A frequent question teachers are asked by parents is, “Should I correct my child’s spelling?” Our short answer – “It depends”. Here’s why and a sequence of steps you could use when offering to correct your child’s spelling.
Learn
The goal is for a child to take ownership of their writing and eventually editing. Their work is their domain. When it comes to a child’s writing, it is better for parents to be fans first, then editors. Two general philosophies that you can use:
- For a younger, beginner writer (for example, developmental ages 4 to 5), the focus should be on encouraging them to actively and willingly write. At this young developmental age, avoid outright correcting your child’s spelling as it may dissuade them from writing altogether if they feel they are ‘doing something wrong’.
- In general, if your child spells something incorrectly, whether you should correct them depends on: developmental age, the purpose for which they are writing and the intended audience of their work. Instead of outright correcting a child’s spelling, we reframe it to offer to correct their spelling. There may be a different system used at school, so this is an opportunity for you to show your child that they have a choice in how they want your help.
Do
What You Could Do
- Gauge your child’s temperament before reading their mistakes – What do they need from you when they’re sharing their writing? Praise and encouragement? Feedback on the content? Feedback on the spelling? A combination? If you decide to give feedback, start with something that made you smile about their writing. What a child needs or is open to hearing is very individualized and differs widely among children.
- For words that are missing a vowel or part of a blend – Ask your child to point to the word, to work on hearing how it sounds, feel the sounds with their tongue, write options on another piece of paper, and then have your child copy the correct spelling to their paper. (e.g., ‘hlp’ → help, ‘sprt’ → sport, ‘shovl’ → shovel, ‘wrld’ → world)
- For words that are misspelled, but are phonetically moving in the correct direction – Do not circle or correct. (e.g., ‘flawrs’→ flowers), ‘coock’ → cook, ‘kleen’ → ‘clean’) Prompt your child to:
- For beginner spellers:
- Use their best-guess spelling strategies.
- Use the spelling patterns they are learning at school.
- For emerging spellers:
- Tap or clap out the syllables in longer words. Ask your child to put their hand under their chin as they say the word to separate the syllables. The chin drops with each syllable. Each syllable has a vowel.
- For beginner spellers:
- For words that are tricky (because the English language is tricky) and your child applies an appropriate theoretical rule, but the correct spelling contains a rule your child has not yet covered – If you want to simply point out trickier spelling patterns, writing the word on a separate piece of paper and talking about the ‘troublemaker part’ is a helpful way for your child to actively study that word.
- For example, you could say “The long ‘e’ sound at the end of the word is most likely spelled with a ‘y,’ like happy, crazy, and crumbly.” (A child may initially use the spelling ‘happee’, ‘crazee’, ‘crumblee’.)
- As a teacher, when we have lessons for the long ‘e’ sound in this case, students would practice sorting words with different long ‘e’ word spelling patterns. Spelling takes patience. Some children need constant repetition with seeing, hearing and writing words; other children can see a word one time and immediately integrate it into their own writing.
- For words that are difficult and likely beyond their developmental age – Ask your child to re-read what they wrote. Here are two approaches, keeping in mind that different children need or want feedback differently:
- You can offer two-choice spelling (i.e. ‘rain’ or ‘rane’) on a separate piece of paper so they can copy it correctly onto their paper. Two-choice spelling represents spelling a word two ways: one is correct and one is incorrect, but a child may think to spell it that way using beginner spelling rules. For example, a child is more likely to spell ‘rane’ using their knowledge of the long vowel ‘a’. Other examples: ‘said’ or ‘sed’; ‘there’ or ‘ther’.
- You can choose one word that is complex and misspelled. Point to it, then write the correct spelling on another piece of paper. Talk about what they hear and what is tricky about that word. Then, your child can decide:
- If they want to write it correctly in their work or if the conversation was enough; or
- If they want to copy the correct spelling you already wrote on that other piece of paper; or
- If they want you to write the correct spelling underneath the word in their work. They can choose.
- Print this checklist to help your child look for some key rules in their writing and spelling.