Frequently Asked Questions

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Why are my students better spellers than readers?

Answer

Reading is usually easier than spelling because reading words requires decoding the symbols that can be seen on the page, whereas spelling requires the student to determine the correct symbols and put them on paper in the right order while observing the rules of the language. Sometimes it seems that reading is harder than spelling because there is no time limit for spelling, whereas we expect a student to look at a word and read it immediately. Regardless of the reason, it may be necessary to provide students with more opportunities to practice reading words in isolation, in phrases, in sentences, and in text. Some students need only 50 repetitions to remember a word, and some need 550 repetitions or more before a word reaches the automatic level of recognition.