his knowledge of the English language to his life. The third “is that individualsmake few, if any, random spelling errors. Each incorrect spelling has a cause, whetherfrom carelessness or from insufficient or erroneous knowledge about the writtenlanguage” (Hodges 420). There are not many random spelling errors. If a studentmakes an error it is usually based on what he has learned before and bases the spellingof an unknown word on his previous knowledge. Susan Glazer writes, “ New youngwriters spell fish as fs, fes, feshe, and sometimes fx....confirming the fact that matching 3 letters with sounds can have more than one result.” (100) If teachers make studentsapply their spelling knowledge to reading and writing, teach definitions along withspelling, and correct their students spelling mistakes then the students will all besuccessful spellers.Two studies were performed in which the results proved that children withlearning disabilities need different instruction in comparison to children withoutlearning disabilities. The first study researched the use of spelling strategies byelementary students with learning disabilities. Four elementary school students withlearning disabilities were used in this study and were interviewed in a group andindividually. A spelling test and a writing activity were used to determine what type ofspelling strategies were used by these students. “While one of the students discussedusing a rule based strategy, almost all of the other comments students made regardinghow they attempted to spell words and how they tried to correct misspelled wordsshowed that they used inappropriate strategies almost exclusively” (Darch, Soobang,Johnson, James 19). This study shows that teachers must place importance on teachingthese students specific strategies for all types of word types and must show thesestudents how to apply the spelling strategies they learn. The se...
