I cannot read my dd's writing

[Sneezykids]

My dd cannot spell. She makes careless mistakes and still is reversing b's and d's. She doesn't utilize all the sounds in a word and spells them totally wrong. For instance, she wrote a 7-8 sentence paragraph in her journal. Almost every single word was spelled wrong. "Great" was "Gat" "forever" was "fvrv"
Well, I have posted so much about her academics, I can't reinterate them all now. But, she is so not ready for 3rd grade next week.

[dziejen]

Try not to worry about it as she will probably get it at her own pace. Spelling is not everyone's strong point, even some adults don't get it. I remember my dd spelling things wrong for quite awhile but the important thing is that she is getting her thoughts out onto paper --- everyone can use spell check, not everyone is an original thinker! Maybe your child's teacher will have some suggestions once she gets to see how your child is progressing or you could ask for a conference with him/her to get some input. Also how is spelling taught at your dd's school? I know the curriculum here at one point (not sure if it still is) was to get the words down the way they sounded and not worrying if the spelling was correct. I didn't love this way of teaching but my dd is going into 4th grade and has since learned to spell pretty well. I think this also comes from the fact that she is an avid reader though. As when they were babies, they all progress differently -- some walk earlier, some talk earlier but eventually it all evens out. Good luck!!

[UUMom]

When is her b'day? All of my children were well over 8 when they began 3rd grade. In 'the old days' children weren't even expected to read until they were 7 or 8.

Of course some children do all of this earlier, but it doesn't change human brain development for the general population.

What would you like to see your child doing in Spetember? What would help you not to worry?

[Sneezykids]

Her birthday is May 6th, so she just turned 8 a few months ago.
ITA about getting her thoughts down and I'm glad she does this and is creative. She LOVES to write. It's kinda cute sometimes, she can't read her own writing alot of times, or she'll say "oh Yea!!" when I show her that "great" has a chunk of "Gr". She just forgets mostly.
She actually does well on her spelling quizzes but will get them wrong in her journal. Her school does encourage them to just write how it sounds, they just want them to write and get ideas down.
We'll just try to stay on top of it, just to eliminate her making the 'oops' mistakes. Her printing is actually improving, quite neat and nicely spaced, so that is good!
I'll try not to worry. TY!

[flyingspaghettimama]

The only thing that would concern me is if she couldn't actually hear the sounds within the word, at all. This is common at younger ages, but it's something that you can help her with at home with phonemic awareness games, etc. Like hearing that the word CAT has three phonemes (sounds): C/a/t. From your examples, it sounds like she's not hearing or guessing at the vowel sounds, although the GAT also has some missing phonemes (just the R). It doesn't mean that they have to be right (in English, the sounds we hear are frequently different than the actual spelling)...but taking a stab at them helps the reader, who can sound it out. If you read the word "peetsa" from a kid you know they probably mean "pizza." Misspelling isn't a problem (it gets better with reading a lot) but not hearing the sounds can be a more difficult issue for reading or writing. As long as the sounds are all there, I wouldn't be concerned.

You can play this game at home, if you like: break apart words orally and have her be a "word detective" and guess at what you are trying to say. If I say E/L/E/PH/A/N/T (say each sound separately) what does that say? You can use short words C/A/T at first and then choose longer and harder ones to put together. Then have her do it with you back. You can also write down words (some of her favorites - maybe, like "fairy") cut them up into individual letters, and ask her to see if she can put it back together.

[mamaduck]

My son was 1/2 way through 3rd grade before his writing became legible or the whole concept of spelling correctly within a composition finally "clicked" for him. I'll admit I was anxious. But his teachers kept swearing that it would sink in soon, and it finally did. Without any coersion or pushing.

[Sneezykids]

that is good to hear mommaduck, I've heard from others IRL that alot of things 'click' in 3rd grade.
Dd's teacher also told me that there were half a dozen kids who are still reversing letters and numbers. When I cleaned out her backpack from the end of school, she accidentally brought home some papers from one of her tablemates and this boys writing looked very much like hers. That put me at ease to see that.

[TiredX2]

Originally Posted by flyingspaghettimama

The only thing that would concern me is if she couldn't actually hear the sounds within the word, at all.

That was my thought exactly.

DD has a good friend (8 in May, but the 1st, lol) who wrote a story for her mom the other day and she literally could NOT read it the spelling was so off. But, she has also been diagnosed with an auditory processing issue. So, she writes "fafe" for "have" and the like. She just does not hear things the same way others do. *That* is an issue. Poor spelling (and don't discount the very hard work it is for a 6-9 year old just to physically coordinate the writing process, either) generally works itself out. Honestly, it is one of my *least* concerns given that we only become more computer (spelling check) centered as time goes on.

[Sneezykids]

Thanks Tiredx2. Are you a teacher? I guess I'm going to write the 'chunks' down and put them on index cards, tape them up in the kitchen, so when she is eating breakfast she can look at them. I think that might help.

I have good manuscript but lousy cursive. I remember hating cursive and never really got the hang of it. All those loops were just too much :LOL And I remember once in 8th grade I had a paper marked badly because my small cursive a's looked like o's and even though the paper was good and creative I got a bad grade on it. :
I remember the same teacher placed me in AP 9th grade english but told me that I really probably shouldn't be in there because my writing was so bad. Ugh..I still remember that!! Yes, TG for word processors! Are kids even required to manually write papers anymore in the upper grades?