Bonnie, Remember that there is a difference between someone being a bad speller (of which there are many!) and someone who has a disability-related spelling problem. That having been said, you given us a really good strategy for helping students who are having difficulty with spelling, whatever the reasons. One of the reasons that HEARING the word out loud may help is because it allows the student to bring in the auditory modality in reminding them of the sounds (letters) in the word. The reason having the student SAY the word out loud may help is because it gives them tactile feedback -- as they sequence the movements to produce the spoken word, it is a reminder of the order of presentation of the letters. (Interesting side note -- my daughter has cerebral palsy. She cannot speak clearly and so uses sign language to express herself. Her spelling shows exactly this problem. She tends to remember what letters should be in the word -- between her sight memory and saying the word to herself internally -- but she often has those letters jumbled in order because she doesn't have the tactile experience of sequencing them.) Dr. Jane Jarrow