spelling with "Morphographs"

[poppy]

My son is now in year 7 of mainstream high school and they have done spelling and reading tests as they do to all the children.His results showed him to be below a reading and spelling age of 10. I have pointed out that if they reversed their spelling test list of 50 words (start with hard words and go onto easy ones) then he would probably do better as he loses his concentration after about 15 words. No they have to stick to set way of doing it.

 

So as a result of this they have asked me to take part in a parent/child literacy scheme.which means me spending an hour each week in school with my son and then doing another session with him at home(this means he misses out on another subject)

 

It is called Spelling through Morphographs.

I wont even try to explain how it works.

Has anyone heard of it before ?and if so do they know of the sucess rate of it with Aspergers children.?

 

As if our life isnt complicated enough.

[Zemanski]

haven't looked at this properly but it seems to explain what it is

 

http://www.specialconnections.ku.edu/cgi-b...tion=di/writing

 

Zemanski

[phasmid]

In my school we use a similar approach to spelling called 'Thrass'. From what I have read from Zemanski's link and what I know from practice in the use of 'Thrass' it will not be as complicated as it first sounds.

 

Although there are 26 letters in the english language words are, for the most part, made up from 44 different sounds. For example if you say the word 'Ant' you can hear the way the letter 'a' sounds. Now say the word 'want' and you hear a completely different sound - but it's still made by the same letter. You use the 44 combinations (there are a few others that 'Thrass' acknowledge as 'catch-alls') of sounds to build up words.

 

The way I do it is by breaking the words down into their differnt sounds (phonemes) and then building them back up again into whole words. As I say, it sounds complicated but, once you get into it, it really does work. As for any difference for children with an ASD - I can't really say. I have used this system with both NT and ASD children however, I have not seen any (or made any) comparitive studies of the two groups specifically.

 

I hope that helps. I can say that when we introduced the scheme in my school the parents were invited in and encouraged to participate - when they did it DID make a difference. Go for it.

[Zemanski]

That's synthetic phonics, isn't it, Phas? - like jolly phonics - I did a study of using an adapted synthetic phonics programme with EBD children

 

a very good system and better for ASD/dyslexic kids than the more traditional phonics

 

this morphograph system is using parts of words rather than strictly phonemes, I think you probably need a fairly good level of basic phonic awareness before you start.

 

in this you learn spelling by things like prefixes and suffixes, taking words apart partly phonically but also by syllable so you learn things like the -ion, ation, ition endings for example

 

it's closer to the traditional rote learning methods than phonic methods, I think, but as a secondary strategy to supplement phonics for older kids it's already pretty much in use in all schools - this is just a more intensive course with a posh name, I think

 

Zemanski

[phasmid]

It's very much a synthetic phonics scheme zemanski (just under another name). We actually use it to follow on from jolly phonics funnily enough!

 

We have found that many children's reading skills also benefit from this approach. Providing a reasonable level of language is present there is already a knowledge (albeit unkown to the child) of phonics. All that these systems do (in my opinion) is to make the children aware of the use of it (in our case) for spelling. From what I read on your link the sytem they use is based on a similar approach but using the written, rather than spoken, word.

 

I have taught children with quite low spelling (and literacy in general) abilities and seen some pretty good progress made over a period of time. It isn't a magic wand however and some children do seem to take longer than others to catch on, when they do though it really does boost their confidence of all things 'literacy'. For the more able we use a slightly different system (the name escapes me and I was using it this morning -duh!) based on a study from Warwick University where we intorduce prefixes and suffixes etc, but still tie it in with the use of 'Thrass'/phonics.