ACQ Vol 11 no 2 2009

55 / 68

ACQ Volume 11, Number 2 2009 117
need to be guessed. The plan is to give the client power – to
show them that there are rules and that they can figure out
words! When that understanding is clear, I introduce irregular
words and explain that some words don’t follow the rules,
and they just have to be remembered. I work on a few at a
time (say five words), reading them if necessary, including
them in dictated sentences and asking them to weave them
into their daily writing.
9 My stopwatch
Part of reading well is reading quickly and automatically. I
often ask clients to time themselves reading lists of individual
words. While it isn’t for every client, it does provide great
practice and a very concrete indication of learning and
success. You’d be surprised how motivating it is for many
people to try to beat the clock and improve their times. I aim
for 1 word per second, with no more than two errors over 60
words.
10 Spontaneous writing
This is one of the most useful intervention tasks I have. I
always ask clients to read and spell single words, but I also
ask them to write something (anything!) every day. With
adults, we choose something relevant to them, like letters to
family, notes to teachers, rules to their favourite sports
games – whatever they want. After they write, they must
proofread what they have written. After all, they are the ones
who will be responsible for making sure their writing is
correct. I’ll give them the tools to proofread with (rules on
how the writing system works), but proofreading makes
them put the rules in action. It also gives them power – if
they know they can edit and correct their own work, they
can have confidence in their writing.
this concept might not be fully understood, and visual aids
are often helpful. Available from:
7 Megawords: Multisyllabic Words for
Reading, Spelling, and Vocabulary
The Megawords series offers a systematic, multisensory
approach to learning the longer words encountered from
fourth grade on. Word lists build sequentially on phonic and
structural elements. Lists are alphabetically sorted,
separating practical spelling words from less-common
words. Words are broken down into syllables which are then
combined into whole words that are used in context to
increase reading and spelling proficiency. This structured
approach makes longer, complex words less intimidating.
The workbooks teach students word attack strategies that
they can apply to sounding out unfamiliar multisyllabic words.
I like this series because it breaks down multisyllabic
words into manageable chunks. It suits adults well because
it uses multisyllabic words to teach the basics that apply to
single syllable words without tying up time working through
single syllable words that the adults might be able to read
by sight anyway. I often use the word lists with my own
activities, but the worksheets can also be useful. Finally, it
has great teachers’ guides which clearly show how to work
on the syllable, the word, then the sentence level for reading
and spelling. Available from: Educators Publishing Service;
8 List of irregular words
Gallistel, E., Fischer, P., & Blackburn, M. (1977). GFB
Sequence of objectives for teaching and testing reading in
the concept transfer sequence . Hamden, CT: Montage
Press.
This absolutely fabulous resource is unfortunately out of
print, but any word list with common irregular words will do.
Just make sure that there are no regular words on the list!
I like to teach irregular words separately from regular
words, to reinforce that they are different: they don’t follow
regular patterns, and they have to be learned by rote. Since
so many adults have learned whatever they have learned
by sight, I avoid irregular words until I am confident that they
understand that regular words can be decoded and don’t
Correspondence to:
Karen Smith-Lock, PhD
Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science,
Macquarie University, North Ryde,
NSW 2109
email:
Look out for the following
upcoming issueS of ACQ :
November: Mental Health
March: Motor Speech Disorders
July: Working with Families