“Hey Mom! Can you come help with my English writing?”
I’m supposed to be doing my own writing – this writing, to be precise – and I’m still knee-deep in grade 9 projects, but he knows I won’t say no. Mr. 13 is an excellent writer – effective vocabulary, interesting sentence structures, good grasp of punctuation – and he is dyslexic. Years of Orton-Gillingham-based tutoring means that he reads well and knows how to make good use of extensions like Grammarly or Language Tool, but when push comes to shove, he still benefits from a once over by someone who’s not dyslexic. Also, he knows I like to read what he writes.
He’s reading his sentences aloud under his breath as I plunk down next to him. “Um… I need a word for like ‘kind of was related to the point but not 100%.'” My eyes widen as I try to figure out what on Earth he’s talking about. “Oh!” he snaps his fingers, “got it: partially!”
He types parsley.
He keeps going, then circles back to fix it. Parshly. Spellcheck suggests harshly as a replacement, so he changes it to parchly – and the new suggestion is archly. “Um, Mom?”
“Partially means ‘in part’ so it starts with the root part,” I say.
“Part isn’t really a root,” he interrupts. Then, “sorry.” He would know. He knows Latin and Greek origins of words; he understands spelling rules in ways I have never had to.
I laugh, “Just start with part.” He does. I break the word down orally so he can hear all the syllables, then I spell. “Now i a l…” I pause because he is looking at me like I have two heads. Finally, I reach over and type the word.
He stares for a long second, then shakes his head in wonder. “There is no way that word looks like /parshully/. I would never have guessed that.”
And he wouldn’t have. Which is why I was so angry last night when I found one of his old math tests where the teacher has circled his attempt at the word “isosceles” and written “Really???” with multiple question marks. He brushed it off – “I mean, she did tell us we had to be able to spell all the terms” – but she doesn’t see how hard he works to spell these words.
But now he’s moved on and is enthusiastically excoriating someone’s weak debate argument. He doesn’t need me again until the end, when I do a check for capital letters and other words that spellcheck didn’t get. This time, he’s mostly good. I ruffle his hair and head back to finish my own work.
I wish all teachers could understand his truth – the kind that looks good on the surface but is working awfully hard to stay afloat. “Isosceles,” I mutter, and his exasperated voice trails behind me, reminding me to let it go. “Mom!”
Persistence and Pedagogy 
Amanda, I felt like I was sitting right there with you two, attempt by attempt. What a helpful reminder of the brilliance in all kids, and the importance of surrounding each writer (and reader) with resources AND someone who gets them. Lucky kiddo!!!
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Thank you! As a teacher and a mother, I wish we could all remember this more often- myself included!
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sorry about the test comments. The Jetpack Reader is giving me a tough time with your blog.
My Ms. 13 & your Mr. 13 have a lot in common right down to knowing those Latin and Greek roots. They help, but only sometimes.
As long as our kids can be thoughtful spellers, having Grammarly and editors (be it us or other peers) will help with the rest of it!
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Amanda,
I wish English teachers—and all others—would get it through their heads that spelling isn’t writing Good grief! I told kids when spelling gets in the way of their ideas they have a problem, and that we need to spell correctly because it makes an impression on our audience. End of rant. Mr. 13 is doing just fine regardless of how he spells isosceles or whatever!
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Ah, this is so true. It’s so hard to dig beneath the surface sometimes to see a kid’s true genius, especially when there’s a learning difference clouding the waters. Glad you’re there to advocate for your son, sounds like he’s got plenty of brilliance working in his favor: “There is no way that word looks like /parshully/. I would never have guessed that.”
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I enjoy your work each day as I get started. Thanks for making the effort.
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I am 100% certain I cannot spell isoscles isosicles isosoles isoscoles correctly. SIGH. I challenged myself to type it without looking back at your post. Clearly I’m not going to get there! I, too, got angry at that “Really???” written in the margins of his paper.
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This post and several of the comments are balm to my soul today. I’ve been sitting a 24 hour waiting period (issued by myself for myself) until I send an email to my son’s English teacher. He brought home another “2+” on an assignment he worked really hard on. He had 3’s in all the right places, but the spelling and grammar dragged him down. He’s frustrated, I’m frustrated, and she’s marking him for things that he shouldn’t be missing marks on because it’s in his assessments that spelling is a major symptom of his learning disability. *sigh*
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This first person unfolds with such rich dialogue and description bringing the reader to your observations and the main point – spelling and grammar are barriers for some – I wonder if his writing could flow with speech to text?
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