Resources for Children with Special Needs
Different special needs present different sets of reading challenges. If your child has been recently diagnosed with a learning disability or spectrum disorder, or exhibits signs and symptoms, rest assured, we can help. VocabularySpellingCity caters to your child’s specific needs and helps develop spelling, vocabulary, writing, and reading comprehension skills.
Different special needs present different sets of reading challenges. If your child has been recently diagnosed with a learning disability or spectrum disorder, or exhibits signs and symptoms, rest assured, we can help. VocabularySpellingCity caters to your child’s specific needs and helps develop spelling, vocabulary, writing, and reading comprehension skills.
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What is ADD/ADHD and How Does it Affect Spelling?
ADHD, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, is a medical condition that affects children’s ability to stay focused. ADHD does not present itself the same way in every child. In fact, there are three subtypes of ADHD: ADHD Predominantly Hyperactive/Impulsive; ADHD, Predominantly Inattentive (formerly known as attention-deficit disorder, ADD); and ADHD, combined.
The biggest difference between ADD and ADHD is that children with ADHD are hyperactive, so they demonstrate restless behavior. While children with ADD may often seem to be in their own world.
Symptoms of ADHD Hyperactive/Impulsive include:
- Fidgeting and squirming
- Difficulty waiting their turn
- Interrupting others
- Talking excessively
Symptoms of ADHD Inattentive (Formerly known as ADD) include:
- Distraction
- Forgetfulness in daily activities
- Failure to finish tasks
- Difficulty organizing tasks
Missing Letter is a letter recognition game to practice figuring out which letter is missing from each word.
What is Autism and How Does it Affect Spelling?
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by difficulties in language development, social communication, and social interaction. Autism is a spectrum disorder and affects each child differently. Other disorders that fall under the autism spectrum are Asperger’s Syndrome, Pervasive Developmental Disorder, and Childhood Disintegrative Disorder.
Autism symptoms generally appear before the age of three. Symptoms range from mild to severe. Behaviors associated with autism include:
- Lack or delay of language
- Difficulty communicating wants and needs
- Repetitive language
- Repetitive motor mannerisms, such as hand flapping
- Little or no eye contact
Children with autism process information differently. For example, children with autism think in pictures rather than words and have trouble committing sequences into memory. Due to these differences, learning how to spell may be difficult.
In Which Initial Sound?, students match the initial sound from their word to the picture of the object whose name begins with the same initial sound.
What is Dyslexia and How Does it Affect Spelling?
Dyslexia is a language-based learning disability that causes problems identifying speech sounds and learning how sounds relate to letters and words.
It is the most common learning disability; however, there are many misconceptions about dyslexia. Contrary to popular belief, dyslexia is not simply categorized by reversing letters when reading or writing. The severity of dyslexia can vary from child to child and can impact reading comprehension, writing, and spelling.
Some of the signs and symptoms of dyslexia include:
- Difficulty sounding out unknown words
- Incorrect use of vocabulary words
- Delayed speech development
- Struggle with rhyming
Dyslexia makes it difficult to isolate sounds in words and matching them to their corresponding letters. So for children with dyslexia, learning how to spell may be more challenging than learning how to read. Children with dyslexia may confuse letters that sound the same, mix up the order of letters in words, and misspell common sight words.
In Rhyme-N-Climb, students listen for a word that rhymes with the word from their list. If it rhymes, they select the thumbs up. If not, the thumbs down.
What are Language-Based Learning Disabilities and How do They Affect Spelling?
Language-Based Learning Disabilities (LBLDs) refer to a range of difficulties in processing or understanding spoken and written language. Dyslexia and dysgraphia are two forms of LBLDs. The severity of an LBLD can vary from child to child.
Children with language-based learning disabilities can have difficulties with:
- Understanding questions and following directions
- Remembering or retelling stories
- Creating sentences
- Learning new vocabulary that is heard or read
- Reading and comprehending ideas
Decoding (reading) and encoding (writing and spelling) can be particularly challenging to children with LBLDs because they may have difficulty identifying sounds that correspond to letters or they may mix up the letters in words.
Sound It Out! lets beginning readers practice letter and sound relationships by clicking the sound blocks in the right order to spell a word correctly.
How We Help Children with Special Needs
Help your child succeed with VocabularySpellingCity, a research-proven tool that boosts vocabulary retention and reading comprehension.
With a Premium Membership, your child gains access to over 40 online learning games and activities that:
- Appeal to different types of learners, as children can see, hear, break down, and play with words
- Provide audio cues and visual aids
- Include printable worksheets to supplement spelling and phonics concepts
- Allow them to work at their own pace
- Offer choice over their learning
In addition, VocabularySpellingCity Premium allows you to easily create assignments to provide structured, independent practice. Once your child completes their assignments, you can track and monitor his or her progress.