All About Spelling (AAS) comprises six levels, of which I reviewed the first five.   Level Six should be available in spring of 2010. This intensive, multisensory program teaches the entire Ayres word list (a list of the 1000 most frequently used words, compiled by Leonard Ayres in 1915), plus many more commonly-used words, using seventy-two phonograms and assorted spelling rules and generalizations. This approach is called the Orton-Gillingham method.

AAS uses direct instruction--clear, scripted lessons that involve plenty of interaction between parent and child. The program is multisensory; students see letters, phonograms, and words (visual), segment words into their individual sounds and syllables (auditory), and write words using both letter tiles and pencil and paper (kinesthetic). The program also teaches students four main spelling strategies and several minor ones. The major strategies are phonics, spelling rules, visual memory, and word meanings. The minor strategies are dictionaries and spell checkers, reading tips, "troublemaker" strategies, mnemonics, and a personal resource list.

The heart of the AAS program is the teacher's manual and student material packet for each level. Each teacher's manual has between twenty-four and twenty-eight lessons. The author, Marie Rippel, suggests working on each lesson for about fifteen minutes a day until you feel your child has mastered the new material. A lesson may take a day, a week, or longer, depending on your child. Ms. Rippel advises shorter, more frequent lessons rather than longer, infrequent lessons.

Starting with the second lesson in Level One, each lesson begins with a brief review to help children internalize previous concepts using word analysis, word banks, and flashcards.   Word analysis involves looking carefully at a previous spelling word (or words) and reviewing a particular rule, generalization, syllabication pattern, or other special spelling strategy. Word banks are groups of words organized by similar vowel teams; frequent reading of these word banks help children develop visual memory of the correct way to spell many common words. There are four kinds of flashcards included in each student material packet: phonogram cards, sound cards, key cards, and word cards. These cards are printed on perforated cardstock and must be folded and torn apart. Phonogram cards have a phonogram on the front ( g, for example) and the sounds and key words on the back (/g/, /j/, goat, gem).   Sound cards prompt the child to write a sound; for example, the teacher may ask the child to write the phonogram that says /g/, /j/, and the child writes the letter g. Key cards drill spelling rules and generalizations; for example, " G may say /j/ before ____?"   (The answer is e, i, or y.) Finally, the word cards include all the main list words taught in each level. The cards for each level included labeled dividers and fit nicely into a standard-sized recipe box.

Next comes the new teaching. Each lesson begins with a clear explanation of the new concept and tells you exactly what materials you will need. Each list includes ten main words. Words that are similar are taught together, unlike other Orton-Gillingham spelling programs that seem to throw a lot of unrelated words at children all at once. Children spell words using the tiles first, and then write them on paper. The sturdy, laminated tiles must be cut apart--a paper cutter comes in handy here. Magnets are available separately if you want to use the letter tiles on a large, magnetic white board. A tabletop will also work perfectly fine, the only downside being that you have to set up the letters every day. Using letter tiles allows children to focus on spelling without having to worry about handwriting right away.   They also give children good practice with alphabetization skills as they pull down and put back each letter in sequence. The tiles are also used to analyze review words at the beginning of many lessons. The different colors used for vowels, consonants, and various letter teams really helps children see and understand phonics and spelling generalizations. These letter tiles are a lot of fun and provide some variety to spelling lessons, but if your child does not like using them, the author recommends using paper and pencil instead.

Finally, some kind of reinforcement is provided at the end of every lesson--more related words that are not on the Ayres list, phrases, or sentences for dictation. Beginning in Level Three, a writing station suggests ideas for practicing new words in original sentences. In addition to the Ayres words and other related words, important concepts that are included in the All About Spelling program are syllable types, alphabetization, contractions, abbreviations, dictionary skills, plurals, homophones, and prefixes and suffixes.   

The student material packets include all the flashcards, letter tiles, and any other materials necessary to teach that level. Ideally, each child would have his own packet so you can customize his review work; however, this may not be practical for large families. In addition to the flashcards and letter tiles, each student material packet includes a variety of special materials. All levels come with a progress chart and completion certificate. Level One includes tokens for helping children learn to segment a one-syllable word into its individual sounds. Levels Two and Three provide syllable tags to help children learn to identify the main types of syllables: open, closed, vowel team, R-controlled, and consonant + le. Levels Two and Three also include a jail for "rule breakers." Word banks and syllable division charts are included in Levels Two through Five. Level Three also comes with a Silent E book, suffix tiles, homophones list, 1-1-1 Rule chart, and an ED word sheet. Level Four also contains a spelling strategies chart, prefix tiles, and a Y word sheet. Finally, Level Five also includes an alphabetizing word sheet, Make It Plural book, and a Doubling Rule chart. These special materials make the lessons interesting and memorable. My children particularly enjoy throwing rule breakers into jail! Many of these special materials are transferred from one level to the next, so you will need to purchase the previous student material packets if you did not begin with Level One.  

A phonogram CD-Rom is an optional aid. The phonograms are grouped in similar categories and color-coded according to the letter tiles. Simply click on the phonogram to hear it clearly enunciated. This is a no-frills CD-Rom and probably won't be necessary for most people. A full set of phonogram cards is also available separately, in case you didn't start at Level One, or if you want to introduce all seventy-two phonograms from the beginning. Otherwise, phonograms cards are provided in the level in which they are first introduced. Once you reach Level Five, you will have accumulated the entire set of seventy-two cards.

The AAS lesson plans are very clear and easy to follow, and the book layout is superb. Best of all, no special training is required to use AAS, unlike other Orton-Gillingham programs. Simply open the book and get started--you will learn what you need to know when you need to know it!  

I see only one drawback to the excellent program. You have to do a fair amount of juggling materials between the teacher's manual, tiles, and each set of flashcards, especially if each child has his own set of materials. Because my time and finances are limited, I am using only one set of materials with my two youngest children. It seems to be working fine, and both boys are improving dramatically in their spelling ability.  In addition, parents need to understand that this is a teacher-intensive program and not something that you just hand to your child to do on his own.         

I have always appreciated the Orton-Gillingham approach to spelling and reading, but the other programs I tried were too complicated and required special training.  I use Phonics Pathways to teach my children to read, so I really just needed something to reinforce phonics and teach spelling. All About Spelling is just what I was looking for. Highly recommended!