RE: To I Chant re note from teacher

April 13, 2005

On Apr 9, 2005, at 6:22 AM, Jill Kern wrote:

> This

> same teacher made corrections in all of her students' compositions

> (sometimes crossing the word " definite, " for example, and writing

> " definate " ) and then made them copy out the compositions with the

> incorrect

> spellings in longhand. In spite of this, the same teacher was one of

> my

> son's greatest defenders and protectors, once she understood his

> disability.

> Jill

>

**It is easy to make typos, and sometimes even misspell words. Even

articulate people do this. These things do not reflect upon the

intelligence of the writer. Thankfully people understand that we are

still smart, even if we all make typos and sometimes misspellings, or

even improper use of capitalization. I do think the irony of

complaining over others' mistakes while making the same and worse

mistakes is entertaining. I think these types of mistakes reflect

upon the hurried nature of the writer. There is no connection between

intellect and spelling. Some of the most brilliant people I know are

just not intuitive spellers. And luckily, I am not being judged by the

fact that I consistently mistype " the " as " hte. "

Tina

livin' in Alphabet Soup with:

, 6, AS/HFA , anxiety

Jordan 10, GAD, BP, OCD

Jasmine as NT as it gets, for now

dw to Jon- AS but fixated on computers= $$

" The three most important voices: the voice of your heart, the voice of

your gut and the voice of your child. " -Heidi Lissauer -adult with

autism who has autistic children, as well

April 13, 2005

In a message dated 4/13/2005 9:36:56 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,

mparker72@... writes:

Tina,

I have to disagree on that line. While we all make an occasional typo,

consistent misspelled words shout loudly to me that the person is not as

intelligent as I might have previously thought. As a former editor of kids'

publications, misspelled words jump off the page for me. I can't help but

judge a person (at least somewhat) on their writing. I try not to, but it

comes naturally.

Beth's fourth grade teacher also mispelled words, and it drove me nuts! He

was a very caring man, but I wondered if he was in the right profession,

teaching kids to spell!

maralee

I agree sometimes e rush we don't check etc...

But I don't have a mass degree, that I constantly

shove in parents faces.

to me if you are flaunting the masters degree, and are above reproach,

you should be a wonderful speller.

just my opinion

Joanne

April 13, 2005

> There is no connection between

intellect and spelling. Some of the most brilliant people I know are

just not intuitive spellers.

Tina,

I have to disagree on that line. While we all make an occasional typo,

consistent misspelled words shout loudly to me that the person is not as

intelligent as I might have previously thought. As a former editor of kids'

publications, misspelled words jump off the page for me. I can't help but

judge a person (at least somewhat) on their writing. I try not to, but it

comes naturally.

Beth's fourth grade teacher also mispelled words, and it drove me nuts! He

was a very caring man, but I wondered if he was in the right profession,

teaching kids to spell!

maralee

April 13, 2005

Maralee,

I have a horrible speller for a stepsister. She has an IQ of 165 and went

to Harvard, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. When she writes letters to me, I

wince and say to myself, " Goodness, if I didn't know how brilliant she is

.... " Her handwriting looks like a ten-year-old's, and she often misspells

words. It's maddening. How did she get through Harvard writing like that? I

went to Wesleyan, and if I forgot a comma, I was beaten with a proverbial

buckle. And I'm old enough to have typed all my papers on a Corona

electric typewriter. No memory. Make a mistake, start over.

I'm with you regarding have to wrestle with my own perceptions on this

matter. I worked in communications for 15 years and was a college and

graduate instructor of writing for 3 years. So I do tend to get pretty

worked up when there are really sloppy misspellings and grammatical errors.

Having hired and worked with about a dozen freelance writers over the

years, I did a lot of twitching, let me tell you. Once I read a freelancer

the riot act over this, insisting that we weren't his handmaids, that he

was to hand in clean copy.

And I've taken a lot of classes in creative writing over the years.

Goodness. Spelling is a lost art, and people have Spellcheck, so you would

think this wouldn't be such an issue. With some classmates, I would go head

to head, nudging them to check their work, if only to take pride in

themselves and to make a good first impression. I was never popular for

doing this. I do think that taking care is an important sign and

communicates that one cares about doing things well. Understand, I'm

talking about writers, now, and people who teach writing.

On the other hand, I agree with Tina. Some of my most brilliant classmates

and students were horrible spellers. Like my stepsister. And I worked for a

woman who was dyslexic, and you'd better believe that was no walk in the

park! She is probably the most intelligent person I've ever known.

Thanks for the diversion! I needed to stop obsessing my son and his bruised

and swollen eye! Man, I bet they are having a field day with that at his

school right now. Shudder. I just hope Sasha can have fun at his jogathon

and come home feeling that something went well for him today.

T.

At 11:18 AM 4/13/2005 -0400, you wrote:

>

>In a message dated 4/13/2005 9:36:56 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,

>mparker72@... writes:

>

>Tina,

>I have to disagree on that line. While we all make an occasional typo,

>consistent misspelled words shout loudly to me that the person is not as

>intelligent as I might have previously thought. As a former editor of kids'

>publications, misspelled words jump off the page for me. I can't help but

>judge a person (at least somewhat) on their writing. I try not to, but it

>comes naturally.

>

>Beth's fourth grade teacher also mispelled words, and it drove me nuts! He

>was a very caring man, but I wondered if he was in the right profession,

>teaching kids to spell!

>

>maralee

>

>I agree sometimes e rush we don't check etc...

>

>But I don't have a mass degree, that I constantly

>shove in parents faces.

>

>to me if you are flaunting the masters degree, and are above reproach,

>you should be a wonderful speller.

>

>just my opinion

>

>Joanne

>

April 13, 2005

On Dec 9, 7:14am, Tina Cruz wrote:

} Subject: Re: ( ) To " I Chant " re note from teacher

} even improper use of capitalization. I do think the irony of

} complaining over others' mistakes while making the same and worse

} mistakes is entertaining.

One of the first laws of online communication - any post complaining

about a spelling or grammar error will *inevitably* contain an error

as well.

It does make life interesting. ;-)

Bam's mom

April 13, 2005

On Apr 13, 2005, at 6:37 AM, Maralee wrote:

> Tina,

> I have to disagree on that line. While we all make an occasional typo,

> consistent misspelled words shout loudly to me that the person is not

> as

> intelligent as I might have previously thought. As a former editor of

> kids'

> publications, misspelled words jump off the page for me. I can't help

> but

> judge a person (at least somewhat) on their writing. I try not to, but

> it

> comes naturally.

>

**I completely disagree on this, and Marilyn Von Savant, the woman with

the highest recorded IQ agrees with me. She was recorded at 228, by

the way. Being a good speller simply says you have good rote memory,

and not much else. You can be intelligent and be a good speller. You

can be unintelligent and be a terrible speller. And, there are lots of

shades of grey in between. The judgment you make on others based upon

what you think about their spelling is understandable. But there are

many, many very intelligent, and even brilliant people, who can't spell

well at all. I know this because I am married to one. His IQ is

extremely high, 161, and that was in high school. But he can't spell

well. Thankfully, there are helps, such as spell check and online

dictionaries. Now, ask him to visualize something in 3D, or code a

program and he is amazing. He also would get A+'s in college in

English Lit. He just knows he can't spell, so he takes the time to

avail himself of the helps available to him.

Tina

livin' in Alphabet Soup with:

, 6, AS/HFA , anxiety

Jordan 10, GAD, BP, OCD

Jasmine as NT as it gets, for now

dw to Jon- AS but fixated on computers= $$

" The three most important voices: the voice of your heart, the voice of

your gut and the voice of your child. " -Heidi Lissauer -adult with

autism who has autistic children, as well

April 13, 2005

Having a high IQ does not in any way guarantee that someone is going

to be successful or happy in life. People have differences in

intelligences

but also in talents, abilities, and emotional stability. I

consider my son to be very smart but because of his autism his IQ

test doesn't reflect this. More professionals are realizing that

some kids with disabiities may not be as cognitively impaired as

they once thought just because the testing was not compatible with

the person taking it. An IQ test is just a tool, but shouldn't

define a person.

Lynn

-- In , Tina Cruz <casadecruz@a...>

wrote:

>

> On Apr 13, 2005, at 6:37 AM, Maralee wrote:

>

> > Tina,

> > I have to disagree on that line. While we all make an occasional

typo,

> > consistent misspelled words shout loudly to me that the person

is not

> > as

> > intelligent as I might have previously thought. As a former

editor of

> > kids'

> > publications, misspelled words jump off the page for me. I can't

help

> > but

> > judge a person (at least somewhat) on their writing. I try not

to, but

> > it

> > comes naturally.

> >

>

> **I completely disagree on this, and Marilyn Von Savant, the woman

with

> the highest recorded IQ agrees with me. She was recorded at 228,

by

> the way. Being a good speller simply says you have good rote

memory,

> and not much else. You can be intelligent and be a good speller.

You

> can be unintelligent and be a terrible speller. And, there are

lots of

> shades of grey in between. The judgment you make on others based

upon

> what you think about their spelling is understandable. But there

are

> many, many very intelligent, and even brilliant people, who can't

spell

> well at all. I know this because I am married to one. His IQ is

> extremely high, 161, and that was in high school. But he can't

spell

> well. Thankfully, there are helps, such as spell check and online

> dictionaries. Now, ask him to visualize something in 3D, or code

a

> program and he is amazing. He also would get A+'s in college in

> English Lit. He just knows he can't spell, so he takes the time

to

> avail himself of the helps available to him.

>

> Tina

> livin' in Alphabet Soup with:

> , 6, AS/HFA , anxiety

> Jordan 10, GAD, BP, OCD

> Jasmine as NT as it gets, for now

> dw to Jon- AS but fixated on computers= $$

>

> " The three most important voices: the voice of your heart, the

voice of

> your gut and the voice of your child. " -Heidi Lissauer -adult with

> autism who has autistic children, as well

>

April 14, 2005

Oh, I agree whole-heartedly with this! My son #3 does NOT test well

and his IQ score definitely does not reflect his cognitive or

performance abilities. The medical team who recently evaluated him

were struck immediately by this truth as are the teachers who work

with him on a daily basis. Do not be discouraged if your child tests

low as it may not be an accurate estimate of their potential at all!

And do not allow others who may have access to the test results - such

as guidance counsellors - try to convince you otherwise. Keep to your

guns and follow your instincts.

Velvet

>

> Having a high IQ does not in any way guarantee that someone is going

> to be successful or happy in life. People have differences in

> intelligences

> but also in talents, abilities, and emotional stability. I

> consider my son to be very smart but because of his autism his IQ

> test doesn't reflect this. More professionals are realizing that

> some kids with disabiities may not be as cognitively impaired as

> they once thought just because the testing was not compatible with

> the person taking it. An IQ test is just a tool, but shouldn't

> define a person.

>

> Lynn

April 14, 2005