Spelling Power
Readiness Checklist
If your student exhibits the following traits, he should be
able to be placed appropriately on one of the 11 levels of
Flow-Word-Lists and succeed using the basic approaches
described in the Spelling Power program:
Your student
- is able to write each separate letter of the alphabet
from dictation and can write some words without having to
copy them;
- speaks and is able to read on at least a second grade
level;
- can speak clearly and accurately pronounce most English
words;
- has a basic understanding of phonetic principles
(sound-to-spelling correspondences);
- is able to stay "on task" (totally concentrate
on the task at hand) for periods of approximately five
minutes; and
- asks about words and how they are spelled.
If your student does not exhibit all the
above characteristics, you can follow the suggestions outlined
in the Spelling Power manual to help prepare him for
the standard Spelling Power procedures. You may also
wish to adapt the program for him by following the procedures
outlined in the book. Additional suggestions you can use with
your student, while he is developing the needed readiness, are
found in Chapters Three and Five.
One of the key and outstanding aspects of the Adams-Gordon Spelling
Power program is that each student begins exactly where he
needs to begin academically. Then he proceeds at his own
optimal pace to develop spelling skills and master the 5,000
most frequently used and misspelled words. A three-step
process is used in the Spelling Power program to ensure
that each student, who shows readiness, is placed exactly
where he needs to begin. The first of these steps is to
"survey" your student’s ability using the Survey
Test.