BBC's 500 Words is a competition for everyone - aiming to be accessible to children of all abilities, including those who have reading or writing difficulties.
Spencer was initially hesitant to enter in 2023 due to his dyslexia - but was ultimately crowned the silver winner in the 8-11 category in the 2023/24 final.
Spencer told us that “having no punctuation in the marking makes it a lot better, because it’s really all about the story.” By using his iPad, Spencer wrote his story with help from autocorrect. You can read more about alternative methods for submitting stories.
What's next in store for Spencer? Spencer now has the confidence to write more, always carrying his ideas book with him.
If you have children who have reading or writing difficulties and wish to enter the competition, then why not watch our tips for writing with dyslexia from teacher Simon Hunt.
Spencer, who is dyslexic, shares his experience from the 2023/24 competition.
Spencer: Hi, I'm Spencer and I am a 500 Words winner.
Presenter: Did you come here today expecting to win?
Spencer: No, not at all.
Presenter: Not at all.
Spencer: My worries when I entered was I just wasn't gonna win, I just didn't thinkit was good enough.
I didn't like writing, it's just very boring.
Hugh Bonneville: I think I'm right in saying that you weren't going to enter originally. Is that right? Because I think you've sometimes found spelling and things like that a bit of a challenge you thought,
Spencer: Yeah.
Hugh Bonneville: and so you were then told no it's your imagination that we're after.
Spencer's Mom: So Spencer was diagnosed with dyslexia towards the end of Primary 3.
I think we'd always known that there was something, something different, that Spencer was finding reading, learning to read, learning all his sounds, learning his phonics really quite difficult.
But certainly when it comes to having brilliant ideas and being able to make people laugh, he was able to do that in his story. I think his brain definitely, it is a bit of a superpower his dyslexia, I think when it comes to writing stories.
Spencer: Having no punctuation in the marking makes it a lot better for everyone, because it's just fully about the story, not anything else.
What really helped me when I was writing the story was being allowed to use your iPad. It made it a lot easier to type things down, and all the words auto-corrected, so it was really nice and easy.
Spencer's Mom: That is so funny, have you always been this funny?
Spencer: Yes!
Romesh: Yeah okay.
Spencer: The chances of me being a 500 Words silver winner were, was absolutely amazing, one in 44,000 my mind was… [MIND BLOWN]
Spencer's Mom: I think winning the competition has really given Spencer the confidence to give it a go and try and write more and put his ideas down on paper, he has a wee ideas book for scribbling things down, so it really has made a big difference.
Spencer: I want to write a sequel to my current story, maybe something like 'The ASDA Thief'or 'The Revenge of Tesco'.
Need more inspiration?
Back to 500 Words
Click here for more information on 500 Words.
The winning stories of 500 Words 2024/25
Watch Her Majesty The Queen present the winning stories at the 500 Words final 2024/25
Dyslexia: Make a difference - Writing
Children with dyslexia describe their difficulties with writing. The film offers ways to help with different difficulties.
