When teaching my son with Down Syndrome to spell, I have found spelling frames to be an extremely helpful tool. Spelling can be challenging for children with Down Syndrome who struggle with short term memory and handwriting. There is so much involved in spelling: students need to hold the word that they are supposed to spell in their working memory, segment the word into its phonograms, remember the sequence of those phonograms and hold that sequence in their working memory while recalling how to write each letter.

Spelling frames, accompanied with pictures for each word, are a great visual support. These, along with phonogram tiles, have allowed my son to make progress in spelling with confidence and to become increasingly independent.

Here’s how:

First, my son reads each word and segments it (says the sound of each phonogram) while tapping the dots. Then he copies the word. It’s important to point out that consonant teams (such as SH and TH) make ONE sound, even though they are made up of two letters. This is why there are only three dots under the picture of “shop”. There are only three sounds : SH-O-P.

On the second day, he builds the words using phonogram tiles and copies the words onto the spelling frames:

Or, we do side-by-side learning: we segment and write the words together:

The spelling frame boxes help students see how many phonograms/sounds are in each word they are spelling. My son taps each box as he segments a word. The spelling frame boxes also help build the habit of correct placement and spacing of the letters, which is so helpful for children whose independent handwriting skills are still emerging.

On the third day, he segments and spells the words independently on another copy of the spelling frames worksheet.

On the fourth day, he writes the words independently on the blank spelling worksheets like this:

Each spelling lesson includes a review. So, he also completes 1-2 spelling frame worksheets or blank spelling worksheets of previously-learned words.

We use these as a supplement to All About Spelling, but they will work will with any Science of Reading aligned spelling program.

For more details and videos about how we work on spelling, see this post: Teaching Spelling to Children with Down Syndrome.

Spelling Frames for CVC words can be found at Twinkl or you check out my FREE spelling worksheets for CVC words here: Tracing and Spelling CVC words.

Here’s a free sample of the Spelling Frames for Word with Consonant Teams:

You can purchase the complete set of Spelling Frames for Words with Consonant Teams at TeachersPayTeachers.

Stay tuned for more spelling frames coming soon!

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