Colin McEnroe Show: Do We Still Care About Spelling?

E-mail from Peg

In regards to your show today on spelling, I was disappointed that none of your guests noted dyslexia as one reason for poor spelling since it impacts about twenty percent of the nations population to varying degrees. Additionally, since memorizing is the lowest form of cognition, being a good speller is not a sign of superior intelligence.

Dyslexia is a language based disability that adversely impacts reading, writing, spelling, communication, sociability, emotions and self esteem. There are complicated reasons for this such
as differences in working memory, processing speed, visual and auditory processing differences, to name a few. There are many symptons that show up early in life and can be diagnosed when parents, teachers or medical staff are educated to recognize them. Its not rocket science to teach most children to read, spell, write and communicate ideas, yet scientifically based reading programs MUST be in place to teach those with dyslexia, due to differences in the way information is processed and learned.

Historically, many school systems followed deficit based models as determining criteria for special academic intervention. Basically, districts often waited for the student to significantly fail before offering reading assistance that may have helped the general ed student population, but was not specific enough for the dyslexic child specific needs. The heart breaking problem with this model is that it the child's self esteem is usually in the dumper by this point and the intervention is now a much bigger problem. Instead of reading content to learn, the child is still struggling to learn reading, which also entails spelling and writing. Most people who have dyslexia are average to above average to superior intelligence and often exhaust themselves with mental gymnastics in attempt to compensate for a "lack of the spelling gene", as put by one of your guests. This is why early treatment intervention is critical to successfully compensating for the disability.

Districts are finally learning to implement research into appropriate intervention with reading specialist who are actually trained in evidenced based programs that are proven to actually work. Teachers Colleges are finally starting to employ some of these research based programs. Sadly, many very bright chilren have already been left behind, feeling deeply frustrated as to why they have such difficulty learning to read, spell, write and often communicate efficiently or effectively.

As districts have started to realize its in everyones interest to be proactive and invest in appropriate programs for all students education, students with dyslexia will now be on a more level playing field, better positioned to participate more equally in the education process and maximize their individual potential.

Don't we all desire better educated students to join our communities? Maybe you could do a program on the challenges of a dyslexic student since so many people seem to have no appreciation for how hard these students struggle to succeed. I know a few very knowledgeable people who could share their expertise in this area if you are interested. Thank you for your time.

Spelling

I agree with your methods.I facilitate writing workshops for adults and too many of them cannot get to their creativity because they are worried about spelling and grammar. I try to get them to see that they can let the words flow first and go back and fix later.

E-mail from Sara

As an early childhood/elementary teacher we encourage our students to take risks with their writing and use something called "invented spelling" The feeling is that it is the child's ideas that are important , get them down and then go back and proofread (like in my case I would go back and look up the spelling of proofread) There is very little focus on the process of checking one's work.
For me proffreading and spell checking involves clicking on my tool bar. When I was in school, teachers were always telling us to look words up when we had a question about spelling. I never realized how much more information I received by looking up words. When I suggested that my 11 year old son use a dictionary to check his spelling he used the internet to access the Webster Dictionary. He used the spell checker to spell Webster Dictionary

E-mail from Mike

I have an English degree with a concentration in creative writing. I’m an avid reader and writer and while I might spell fonetically with an F, at least I know what it means and how to use it. When I think about the historical reasons for spelling and writing, I realize that it came about, in part, to communicate ideas and thoughts when the speaker could not be present to do so himself. In today’s day and age, podcasts have almost replaced blogging, pop music has almost replaced poetry, and film making has almost replaced story writing. At some point in our future, you may be accepting and airing audio feedback rather than emails like this. Having an agreed upon representation of words and thoughts is important, but it isn’t the be all and end all of communication anymore.

E-mail from Teresa

I've considered de-friending Facebook friends who can't spell.