Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Spelling (not) an indicator?

I just went back and looked at DS6's achievement scores and interestingly his spelling is exactly a year below comprehension and 2.5 years below word decoding, yet still 2 years above age level. So, maybe I'm doing just what the article Dottie referenced was talking about- penalizing him because his spelling isn't at his reading level instead of giving him credit for being well above age level.

I also wonder about spelling in tests vs. spelling in actual work. I know perfectly well the difference between there, their, and they're and can get them right all the time on a test. But when I look back on my posts here, I see that I have used them wrong more than once. I am sure that I am so caught up in my profound thoughts that the edit function of the brain takes a back seat. My fingers are just typing the sounds I am hearing in my head and my higher brain is working on the idea and there is no part of my brain that is left to make sure I follow the rules.

I see DS doing this all the time in the stories he writes. When you have a kid trying to work out a big intersting idea and his fingers aren't keeping up with his brain anyway, it seems unfair to also ask him to stop and review spelling. It's just an obstacle to the writing process. If the work ever goes from a rough to a final draft that is when you get a chance to think about the spelling.

Wiw, tiis is so cuil! I usid to wijkir if I wes smuwt! I ciond riad thit, so I midt be! Yiy!

This is me too -- DS spells absolutely at dead average for his age, but that's nothing like being able to spell what he writes! Argh! And it isn't exactly his most favorite thing to work on (nor mine...) so we aren't as consistent with it as other things.

One suspicion I have about spelling as a marker for giftedness is that I think it's one of those things that responds to experience/ practice. So you'll get more distinction between a kid who has worked on it than one who hasn't, or between one who has been presented an approach that works for him vs. one that doesn't, rather than strictly based on ability. And then it's likely affected by all kinds of LDs, just to complicate things! So while I'd say early spelling is definitely a "plus" it's not quite diagnostic. If you know that the ability is (relatively) spontaneous then I think it probably is an indicator, but for the purposes of norming tests and making generalizations, they can't really distinguish the gifted speller from the well-trained speller.

This is drifting off-topic just a little, so please forgive. But I was curious about speed reading and spelling and spent some time googling. I wasn't sure how fast speed reading is (my son appears to be in the very lower range of speed reading, or the higher range of a fast reader?). But I found an article that mentions a correlation between a dyslexic child and speed reading.

http://www.speedreading4kids.com/add/add.html


I have no idea if my son is dyslexic or not... He sometimes writes his letters backwards, but it happens rarely. He has trouble focusing sometimes, and could be ADD, or it could just be the way he is and how his brain is wired? His spelling is very phonetic (which can be down right odd looking for the English language), even on words that he should know how to spell. But I was very curious about the correlation?

Do any of the kids (or parents) in this group who are spelling-challenged fit into the Right-Brained model? Are the better spellers Left-Brained people? Kriston, you may have been pointing this out before when you mentioned visual-spacial learning. I'm still reading and trying to digest info on visual learning styles, so I'm a little behind on this topic.

Funny, DS4 came in the room earlier to tell me what game he picked out to play together and asked what I was doing. I showed him part of that article and asked him to read it. I cut and past from the part "it doesn't matter in what order the letters..." and he read the first sentence perfectly and then said "why did you mix up all the letters? I then told him to try to keep reading. He thought it was comical and he read the rest. He thought it was pretty cool. He got a little confused on one or two words and read them phonetically. That's amazing!

I have no idea about right- vs. left-brain. I am a very fast reader, though. I don't know if visual-verbal would mean that I'm left- or right-brained. I'm definitely visual, but I'm equally definitely NOT visual-spatial.

I can't tell whether DS7 is a fast reader yet or not. He is too advanced in reading compared to his agemates for me to tell if he's faster than they are or just able to handle more difficult texts. You know? I do know he's not fast at most things. But reading might well be an exception.

I'm also not sure if he's visual-spatial. When he took the SB-5, he appeared to be verbal. When he took the WISC, the tester commented on how "clearly" VS he is. Weird contrary results! That's one of the reasons I'm thinking something visual but not necessarily spatial. And again, I don't know how that fits with what you're asking.

Was that totally useless? :p

No great! DD8 and I are the speed readers in the family. DD6 is a slow reader, but she does have that vision issue working against her. That's all about eye muscle control at this point, so I'll get back to you when she's done with therapy! She is big time visual spatial, not even a question. So is DH. Now DD8, though, she seems to be visual spacial but also adept at auditory sequential learning. Her preferred learning method would be visual though, definately.

Now that WAS totally useless!

BTW, didn't anyone read my "coded" message?

Hmmmm...this is very interesting. I was identified GT in school but wound up having to have a spelling tutor!! LOL!!! Definitely not my strong suit but I can spell ok now and I absolutely love spell checker!!! I am also a speed reader but I have no idea how fast I can read. I just know if I am reading something and so is someone else, I usually have to wait a while as I finished long before they did. I'm also visual sequential.

My DS10 cannot spell to save his life. Part of it is due to his visual problems I have no doubt. He's doing better now thank goodness. The verbal was his strong suit on the WISC and he is definitely visual-spatial.

Not sure what any of this means though!

ebeth, look at the latest visual thread Kriston started a few days ago and see if any of that fits your DS.