Spelling to a beat

The other day, I noticed that Aidan had misspelled "parce que" in one of his sentences completed in class.

We drove to Ron Andrews Rec Centre to pick up Austin from his Bronze Medallion course. Aidan brought his sidekick with him - his trusty basketball. He was hoping to have a few minutes to practice with me, before Austin came out of the pool.

As I was parking the car in the parking lot beside an empty space, I asked Aidan to spell "parce que." He started with P-A-R-C, then paused. He added an "S" to the end. I told him there's no "S" in "parce que." Then, I asked him what he could do to the "C" to make it sound like an "S." He suggested an accent, and I agreed that was one way, but there are no accents in "parce que," either.

By this time, Aidan had hopped out of the car and began to dribble. I asked him to tell me the name of his basketball team, and he said, "the Celtics." Then, he said, "Oh! I need to add an "S." Then I asked him to listen to the sounds in the name, "Celtics," and he could distinguish the hard "C" before the "S." So, I asked if he knew how to spell, "Celtics," and he said he didn't. So I spelled, C-E-L-T-I-C-S and asked him if he knew, now, what letter could follow the "C" to make it sound like an "S." He answered, "E."

And through this entire conversation, he was dribbling the ball. I asked him to spell, "parce que," again. He started, P-A-R and paused. He picked up the ball and held it. He said, "C," then paused again. This happened several times, where I could only get him to spell P-A-R, then stop. He and I both noticed the rhythm of the ball at the same time, and I suggested that he say a letter for each bounce, and he said, P-A-R-C, then picked up the ball and held it. Again, I asked him to say a letter with each bounce, and he said, P-A-R-C-E, picked up the ball, and bounced, Q-U-E.

The dribbling has helped him to keep going, rather than pausing partway through a word.