Primary - Spelling

Age 6 - 11 

Phonological Awareness difficulties

Phonological Awareness refers to awareness of any of the smaller units of sound in spoken language - phonemes, rhyme, syllables, intra-syllabic units (onset and rime) and whole words. A balanced approach is needed between the traditional view that pupils could memorise words without regard to sound and the current phoneme / grapheme approach, which does not give due regard to the important role of orthographic awareness. Orthographic awareness is knowledge of clusters of letters blended together as units, that is patterns in print. It is also recognisable in parts of words that cannot be identified by sound, for example, double letters, silent letters or individual phonemes that can be represented by a number of different letters, for example, the /c/ sound can be represented by ‘c’, ‘k’ or ‘ck’ at the end of a word. 

When learning to spell, pupils need phonological awareness at the phoneme, syllable, rhyme and word level and orthographic awareness of individual letters and clusters of letters. This learning develops implicitly for many pupils, but a significant minority of pupils will have cognitive processing difficulties, which make it more difficult to hear the smaller units of sounds and be able to unitise them. Therefore, an approach to teaching spelling needs to be implemented which supports the working memory and orthographic processing difficulties experienced by pupils with literacy difficulties. Assessment is essential to identify the specific needs of a pupil and ensure the pupil’s difficulties are being addressed. The starting point established should be based on the results of diagnostic assessments.

Impact on SpellingRecommendations for Reasonable Adjustments
The pupil may be very unsure of grapheme / phoneme correspondence
  • The alphabet arc can be used to support pupil’s working memory as he / she learns the letter names / sounds. It reinforces multisensory learning as it provides a visual of the alphabet and at the same time develops kinaesthetic learning, as the letters are manipulated:
    Teacher Guidance: Alphabet Arc Activities
  • Practice grapheme / phoneme correspondence with a Flashcard Routine. Flashcards help connect knowledge of letter and sound(s). They include a clue-word and picture to provide context and support the pupil’s memory and recall. They can be used to build automaticity and fluency:
  • Beginning blend, for example /fr/
  • Clue word ‘frog’
  • Representative picture - ‘frog’ or pupil’s own picture:
    EA Guidance Video: Introduce the flashcard and flashcard routine (1:03 mins)
  • Write in cursive script to support the working memory
  • Use Guided Discovery methods to introduce a new phoneme / grapheme:
    • Auditory introduction - Ask the pupil to listen to the words and say what is the same in all the words - ‘boat’, ‘coat’, ‘float’. The pupil should identify ‘oat’:
      EA Guidance Video: Guided Discovery (auditory) (3:10 mins)
    • Visual introduction - ask the pupil to read the first three words - ‘boat’, ‘float’, ‘coat’ and encourage them to identify the similarity
    • Ask the pupil to colour code the recurring orthographic pattern
  • Follow up auditory discovery with either visual or tactile consolidates, this ensures the teaching of new letter sound is multisensory
  • Introduce the grapheme:
    EA Guidance Video: Introducing the grapheme (1:59 mins)
  • Demonstrate how the letter is formed using the handwriting routine:
    • Pupil traces over the teacher’s model
    • Pupil copies the letter
    • Pupil writes the letter from memory
    • Finally, the pupil writes the letter with eyes closed 

During each step, the learner should articulate the sound and say the letter names:
EA Guidance Video: Handwriting Routine (2:27 mins)

  • Use the Stimulus Response Routine to consolidate and build automaticity with new sounds. This repetitive approach develops automaticity in learning: 
    EA Guidance Video: Stimulus Response Routine (1:51 mins)
    Teacher Guidance: Instructions for the Stimulus Response Routine
  • Teacher makes the sound /ă/
  • Pupil moves around the other three points in a clockwise direction: says ‘a’ (letter name), writes ‘a’ and then says the clue-word ‘apple’
  • The teacher then starts from step 2 by saying the letter name and the pupil responds by going ‘clockwise’ around the other 3 steps
  • The routine is repeated until all four starting points have been used by the teacher. Once familiarity with the steps has been established, it should become a quick routine to develop automaticity (less than 1 minute)
  • Use the Working Memory Routine to develop a pupil’s knowledge of strategies which support memory:

The pupil may struggle to hear individual sounds in words

 

He / she may have no visual memory of what a word looks like and have no concrete image to link the sounds too

 

The pupil may be unable to hear sounds in sequence 

 

  • Direct instruction in word patterns, helps the pupil recognise that if he / she can spell one word then there are many related words with the same sound and spelling pattern that he / she can spell, by changing the onset, for example, ‘car, bar, star’ or ‘new, few, stew’
  • Completing ‘rime sorts’ (grouping words according to their rime) can help draw the pupil’s attention to spelling patterns
  • Teach the pupil to listen for sounds in sequence:
    • Pupil says the word, tapping his / her arm or putting up a finger for each sound
    • He / she ‘maps’ the sounds by placing a counter on the table
    • Pupil writes the letter or group of letters that represents each sound blend the word (sliding fingers across the word)
    • Finally say the word and write it again (A pupil with orthographic difficulties or working memory difficulties may find this difficult, as the first few sounds may be forgotten by the end of the word or the incorrect phonemes may be identified. In these instances, ‘chunking’ the word into onset and rime patterns may scaffold this learning)

The pupil may find it difficult to manipulate sound and orally segment words

 

He / she may have difficulty retaining spelling and relies solely on phonetic attempts at writing a word

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Auditory Sequential Memory Routine:
    EA Guidance Video: Auditory Sequential Memory (3:01mins)
    • The teacher says 3 letters selected from the alphabet and asks the pupil to memorise them - d, e, f
    • The learner must select the same letters and check against the original model
  • Strategies which help:
    • Say the letters over and over
    • Write them in the air with his / her finger
    • Say them in a rhythm
  • Use the Simultaneous Oral Spelling (SOS) Routine:
  • Teach spellings in structure. This means that only sounds and letter patterns experienced within a structured programme are practiced and introduced with care. The pupil  writes the words. Simple structured sentences ensure the best chance of successful spelling for the pupil and can be used to assess progress
  • Dictation Routine - The teacher can call out the sentences:
  • Building words with magnetic letters or letter tiles can make spelling multisensory
  • Phoneme manipulation activities can help the pupil to explicitly recognise the links between letters and sounds, for example, by building the word ‘coal’ and being asked to change one sound to form ‘goal’, then ‘goat’, ‘moat’ and finally ‘boat’
  • Teach spelling using multisensory spelling strategies with an auditory focus:   
    Printable Resource: Multisensory Spelling Activities - Auditory Focus
The pupil may struggle to identify the short vowel sound or long vowel sound
  • Refer to Foundation Stage for further work on short vowel sounds (contained within rime)
  • If the pupil has difficulty with long vowel sounds, introduce magic ‘e’ words, for example, hat - hate, cap -cape, mat - mate
  • In magic ‘e’ words, explain that the ‘e’ sends all its power to the vowel which makes it strong so it can say its name
    • Compare short vowel sounds in closed syllables, where the vowel says its sound - ‘mat’ and then long vowel sounds in open syllable words where the vowel says its name, ‘mate’. Complete a 2-column table:

The pupil may struggle to segment words into syllables

 

  • Draw horizontal lines on a whiteboard and analyse the word. Ask the pupil:
    • “Does the word have a vowel?”
    • “What syllable rule does it follow?”
    • Try not to over pronounce the syllables as this is not used naturally in a conversation and may not be helpful to the pupil
  • Teach syllable types and use colour to highlight the syllables, for example, bat/man:
    • Closed: the vowel is closed in by one or more consonants, vowel will only make its short sound, for example, cat, hit, mop, in, spell, vet
    • Open syllable / long vowel words and patterns ‘go’, ’no’, ’so’, ‘me’, ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘we’, ‘by,’ ‘my’ and non-word patterns - ‘slo,’ ‘pri,’ ‘tu’, the vowel is left alone at the end, the vowel will say its letter name
    • Split e / Split Digraph: there is a vowel, consonant and e in the word (VCE), although the word has 2 vowels there is only one syllable, for example, gate, kite, cake, globe
    • R Controlled: when ‘r’ comes after a vowel it is controlled by the ‘r’, the vowel sound and the ‘r’ work together, for example, 1 syllable words, car, stir, fur and progressing to 2 syllable words: car/pet, or/bit, spi/der, tur/ban   
    • Vowel Teams: if two vowels are together and make one sound they become a vowel team syllable, for example, rain, boat, clay and usually make one long vowel sound
    • Consonant plus le (c+le):   ta/ble, jun/gle, ti/tle (double consonants -ap/ple, drib/ble, gig/gle) 
  • Orally count syllables in 1/2/3/4 syllable words 
A pupil may struggle to complete homework if given spellings with multiple mappings
  • The pupil should not be expected to spell any words he / she cannot yet read
  • If spelling homework is being set, this should include only words containing sounds the pupil has been explicitly taught, for example, if a pupil is working at CCVC level and spelling words containing the initial blend ‘fl’ then ‘flag’, ‘fled’, ‘flat’ are appropriate, but the pupil shouldn’t be expected to spell ‘float’ as he / she is unlikely to have been introduced to the vowel digraph /oa/

 

Orthographic Knowledge Difficulties

Orthographic knowledge refers to how spoken language is represented in writing. Accurate word identification requires a pupil to have a correctly stored representation of a word in memory which supports spelling as it enables the pupil to spell words quickly and automatically. 

 

Impact on SpellingRecommendations for Reasonable Adjustments

The pupil may struggle to recall a particular letter name or High Frequency Words (HFWs) or topic word for an activity

 

The pupil may frequently confuse letters such as, ’b’, ‘d’, ‘p’, ‘q’ in his / her spelling of words

  • Have tabletop prompt cards -for the pupil during writing activities:
    • Target sounds
    • Letter names
    • High Frequency Words (HFWs)
    • Topic words
  • Mnemonics will provide a memory prompt on directionality of letters:
    Printable Resource: Letter Orientation Prompt
    Ensure these mnemonicsare explicitly explained. Do not assume prior knowledge has been linked. English readers, read letters left-right across the page. A pupil may be confused as the ball could sit on either side of the bat. Explain that you draw the bat first and then the ball (left to right):
    • Thumbs up for ‘b’ and ‘d’, thumbs down ‘p’ and ‘q’
    • Explain that in the alphabet arc Mr ‘b’ comes first and he must face Mr ‘d’ who comes after ‘c’, as he wants to chat’; ‘b’ and ‘d’ stare at each other and poor ‘c’ is stuck in the middle. Then, comes Mr ‘p’ who needs to face Mr ‘q’ also to chat. The teacher can model this using his / her thumbs and demonstrate the 2 letters chatting: 

The pupil may display over-reliance on a phonic strategy for spelling, for example, spelling ‘sed’ for ‘said’

 

 

  • Attempted spellings that are incorrect but phonetically plausible should be sensitively and selectively corrected, as it is important that the incorrect spelling pattern does not become embedded
  • Implement a structured, sequential, cumulative, multisensory and phonics-based programme which focuses on word patterns
  • Break phonics lessons into smaller, manageable chunks of information for example:
    • Teach blend beginnings or consonant blends - /fl/, /gl/, /cl/
    • Teach consonant digraphs -/sh/, /ch/, /th/
    • Teach assimilation - /mp/, /nd/, /nt/, /nch/, /nk/
    • Teach vowel-consonant digraphs - /ar/, or/, /er/
    • Rules for ‘w’ and ‘v’ words
    • Double letters (ll, ff, ss, ck)
    • Magic ‘e’
    • Hard and soft ‘c’ and ‘g’
    • Wall words (tch, dge, gu)
    • Long vowel sounds (ai, ay, oa, ow, ou, oo, ew, ue, igh, y, ee, ea, oi and so on)
    • Vowel digraphs (oi, oy, ou, ow, au, aw and so on)
    • Vowel consonant digraphs (ir, ur, ear)
    • Suffixing rules

When presented with a range of possible phonetic alternatives, the pupil struggles to choose which is the correct way to spell a word, for example, ‘boat’ may be spelled as ‘bowt’ or ‘bote’ and ‘soap’ may be spelled as  ’sope’

 

  • Explicitly teach word patterns with similar sounds and follow a systematic phonics programme which works from:
    • Letter / sound correspondence
    • Next beginning blends for example - clip, clap, clog, clap. The beginning blend stays the same and the rime changes. This can be demonstrated by keeping the onset the same colour but changing the rime colour
    • Progress to digraphs - ch / th / sh, for example, shin, shop, shut
    • Onto end blends - mist, twist, insist
  • Use spelling lists that are composed of words that follow the same sound and spelling pattern, for example, teach the words ‘snow’ and ‘grow’ separately to ‘toe’ and ‘hoe’ or ‘now’ and ‘how’
  • Use the Simultaneous Oral Spelling (SOS) Routine to develop the pupil’s metacognitive learning skills:
  • The pupil says each letter name as he / she writes the word
  • Write the word in cursive handwriting 3 times, for example, in a sand tray, on a whiteboard, chalkboard or page. Writing a word in cursive creates a unique muscle memory and aids automaticity:
    Simultaneous Oral Spelling Instructions 
    EA Guidance Video: Simultaneous Oral Spelling (SOS) (4:39 mins)
  • Test spellings in structure. This means that only sounds and letter patterns experienced within a structured programme are practiced and introduced with care. Simple structured sentences ensure the best chance of successful spelling for the pupil and can be used to assess progress
  • Dictation Routine - The teacher can call out the structured sentences:
  • Teach spelling pattern rules as these bring predictability to the complex English spelling system, but always explain that there will be exceptions:
    • /ay/ is commonly found at the end of words such as, ‘play’, ‘tray’
    • /ai/ is commonly found at the beginning or in the middle of words, such as, ‘aid’, ‘train’, ‘sail’
  • Teach the spelling rules for adding suffixes:
    • The doubling rule: When a word has one vowel before a single consonant, double the consonant before adding the ending. The word ‘sit’ becomes ‘sitting’
    • The drop ‘e’ rule: When a word ends in ‘e’ you drop it before adding a suffix, if the suffix begins with a vowel, ‘care’ becomes ‘cared’
    • The add rule: If the suffix begins with a consonant, such as, ly, ness, ful, s, less, ment, some, ty, keep the ‘e’ and just add the suffix:
    • Hope becomes hopes / hopeful / hopeless
    • Wise becomes, wisely
    • Tire becomes, tiresome / tireless
    • Like becomes, likely, unlikely:
      Teacher Guidance: Advice for Teachers on Spelling Rules
  • Teach mnemonics for those tricky words that are hard to remember
    Printable Resources: Spelling Mnemonics 

 

Morphological Knowledge

Morphological knowledge relates to the study and understanding of how meaningful units combine to form words. A morpheme is a unit which carries meaning. It may be a word in itself, for example, ‘big’, or a group of letters, for example, ‘ed’ which when added to a word changes the meaning. Teaching morphology enables pupils to break words into smaller chunks, which are more manageable to spell. Root / base words, prefixes and suffixes are all morphemes. For many learners with literacy difficulties, using morphological knowledge to decode and then encode a word is much easier than learning syllable division, for example the word ‘discontentedly” can be read and learned by putting a circle around the affixes first and then focus on decoding or encoding the rest of the word.

Impact on SpellingRecommendations for Reasonable Adjustments

The pupil does not recognise morphemes in a word

 

  • Develop word knowledge by teaching the plural rules adding the suffixes, ‘s’ and ‘es’
  • Explicitly teach the suffixes - ‘ed’ and ‘ing’ as these are most common
  • Give direct instruction in how prefixes and suffixes change the meaning of root words, for example dis + agree + able

The pupil does not recognise suffixes such as ‘ed’ and may spell ‘jumped’ as ‘jumpt’ or ‘helped’ as ‘helpt’

 

 

Pupil may find it difficult to break longer words into manageable chunks such as syllables, root word, prefix and suffix

  • Help the pupil to identify ‘root words’ and to build longer words by adding prefixes and suffixes 
  • Specific instruction in building words using root words, prefixes and suffixes will assist the pupil to break words into these component parts. For example, reading ‘trapped’ as ‘trap + ed’, or ‘playing’ as ‘play + ing’
  • Introduce words and ask the pupil to listen for suffixes in the base words and give a ‘thumbs up’ when he / she hears the plural, such as: cars, cats, pens, pencils, teachers and animals
  • Using a teaching grid, complete word sums by breaking apart simple suffixes from base words. Provide activities using words with suffix ‘ed’,  such as, jumped = jump + ed, walked = walk + ed, wanted = want + ed. 
  • Practice breaking simple words into root word and suffix, such as, jumping = jump + ing, crashing = crash + ing, reading = read + ing 
  • Find and read words in short sentences or passages that contain the learned suffixes (s, ed, ing)
  • Teach specific spelling rules including the adding of the suffix ‘ed’ to verbs and provide opportunities to discriminate between words which make the /t/, /d/ and /id/ sound at the end of the word
    • The doubling rule: When a word has one vowel before a single consonant, double the consonant before adding the ending. The word ‘sit’ becomes ‘sitting’
    • The drop ‘e’ rule: When a word ends in ‘e’ you drop it before adding a suffix if the suffix begins with a vowel. The word ‘care’ becomes ‘cared’
    • The add rule: If the suffix begins with a consonant, such as, ly, ness, ful, s, less, ment, some, ty, keep the ‘e’ and just add the suffix:
  • Teach - adding prefix ‘un’ to familiar words and discuss meanings of these words, for example, unwrap, unhappy, untie, unwell, untidy
  • Discuss how the prefix ‘un’ means ‘not’ and when it is added to the base word it creates a new word often meaning the opposite to the original word
The pupil may have limited vocabulary knowledge
  • To develop and strengthen vocabulary and understanding of its relationship with other words, use description, function, location, category and similarity type questions, such as:

“Can you describe it?” 

“What does it do?” 

“What can you do with it?” “Where might you find it?”” “What group does it belong to?” 

“What else is it like?”

  • Teach the meaning of words. This can help the pupil think of other words similar in meaning and discover the connection, for example, twin and twice
  • Teach the etymology of the days of the week: 
    Teacher Guidance: Morphology on the Days of the Week      
    Pupil Activities: Days of the Week 
  • Encourage the pupil to identify words that he / she thinks are compound words, for example, how many words can you hear when you say ‘starfish’
  • Etymology (the study of the origin of words) can be particularly helpful when exploring prefixes and suffixes, for example ‘anti’ is a Greek word meaning ‘against’ or ‘opposite’ 
  • Learning to spell could be used as a vehicle for developing the pupil’s language through introducing new vocabulary, exploring the meaning, and using the words in context. This in turn can enhance the pupil’s independent writing

Displays difficulties with spelling homophones

 

  • Teach the spelling of homophones with reference to their meaning. For example, the mnemonic, ‘Their Huge Elephant Is Red’ for ‘their’ could help remind the pupil that ‘their’ is used for belonging
  • Homophones should not be taught together, but rather ensure that the sounds, spelling and meaning of one is secure before introducing another (for example, their / there and were / where / wear)
  • Homophones are best introduced within sentences to reinforce meaning, for example, words such as, ‘see’ and ‘sea’
  • Teach antonyms - word opposites
Working Memory Difficulties

A pupil with working memory difficulties may struggle to encode words for spelling. He / she may have the sequence of letters for a word stored incorrectly in his / her long-term memory. Often a pupil with a weak visual and or auditory memory has a strong kinaesthetic memory which should be used to help the pupil remember spellings.

Impact on SpellingRecommendations for Reasonable Adjustments

The pupil may struggle to recall all of the letters needed to spell words correctly

 

 

 

  • Working Memory Routine:
    • The teacher asks the pupil to remember 3 letters and then give them in reverse order
    • The pupil practices the following strategies:
    • Says the letters out loud
    • Says the letters over and over
    • Flips the letters
      EA Guidance Video: Working Memory (2:33 mins)
  • Use Daily Phoneme/ grapheme activities if grapheme / phoneme knowledge is insecure:
    EA Guidance Video: Introduce the flashcard and flashcard routine (1:03 mins)
  • Use Guided Discovery Methods:
    EA Guidance Video: Guided Discovery (auditory) (3:10 mins)
    • Auditory introduction - Ask the pupil to listen to the words and tell you what is the same in all the words - ‘boat’, ‘coat’, ‘float’ The pupil should identify ‘oat’
    • Visual introduction - ask the pupil to read the first three words, ‘boat’, ‘float’, ‘coat’ - encourage them to identify the similarity
    • Ask the pupil to colour code the recurring orthographic pattern
  • Use multisensory approaches when introducing a new sound and engage all the senses - visual, auditory and kinaesthetic
  • Follow up auditory discovery with either visual or tactile activities to consolidate learning, this ensures the teaching of new letter / sound knowledge is multisensory
  • Introduce the new grapheme:
    EA Guidance Video: Introducing the grapheme (1:59 mins)
  • Demonstrate how the letter is formed using the handwriting routine:
    • Pupil traces over the teacher’s model
    • Pupil copies the letter
    • Pupil writes the letter from memory
    • Finally, the pupil writes the letter with eyes closed: 

During each step, the learner should articulate the sound and say the letter names:
EA Guidance Video: Handwriting Routine (2:27 mins)

  • Introduce the Stimulus Response Routine to consolidate and build automaticity with new sounds. This repetitive approach develops automaticity in learning: 
    EA Guidance Video: Stimulus Response Routine (1:51 mins)
    Teacher Guidance: Instructions for the Stimulus Response Routine       
    • Teacher makes the sound /ă/
    • Pupil moves around the other three points in a clockwise direction: says ‘a’ (letter name), writes ‘a’ and then says the clue-word ‘apple’
    • The teacher then starts from step 2 by saying the letter name and the pupil responds by going ‘clockwise’ around the other 3 steps
    • The routine is repeated until all four starting points have been used by the teacher. Once familiarity with the steps has been established, it should become a quick routine to develop automaticity (less than 1 minute)

The pupil may struggle to recall a particular letter name, HFW or topic word

 

He / she may confuse similar letters, for example, b/d, p/q 

 

  • Have tabletop prompt cards - for the pupil during writing activities:
    • Target sounds 
    • Letter names
    • High Frequency Words (HFWs)
    • Topic words
  • Mnemonics will provide a memory prompt on directionality of letters:
    Printable Resource: Letter Orientation Prompt
    Ensure these mnemonics are explicitly explained. Do not assume prior knowledge has been linked. English readers, read letters left-right across the page. A pupil may be confused as the ball could sit on either side of the bat. Explain that you draw the bat first and then the ball (left to right):
    • Thumbs up for ‘b’ and ‘d’, thumbs down ‘p’ and ‘q’
    • Explain that in the alphabet arc Mr ‘b’ comes first and he must face Mr ‘d’ who comes after ‘c’, as he wants to chat’; ‘b’ and ‘d’ stare at each other and poor ‘c’ is stuck in the middle. Then comes Mr ‘p’ who needs to face Mr ‘q’ also to chat. The teacher can model this using his / her thumbs and demonstrate the 2 letters chatting:

The pupil may not be able to segment words into syllables

 

 

 

  • Syllabification is an important strategy for dividing words into small chunks that are more manageable for a pupil to hold in his / her working memory
  • Teach the pupil to spell longer words by writing one syllable at a time. Each syllable must have a vowel 
  • Instruction in the rules that govern syllable division may help a pupil to accurately divide words into syllables and provides an additional spelling strategy, for example two syllable words with an ‘open syllable’, where the vowel at the end of the first syllable is long (such as ‘ho/tel’, ‘pi/lot’, ‘pa/per’)
  • If the pupil understands the rules for open syllables, then he / she can identify that the long vowel sound is spelled using a single letter 

The pupil may transpose letters within words (for example, ‘hlep’ for ‘help’)

The pupil may leave out letters in words

The pupil may find it difficult to encode longer words due to struggling to hold the individual phonemes in their working memory (for example, /t/, /r/, /a/, /p/)

He / she may struggle to retain spellings - pupil may be able to learn for a weekly test but has forgotten them by following week

  • Teach phonemic awareness through word patterns - onset / rime approach, as this decreases the demand placed on working memory, for example, ‘trap’ becomes two units: ‘tr’ (onset) and ‘ap’ (rime) 
  • The pupil may find it easier to follow a cumulative, structured, sequential, multisensory approach to phonics alongside leaning no more than 3 / 4 new HFWs each week (adapt to suit individual need)
  • Provide visual reminders of the new HFWs in various contexts, for example, online word games, cloze procedures and writing activities

The pupil’s spelling is inconsistent - pupil can spell a word correctly one day but spells incorrectly the next 

 

 

Pupil is reluctant to attempt to spell words

 

 

Unable to develop spelling knowledge implicitly from reading, for example, reads word ‘can’ most days but spells incorrectly

 

The pupil may be reluctant to write in any detail due to poor spelling

 

 

Printable Resource - Multisensory Spelling Activities Visual Focus

High Frequency Word (HFW) Knowledge

Sight words are words that pupils can read unconsciously and effortlessly without sounding out. There are HFWs that can easily be decoded and encoded; some that contain phonetically decodable parts and some that are completely irregular and cannot be phonetically decoded. Very often, pupils with literacy difficulties will find learning HFWs a struggle as the words tend to be abstract or phonetically irregular and they find it difficult to attach meaning to such words. 

Impact on SpellingRecommendations for Reasonable Adjustments

The pupil may struggle to spell High Frequency Words (HFWs)

 

 

He / she may find it difficult to retain correct spelling of High Frequency Words

 

  • Teach HFWs using Look, Visualise, Say, Cover, Write and Check (LVSCWC) Method - this strategy strengthens the visual and movement memory. The verbalisation of letter names will provide reinforcement through auditory memory: 
    • Look - Write the word for the pupil in the grid, ask the pupil to look at the word for about 10 seconds 
    • Visualise - Look at the size, shape, position / orientation of each letter in the word
    • Say the word - pupil says the word (combining his / her auditory memory with the visual memory)
    • Cover the word
    • Write the word from memory (combining the kinaesthetic channel and muscle memory)
    • Ask the pupil to say each letter name aloud as he / she writes it (cursive handwriting aids directionality and develops automaticity in spelling)
    • Check-the pupil checks the word against the correctly written word
    • If incorrect, record the errors and repeat the procedure 
  • Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) is an approach best used for irregular or tricky words and may be more helpful with a pupil with a good visual memory:
    • Show a card with a target word in large clear print and - explain to the pupil, “Keep your nose pointed at mine, let your eyes look up at the word” (as the teacher holds the word card up and to the pupil’s left)
    • Discuss the length, form and letters - how many tall letters, small letters, double letters
    • Ask the pupil to take a ‘photograph’ of the word with a ‘camera’ in his / her ‘mind’s eye’
    • Ask the pupil to close his / her eyes and look at the photograph of the target word in his / her mind’s eye
    • Ask the pupil if they can ‘see’ the word (if not repeat the previous step but also bear in mind that this strategy may only be successful for some pupils):
      • The pupil is asked how many letters he / she can see
      • What are the first / last 2 letters, 2nd letter, 4th letter, first and last letter names
      • How many vowels? 
      • How many consonants? 
      • Name the letters forwards and then in reverse order (the pupil will only be able to do this if he / she has successfully visualised the word in his / her mind’s eye)
      • Ask the pupil to open his / her eyes and say the word and use his / her photograph to write the word, as each letter is named
    • If he / she makes a mistake, the pupil is shown the card again and notable features are pointed out
    • If correct write the word out
  • Heart Word teaching is a method of introducing the irregular part of the word as ‘the tricky part of the word we have to learn by heart.’ For example, if you were introducing the irregular HFW ‘said’, you would explain the first and the last part of the word ‘said’ are decodable while the ‘ai’ is ‘the part of the word we need to ‘learn by heart’ and have the pupil draw a heart above / below the ‘ai’
  • Use mnemonics for phonetically irregular words, such as: 
    People - people eat oreos people like eating 
    Any - ants never yawn
    Said - Sally Anne is dancing:
    • After highlighting the tricky bit (as above) provide the mnemonic sentence and read with the pupil
    • Ask the pupil to highlight the first letter of each word in the mnemonic
    • Ask the pupil to name the letters they have highlighted and guide them to identify that these letters spell the tricky word
    • Give the pupil an opportunity to say the mnemonic as they write the first letter of each word in the mnemonic
    • Finish by telling the pupil to think of the mnemonic, but name each letter as he / she writes the word”: 
      Printable Resources: Spelling Mnemonics 
    • Tricky words should have a visual hook and the explanation, for example, island is land surrounded by water:        
  • Use Read, Build and Write mats:
    • The teacher shows the word to the pupil
    • The pupil says the word
    • The pupil builds the word using magnetic letters
    • The pupil writes the word (cursive handwriting can help develop a grapho-motor memory of the word)
  • Using I do, we do, you do approach, allow the pupil opportunities to verbalise the word in his / her own sentence:
    • Show pupil flashcard with HFW 
    • Teacher writes sentence on reverse of that flashcard 
    • Pupil draws a related picture above the sentence
  • Teach multisensory auditory spelling strategies:
    Printable Resource - Multisensory Spelling Activities - Auditory Focus
  • Teach multisensory kinaesthetic spelling strategies:
    Printable Resource - Multisensory Spelling Activities - Kinaesthetic Focus
  • Teach multisensory visual spelling strategies:      
    Printable Resource - Multisensory Spelling Activities Visual Focus
Assistive Technology
  • Provide word banks and spelling mats that the pupil can refer to when writing
  • Digital pocket spellcheckers can be useful for pupils to use independently when they wish to check the spelling of a word. Many have a phonetic spell-checker and built-in dictionary
  • Clicker 8 (provided by Cricksoft and accessed via C2k) contains a range of features to support spelling, such as topic-specific word banks, a talking spell checker and word predictor tools. Clicker 8 also incorporates a ‘Sounds Like’ technology with its Word Predictor, so when a pupil begins to type letter strings, Clicker will predict the word based on what the letter strings sound like, for example, ‘fut’ for ‘football’. This enables struggling spellers to become more successful in writing tasks
  • Within the ‘Read and Write’ software, the ‘Prediction’ feature supports spelling by offering suggestions as to what the pupil is going to write based on the initial letters. The pupil can then hover over the suggested words to hear them read. Read and Write also has a vocabulary list generator 
  • If written work is produced using ICT there are a range of features that can be used for checking spelling and grammar, such as ‘Editor’ in Microsoft 365, ‘Check-it’ in Read and Write and ‘Auto-Correction’ on an i-Pad
Signposting to Free Professional Learning Modules

The following professional learning modules may be helpful for additional information regarding the strategies recommended in this chapter. They are provided by the Literacy Service and are available through the Children and Young People's Services Training Programme which is hosted on the EA website. The access code to the courses is updated each year and shared with your Principal in September. 

Bibliography and References

A resource for schools to support children who have or may have Special Educational Needs | Department of Education (education-ni.gov.uk)

Arfe,B., Coralo, F.and Pizzocaro, E. (2019) The effects of script and orthographic complexity on the handwriting and spelling performance of children with dyslexia. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 53(2): 96-108e 

BDA Dyslexia Good Practice Guide Ed 2 2018 

Devonshire, V., Morris, P. and Fluck International Literacy Association (ILA) (2019) Teaching and assessing spelling. Available at literacyworldwide.org 

Henry, M.K (2010) Unlocking Literacy Effective Decoding & Spelling Instruction, 

Kelly, K. & Phillips, S. Teaching Literacy to Learners with Dyslexia- A Multisensory Approach (2022) Sage 

Lavan, G & Talcott, J. B, (2021). BROOK’S WHAT WORKS FOR LITERACY DIFFICULTIES. Accessed 16/3/22 

Levques, K.C., Breadmore, H.L. and Deacon, S.H. (2021) ‘How morphology influences reading and spelling: advancing the role of morphology in models of literacy development’. Journal of Research in Reading, 44 (1) 10-26 

Moats, L (2000) ‘Speech to Print, Language Essentials for Teachers’

McMurray, S. (2020). A resource for schools to support children who may have Special Educational Needs: The importance of an integrated approach when learning to spell 

McMurray, S, and Fleming C. (1998, 2006) ‘The CSP Spelling and Language Programme’, (3rd Edition, 2014) The Read Write Company Limited 

McMurray, S (2004). ‘Learning to spell: Development and Evaluation of a Spelling Programme for Key Stage 1’. School of Education: Queens University, Belfast. (Ph. D thesis)

Nagy, W.E., Carlisle, J.F. and Goodwin, A.P. (2013) ‘Morphological knowledge and electricity acquisition’. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 47 (1):3-12

Sandman-Hurley, K (2019) ‘Dyslexia and Spelling, Making Sense of it’

Squires, K.E. and Wolfer, J.A. (2016) ‘The Effects of Orthographic Pattern Intervention on Spelling Performance of Students with Reading Disabilities: A Best Evidence Synthesis. Remedial and Special Education’, 37 (6), pp. 357-369.

Templeton, S. (2020) Stages, phases, repertoires and waves: learning to spell and read words. The Reading Teacher, 74(3):315-323 

Treiman,R. (2017) ‘Learning to spell phonology and beyond’. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 34(3-4):83-93 

Treiman, R. (2018) ‘Teaching and learning spelling. Child development perspectives’, 12(4):235-39 

Treiman, R. and Kessler, B. (2014) ‘How Children Learn to Write Words’. New York: Oxford University Press.