Poor spelling is largely a matter of inattention. Continual inattention
becomes a habit and the child soon finds himself decidedly handicapped
by his inability to spell correctly. This is largely caused by
uncertainty. He has no definite knowledge to resort to, the result
being doubt as to whether the word is properly spelled, and therefore
uncertainty as to what change to make. To read a word carefully and to
study the letters as they appear in the proper sequence will usually be
sufficient to fix the word in mind.
When you find that certain letters, or combinations, are bothersome,
use the principle of exaggeration. Have the child write the word and
exaggerate the letters that are causing trouble, making them three
or four times larger than the rest of the letters of the word. For
example, the word PRIVILEGE, often incorrectly spelled PRIVELEGE. Write
the word correctly and enlarge the "I," making it several times the
size of the other letters; now have him form the visual picture of the
word spelled in his way:
[Illustration]
In writing the word hereafter you will find that the visual picture of
the word with the exaggerated letter will come back to his mind and
give the correct spelling.
In cases where it is a question of a single, or double consonant, for
example, the word "fulfil" write it "full" and mark a large X through
the second "L."
This will impress upon his mind that one "L" is correct.
Rules in spelling as a general thing, are not as helpful as a little
care, observation and commonsense. The most troublesome is the "I"-"E,"
and this one rule should be clearly fixed in mind:
="I" always comes before "E," except when following "C," or when
sounded as "A," as in "Neighbor" and "Weigh."=
Notice the word "Alice." Keeping this one word in mind will serve
largely to overcome this difficulty. "I" follows all letters except
"C," which is followed by "E" as it is in "Alice." To fix in mind the
"E" following "C" it will be helpful to show the child the similarity
of motion and appearance in writing "C" and "E." Many examples could
be given of this "I"-"E" rule. It will serve very largely to fix it in
mind, however, if you will have the child hunt out these examples for
himself and make a list of them.