Dr. Yvonne Fournier
Dear Dr. Fournier:
My son gets a sheet of spelling words each Monday and has his test on the following Friday. He studies them at home each night, with my calling them out to him before bedtime. At home, he spells them perfectly yet misses half or more of them on the tests in school.
I have spoken with his teacher and we’ve tried to figure out why this is happening but we are both at a loss. This is happening in other subjects as well. When I call out questions at home, he knows the material but misses half of it on tests. I am considering taking him to a specialist to see if he has a memory problem. Can you give me any advice?
Linda C.
Fall River, MA
Dear Linda:
The scene is a familiar one for many households: a child’s weekly spelling test at school has become a weekly chore at home.
A child’s primary technique for learning how to spell is asking his or her parents to call out the words. While many parents feel this is their responsibility and the least they can do to insure their child is learning, spelling seems to initiate a teaching role at home that only intensifies later on.
ASSESSMENT
Many children who think it’s neat or cool to study with Mom really feel that it is comforting or reassuring. Like Linus’s need for his security blanket in the Charles M. Schulz Peanuts comic strip, it is security to a child for Mom to play teacher, until the pressure of playing teacher in other subjects leads to homework hassles, which is exactly what has happened to you, Linda.
Spelling is one of the first independent learning tasks a child is assigned. However, students are not taught the strategies for independent learning, and the default mechanism is attachment to Mom or Dad.
Many parents later ask themselves, “How did I get caught up in this?” and, “How do I get out of playing teacher without hurting my child?”
Just as spelling is a typical subject in which a child develops dependence on his parents, so too is it the perfect place for the parents to help their child to develop independence. Many parents go through the frustrating experience of having their child say, “I studied it, now ask me my spelling.”
Parents go ahead and drill the words and many times they are pleased to find that the child knows them perfectly. If not, parents tell their child to go back and study the words again. Off the child goes only to come back once again to attempt spelling. Despite this process, the child often doesn’t make the expected 100 on the spelling test.
This child does not have a memory problem - he has a learning strategy problem.
The child is studying his words and immediately asking to be tested. Therefore, parents are testing their child’s short-term memory. Learning how to spell should be for long-term recall. Children often learn spelling as if they were learning the phone number of a friend whom they intend to call within the next 15 minutes. They may recall the information for that short time span but most likely will not remember it hours later and almost certainly, not tomorrow.
WHAT TO DO
To foster independent study, Linda, have your son use a recording device such as a hand-held digital recorder. If you have an iPhone or an iPod Touch, there is an in application called Voice Memo that works well for this exercise.
You’re going to make two recordings. First, record him saying and spelling each word. This is your Study Recording.
Next, make a Test Recording and have your son say each spelling word but not spell it out loud. Between recording the words, your son should write each word correctly even if he has to copy it on a Test Sheet of paper, thus making sure there is enough time left after saying each word on tape to be able to write the word on a practice test.
The Test Sheet should have six columns. On the far left is the column for the correct spelling. The other five columns are to be labeled Monday through Friday.
Each day your son should listen to the Study Recording as part of homework. However, he should not attempt to take a practice test right away. Have him wait an hour or so after this exercise is done. To take the practice test, your son should listen to the Test Recording and write the words on the sheet of paper in the column corresponding to the day. Fold the paper so the previous day’s words can’t be seen as the recording dictates them.
When the test is complete, he should compare this paper to the correctly spelled words on the Test Sheet. If a word is misspelled, the incorrect spelling should be recorded on the Test Sheet in the column for that day. For example, if he misspells the word “house” on Monday’s practice test, he writes the incorrect spelling in the Monday column next to the correct spelling of the word. Then have your child circle in red what is wrong and come up with a sentence to help remember it.
By the time your child has done this for three days in a row, he will know exactly which words he knows and which ones give him trouble. After this initial work is done, you can help him develop memory tricks to remember the un-mastered words. For example, forty instead of fourty. The trick: Forty has no you because if it’s in dollars, it is not meant for u.
Parents, remember that teachers teach, you are the monitor at home and your child’s responsibility is to learn, so don’t make your child dependent on you at home, which simply makes him dependent on you during school on tests and quizzes.
CONTACT DR. FOURNIER
Have a question about education, education-related issues or your child’s schoolwork or homework? Ask Dr. Fournier and look for her answer in this column. E-mail your question or comment to Dr. Yvonne Fournier at drfournier@hfhw.net.
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