You have finally obtained a diagnosis of dysorthographia and booked an appointment with the speech and language therapist. Excellent! But you are feeling a certain frustration: after the sessions, nothing really changes at school. Homework remains a battle, spelling marks are stagnating, and you wonder whether you are doing something wrong. The truth is that speech and language therapy alone, without a genuinely coherent network of support, cannot work miracles. This article dismantles the illusions surrounding isolated medical follow-up and shows you the real mistakes to avoid so that your child truly makes progress.
The myth of “the speech and language therapist will sort everything out”
Do not believe that entrusting your child to a speech and language therapist will be enough to “cure” dysorthographia. This expectation, entirely understandable, is one of the most common sources of disappointment. Why? Because dysorthographia is not an illness that is treated in a few weeks, but a lasting disorder of the acquisition and automatisation of spelling.
The speech and language therapist is a crucial professional: they diagnose, they propose strategies, they work on the faulty mechanisms. But one session a week (on average 45 to 60 minutes) cannot on its own offset the child’s daily exposure to situations where they have to write, often under pressure or in a hurry. Spelling is like the piano: one only progresses if one practises regularly, not just once a week in a private lesson.
Dysorthographia is worked on continuously: at home, at school, in everyday life. The speech and language therapist is the conductor of the orchestra, but not the only musician.
Mistake no. 1: isolating the speech and language therapist from the teaching team
Many parents mistakenly believe that it is for the health professional to “deal” with the disorder, and for the school to “adapt” without medical involvement. This separation between the medical and the educational is counterproductive.
Failing to share the speech and language therapist’s observations and recommendations with teachers means leaving your child alone with their difficulties in class. The speech and language therapist cannot attend French lessons. They will never see how your child reacts when the teacher dictates a sentence under time pressure, or how they feel when raising their hand with an answer but thinking, “but I’m going to spell it wrong.”
Here is what you must absolutely not do:
- Keep the speech and language therapist’s report to yourself
- Assume the school “will surely understand” without precise information
- Wait for the speech and language therapist to contact the school themselves
- Think that the Adaptateur Scolaire Référent (ASR) automatically knows the diagnosis
- Ignore the possible synergies between home and school
Good practice: ask the speech and language therapist for a letter summarising the diagnosis, the areas of work and the recommended adjustments. Then propose an exchange (a meeting or an email) between the speech and language therapist, the teachers and the family. This communication triangle is fundamental.
Mistake no. 2: confusing “adaptation” with “abandoning expectations”
The speech and language therapist often recommends adjustments: extra time for tests, use of dictation software or word processing, limiting the copying of lengthy corrections. These adaptations are legitimate and useful. But they must never become an excuse for no longer working on spelling at all.
It is a common mistake: a parent, seeing their dysorthographic child suffer, asks for them to be exempted from dictations, or for their spelling to no longer be assessed. This well-meant overprotection creates the opposite problem: the child does not progress, because they no longer have either a challenge or feedback on their mistakes.
Adaptation must support learning, not sidestep it. For example:
- Poor adaptation: “This child’s spelling is not assessed”
- Good adaptation: “This child may use a spell checker, but must first produce the text themselves and justify their choices”
- Poor practice: Removing all dictations
- Good practice: Offering shorter dictations, with a list of words studied, or in two stages (aloud, then in writing)
Mistake no. 3: neglecting consistency of strategies between home and school
The speech and language therapist teaches your child a strategy: for example, always writing verb endings according to the subject, or asking themselves questions before writing an agreement. But if at home you do not ask the same questions, and the teacher uses a completely different approach, the child is lost. They have to constantly translate from one system to another.
Do not expect identical perfection everywhere, but a minimum of consistency. Ask the speech and language therapist which tools they use (grids, mnemonics, revision steps) and reproduce them at home. Suggest to the school that, for homework, the child can use the same revision grid as in speech and language therapy sessions.
Mistake no. 4: ignoring emotional factors and associated difficulties
A dysorthographic child often suffers from anxiety about written work, poor academic self-esteem, or even a phobia of assessment. The speech and language therapist is a specialist in the spelling disorder, not a psychologist. But they work in a very emotionally dense context.
Failing to take the psychological dimension seriously exposes you to stagnation: even if the child “masters” spelling better in sessions, they freeze on the day of a marked dictation. Do not expect the speech and language therapist to resolve the anxiety, but you, as a parent or member of the educational team, must be aware of it and adapt your approach.
Useful questions to ask:
- Is the child afraid of writing? Of being judged?
- Are there signs of depression, generalised anxiety or excessive perfectionism?
- Could psychological follow-up complement speech and language therapy?
- How can the child be motivated beyond school obligations?
Mistake no. 5: letting home practice slip between sessions
The speech and language therapist suggests exercises to do at home. Often, parents and children commit to them in the first few weeks, then enthusiasm fades. Personal work becomes sporadic, rushed and ineffective. Meanwhile, the weekly session remains the only real moment of structured learning.
You must not:
- Turn the exercises into a punishment or a chore
- Leave the child to work alone, without checking or kind feedback
- Aim for perfection: what matters is regularity, not the perfect mark
- Ignore the child’s exhaustion and overload them with work
But you should establish a routine: 10 to 15 minutes, three to four times a week, in a calm atmosphere with no stakes attached to marks. The speech and language therapist can adapt the exercises so they are less tedious (games, apps, challenges with a brother or sister).
Mistake no. 6: changing speech and language therapist too often, or, on the contrary, persisting without results
Speech and language therapy takes time. A genuine relationship of trust between the child and the professional may take several months to establish. Constantly changing speech and language therapist (“this one isn’t working”) fragments the care and undermines continuity. But conversely, persisting for two years with no progress from a speech and language therapist who does not adapt their approach is time wasted.
Review the situation regularly, every 6 months or year: are the goals being met? Does the child feel better? Is there a positive relationship? If the answer is no on several points, it is reasonable to consider changing professional or adding a complement (a neuropsychological assessment, for example).
Mistake no. 7: forgetting that dysorthographia persists, but rebalances itself
A dysorthographic child will not “get better” in the sense of being cured. As adults, many dysorthographic people retain weaknesses in spelling. It is a neurodevelopmental disorder: one does not “grow out of” it, one learns to live with it.
So you must not nurture the illusion of a miraculous disappearance, but rather build a trajectory in which the child acquires strategies, confidence and adaptive tools (spell checkers, structured proofreading, and so on). The aim is not spelling perfection, but autonomy and serenity when faced with written work.
Good practice for a genuine partnership
For parents:
- Facilitate communication between the speech and language therapist and the school
- Set up a homework routine at home, without excessive pressure
- Observe and note progress (often gradual)
- Support the child’s self-esteem beyond spelling
- Ask the speech and language therapist which strategies to generalise at home
For the educational team:
- Accept the recommended adjustments and apply them consistently
- Acknowledge efforts and progress, even small ones
- Involve the child in defining school adaptations
- Stay in touch with the speech and language therapist and share classroom observations
For the speech and language therapist:
- Propose a clear framework of goals and the duration of follow-up
- Communicate regularly with the family and the school
- Adapt their approach if it is not effective
- Teach the child generalisable strategies, not just exercises in sessions
Conclusion: the speech and language therapist is a partner, not a saviour
Dysorthographia requires a 360-degree approach: medical, educational, psycho-emotional and domestic. The speech and language therapist is a key element, but not the only one. Valuing this professional while recognising their limits is already an important step forward. Real change happens when the child, parents, speech and language therapist and teachers communicate and work in the same direction.
Dysorthographia is lived every day, not only in the speech and language therapy room. It is by accepting this that one builds effective follow-up.
To find out more
- Ameli.fr – The official website of the French health insurance service. There you will find information on speech and language therapy coverage, fees and reimbursements associated with dysorthographia.
- Fédération Française des Associations de Troubles du Langage et des Apprentissages (FFTLA) – An association bringing together parents and professionals. It offers resources for building school-health-family partnerships and practical guides to support.
- MDPH (Maison Départementale des Personnes Handicapées) – The local body that validates requests for adapted schooling (PPS plan, 600-hour plan, etc.) and facilitates formal school adjustments linked to the diagnosis.
