Dysorthographia exercise: the sound é – é, er, ez, ai

The sound « é » can be spelt in many ways: « é », « er », « ez », « ai », « et », and sometimes « es » in « les » or « mes ». It is one of the hardest sounds for a child with dysorthographia to spell. Some of these spellings follow grammatical rules, others rely on memory of individual words. Here are exercises to help you find your way.

A sound with many faces

To the ear, « marché », « manger », « nez » and « j’ai » all end with the same sound. Yet they are spelt differently. A child who relies on sound alone cannot choose.

It is therefore important to distinguish two cases. Some spellings depend on grammar, such as « er » for the infinitive or « ez » for « vous ». Others depend on the word itself, such as « nez » or « clé ». We work on these two cases separately. The page mon enfant écrit comme il entend explains why these errors are so common.

Grammatical spellings

Verbs in the infinitive end in « er »: « manger », « jouer ». Past participles end in « é »: « mangé », « joué ». The ending « ez » is used with « vous »: « vous mangez ». These rules are reliable and apply to all first-group verbs.

To choose between « er » and « é », replace the verb with « vendre » or « vendu ». If you can say « vendre », write « er »; if you can say « vendu », write « é ». This works for all verbs ending in -er. The page on choosing between é and er covers it in detail.

The sound é with j'ai and determiners

The form « ai » appears in « j’ai », but also in some verbs in the future and past historic tenses. The determiners « les », « des », « mes », « tes » and « ses » end in « es », pronounced « é ». The conjunction « et » is also pronounced « é ».

These small words are very frequent and are worth memorising well. They can be written on cards, with an example sentence for each. The child reviews them two or three times a week. Mastering them greatly reduces errors in sentences.

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Nouns ending in é

Many nouns end in « é »: « été », « bébé », « café », « liberté ». Feminine nouns ending in « té » or « tié » are often spelt « é », without a final « e », such as « amitié » or « beauté ». This guideline is useful, even though it has exceptions.

Other nouns have particular spellings, such as « nez », « pied » or « clé ». For these there is no trick: they must be learnt. They can be grouped on a poster, with the spelling highlighted in colour. The method used for irregular words suits them well.

Sorting by spelling

A useful exercise is to offer a series of words containing the sound « é » and sort them according to their spelling. The child observes, reads and places them in columns. They notice that certain spellings always appear in the same situations.

You can then ask them to explain why a given word is spelt that way: « it’s an infinitive verb », « it’s a noun ending in -té ». This verbalisation helps them understand and remember. They move from endured spelling to reasoned spelling. The page on grammatical dysorthographia offers further guidance.

Writing sentences

To carry these skills over into writing, dictate short sentences containing several spellings of the sound « é ». For example, « Vous allez manger le gâteau que j’ai préparé ». The child writes it, then justifies each spelling.

Start with very short sentences containing a single difficulty, then gradually make them richer. The child rereads, looking for every « é » sound and checking each one. This targeted rereading is very effective. The page on proofreading presents others.

Seeking help from a speech and language therapist

The sound « é » is often worked on in remedial therapy, as it combines lexical and grammatical spelling. The speech and language therapist can propose a progression suited to the child’s level. The exercises on this page complement this work without replacing it.

You can find a speech and language therapist by town and by disorder in the ProfessionnelsDys directory. Tell them about the most frequent errors your child makes with this sound. The page mon enfant oublie les accords covers related difficulties.