Can Spelling Success work for children with disabilities?

Absolutely.— This program has worked great for children with Downs Syndrome, autism, learning disabilities, language impairments, spina bifida, auditory processing difficulties , motor planning or other developmental disabilities.

Here are the top three reasons Spelling Success works so well for children with disabilities:

1. Versatility: The program can be adapted to the needs of the child.

Most computer programs have levels of difficulty based on how the designers "THINK" your child will learn a concept. With Spelling Success you can create activities at the level that you "KNOW" your child is at. Spelling lists can be created that supplement any reading program, spelling curriculum, Dolch sight word lists, or other spelling lists that the teacher uses. At the simplest level, you can help children learn letters of the alphabet or letter-sound associations. We have seen children 4 years of age and older use our program successfully.

2. Eliminates Penmanship Difficulties:

Spelling Success is especially useful for children who have difficulties with handwriting, penmanship, fine motor control or have letter reversal issues. Using a key board to spell reduces fine motor fatigue so that kids have more attention for the cognitive task of spelling.

Pencil and paper tasks often become tedious for children with any of these issues. The difficulties children experience in writing can be harmful to their continuing interests in pre-academic or academic skills associated with writing. For example, before one student used Spelling Success she often became frustrated at the correction process when she wrote a word incorrectly. It was tedious to erase and she often ended up erasing more letters than she needed to. When this student started using a key board to work on spelling she became thrilled with her success and it was much less labor intensive for her to correct her mistakes. For many children with disabilities the computer may be their primary means of written output. This program offers a great foundation of keyboarding practice and success.

3. Provides Consistent Success: The program creates a "win-win" situation for students as they learn to spell.

Spelling lists can be very short or longer with ever changing rewards that you get to decide. This will keep children motivated and willing to continue to use this program for many years. Spelling Success provides students with as much or as little practice and support as needed to be successful in the spelling curriculum that you or a teacher provides. We recognize the labor that is involved in learning to spell and this program offer students a means to keep motivation going by having you select rewards that are truly personal to your child. Spelling Success will help students learn such early skills as letters and their names to or later skills including successfully spelling words of varying difficulties.

When Can Children Start Using Spelling Success?
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Whenever your child is beginning to work on learning the letters of the alphabet this program can help. Parents can help their child's knowledge and understanding of letter recognition, sound/letter relationships and other early reading and spelling concepts. We have truly been pleased with the success that Spelling Success has offered children with disabilities.