Figuring out how to help kids learn to spell can be confusing. If you've ever helped one of your kids or students spell a word, only to have them forget what you taught them the next day, you know what I mean. The challenge is that if kids don't automatically catch on to reading skills, they get further and further behind as the years go on. That makes it hard for them to keep up in school, and over time they start to dread going. No one wants their child or their students to be in that situation. While a lot of curriculums are getting pretty good at addressing early phonics skills, there are some other essential skills that aren't emphasized as much. But addressing these skills can make all the difference. That's why in episode 28 of the Are they 18 yet? ™ podcast, I talk about: ✅The commonly overlooked skills that kids need to read/spell longer, more difficult words. ✅Why you shouldn't assume that certain words are "too difficult" for your kids to spell (even if they're struggling readers). ✅Why referring to difficult spellings as "exceptions" that "don't follow the rules" does kids a disservice. ✅Specific concepts you can teach kids to help them read more fluently and improve reading comprehension. ✅Why "memorizing" spelling words doesn't work for struggling readers (and what to do instead). In this episode, I mention a blog post called "What is texting doing to reading and spelling skills?" where I dive further in to this conversation. I also talk about my Word Study Toolkit, which offers a set of definitions and concepts you can use to help build the skills kids need to be fluent readers and spellers. The De Facto Leaders podcast was formerly the “Are they 18 yet?®” podcast. As of November 2022, the name of the show has changed, and we’ve shifted from a focus on parenting to a focus on supporting clinicians and educators to design effective services for kids (but parents are still welcome to listen). Episodes published before November 24, 2022 will still contain some of our old branding. 
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