Anyone use/used "invented spelling" with your kids?

[Elena]

Lyric has started doing this on her own- she does "free writing" where she spells things on her own- she is currently writing a princess story using this method. I basically have her read it to me since much of it is not decipherable without her translation (although her thinking makes sense once I see what she's trying to write). I need to research it cause if I remember correctly if you're going with that method you don't really correct each word right then, you just encourage the writing process and the fact that they are working to hear the sounds and write independently. But along with my research I was wondering if anyone has any personal experience with it. It seems that it would work well with Lyric b/c she doesn't respond well to me just telling her how things are.... she does better when she can figure it out to a large extent on her own, if that makes any sense. For example, she wasn't responding to me "teaching her to read" but she apparently worked on her own without any pressure from me and taught herself how. I posted awhile back about that- and she's still in the very beginning stages of reading, but the basic idea "clicked" for her on her own.

[abbiroads]

:popcorn

[Hermana Linda]

I've heard that it's a very good thing. I allowed it with the Skater for a long time, I don't think it hurt him in any way. The Thechie didn't use it much, he's a natural speller.

[LittleSweetPeas]

How old is she?

Its typically developmentally appropriate. Even teaching PS, its encouraged to allow the child to begin recognizing that letters form sounds that form words. I wouldn't correct it and I would just continue on with all the other teaching you are doing. As her reading strengthens her spelling will too. There will be plenty of time to focus on the end product and right now you can just encourage the process! :tu

[AngelaVA]

Very appropriate and a great sign for her writing progress! As she develops as a reader, she will have a growing list of known words that you can hold her accountable for in her writing. Encourage her to use the phonetic principals she has learned and to approximate what is beyond what she has learned. As she begins to memorize high frequency words and spelling patterns, you may want to help her maintain a 'words I use when I write' dictionary. Simply, a little notebook (I like composition books because the pages don't fall out as easily) with a couple of pages devoted to each letter and words she knows how to read easily listed on the appropriate pages (don't bother with a definition or anything). Then she can look them up when she is writing or editing (depending on her learning style) and she can add words to it as she goes along. For very early writers, where it is mostly illegible, you can have them read to you, while you write it in your grownup writing below hers so it can be read by others. Have fun reading her stories and don't forget to save some away to look back on.

[Annhabben]

I'm chiming in with personal experience only--when I was learning to read and write (and spell) I couldn't spell worth anything. I'd get A's in everything except spelling. My very first F! I was pushed pretty hard to use proper spelling and grammer, but it wasn't until I hit ninth grade that I started caring. And then I really started caring. Now, people holler over the cubicle walls asking me how to spell things.

But I won't write. (As you can see from my post count. I've been on GCM for 18 months.)

Getting the words on paper is so much more important than proper spelling.

[SueQ]

Here is an interesting article (http://www.pennygardner.com/spelling.html) with a differing view on invented spelling. Ihaven't used invinted spelling just because my oldest is a perfectionist and wanted to make sure he spelled the word right. He always asked and still does if he doesn't know how to spell the word.

[Elena]

Hmmm. I just read the above mentioned article. Interesting. I have to admit I haven't found the time to do much research myself. I was just talking with my mom this weekend about some of the very things the article mentioned, though- I am a pretty good speller but I have to see it on paper, I cannot visualize it in my head like it says one should do in the article. I got always got straight A's on my spelling tests in elementary school but could never make it far in spelling bees for this reason. However, my brother freaks us out because he can see a word in his head, flip it, and not only spell it backwards but then pronounce it backwards, within a matter of seconds. We used to get a kick out of throwing out big words at him and seeing how fast he can spit it back out backwards. But, we are both good spellers. I don't remember learning how to spell, or read, for that matter, it just seems like I always knew how. I was reading the "Little House" Books independently by the time I was my daughter's age (she's 6.5). :scratch Although the article makes sense, could it be that one method could work for one child but not another? I just can't see Lyric being able to handle me drilling her on spelling, at least not now, and I really want to encourage any interest she has in writing. But at the same time I don't want to allow something that will be harmful and I will spend time undoing later. :/

Angela, I really like your ideas- maybe that's the middle ground I need to shoot for- let her do some invented spelling but start a little dictionary for her too with those very commonly used words.

[Soliloquy]

This is my view on it.

Children learn to talk by listening to others talk. Their first attempts are barely understandable to anyone other than mom and dad. They keep adjusting their speech to what they hear around them. Most children, by the age of 4, handle their native language (or languages) with hardly any trouble, including slang, jargon, and family nuances. They have mastered most of the grammatical rules w/o knowing why or having any instruction.

Spelling is very similar. By reading books to your children, allowing them into your adult world where you write for enjoyment or purpose, they will see that writing is powerful. They will try it. It will barely be intelligible at first, but over time and with exposure to good writing, they will adjust their own writing as they see that everyone else follows certain rules.

Some children will quickly become good spellers. Others will not. But, that is exactly what happens in school, too, where there is a set spelling curriculum. The big difference between spelling instruction and allowing spelling to develop on it's own is not how good a speller they become, but how the child perceives writing. Children who are allowed to develop spelling in their own way see themselves as writers. They see writing as something plesurable to do, as a way to communicate. Children who learn spelling words through instruction often develop anxiety about writing, see writing as a chore, that they shouldn't do it unil they can get it "right."

I wouldn't dream of correcting my DD's speech. She can't pronounce "th" or "l" yet, among other things. But, I can understand her. My son, who is almost 1, I can't understand any of what he says yet. But, I enjoy listening to him and he enjoys talking. He will get there. I have the same faith in them for reading and writing.