Hi,
My question is what is the best sequence of teaching spelling patterns to dyslexic students?
Which spelling patterns in particular will be the most tough for the dyslexics to grasp & what knock-on effect can they have
on the learning of other patterns?
Which doors would be opened in reading & writing by knowing a certain pattern & which would be closed if the pattern was not known??
Kindly explain.
Thanks
Aisha.
Aisha,
There are only 8 spelling patterns in the English language. I teach spelling with the spelling books - Making Spelling Sense and Making Spelling Sense II. The spelling books are designed to work with dyslexics of all ages. In addition to teaching spelling patterns it addresses both auditory and visual processing at the same time.
I always start with the vowel/consonant spelling pattern as it is the easiest one to learn and the most predominant spelling pattern in the English language. Then I go on to the vowel consonant silent e spelling pattern. The other spelling patterns follow.
As you gradually introduce the patterns with multiple lessons per spelling pattern, I don't think there is really one pattern that would be considered the hardest one.
When you understand the structure of the language you can not only spell thousands of words, you can also decode thousands of words. Teaching spelling with this spelling program addresses both encoding (spelling - writing the word down) and decoding (sounding out words - reading) simultaneously.
Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET
http://bonnieterrylearning.com
Can you do your own summer learning program?
Should you do your own summer learning program?
Fact: More than half of the achievement gap present in 9th grade between lower- and higher-income children can be explained by summer learning loss.
Make Learning Stick with learning games and reading fluency training over the summer. There are many things you can do at home to bridge that summer learning gap.
Reading Fluency using Five Minutes to Better Reading Skills…and Yes…it only takes 5 minutes to do. Sally Shawitz, author of Overcoming Dyslexia states, "I urge parents to make fluency training their number one priority."
Take a weekly trip …to the zoo, a local park, the pool, the river, a local factory…and afterwards as a family write down what you did and what your favorite part was…using the fill-in-the-blank forms from Ten Minutes to Better Study Skills and create a booklet to keep for all of your weekly trips.
Do some nature activities such as listening to outdoor sounds, nature rubbings, shape hike, incher hikes … again use the fill-in-the-blank forms from Ten Minutes to Better Study Skills to describe what you found or did.
Activities to do at home like making puppets and putting on a puppet show. Bake cookies together, have a backwards day where you eat dinner in the morning and breakfast in the evening, do add-on-stories. Again write down your favorite things or worse things about the activity.
Have a Game Night or a Game Day…choose learning games…they are fun as well as work on skills. Some great ones are The Sentence Zone (play & learn sentence building and grammar while having fun) , The Comprehension Zone (play & learn reading comprehension and listening comprehension), or the Math Zone (play & math calculation practice).
Read books together…and write a review or report on it, or have a review night where you all act as book reviewers of the book you read.
Check out the books, games, and guides here:
ReadingWritingMath
Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET
I just read this by Lindsey Petersen of 5kidswdisabilities and thought you would all appreciate it. It rings true for so many parents, not just those of ADHD kids.
Hope you enjoy...
The ABCs of ADHD
December 27, 2009 by 5kidswdisabilities
The ABCs of ADHD/ADD
I’ve read the articles and books on ADHD. I know the discipline methods, rewards and time outs, the methods of Ross Green (from The Explosive Child) and the medications that work best. But I also know the realities of ADHD, having 2 children with ADHD and 2 with ADD. In real life terms, the ABCs of ADHD/ADD are:
Attention! Always on alert for dangerous situations due to impulsive behaviors, such as running across streets without looking, grabbing a butcher knife to cut the end off a banana, running up the down escalator, and grabbing the dog or any other animal roughly and the dog (or other animal) retaliating by biting (or scratching.)
“Be careful! Be careful! Be careful” is the parent mantra.
Climbing climbing climbing: out of the crib at age 15 months, out of the bedroom window when a teenager, on rock walls and curbstones and couches.
Don’t touch that! Don’t do that! Don’t hit her! Don’t pull that! Don’t eat that! Don’t hurt it! Don’t break it!
Exhausted parents trying their best to keep up.
Friendships are difficult.
Go! Go! Go! They’re always on the go!
Helpless parents, unable to control their child’s behavior, especially embarrassing in the grocery store under the staring eyes of others, judging them.
If only he’d… If only she’d…. Parents dream for a different lifestyle.
Jumping Bean: he goes here and there from friend to friend to friend, never staying long enough to establish a real friendship.
Kitchen walls are written on, bathroom doors have holes kicked in, curtains are ripped, bedrooms are messy.
LOVE. Parents give unconditional love, but the behavior doesn’t change because the ADHD remains…
MEDICATION! MEDICATION! MEDICATION! Alleluia when it works!!!!
Not paying attention in school so schoolwork suffers: not paying attention for homework, so it’s a nightly fight: not paying attention to other’s feelings, so no friendships are formed.
Overload happens easily and tantrums result. Keep it quiet. Keep it simple. Keep it under stimulated for peace.
Psychiatrists are our best friends!
Questions! Questions from them all the time! Especially hard to escape when you are stuck riding in the car together.
Rewards for good behaviors; stickers, ice cream, Playstation, tv.
Self-esteem is low, parent and teacher patience is limited so he’s always the troublemaker and never measures up.
Time-outs in the seat till we’re blue in the face. All the time spent in time-outs would add up to a year in the life.
Understanding is needed from parents, family, friends and teachers; understanding is often in short supply.
Very draining on all, child and adults.
Whining, whining, whining until their parent’s ears hurt.
X-rays, CAT Scans and emergency room visits: active behavior results in injuries.
YIKES! What has he done NOW?!?!
Zest for life would be a polite way of putting it…
|......................
Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET
Bonnie Terry Learning – Review of The Comprehension Zone: Rocket Rap
This review is difficult for me to write because this product had such a dramatic and positive effect for one of our children. It has been an answer to prayer, a break-through for our child who has struggled with auditory comprehension for years. I am grateful for the opportunity to use this product that we would not have otherwise had access to, thankful for God’s sovereignty that our family was chosen for this review and that the vendor determined to send us this particular product (as part of the TOS Bloggers Program).
So as you read this review realize that I’m not unbiased, know that I’m indebted to this product for helping my child in a way that I had failed to help him on my own and take from it what you will.
Bonnie Terry Learning focuses on products for the struggling learner. The goal is to enable you to be better equipped to develop strong reading, writing and math skills in your child with dyslexia, ADD, Autism or other general learning difficulties. Even gifted children can struggle in some of these areas and Bonnie Terry aims at smoothing out those bumps in the road of education. They try to help you “think outside the box” to address your child’s difficulties from an angle, direction or perspective that you may not have considered, a direction that may be the difference between success or struggle for your child. Bonnie Terry offers a variety of games and products to improve reading, writing, math and study skills for children 7 years and older.
Bonnie Terry Learning sent our family The Comprehension Zone: Rocket Rap($67). Rocket Rap is geared for 1st grade through adult to help develop and strengthen reading or listening comprehension. The game comes with 3 sets of cards written at different reading/listening levels (2nd-3rd grade, 4th-6th grade and 7th-12th grade). Each set of cards can be used in several different ways. Children can find the factual information, the main point or work on sequencing. Children are able to read the cards themselves or may listen as you read to them in order to work on either reading or listening comprehension. This versatility makes it easy to play the game with children at multiple reading/listening levels at the same time. The cards are self-correcting and include hints to help your child succeed and even allow for using a helper in the scoring.
The Rocket Rap game consists of a high-quality, over-sized vinyl game mat, 3 sets of cards, four playing pieces and a die. Play progresses by the child reading or listening to the paragraph on the card. Then they complete their task depending on their level. Beginners name two facts from the card, intermediates relay the main point of the paragraph AND two facts and advanced students use several cards at a time and put them in the proper chronological order. Each time the child completes their task they get to roll the die and move. If they need to use one of the helpers you take one point off of their roll.
All of our children from 1st grade up were able to play together, which as you know is an important feature for our family. Our older children (10, 11 and 13) were able to easily complete the comprehension activities on all levels of cards, but enjoyed working on the sequencing. Our 9 year old was happy to play with the 7th-12th grade cards. The game was interesting enough to the kids that they wanted to play multiple times, even when some of the novelty had worn off.
Pros:
* multi-level play
* nice, high quality game
* lots of fun facts about people and planets included on the cards
* improves focus on the task at hand
* gives older children an opportunity to read out loud
* ability to focus on several different aspects of comprehension
Cons:
* price
* there should be more cards (in my opinion)
* not a fast-paced, edge of your seat type of game, but our children all enjoyed playing it, so what can I say?
What Rocket Rap did for our child:
The Comprehension Zone: Rocket Rap had amazing results for one of our children. We have been working with him on comprehension for years. I often have him draw pictures of what I’m reading, we act things out and we read just a few phrases at a time and ask him questions whenever we are dealing with auditory learning. He simply struggles in this area. I was interested to see how he would do with Rocket Rap.
I began with the easiest level. I read the card to him and he was to tell me 2 facts from the card. When it was time for him to answer all I got was a blank stare. When prompted with the helpers, he was still unable to answer. I was honestly shocked that he could not do this. The cards we were using only have 3-5 sentences, are chock full of facts and he couldn’t pick out one. I ended up modifying the game for him, rather than have him tell me two facts per card to earn one roll of the die, I gave him one roll of the die for each fact he could pick out and we used lots of helpers. He was still unable to finish the game.
We began playing Rocket Rap more often. The improvement was rapid and dramatic! By the end of the next game he was able to play without my previous modifications and currently it is easy enough for him to pick out facts while listening that he likes to try reading the card himself.
For the first time in his life our child will raise his hand when Mark asks questions during family worship and he will know the answer. He will come up to us after church and spontaneously tell us something that he learned from the sermon. He is so amazingly proud of himself and I’m amazingly thankful.
Final thoughts:
As I mentioned this is a tough review. For 8 of our children this game would be a fun, helpful activity that is not worth $67, but for one child, for these results,I would happily pay double. We’ve tried things similar to this in the past, we’ve been focused on this problem for years, but Rocket Rap has been the first activity that has been successful.
If you have a child who struggles with reading or listening comprehension, I certainly think that Bonnie Terry’s The Comprehension Zone: Rocket Rapis worth a look. If any of you decide to go this route, I’d love to hear what you think. Have our results been typical?
You may read more reviews of Rocket Rap and other Bonnie Terry Learning products at The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew blog. You may read more of my homeschool curriculum reviews on my review page.
Bonnie Terry Learning sent The Comprehension Zone: Rocket Rap to our family free of charge (part of the TOS Bloggers Program) to enable me to write this review. All opinions expressed are my own and I am not otherwise reimbursed for any reviews here on Raising Olives.
I just came across this article on preparing for an IEP and wanted to share it with you.
Learn what to do before, during and after an IEP meeting.
By GreatSchools Staff
As a parent, do you approach IEP meetings with fear and dread? If so, here are some suggestions to help you feel more at ease and able to participate as a full member of the team that plans your child's special education program.
Before the Meeting:
Build a positive relationship with at least one person on the IEP team, such as the classroom teacher, principal, or school psychologist, before the meeting. Such a relationship will help you feel more comfortable and know someone else hears your point of view.
Plan ahead and put your thoughts down on paper, so you won't forget to mention what's important to you during the meeting. Complete the IEP Planning Form before the meeting. Know the purpose and format of the IEP meeting and who will be there ahead of time. That way you won't be surprised by the number of people around the table or the process being followed. IDEA 2004 contains new provisions that you should be aware of, including who can be excused from IEP meetings, and alternative ways to hold IEP team meetings.
If you wish to share the results of a private evaluation with the IEP team, send copies of the reports to the team ahead of time so they can be familiar with the data before the meeting, rather than take valuable time during the meeting to review them. In some cases parents may feel that sharing this report (or particular aspects of the report) will not be of benefit to the IEP process; it's your choice whether to do so.
Review current reports, last year's IEP (if applicable), and Parents' Rights and Responsibilities sent to you annually.
For more, go to: Tips for a Successful IEP Meeting
............................................................................
When preparing to attend your child's IEP meeting, it is important to have a complete understanding of your child's learning problems. One way to do this is to use an informal assessment tool. With it you gain the understanding of what the specific problems are and how they impact learning in the classroom. It empowers you to speak knowledgebly about your child's struggles.
Hope this is helpful,
Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET
Hi Bonnie,
I would be interested to know more about how you make your
visual clocks and what they look like.
-Susan
Susan,
As a teacher of K- H.S. age, I have a lot of resources and supplies. I'm a learning disability specialist and educational therapist as well as parent. I have ADD & have worked with ADHD kids for over 30 years. So, I have a number of telling time work sheets that are blank as well as a large blank clock stamp for making clocks.
The stamp can be gotten from
https://educationalinsights.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?
And, I just did an online search and found this site where you can program in your times on the clocks and then print the sheets.
http://www.time-for-time.com/worksheets.htm
After making them, I would copy them on card stock paper to make them more durable and cut them from the sheets so I can tape them across the top or side of their desk.
You can even color code the hands of the clock or copy them on different colors of card stock to make it even easier for your kids to follow.
Hope this helps.
Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET
P.S.: Don't forget to sign up for the 10 FREE homework & teaching tips - right above my photo.
Back to School…
What can you do to make your life a lot easier? Anna Weinstein from education.com contacted me earlier this week and asked if she could interview me about what parents of LD children could do to help there kids have a great start to the school year. We recorded the interview, so you can hear it here.
Here are a few of the highlights that you will hear Bonnie talking about:
At 4 min: There is a special tip regarding school supply tips to help your child be more organized.
At 6 min: How do you organize your homework area
At 7:29 min: Specific supplies that help the homework time
At 15:53 min: How much time should kids spend on homework – especially when they have dyslexia or LD?
At 17:30 min: How do you talk to teachers?
At 21:05 min: Specific things to tell the teacher to set your child up to have a great year
At 25:40 min: Can you just contact the teacher via email or does it have to be in person?
At 29:44 min: Isn’t there a system put in place already for me to meet all of my kid’s support team?
At 31:54 min: Doesn’t the teacher already know what my child needs – he was pulled out last year for services?
At 38:45 min: Why you want to have a clear understanding of what is going on with your child
At 40:00 min: Ways to keep track of your child’s assignments
At 42:40 min: Parent self care & support for parents
At 47:30 min: Evening family routine
At 51:27 min: Best way to speak with the teacher or principal
Listen to it here!
I've been in contact with two parents regarding using visual clocks to help their children keep track of transition times at school. Thought you might be interested in their questions and my response to them.
Has anyone used visual charts with pictures of items and clock faces
that show time? I am having trouble finding websites so I can get one
set up for school to show my son when he will be doing things. I talked
last year about it but the teacher never did it and I want to try this
year and see if it helps but I can not find sites
Any ideas?
Nichole from MI
Nicole,
I would love to have whatever info you get. Can you use
Boardmaker? We asked the school if WE could provide our son with a visual
schedule to help him at school, and they said "no - then the other kids
would want one." The sad part is that we didn't pursue it. This year,
though, we are at least going to do that at home.
-Susan
Nicole,
I've used visual clocks but I've made them myself. What I would do is to
make up my own clocks and then go in to meet the teacher and say something
to the effect of "I'm so glad to meet you. We're looking forward to a
great year with you. I know you have my son's (daughter's) best interest
at heart and want to help him/her succeed. I just wanted to give you a
heads up on what has worked for us. Using visual clocks that are on
his/her desk to denote the change in subject or class makes a big
difference in their day. I know how busy you are with the start up of the
year so I went ahead and made them up for him/her. If you could just tell
us your transition times so we can fill them in that would be great."
This type of statement tells them rather than asks, but tells them in a
nice way and you are being helpful by making them up and taping them to
the desk. It is also giving the teacher credit for working with you to
help your child succeed as well as getting them off the hook with the
statement that you know how busy they are with starting up the school
year.
I hope this helps!
BTW: I'm a parent as well as a teacher
Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET
P.S. Feel free to ask you questions and/or leave a comment!
A parent recently wrote in:Is a language disability considered a learning disability? My son has problems with both expressive and receptive language. He has a big difference between his visual and verbal scores on his test. That turned his language delay into a disability. There was a very large difference between the two. He is much better with visual than verbal, but I knew that when he was little. He has always been very visual. He also needs some help with speech, but the main problem is language. He also needs help with social skills and behavioral help.
I do have an IEP meeting scheduled in a few weeks so it will be ready to be implemented when he starts 1st grade. What kinds of things should I have in his IEP so that he is taught visually? Is there anything I should ask about? He is already getting speech and language help one day a week at school, but his diagnosis has changed from delay to disability since that was implemented.
In one word, yes, a language disability is considered a learning disability.
Specific Learning Disability: A disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which disorder may manifest itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations. The term includes such conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. The term does not include a learning problem that is primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, of mental retardation, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.
Disability categories: IDEA disability categories include autism, deaf-blindness, deafness, emotional disturbance, hearing impairment, mental retardation, multiple disabilities, orthopedic impairment, other health impairment (e.g., asthma, attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, diabetes, epilepsy, heart condition, hemophilia, lead poisoning, leukemia, nephritis, rheumatic fever, sickle cell anemia and Tourette syndrome), specific learning disability, (e.g., Perceptual Disabilities, Brain Injury, Minimal Brain Dysfunction, Dyslexia, Developmental Aphasia), speech or language impairment, traumatic brain injury, visual impairment (including blindness), and developmental delay.
There are a few other things I'd like to share with you.
1. In CA there are services for those with severe speech &/or language disabilities. Kids are typically placed in a classroom where the teacher has a background speech & language [typically a speech & language pathologist].
Placement in a class that is specifically designed for speech & language students where I live are actually county classes - in other words, the county office of education has classes sprinkled throughout several public schools and they bus the kids to the specific school that has the program/class they need. These classes are for those with more severe language problems than one or two sessions per week with the speech person in a pull out program would be providing.
"Language is often described in two ways: expressive language and receptive language. Individuals with LD often have difficulty with both expressive and receptive language. There is a strong relationship between language and learning disabilities. Articles within this section provide information for parents and teachers about early warning signs of speech and language difficulties." [LD Online]
2.Even if you send your child to a private school, if you want, you can access speech & language services from the public school. You will need to transport your child at the time of day the public school schedules him, but the public school should be providing it.
I was in a similar circumstance a number of years ago. One of my students was in a private school and I attended the IEP meeting at the public school. The parents kept the student at the private school but were able to transport him to the public school for resource services provided by the public school.
3.Regarding the IEP, you will want to come as prepared as possible. You might ask your son's current teacher for any special things he/she is doing for your son. You will want to also make notes yourself on how he works best at home. To get a fuller picture of what is going on, you may want to avail yourself of an informal comprehensive assessment tool like the Learning Difficulty/Disability Pre-Screening Tool and Informal Comprehensive Identification Tool. It will give you a lot of information so you will be coming from a position of knowledge and strength to the meeting.
A question came in today regarding auditory processing problems...
My 8 year old daughter just got diagnosed with auditory processing disorder, mild dyslexia, attention issues, and eye teaming issues. She is on a beginning 2nd grade reading level and a post 1st grade math level. She is currently doing interactive metronome and then will start Ken Gibson's Pace Program. She is also starting a computerized home vision therapy program. I have always home schooled her and her older sister (who has no issues). Also, I will be starting moving with math by math teachers press as soon as it arrives.
I guess my question is what else can I do with her this school year as far as curriculum? Are there any other training programs you can suggest? And what about her future...can we overcome this?
Thanks so much, April
Yes, auditory processing can be improved. Remember, most of these areas of perception are learned which means they can be improved.
I will be posting another article in the next few days with more auditory processing activities. Additionally, the spelling program Making Spelling Sense addresses & improves auditory processing skills with the specific method used in the book. The book was designed specifically to work on auditory processing at the same time it teaches spelling. That way you work on a specific skill and at the same time address the underlying causes of most spelling problems - which are related to auditory processing.
A good computerized program for addressing auditory processing skills is Earobics.
Here are a variety of posts that relate to auditory process in one fashion or another. The March 26th, January 12th, and January 7th posts should prove to be very helpful to you.
