Asma,
Much of the time, when to use 2 or 3 letter phonograms is based on the sounds being spelled. The /th/ sound is spelled with the TH phonogram.

However, many 3 letter phonograms make sounds that are also made by 2 or even 1 letter phonograms. TCH says /ch/, as does CH. DGE says /j/ as do J and G followed by E. IGH says /ī/ (long I) as does multiple other phonograms. There are rules for DGE and TCH. They are used after short vowels, such as bridge and stitch. This is very reliable for DGE, but less so for TCH. There are a few very common words that use CH after a short vowel, such as much and rich. And for IGH, there is no rule to tell us when to use it to spell the long I sound or when to use one of the many other ways (the spelling relates to how the word came into use in England historically).

When multiple patterns are possible for a sound and there are no rules to help, All About Spelling works on building the student’s visual memory for words. First, AAS introduces one pattern many lessons or even levels before introducing others. This way, students are very comfortable with one pattern and the words that use it before starting to work with the next one. Then AAS uses Word Banks to helps students build up how words look. Word Banks are lists of words that use the same pattern. It is helpful for students to learn words together to build connections.

I am sorry I’m not more help. This is a tricky thing about English that takes time to master. Please let me know if you have further questions.

Elly,
That is a good question, but the answer is no, All About Spelling is not patronizing to older students. We have had teens and even adults use All About Spelling to great success!

I think you may find our blog post Using All About Spelling with Older Students helpful. Older students move through the program, especially the lower levels, at a much faster rate than very young students. This blog post describes how you would “fast track” an older student to get them to the higher levels as quickly as they can while still mastering the concepts covered in the lower levels.

Our blog post Real Moms, Real Kids: A Typical Day with AAS details how one mom used All About Spelling with her 15-year-old son.

Please let me know if you have further questions or would like more information how All About Spelling would work with an older student.

Tammy,
We have a lot of tips on Teaching Reading and Spelling to Autistic Children.

It sounds to me that he needs direct and explicit instruction to learn all the letters and phonograms and their sounds. This will help him with spelling and writing far more in the long term than focusing on rote learning high frequency words. Since he is good at repetitive and rote learning, if someone were to help him to master all the letters and phonograms, he would likely do very well and quickly make progress.

All About Spelling level 1 would get him confident with letters and phonograms and would have him spelling words like bat easily in little time.

I hope this helps. Please let us know if you have further questions.

Nancy,
Yes, some students do struggle to hear all the sounds in words. Rhyming is just the beginning, however, of all the different ways phonological awareness can be practiced and built upon.

Great to hear, Yolanda!

Belindah,
Yes, we do recommend that most students start with level 1 to build a strong foundation in spelling.

All About Spelling is a building block program with each level building upon the previous one. The rules and concepts learned in Level 1 are applied in Level 2, and then those are applied in Level 3, and so on. Placement for spelling is based on the student’s knowledge of spelling rules and concepts rather than grade level, reading level, or the words a student has memorized.

For example, we find that many students simply memorize easy words like “cat” and “kid” but have no idea why one uses a C and the other uses a K, or that the same rules that apply to these words also apply to higher level words such as “concentrate.” Other students switch letters or leave out letters entirely. This usually occurs because they don’t know how to hear each sound in the word. Level 1 has specific techniques to solve these problems.

The article Should We Start in Level 1 or Level 2? has more information on the concepts taught in level 1 and will help you decide the appropriate starting level.

Level 2 of AAS focuses on learning the syllable types, when they are used and how they affect spelling. This information is foundational for higher levels of spelling. Three syllable rules are introduced in Level 2, and then more in Level 3 and up. For this reason, we don’t recommend starting higher than level 2.

We encourage parents and teachers to “fast track” if the student knows how to spell most of the words but does not understand the underlying basic spelling concepts. In this case, very quickly skim the parts that he already knows and slow down on the parts that he needs to learn. Pull out several words as examples. Make sure he understands the concept being taught, and then move on. This blog article has a good example of how you might fast track.

JoAnne,
Having children read books from months ago is a great way for them to be able to see the progress they have made! Thanks for sharing this idea.

Thank you for taking the time to share your journey with your son. It’s wonderful to know that we have a part in him having success in reading and spelling!

Sherry,
Segmenting is very important in helping spellers hear every sound in a word and in the correct order. A child that segments a word first (even to herself) won’t confuse from and form, for example.

What part of segmenting does she find babyish? Maybe she would feel better if you explained that even adults segment a word to themselves when they need to think about how to spell it (I segment automaticity to myself every time I need to use the word).

Kimberly,
I’m not sure if you asking for which level to start in All About Reading or in All About Spelling. However, a student that is struggling to sound out words would need the focused work on fluency and decoding that All About Reading has.

We have placement tests for All About Reading to help you decide which level would be best. Also, we recommend having your student read the sample stories from the previous level online as a further confirmation. You want your student to be reading fluently with good comprehension before going to a higher level.

Level 1 sample story
Level 2 sample story
Level 3 sample story
Level 4 sample story

Evaluate (without correcting your student) for the following…

Your student’s ability to decode the words in the story.
Your student’s ability to comprehend the story.
Could your student fluently read the story with expression?
Did your student understand the words from a vocabulary standpoint?

If your student places into All About Reading 1, you may wish to focus mostly on the fluency sheets and letter tile exercises, as the activity sheets may seem young to an older student. However, as you move up the levels they may be more age-appropriate; you can evaluate as you go. The activities 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 pages in the activity book will be very helpful for a student struggling to read fluently and smoothly.

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

Juli,
I just wanted to let you know that we have an excellent one-year guarantee policy. 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.