Stareway To Spelling White Logo

What is Stareway To Spelling?

Stareway To Spelling aims to help students - children and adults - with serious literacy problems. It focuses on how to spell and read the 300 most used words in the English language quickly, confidently and accurately.

Astonishingly, these 300 words form 72% of the all the words that we regularly use. The problem with many of the words is that they are not phonetically consistent (that is to say, how a word looks and how a word sounds varies). Anyone who struggles to 'decode' words when reading also struggles to retrieve and ‘encode’ words when writing and spelling. In effect, for struggling readers, the ‘sight’ and ‘sound’ of words do not work well together for them. There is only a weak connection between the two. The neural pathways are not well established so for some, the correct choice of letters and their placement does not come easily.

If the conventional spelling of a word is phonetically consistent, they may not experience any difficulty. They can write it as it sounds. For example, 'not' or 'can' are easy to recall and write (although the similar sounding knot is another matter!). Where students with reading difficulties experience problems in the spelling of words it is with words such as ‘said’ which they may write as ‘sed’ or ‘zed’. They may well have seen the word many times. However, due to their weak image recall, they can only rely on sound to help them reproduce it.

In contrast, for good spellers the connections between sight and sound are well developed. Their neural pathways between the two areas of the brain processing these senses are strong. So, when writing a particular word, they can visualise the shapes and relative positions of the letters clearly.

“I confirm that Lewis has now completed Stareway To Spelling and his spelling age has gone up by 4 years as a result.”
Quote Anchor White
SENCO at a junior school in Essex

WATCH OUR VIDEO TO FIND OUT MORE

In this video, Keda’s son and co-author of Stareway To Spelling, Kelsey Cowling, explains 'What is Stareway To Spelling?'

Who Can Stareway To Spelling Help?

Stareway To Spelling helps children or adults who struggle to spell and read non-phonetic words. That is, words that are not spelt as they sound. For example, enough.

Stareway To Spelling in schools

The Stareway To Spelling manual is ideal for all students aged 7 and upwards.

Stareway To Spelling for adults

Any one of any age can benefit from Stareway To Spelling. It boosts confidence by greatly reducing the ‘embarrassment factor’ weak spellers experience.

It also enhances functional literacy. For example, the ability to fill out a form or a job application, send an e-mail or write a letter.

Common tell-tale symptoms of weak spellers

  • Anyone who struggles to ‘decode’ words when reading.
  • Anyone who struggles to retrieve and ‘encode’ words when writing and spelling.
  • Weak spellers may have seen a word many times but - due to their weak image recall - they can only rely on sound to help them reproduce it.
  • If a word is spelt as it sounds then students may have no difficulty. For example: ‘not’ or ‘can’. However, a word like ‘said’ may be spelt as ‘sed’.
“Stareway To Spelling works! Our Junior School in Bookham, Surrey has been using Stareway for 4 years now. If anyone in the area wants to see how we work, please get in touch!”
Quote Anchor White
Mrs Harrison, Eastwick Junior School, Bookham, Surrey

Why Students Need Stareway To Spelling

The problem many a child and adult face is that although they may be fluent English speakers, the writing and spelling of English is very challenging. That is because the spelling and pronunciation of English is very complex.

There are only 26 letters in the English alphabet, but there are 44 different sounds the alphabet can produce. These 44 different sounds, have 176 different ways they are commonly spelt. In total, there are an astonishing 1,120 different letter combinations for spelling these sounds.

If you compare English to Italian, Italian only has 25 different sounds with only 33 ways to spell those sounds. This makes it far easier for weak readers or dyslexic Italian speakers to learn to read the language.

As you can see by the numbers, with so many different sounds, letter combinations and pronunciation, for weak readers or dyslexic English speakers there any many more pitfalls.

Good Spellers vs Weak Spellers

Good spellers generally have one thing in common: they have good image recall. This means their connections between sight and sound are well developed. They quickly, intuitively, know how to link the sight of a word (written text) to the sound of the word.

When good spellers write a word they can visualize the shape and relative position of the letters clearly. They almost intuitively know how to correctly pronounce and spell a word that may confuse and confound ‘weak’ spellers.

If good spellers are unsure of the spelling of a particular word, they may well write out various versions to see which looks right.

By contrast, weak readers and dyslexics have poor image recall. As a result, they are unable to quickly and intuitively link the sight and sound of a word as efficiently as good spellers.

This is where Stareway To Spelling can help students struggling with their spelling, or with their ability to link the sight of a word to its sound.

What a Student Learns From Stareway To Spelling

Stareway To Spelling ensures a student can remember and recall at will all of the 300 most used words in English.

“But only 300 words!” we hear you cry. “That’s a small and very limited vocabulary, isn’t it?”

To further emphasize the importance and weight of these 300 words, here are some more facts for you about the English language:

  • The 12 most used words make up 25% of our daily use of English
  • The 100 most used words make up 50% of our daily use of English
  • The 300 most used words make up 72% of our daily use of English

It is for this reason Stareway To Spelling focuses on the high-frequency, 300 most used words in English

Once a student masters the spelling of these 300 words, they can correctly be considered ‘literate.’

Furthermore, there is a huge boost in their own self-esteem. They are now competent and confident spellers of the English language. Whereas before they had no rules, no structure, no reference on how to begin to decode and apply the bewildering range of different spelling and pronunciation the English language contains.

How is Stareway To Spelling Taught?

Teach Stareway To Spelling on a 1:1 basis using the unique RAWS process:

Read - Analyse - Write - Spell

We confidently state:

AFTER COMPLETING STAREWAY TO SPELLING STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO READ AND SPELL THE 300 MOST USED WORDS.