My nephew is very bright. He has been reading since before he started kindergarten. He gets good grades?

Question

in all his classes but his spelling is terrible. He is twelve years old now and I'm afraid his spelling will interfere with his chances of getting into a good college. Is there some sort of learning disability associated with spelling but not with reading. I've heard him mispronounce words in a way that suggests he doesn't hear some sounds clearly. Can anything be done to help him?

Answer 1

He can be both gifted and learning disabled. You will need to have him tested for special education, including an evaluation by a speech-language pathologist (because of his apparent phonetic processing issue). Most likely, with him able to "crack the code" of reading even with difficulty with phonic sounds, and mispronounciations, he could probably qualify under SLI (Speech-Language Impaired).

http://www.nichcy.org/pubs/factshe/fs11txt.htm

IMPORTANT: If your child tests in the gifted range, the qualification as having a learning disability involves 15 or more point difference between verbal and nonverbal scores (e.g. a verbal IQ of 136, and a non-verbal IQ of 115), or massive point differences between subtest standard scores (e.g. scoring 13, 14, and 15 point standard scores in most areas, and scoring below a 9 in one or two areas)... although not all diagnositicians are comfortable with using the subtest standard scores this way.

http://www.twicegifted.net/ld.htm

http://www.uniquelygifted.org/

http://2enewsletter.com/

Answer 2

His parent or guardian can go to his school and request that he be given cognitive, academic, and speech and language assessments. The last one will probably include a hearing screening.

I work in a junior high school. I used to teach English, but now I request and give some of the assessments I'm talking about, and lead eligibility meetings for special education and other protections for kids with disabilities under state and federal law.

I can tell you that most twelve year olds have dreadful spelling. If they were writing in a language that is phonetically spelled--like Spanish or Italian--they would have a better chance!

Generally, by the time he gets to be twelve, his teachers would have noticed something was up and asked that he be tested if he really did have a learning disability. In my experience, most of the evaluations at that age do not result in a special ed qualification. But the results can let you and the teachers know how he best learns, and your school may have other options to help him.

If the boy's parent came to me and asked that he be assessed, I would gather information from his health records and his cumulative file. I would ask his teachers for reports on his strengths, weaknesses, and interventions that have worked with him. I would make sure there was good communication going on between the parent and the teachers.

If the evidence suggested we needed to assess, we would convene a meeting with teachers, family and adminstration. It would be great if the student would attend, too. At the meeting, we would come to a consensus about whether assessments were needed, which ones, and why.

The school psychologist might give a cognitive test--think of it as an IQ test if that means more to you. I would give an academic assessment that takes about two or three hours to complete. The one I use tests his ability to decode unfamiliar words, recognize spoken and written vocabulary, spell, read and write passages, work different kinds of math problems, and express himself in spoken sentences.

In the nephew's case, I might request a speech and language assessment from the speech therapist or pathologist and a classroom observation as well. I usually do the classroom observation at our school.

I would be looking at the impact his behavior has on his academic performance. Is he looking for that handy chart on the wall with the math rules? Is he asking questions? Is he talking to his friends while the teacher's giving instructions, or is he quietly taking notes? Does he take five minutes to sharpen his pencil because there's a pretty girl at the sharpener? I see it all!

When the reports are all done, we'd meet again with the teachers and the family. Each assessor would present their report and answer questions. Then the team would look at the question of eligibility for special education.

The US government gives us requirements for qualifying someone under the category Specific Learning Disability. We would generally need a statistically significant gap between the cognitive ability and one of several of the subtests on the academic assessment. Spelling is not one of the qualifying subtests, but it can help support other results we find.

We would also need to show that the student's performance in school (i.e. report card) is adversely affected by this disability, and that he needs special education. If he doesn't need special education to succeed in the general education setting, he doesn't get it.

As far as his college chances go, I hope--as a former member of an admissions committee--that he not only uses spell check on his word processor before he sends in the essays for his application, but that he gets someone else to look over the essay as well. These days, professors are much more interested in original ideas and organization of thought than correct spelling and punctuation. I find that is more true for the more competitive colleges.

Answer 3

Hi He might have a phonetic problem or an auditory adhd. Try a phonetic program and the auditory concentration exercises in the video
BEING IN CONTROL: Natural Solutions For ADHD Dyslexia and Test Anxiety. With Amazon.com
Try Metronome concentration techniques and speed reading techniques- in the video too.