Dygraphia strategies link

Came across interesting dysgraphia link with a comprehensive list of symptoms and strategies. If you're worried about your child, or yourself for that matter it might be useful to take a look at the list. If you've already received a dysgraphia diagnosis the strategies could be of interest. There are 41 writing strategies listed. And here, handily, are the spelling ones:
Strategies For Spelling Difficulties:

1. Encourage consistent use of spell checker to decrease the overall demands of the writing task and encourage students to wait until the end to worry about spelling.
2. Encourage use of an electronic resource such as the spell check component in a Franklin Language Master® to further decrease the demands.
3. Have the student look at each word, then close their eyes and visualize how it looks, letter by letter.
4. Have the student spell each word out loud while looking at it, then look away and spell it out loud again several times before writing it down.
5. Have the students break the spelling list down into manageable sections of only 3 to 5 words. Then take a break after mastering each section.
6. Have a scrabble board and computer accessible for affected students

Bravo to whomever gave such comprehensive thought to this topic!

Neo keyboard writing and spelling game

We have been experimenting with the Alpahsmart Neo keyboard further, to much success. It's a very handy device to prompt output. An interesting game to try is typing messages to each other. My child is particular responsive to this. So a parent or sibling types a question or comment, then passes the keyboard to the child and the child types a reply. Usually it's just fun messages like: do you want a cup of tea? Who do you think will win the hockey tonight?

Today we tried an alternative with a spelling angle. I would deliberately type mistakes in my messages and see if my child could spot them. It's much easier to spot spelling errors when it's someone elses message.

The other thing I like about the NEO is it's so light, so it's like handing over an average sized book and the keyboard is manageable for small fingers because the keys are bigger.

This exercise also works very well with pen and paper, but use the keyboard when the child is fatigued and doesn't feel like writing, or if you want to get some typing practice in.