Give your child
a word and break it down into its
individual sounds. Start with small
words and increase the length sound
by sound. For example, ‘see’
‘
s-ee’, ‘up’ ‘u-p’, ‘seat’ ‘s-ea-t’,
‘
steam’ ‘s-t-ea-m’ and ‘best’
‘
b-e-s-t’. If your child finds this task
difficult, encourage them to think
about what their mouth is doing as
they say the word. By developing
your child’s ability to sound out
accurately, you are supporting their
spelling skills.
3.
Play Speed Racer to practise
writing the letter-sound
correspondences your child is
expected to know for their age
(
once again, this information can be
sought through their class teacher).
You say one of the sounds your
child should know how to write
and they write it down as quickly
and as neatly as they can. It’s then
a race to beat their personal best.
How quickly can they write down
ten sounds that you give them? The
quicker your child can retrieve the
sounds they need when spelling
unknown words, the less dependent
they are on their working memory
to support their spelling skills.
If you have tried the games above
and progress remains minimal, you
might consider more formal individual
or small group support. This could be
from a tutor or speech and language
therapist who specialises in reading
and spelling difficulties.
Nic Parker is a paediatric speech and
language therapist with 12 years’ experience.
Her practice is based in Sai Kung. Email
truecommunicationslt@gmail.com
for more
details.
December 2012
97