Dyslexia: It’s not all about Phonics!

There has been so much news about phonics and how it works lately that I thought I’d tell you that IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT PHONICS!

You wil find that sum childrn are sow ust to lerning fonics that thay downt tayk eny notis of wot the werds look liyk.

And in case you couldn’t read that it says: You will find that some children are so used to learning phonics that they don’t take any notice of what the words look like.

It’s a bit of a shame that all words aren’t spelt phonetically because then ‘we’ wouldn’t have such a big task when it comes to learning how to spell. This is why it can’t all be about phonics when teaching children how to spell.

Don’t get me wrong, phonics is an excellent place to start and when children can’t spell a word using sounds to work out what comes next is a great way to help them and even if the spelling is wrong it can still be read by them or others.

So what am I talking about?! After your child writes the word phonetically he or she needs to look at the word and ask “Does it look right?” Just asking that simple question can make all the difference.