Causes of Spelling Weaknesses in Students with Visual Impairment and Teaching Strategies for Spelling Improvement

Spelling is characterized as a basic skill for the children’s writing literacy. A wide range of factors may contribute to the formation and/ or intensification of problems related to teaching writing competencies, so that spellings come with a serious challenge called “invented spelling”. It is also a major concern for teachers and parents of children with visual impairments. Therefore, the current study investigates causes of spelling weakness in students with visual impairment and provides educational strategies for the solution. A descriptive-analytical research method is applied, through a library survey. Psychological problems such as weakness in touch and hearing processing, attention deficiency, and educational topics are some factors leading to lower grades of blinded students. However, the lack of concentration, absence of books in Braille and tendency toward audio devices, writing and reading challenges with Braille and teacher’s poor feedback due to laborious nature for reading and refinement of texts in Braille, inadequate information and weak feedback from the environment, low levels of phonemic awareness, access to mass media just through hearing, lack of access to specialized education for affected students, reliance on remaining visual power, families’ insecurity and resilience towards the use of Braille by their children, and motivational problems are further factors that impose a burdens on psychological difficulties of children with visual impairments. Clear and early diagnosis, using appropriate strategies for memory enhancement, and considering different learning styles and psychological characteristics of each child are certainly useful for these students.