What causes poor spelling skills?
Spelling difficulties are often the result of visual problems or weak auditory (listening) skills. It is critical that vision be tested for distance, tracking, binocularity, focusing and not just visual acuity. The brain must be able to see the letters as well as process them at a deeper level. Spelling skills require both visual and auditory skills. The ability to spell requires that a person has at least some of the following auditory skills: 1) be able to hear the differences between sounds such as “pear” and “share”; 2) be able to remember and quickly manipulate sounds to create new words (mop, pop, top) and 3) be able to perceive each sound as a separate syllable. Research confirms that the relationship between poor phonological skills and future difficulties with reading, writing, spelling and math is significant. Early identification and treatment is the key.
