homework help

Post Reply New Topic

Can anyone out there make a suggestion as to how I might help my seven year old Aspie son with his spelling words. He is very smart and can read but for some reason we have trouble with spelling. I think it might be because he knows all of the sounds letters make but doesn't know their names. Am I way off base here? Any suggestions would be a great help to us. I know he can learn it if I can just figure out how to teach it to him. Thank you for your time.

Perhaps try having him write the spelling out. If he can do this then you should just forget about words for a while and teach him the names of letters.
Aside from that, a visual learning strategy of some sort may be beneficial.

When I was younger, and I had a word with the word 'city' in it, I kept spelling it aloud as S-I-T-Y, and when my dad asked me to write it out, I gave the correct spelling of C-I-T-Y. I also reverse letters, repeat letters, drop letters, and other reversals like the one mentioned above when I do it verbally, but when writing or taking a test, I just remembered how the word looked when it was on the spelling page.

Thanks for the tips ! !! !! ! We'll try that.

How is his handwriting? The reason I ask is that my child (and I) have disgraphia. Or, as the school calls it, "A specific learning disability in the written expressive area."

More on it here: http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/dysg ... raphia.htm

My son's is a classic case...high IQ, reads way above class level, writes four class levels down. His handwriting is also poor as per the above article. I am missing the poor handwriting but my spelling, even now, is horrible. I often have to stop and slowly work out even simple words.

If dysgraphia seems to fit, you will probably want his school to test and set up remediation and accomidations.

BeeBee

His handwriting is not good. It has been recommended that he use an alpha smart(this is a keyboard that he can bring to school with him to do his writing. It is so intereting that he can read so well but has trouble spelling. I think you've got something there. He starts to Mitchell, s Place next week for social skills training . I will ask the director to see about testing and accomodations for him.Thanks

both my daughters are horrible spellers. What I have found that works with them is to make a chant or a song with the word. They then replay the"song" in thier head and can remember how to spell.
Laure

I'm a visual-thinker, and my spelling on paper (or screen ) is generally excellent because I remember the spelling based upon what the words look like visually.

When asked to read out the spelling of a word, I find it very difficult. This is not a reflection on my spelling ability, but on the way I remember how to spell words.

As an adult this is rarely a problem as if asked how to spell something it is in the context of a request rather than a test, so I simply write the word down and read out the letters. In the context of a classroom environment I can see that this would be problematic.

If he has learned the sounds of the letters but not their names, this could certainly make it appear as though his spelling is worse than it is. There is no innate connection between the phonetics of a word and the letters that comprise it, so teaching him the names of the letters could go part way to resolving the issue.

On the issue of handwriting, mine isn't too bad, but my brother's handwriting looks like that of a small child who is just learning to hold a pen. Thank goodness for computers and word processors! He's 30 and back at university studying for his Masters degree.

As an educator, I would say that all of the advice you have been given is good. Consider different modalities (visual, auditory, etc.) and hopefully something will work for him.

Disgraphia is also, certainly, a possibility. I'm not sure if it has a name for us but my autistic 16 year old and his aspie father (me) both have poor handwriting. He uses an alpha smart or a computer as much as possible. I use the computer.

I am a visual speller. I know when a word looks right but might be less certain if I am spelling it out for someone else. I never won a spelling bee in my life.

Both ov my kids (both diagnosed with autism) and I taught ourselves to read at very early ages (in the cae of my boys, when they were still non-verbal) by recognizing what words look like.

This is all good advice here. Start trying things one at a time so that you know which one is effective.

We spell the words on the refrigerator with magnetic letters and leave them there for the week. I wonder if that would help.

I like that idea Aspen.

A related issue. My son (10 years old, dx'ed 4 1/2 years ago) just hates doing homework. What worries me is that he hates it more and more with each passing year (which may be related to the fact that he gets more homeowrk with each passing year!) He often knows all the answers if I ask him the questions myself so it isn't that he doesn't understand the work. He just doesn't see the sense of doing school work at home about stuff he already knows. (I actually understand this on an intellectual level but I can hardly support blowing off his homework as a parent!)

My wife is so frustrated by the fight he puts up to just get the work done she's ready to either "over help" him (meaning do it for him) or just let him flunk. I think we need to find some incentive that give shim a reason to do the homework even if it has nothing to do the eventual outcome (meaning good grades). I'm not averse to a payment schedule based on effort and results....perhaps $.25 just for doing his work, $.50 for each C, $.75 for each B and $1.00 for each A.

Am I off base or creating a monster here? Some feedback would be great. The year is just getting started and right now it is looking pretty bleak!

Thanks,
Mistrial

First of all, becoming frustrated with school around 4th or 5th grade is very typical of all children.

I certainly would not pay a child a salary for doing his homework.

How good is his teacher? What would happen at school if you just ignored the situation at home and let him "blow it off." Would he/she be able to constructively discipline at school in a manner that would discourage it from happening again?

By the way, this doesn't solve your problem, but the usefulness of children at that age level doing homework is a very debatable issue.

I'm probably asking a hopelessly naive question here - but if the work's easy, can't he do something that does interest and challenge him instead? More advanced work in the same subjects? When homework becomes a matter of quantity instead of quality, I'd doubt the efficacy of the whole system...

which is why I'm naive. Who can challenge the system? It works perfectly!

I don't know about the morality of paying for grades but my parents used it on me and it worked. This was because I did not do homework because of not wanting to. They payment plan was $1.00 for an A $.50 for a B nothing for a C, a privlage removed for a D and grounded for a F.

Y