Approximated spelling is not gibberish.  It is a child's best attempt to 
spell using the decoding skill they have available.  Many documented 
cases support this idea of approximated spelling (though it is called 
invented spelling but that is incorrect...it is not invented it is 
approximated and is temporary).
A girl in my class is an emergent reader.  I wanted to know just what 
here skill level was so I had her tested by the reading specialist in 
our building.  She knows most letters, most sounds, and can write many 
simple words that she has memorized.  If a word is purely phonetic she 
can write most of it (usually the beginning consonant and the ending 
with a few sounds in the middle).  In the test we gave her there was 
this sentence:
"The bus is coming. It will stop here to let me get on."
She was asked to write the words of the story.  It was read at normal 
speed and then slowly.  Here is what she wrote:
V
BHS
CM
IT
SIP
HR
TO
LHT
M
GT
IN
She wrote in column fashion like this.  When looked at closely the 
approximated spellings reveal something of her decoding skills. 
"The bus is coming. It will stop here to let me get on."
  V  BHS /    CM    IT   /   SIP  HR  TO LHT M  GT  IN
I can't explain it all but bhs for bus is simple.  She heard the /b/ 
sound in the beginning, the /h/ sound in the middle, and the /s/ sound 
in the end.  
In the word coming she knew /c/ and /m/ were in the word so she wrote 
what she knew.  
Notice that in "let" she wrote H because she heard the /h/ sound.  I 
understand that /l/ /e/ /t/  said in isolation and then together should 
produce "let."  But so do /l/ /h/ /t/.  The reading specialist said this 
is very common.
Now eventually I would show this girl that "lht" is spelled "let"  I 
wouldn't wait long either because this girl will be able to handle being 
corrected.  However, I firmly believe that I won't need to correct her 
misunderstanding of this particular word because as she refines here 
phonetic knowledge and as she has many more experiences with the printed 
word, she will learn this word on her own.  I will let you know how her 
development progresses (if you are interested) since this is the first 
time in kindergarten I have had an emergent reader of this skill level 
so early in the year.  I am very excited and fully expect here to be 
reading at a functional first-grade level before the end of the school 
year.
Dan  
CMPQwk 1.42 445p
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