Dear Dr. Linda,
Our fourth-grader had to write a Halloween story.
Since my wife and I were both wrapped up with family problems, we didn’t have time to check his story before he handed it in. We told him to type it on the computer because spell check would help. Well, it didn’t. For beginners, his story was titled, “The Story of the Wicked Which.” He then put in “for” instead of “four” and “blue” instead of “blew.”
There were other spelling mistakes, but mostly due to homophones. I know homophones are words that sound alike and have different meanings and different spellings. I happen to know this because I always got them mixed up as a kid. I figured little George would have the benefit of spell check, but I was wrong.
Our son is a really conscientious kid, so my wife and I felt bad for him. His teacher took off point after point for each mistake. We called him and he said that he’d go over homophones with the kids. Do you have any little educational secrets on how we can help him learn them?
Best,
-George
P.S. He also reverses “b” and “d” all the time. Do you think between his problem with homophones and his reversals of “b” and “d” he might have dyslexia?
Dear George,
To begin with, reversing “b” and “d” is not a symptom of dyslexia. Dyslexia is having difficulty retrieving the sound that’s associated with the image (the letters) on the page. For years people thought reversing letters like “b” and “d” indicated dyslexia, but it doesn’t. If by 8, a child still reverses letters or numbers, has trouble decoding, and is a poor speller, he may have dyslexia. But reversing “b” and “d” is very common for children and, alone, is not a symptom of dyslexia.
Next, your write! Homophones are tricky! (Yes, that should have been “Next, you’re right).
Here’s my advice. As a family, see how many homophones you can think of and take one a day that your son did not know. Talk about the differences in meaning, and together, come up with sentences that can help him remember them.
Here’s a little quiz to help you get started. Fill in the missing word.
1. The _________________ of the school is Dr. Doe. (principal, principle)
2. Have a ________________ of pie. (peace, piece)
3. Let’s go to __________________ house. (there, they’re, their)
4. __________________ a nice person. (You’re, Your)
5. Use the ___________________ to stop the car. (break, brake)
6. The golfer yelled, “__________________.” (For, Four, Fore)
7. The __________________ flies fast. (plane, plain)
8. Don’t ______________ water! (waist, waste)
9. The table will not move because it’s ______________. (stationary, stationery)
10. That chair is much bigger __________ that chair. (than, then)
11. Pat will eat all kinds of fruits ______________ for bananas. (accept, except)
12. I ate _______ much ice cream! (to, too, two)
13. Joe received many ______________ on his new car. (complements, compliments)
14. You are not ______________ to go to see the show without tickets. (aloud, allowed)
15. _____________ two o’clock in the afternoon. (it’s, its)
16. The __________________ of New York is Albany. (capitol, capital)
17. I’d like to _______________ (by, buy) a new coat.
18. We will _______________ at the corner. (meet, meat)
19. ______________ comes the bride. (Hear, Here)
20. The _____________ ate the leaves. (deer, dear)
Answers: 1. principal 2. piece 3. their 4. You’re 5. brake 6. Fore 7. plane 8. waste 9. stationary 10. than 11. except 12. too 13. compliments 14. allowed 15. it’s 16. capital 17. buy 18. meet 19. Here 20. deer
Happy Halloween to (all, awl),
-Dr. Linda
P.S. To help him remember the “b” and “d”, tell him all he has to do is to think of the upper-case B. The lower-case b is the same letter without the top circle. The lower-case d goes the other way.
If you have any questions, you’d like to share with Dr. Linda, email her at stronglearning.com.
If you have any questions, you’d like to share with Dr. Linda, email her at linda@stronglearning.com.
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