Because so much emphasis is placed on "sounding out," it's only reasonable expect that "strategy" to dominate spelling. And it does. That's why both teachers and parents, when they see a child having trouble with a word, say, "Just sound it out." We're so used to hearing that phrase, that is "seems" right. But take a minute to think about a word such as "minute." If you were to sound it out, it could end up as "minit," "minut," "minet" along with several other possibilities. But it would never end up with the correct spelling. Despite its prevalence, "sounding out" is not the way to go.

Neither is the much-used weekly spelling list. As endless numbers of parents know, only too well, the effort put into learning those lists often results in nothing more than forgetting once the test is over. It's not uncommon for parents to proudly report that their child regularly receives 90% or higher scores on the spelling tests. When that is followed up by my asking, "Does he remember them a few weeks later," the typical response is "Oh no--he never gets them right when he has to use them in his actual writing." This pattern is so common that parents automatically assume that the spelling words of the spelling lists are obviously going to be forgotten as soon as the test is over. Unfortunately, their assumptions are well-grounded in reality.

What "sounding out" and "spelling lists" and other comparable techniques overlook is that the key to effective spelling is long-term visual memory. It's what allows good spellers to look at a misspelled word such as "accomodate" and "know" that it is not right--even before they can identify exactly what is wrong. (Just in case you haven't spotted it, it's a missing m). But almost no one talks about the role of visual memory in literacy. It is the basis not simply for effective spelling, but effective reading as well. For the most part, visual processing issues were thrown out of reading research a few decades back. Some of the discarding was useful; other parts of it were not. it was another instance of throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

But there is no reason for this neglect to continue. We simply have to recognize that effective long term visual processing of words needs to be taught and can be taught.

The following is a series of steps you can use to help your child develop the visual memory needed for both reading and writing.

1. Selecting the Level: Start at a level that the child can read with 90% accuracy. Select two sentences.

2. Writing the Words: Have the child read one sentence. Following that, you show one word at a time .Then you cover the word, and ask the child to write it. If the writing is correct, you move on --doing each word in this manner. The child is responsible for punctuation and capitalization. You tell him that at the start, but do not point it out when he gets to a part of the sentence that demands either punctuation or capitalization.

If the child makes an error at any point, you take away the paper, but do not point out the error. It's your child's job to figure it out. Then you provide fresh paper and have him/her start the writing from the first word--even if it is the last word that contained the error. Remember, you remove the paper at the first sign of error.

3. Increasing the Span: At this point, the child is probably not "seeing" the words, but rather is retaining them by saying the letter names. You want to discourage that --since as long as a child relies on letter naming, s/he will not develop the necessary visual memory. You develop the skill by increasing the number of words done each time (e.g., up to four at one time) thereby "overloading" the naming strategy (i.e., a child generally cannot remember the letters in a sequence of four words so s/he has to abandon the strategy). So once s/he is comfortable with one word, increase the span to two words, then to three words and then to four words (the process may take about 2-4 weeks).

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You do the second sentence in the same manner as above, following steps 2-3.
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4. Writing Without a Model-After a Delay::After a delay of 30 minutes or more, you have the child again write one of the sentences. Say, "We are doing one of the sentences again--but this time, you cannot see the words." You select one of the sentences the child did that day (Do not allow him/her to make the selection). You dictate the words of the sentence—without showing any of the words. Here your child is allowed to make one error in the writing or punctuation. If there is a second error, you immediately stop him/her and repeat all of the earlier writing done that day (following steps 2-3 above)

5. Frequency: The technique should be used a minimum of four to five times a week Generally significant improvement is attained within 6-8 weeks.
Once a child has shown one week of solid performance (i.e., s/he can achieve accurate writing at step 4 80% of the time), the level of the work should be increased (so that the child moves up to handling more complex material.)

Once the child is comfortably and accurately writing at grade level material, the program can be reduced to twice a week. If progress is maintained under that regimen for two or more weeks, the program can be discontinued. It, at any point, there is a decline, the program can be re-instated till solid performance is again achieved.

Like all regimens, this does take some work and discipline. But the two-to-three month effort yields payoff for life. As you will see, it is an amazing investment.