NLP Spelling Strategy: How to Spell Everything, Brilliantly

The NLP Spelling Strategy is Far Better Than “Phonics”

In America, for a few decades, we’ve seen the emergence of “Phonics” as an approach to learning how to spell words.  It happened, for a good reason: because it leads to rapid results with kids who desperately need quick wins in education.  But there was a big cost to this shift.  Its created an epidemic of poor spellers.

If you want your kids or students to become great spellers, or to rapidly correct early bad spelling habits, you need to know something crucial:  Phonics only works well with simple words.  Meanwhile, English is not a phonetic language!  Which means those early easy gains from Phonics are setting kids up with horrible habits.

I’ve always been a great speller. Somehow, I was just wired that way. Maybe I was lucky.

Spellcheckers often miss things I catch. But not everyone has this experience. Some people believe they’re destined to be poor spellers forever, while others know they can improve but don’t know how. Either way, it’s unfortunate.

For those unfamiliar with the NLP Spelling Strategy, it’s a well-known technique in longer NLP training programs. There are essentially two types of spellers: great ones and poor ones. There is one key difference! Great spellers rely on visual memory, while poor spellers tend to spell by sound (phonetically). The good news? Spelling visually (instead of phonically) can be trained, even in people who would identify as lifelong poor spellers!  Anyone can improve, as long as they “do the drills to get the skills.”

The Problem with Phonics

Phonics-based programs like “Hooked on Phonics” have gained popularity because they deliver quick results—at least with simple words. But here’s the issue: English is not a consistently phonetic language. Relying on phonics as a primary spelling strategy sets kids up for failure as they advance into more complex vocabulary.

A classic example of English’s phonetic inconsistency comes from Edgar Allan Poe (or perhaps George Bernard Shaw). Consider the word: “Ghoti.” How would you pronounce it? If you follow English spelling rules creatively, it can actually spell “Fish.”

• “Gh” as in “laugh” – sounds like “F”
• “o” as in “women” – sounds like “i”
• “ti” as in “locomotion” – sounds like “sh”

Ridiculous, right? But that’s English for you! This is exactly why phonics alone is not a reliable long-term strategy for spelling success.

My Own Experience Teaching Spelling

As a parent of an adult who was five years old many years ago, I was in the same boat as many others.  I introduced symbolic and visual word learning to my daughter early on, but either she wasn’t ready, or I wasn’t teaching it optimally (probably the latter!).

She was an incredibly bright young girl (and a very bright adult now!).  Her spoken vocabulary was phenomenal from an early age, she was a natural swimmer, and her artistic abilities have always been impressive.  But when it came to spelling, she wasn’t responding to the visual approach at first. When she entered Kindergarten, she was being taught phonics.  Sure enough, she started developing a passion for spelling, using that method.

So rather than telling her the phonetic approach is wrong, I started supplementing it with the visual NLP Spelling Strategy approach. I’m using her enthusiasm for spelling as a stepping stone to introduce her to a method that will serve her far better in the long run.  I redirected her phonics-based interest and then layered a more effective strategy on top of it.

How the NLP Spelling Strategy Works

First, let’s clarify the difference between the phonetic approach and the visual approach:

• Phonics: Spelling by sounding out a word from start to finish—an auditory strategy.
• NLP Spelling Strategy: Seeing the word visually and recognizing whether it looks right, then feeling good or bad, which is a visual-kinesthetic strategy (V→K). There’s no auditory processing involved in this method.  Inner silence is best.

To learn a word’s correct spelling using the NLP method:

1. Look at the word spelled correctly, forwards and backwards, a few times.
2. Mentally visualize the word both ways.
3. Associate a positive feeling (a sense of certainty or correctness) with the correctly spelled word.
4. When writing, compare what you see on paper to the mental image in your memory. If they match, you feel good. If they don’t, create internal discomfort, prompting correction.

How I Taught My Daughter the NLP Spelling Strategy

After she got excited about spelling, I would make it fun. We identified that there are two ways to spell — “sounding it out” (which she enjoys) and “seeing/feeling it out” (which I’m introducing).

With the “seeing/feeling” method:

1. I wrote the word out correctly, forwards and backwards, on flashcards.
2. I showed each card for just a few seconds, then we both acted as if we feel warm and happy — reinforcing a positive kinesthetic response.
3. After a short break, I asked her to spell the word using the “seeing/feeling” method — writing one letter at a time while comparing it to her mental image.
4. If the letter matched her memory, she reinforced the good feeling. If it didn’t, she pretended to feel “yuck” (I added a bit of humor here to keep it light and fun!).

At first, she defaulted back to sounding things out, since that’s what she knew from school.  But over time, she developed two ways to approach spelling, and we would then practice the NLP Spelling Strategy’s “visual-kinesthetic” method almost exclusively at home.

Why Replacing Phonics with the NLP Spelling Strategy Matters

This is a balancing act. I never want to discourage her passion for learning, but I also want to give her the best possible tools for long-term success. Rather than telling her one method is “wrong,” I provided options. And as she continued to develop, she would then be able to choose the strategy that serves her best.

From what I’ve seen in working with NLP, creating more better options, is often all it takes to create a profound shift in learning ability.

You can find more Strategies of Genius and other advanced learning topics throughout my blog.  Enjoy!