It Is Up To Me

A Student & Tutor's Text, for use on dyslexics and non-dyslexics, by parents, spouses, or friends.

It is a tutor's book that can be used by anyone who can read this paragraph. It also contains the student's response pages. It is especially good to use to help an older child or adult. It uses the same basic format as Sequential Spelling 1 - except it has the sentences to be read along with the word to be spelled. Just as in Sequential Spelling 1, the students get to correct their own mistakes immediately. This way they quickly learn that "Mistakes are opportunities to learn." There are student response pages for the first 60 lessons included in the back of the book as well as listings of all the phonic patterns that need to be taught and a comprehensive listing of the "insane" words from the extremely common was and does to the everyday or any day words such as solder, lingerie, and yacht, to the sophisticated victuals, i.e., lough and quays.

What is the difference between Sequential Spelling 1 and If it is to be it is up to me to do it?

As this is based on the original Sequential Spelling 1 when it was a 5 level series, the two are basically equivalent to each other. The difference lies in the number of sentences used. Sequential Spelling 1 has sentences only for the first seven lessons as opposed to the first sixty lessons in If it is to be...

Which do you recommend?

The older the child is the more I prefer using If it is to be it is up to me to do it. Basically, from 11 years old on up, I think this book is more appropriate and does a slightly better job of improving self-image quickly.

If I choose this program, where do I go next?

Either Sequential Spelling 2 or 3, and perhaps, The Tricky Words, Speech to Spelling, or The I Before E Set.

Great for Adult Literacy Program:

If an adult literacy tutor has a family member of his student using this program daily with him, the literacy tutor's weekly or bi-weekly tutoring becomes more than doubly effective. Why? Because it ensures that between tutoring sessions the student does some reading and writing daily.

It is designed to prove to the student that he isn't dumb. It builds self-confidence as the student learns that he can learn without studying! This book is the most effective tool AVKO has ever developed to promote literacy skills and develop self-esteem simultaneously.

Before starting on the program, the student is asked to attempt the spelling of the word scatters on a page in the book. Most students with dyslexia or related reading/spelling problems will misspell the word. One such common misspelling is skadr. The tutor merely tells the student that when he gets to the lesson that has that word, he will spell the word correctly. The following is from Lesson five.

scatters
12. If your brother scatters your toys, just tell me about it. Don't beat him up.

Check your student's spelling of the word scatters. If he has it right, show him his misspelling on the bottom of page 109 (Lesson 1). Praise him for learning a word without ever having had it shown to him. If by chance, you student misspelled scatters, just have him correct his spelling. Wait until tomorrow when he gets to spell the word scattered or the following lesson when he gets to spell scattering. We bet he will have learned it by then. Praise him. Let him know that he is learning the natural way, by correcting his own mistakes.