Lesson One: Torn Pieces of Paper
Spelling together is a process and we will have to go through some steps to get good at it. Along the way we will develop our relationship, and that’s the best part.
To start with, ask me a question using torn pieces of paper, as in the video below. Call out what you are writing as you write it so we are not relying on my reading skills. Of course I can read, anyone who can spell can read, but acting on what I read is another matter, and choosing an answer is an action.
Place the answers far apart so choosing the correct one is within my motor-planning ability. Motor-planning impairment has long been mistaken for intellectual impairment (Elizabeth Vosseler is brilliant on this point). Our motto for spelling together may well be: “Place the ability to function within my physical ability, but make no intellectual concession whatever.”
This torn-paper technique, which I first learned from Soma Mukhopadhyay, is a very useful adjunct to spelling, and several other parts of this site refer to it.
Let’s practice this several times, moving the pieces of paper around, so that I am not just picking the piece on one side by rote, and then we are ready to move on to: