What a wonderful thing for a grandmother to do, Cathy! Let me know if you have any questions or need anything as you begin.

September,
Yes, that is a great quote! It can apply to so many types of learning too.

You’re correct, Jeree. The Spalding method is based upon the Orton-Gillingham approach, so there are a lot of similarities.

Monique,
Let me give you an overview of how All About Spelling helps students succeed with spelling. The video on our main page is a nice start.

All About Spelling is multisensory. This means AAS approaches learning through sight, sound, and touch. This helps kids remember what they learn because they take in information in various ways and also interact with it in various ways. It focuses on encoding skills, spelling rules, and other strategies that help children become good spellers.

The program is laid out in an orderly form for the teacher so that each day you can simply open and go. It is easy to do at home without special training or previous experience.

Each lesson time is simple and explicit, and will include 3 simple steps: review of what was learned the day before, a simple new teaching, and a short practice of that new teaching. The program is designed for you to move at your child’s pace, so you can go as quickly or as slowly as your child needs through each step.

Lessons are Incremental. AAS breaks every teaching down into its most basic steps and then teaches the lessons in a logical order, carrying the students from one concept or skill to the next. Each step builds on the one the student has already mastered.

AAS uses specially color-coded letter tiles. Working with the All About Spelling letter tiles can make the difference between understanding or not understanding a concept.

The lessons are scripted, so you can concentrate on your child. The script is very clear, without excess verbiage. We also have a Letter Tiles app that can be used in addition to or instead of the physical tiles.

AAS has built-in review in every lesson. Some children need lots of review in order to retain concepts, while others don’t need as much–so you are free to adjust this to your child’s need. Your child will have a Spelling Review Box so you can customize the review. This way, you can concentrate on just the things that your child needs help with, with no time wasted on reviewing things that your child already knows.

Lastly, we offer a one-year money-back “Go Ahead and Use It” guarantee. If the program does not meet your needs, return it at any time within one year of purchase for a full refund of your purchase price even if it is used. Marie never wants anyone to feel “stuck” with a purchase.

I hope this gives you an idea of All About Spelling’s focus and approach. However, I’d love to help you with any further questions you may have.

Shai,
Let me know if you have any questions or need more information. You may find the video on our main page helpful.

Nancy,
You may find our blog post 12 Reasons Teachers Love All About Reading and All About Spelling helpful. Please let me know if you have any questions or need additional information.

Sherry,
Marie has tutored teens and this is what she recommends:

Follow the new-concept lessons in the Teacher’s Manual, which include flashcard review, “Change the Word,” Activity Sheets, Fluency Practice, and reading aloud to your student. Approximately every other lesson is a “new concept” lesson, and every other lesson is a “read a story” lesson.

In the Activity Book, you can skip the activities that your students might think are too young, but some of the activities in the upper levels would be more acceptable; you can evaluate as you go. They are there to provide fun review activities for those that would need and enjoy them. As we state in the Teacher’s Manual, the activity sheets aren’t necessary for older learners; however, the fluency practice pages and warm-up sheets in the activity book are necessary for helping to build smooth, fluent reading.

Marie and many tutors include the readers, too. The readers become “older” as you progress. With regard to the level 1 readers, sometimes it depends on the student. We’ve talked to tutors of adults, and the adult students are so happy to be able to read a story that they are thrilled to read the level 1 readers. They don’t mind the content. But if you are dealing with a “cool” teen, you might want to stick with the fluency practice pages and warm-up sheets and wait until you get to the higher readers. We use realistic line-drawings with soft color pencil to appeal to the widest age-range of students.

You also don’t have to use the letter tiles if your student would find these too childish (though some older students do still enjoy them). They are a scaffolding step, but older students don’t always need them. You can use underlining while writing on paper or a whiteboard, or colored markers, to show when letters are working together as one phonogram. We also now have a Letter Tiles app, which often appeals to older students.

I hope this helps but please let me know if you have additional questions.

You are welcome, Kate. The Orton-Gillingham approach has been shown to be effective with all kinds of learners. You may find our blog post Real Moms, Real Kids: English Language Learners useful, as it details one mother’s success using All About Reading and All About Spelling to help her children master English.

If you have any questions, just let me know!

I’m so sorry your grandson’s self-esteem is being affected, Catherine! Poor guy.

Both All About Reading and All About Spelling are Orton-Gillingham based, which is a proven approach for helping students with dyslexia and other learning disabilities. It’s also the approach that the International Dyslexia Association recommends. The author of AAR and AAS, Marie Rippel, is a member of the International Dyslexia Association and has instructed graduate-level courses in Orton-Gillingham Literacy Training offered through Nicolet College in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. She is also a member of Pro Literacy, has previously served on the Board of Directors of the Literary Task Force in Wisconsin, and tutored students for more than 20 years. If you haven’t had a chance to watch their story about her son’s struggles, you may want to check that out (they were told he would never read). It’s quite amazing!

You might like to visit our Dyslexia Resources Page.

Here are some ways that All About Reading and All About Spelling can help kids with learning difficulties:

– Each lesson time is simple and explicit and will include 3 simple steps: the review of what was learned the day before, a simple new teaching, and a short practice of that new teaching.

– Incremental lessons. AAR and AAS break every teaching down into its most basic steps and then teach the lessons in a logical order, carrying students from one concept or skill to the next. Each step builds on what the student has already mastered.

– AAR and AAS are multisensory. Research has shown that when a child is taught through all three pathways at the same time, a method known as simultaneous multisensory instruction, he will learn significantly more than when taught only through his strongest pathway.

– AAR and AAS use specially color-coded letter tiles. Working with the letter tiles can make the difference between understanding or not understanding a concept.

– AAR and AAS are scripted so you can concentrate on your student. The script is very clear, without excess verbiage.

– AAR and AAS have built-in review in every lesson. Children with learning difficulties generally need lots of review in order to retain concepts. With AAR and AAS, your grandchild will have a Review Box so you can customize the review. This way, you can concentrate on just the things that he needs help with, with no time wasted on reviewing things that he already knows.

– All About Reading has lots of fluency practice. One of the things that Marie noticed when she was researching reading programs is that few programs have enough review built in for kids who struggle to gain fluency. AAR has fluency sheets or a story to be read with every lesson, so children can practice reading smoothly with expression and confidence.

– All About Spelling has a gradual progression for increasing the student’s stamina and fluency in writing, from words and short phrases in Level 1, to phrases and short sentences in Level 2, to 12 dictation sentences per step in Level 3. Partway through Level 3, the Writing Station activity is introduced. In this exercise, students write sentences of their own that they make up using some of their spelling words. In this way students have begun to use words in a more real-world context through dictation and writing, to help them transition to longer writing assignments.

All About Reading and All About Spelling have a one-year guarantee. You can try them, and if for any reason you feel that they aren’t the right match for your grandchild, return them for a full refund.

Lastly, we recommend working All About Reading and All About Spelling for just 20 minutes a day in each. This makes it possible to work in AAR and AAS around his school schedule.

I hope this helps. Please let me know if you have additional questions.

TerraBeth,
Yes, our programs have been very successful in classrooms! Our blog post, 12 Reasons Teachers Love All About Reading and All About Spelling, will have a lot of information and downloads to help you. I have also emailed you.

You are welcome, Thomas.

Amy,
Yes. We cover phonemic (phonological) awareness from even before reading, with our Pre-reading level of All About Reading. We also work on these skills with reading and spelling in All About Reading and All About Spelling.

Did you have any specific questions I could address?