Tag: reading instruction

Eyeglasses and ADD

Eyeglasses and ADD

by thecindyleafhall ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I have taught some real wigglers in my time.  Kids who need to move, climb, see what their neighbor is up to, do just about anything besides get down to the task at hand and stay there. Having been a restless child myself, I sympathize with kids who tend that way. Today we know that ADD and ADHD can interrupt thoughts and actions, and that there is a medical solution for this problem. A lot of research and progress has been made in the area in the past several years, and stigmas associated with medicating children for ADD or ADHD have fallen away.

My Classroom, circa 1982

I digress to tell one story from the long-ago of my teaching career. I had a class of second graders, and the boys’ favorite recess game was to reenact favorite episodes of A-Team, a popular TV show of that era.

One slender boy from that class struggled to make friends enough to be included in the fun and games. Justin made himself an outsider at recess by his in-class behavior.  The boy could not sit down and stay on task! His behavior got on the nerves of the entire class. His mom and I conferenced and schemed, tried behavior modification until we were the modified ones. The strategy which worked better than others was giving Justin three rocks on his desktop at the beginning of the morning, and three in the afternoon.  He could ask an unrelated question or get out of his seat for no reason, but he had to give me one of his rocks each time. When the rocks were gone, so were his “free passes.”  The getting out of his seat and asking unrelated questions improved, but I can’t say that we ever addressed the underlying problem that caused the behavior issues.  We never did get him to the place he longed to be but didn’t know how to achieve.  Justin was never chosen to be “Face” in the A-Team recess game.  They always invited him to be “Murdock.”  The crazy, annoying team member. Justin’s behavior affected not only his learning life, but also his social interactions.

Back to the Present – there are choices now!

Fast forward 30 years, and as you were telling me through your computer while you read about Justin, he probably was ADHD.  There was little he could do to control his behavior or the effect it had on those around him.  Happily, today there are choices to help the Justins of the world.  Many of the choices are pharmaceutical ones.  That is a Huge Deal.

Let me tell you what I see in my classroom when one of my students who normally takes medication for ADD or ADHD comes in without a dose of the medication that morning.  I cannot effectively teach him or her, and he or she cannot effectively focus on what is being presented.  The medication allows learning to take place in a way that it cannot in the absence of the medication.  I am not a doctor, nor a psychologist, nor a pharmacist, only a teacher in a classroom.  All I know is what I see.  I see that kids who have ADD or ADHD learn better when they are appropriately helped, and that help may be medication.

Read the newest information

Dyslexia and ADD or ADHD do not always go together.  Dr. Eric Tridas has an excellent book, The ABC’s of ADHD. He estimates that about 30% of children with dyslexia also have ADD or ADHD. If you or your child falls into that 30%, I urge you to follow your child’s best interest, and not to rely on outdated information or old ways of thinking. Get a copy of Dr. Tridas’ book and read up on the newest information available.

Another story to give some perspective

One of my tutors gives an example about ADD or ADHD medications that I think succinctly sums up the issue.  She relates that Stacy was discussing with Tammy how she did not give her child the prescription for ADD or ADHD medication all the time. Stacy complained that the medication didn’t seem to do much for her child anyway.  Incredulous, Tammy asked Stacy if she wore her glasses all the time. The answer was a surprised yes. Stacy couldn’t see to read or drive without the glasses. She needed them all the time to make her path clear. Your child, Tammy said, needs the medication all the time too, so her path is clear.  Medication is to an ADD or ADHD child what glasses are to a near or farsighted individual.  A tool that helps overcome a medical obstacle.  Nothing more, and nothing less.

Syllables Are Your Life

Syllables Are Your Life

by thecindyleafhall ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Change is hard

Sam, a new second grader started at my school and in my dyslexia classroom this week. It is hard for little guys to leave their familiar school behind, especially at semester break. That was the challenge Sam was taking on. His new mainstream classroom teacher and classmates were fabulous at welcoming Sam to their room. They made him cards, elected him “mayor” of his pod of 6 desks, and showed him where things were. I wanted him to have the same warm welcome in the Dyslexia Center, where I knew that I would be prodding Sam to work on the very things that are hardest for him. I needed him to like coming there.

This year began with two students in my second grade small group. The addition of Sam swelled the crowd to six, and filled the last available slot in that small group. The other three new students remembered how it felt the first week in my room.  No hiding from confusing concepts like vowels and blends. Using new tools like finger sounding and airplane writing.  Strange ways to practice words, like tracing sight words on a fur covered board that doesn’t let you see what you have written, only feel it. The experience is certainly different from any other classroom, and takes some adjustment to get used to.

The five “old timer” students were up to the task of helping me make Sam feel at ease.  They offered to sit near him, told him where important supplies like erasers and the pencil sharpener are, got him his own small white board and a “juicy” marker when it was time for dictation practice. And it helped. Sam visibly relaxed by the second or third day. He could tell the new tools were helping him already.

Learning a different way is ok, and fun!

When Sam relaxed, his curiosity about our way of doing things caused him to ask about the reasons behind our methods. That is always a turning point. When a student understands that learning a different way from his or her non-dyslexic classmates is not only ok, but it is fun, that knowledge is the first step on the path of owning their dyslexia.

We told Sam how fuzzy board tracing will help glue to spelling of sight words into his brain.  He knew that was true, because by Friday he was spelling the mysterious sight word “does” correctly.

The girls demonstrated how airplane writing a new cursive letter’s formation helps when it is time to write it on paper with a pencil.  Sam knew they were right. He compared his efforts at the cursive letter e from Monday with the page of cursive e, l, i, t and m he wrote by Friday. Airplanes helped alright!

The secret to life, according to a dyslexic second grader

The funniest method explanation came from the other boy in small group.  He drew upon his success of the past three months in the dyslexia program when he told Sam that dividing longer words into syllables mattered. Leaning in close, he divulged the secret to successful reading for a dyslexic person of any age. “Syllables,” he whispered with the wisdom of an aged sage, “are your life.”

Sam will do well. His reading and spelling will continue to improve, and language tasks will seem less confusing to him.

Especially now that he knows the secret.

Syllables are your life.

Yeah! I can do this!

Yeah! I can do this!

by thecindyleafhall ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

“We read the whole book!”

“This is the first chapter book I have ever read to the end.”

“When we started, I didn’t think we would finish.”

If I could find a way to bottle the sense of accomplishment dyslexic individuals feel when they turn the final page, savor the concluding paragraph, close the back cover on a book they have read all of, I would be rich.

In the classroom, we celebrate finishing a book in the grand style such a feat deserves.   We savor and revel in the moment and the work it represents. We let each person tell what was their favorite part of the book. We talk about who liked the ending and who can suggest a better one. The characters have become fellow classmates. Ones whom we will miss now that the book is done, and we want it give them the farewell our closeness merits.

It is a pivotal moment when a student understands the charm of crawling inside the world created between the covers of a book. Visiting another time. Bravely adventuring in a far away place.  Traveling in unimaginable ways. Hanging out with friends whom you have come to treasure. Understanding how something works which baffled you before you read a book about it. Once a person catches a glimpse of any or all of those things, the effort to read becomes worth it.

Today I began “Because of Winn-Dixie” with my 4/5 grade small group. We settle in and take turns reading orally to each other. I know their eyes will well with unshed tears in the sad parts, and they will snort laughter in the funny parts. I know they will get better at reading as we read. I know we will finish the book, and that everyone of those students will be richer for having spent time with Opal and her goofy canine sidekick during a hot Florida summer.

I know I don’t have to try and bottle their enthusiasm to get rich.

I already am rich, just by being along for the ride as this amazing group of kids grin and say, “Yeah! I can do this!” when we finish the last page.

Getting the basics right

Getting the basics right

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Our goal as teachers and tutors of dyslexic students is to “Teach them to hear the words they’re looking at, and to spell the sounds they hear.” Dorothy Blossomwood Whitehead

Mrs. Whitehead is one of the early teachers and tutors of dyslexic students.  Trained in the northeast, where O-G method seemed to have its start, she ended up in the northwest through a family move.  Rather than give up and return to traditional teaching methods, she nurtured the O-G methods she had been taught.  Mrs. Whitehead pioneered a volunteer tutor-based classroom for her many needy students, and wrote a manual on O-G method that is still a go-to reference for many today.   My signed copy of her manual came off my shelf as I wrote my lesson plans for this week.  Thanks, DBW!

—
Playing Mind Games

Playing Mind Games

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As I set up for 4/5 grade small group, I hear muffled giggles at the door. “Is she there?” a small voice stage whispers, clearly the elected spokesman for the group. I go to my classroom door, my hands full of exactly what I know they want. I carry into view the desired objects that these dyslexic kids arrived early to get. They crave – Brain Games. I invite the early arrivals in, and they claim the games from me, quickly divide themselves into groups for playing, and set to work training their brains – loving every minute of it!

Tenzi and Blink currently reign as top favorites among our brain game possibilities.  These games have no words, only symbols, and are played with astounding concentration at top speed. Both games center around almost instantaneous pattern recognition, and the player’s correct, quick action based on that pattern recognition.  Sounds, well, like reading, doesn’t it?

Don’t tell the kids, but these brain games are building the centers of their brains where symbols are interpreted and appropriately acted upon. Yup, playing these games will improve reading speed.

A name like Tenzi stirs up images of a game steeped in ancient cultural richness, perhaps originating in Morocco, or Tibet. I imagine ancient, white clad men in turbans squatting in the dust to play. But no, it was invented by two friends named Steve and Kevin right here in the USA. What it lacks in historical pedigree, it makes up for in adrenaline rush and brain neurons multiplying like dust on a Moroccan roadside.

Tenzi is played with sets of ten brightly colored dice. Players roll their 10 dice, continuing to roll the ones that don’t match until all dice show the selected number. No polite conventions like taking turns when playing Tenzi. Everyone goes at the same time, with the victor shouting “Tenzi!” and beaming at his pile of matching dice. I bought two sets of 40 dice from Amazon, allowing for an epic, eight player Tenzi game if we want to go there, or more quiet games of two or three players scattered through the classroom.  

Blink is a two player card game. My sets came from Target and cost about $5.00 each.  The game has 80 cards with symbols in one of three colors, patterns or numbers. All the cards divided between two players fly as players race to sort his or her cards first. On a quiet day, I am sure I hear their brains growing as they speed to interpret the meaning of each card and act on that information – the faster the better!

The great thing about brain games is that there are no losers, only winners.  Winners with really great brains.

Fuzzy Boards and Airplane Writing

Fuzzy Boards and Airplane Writing

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Cindy’s manual transmission adventures

When I was a newlywed, we had only one car, and it was my husband’s beloved manual transmission Mustang.  Try though I might, I could not get the awkward timing of feet and hands together in a way that made that car move down the road!  Concern for his Mustang’s clutch coupled with a dislike for the mortal danger I placed us in as I lurched through busy Kansas City traffic motivated my husband to take me places for a few months.  Soon we traded for an automatic transmission car (a beautiful white Trans Am with the gold eagle on the hood – lest you think he suffered too much by losing that Mustang!). Fast forward a few years, and we now parked a brand new Firebird in our Michigan driveway.  The hitch – it was a manual transmission.  But the outcome was much happier this time around.  We went to an empty parking lot, and I practiced shifting until I was confidently moving between gears without bucking and motor stalls.  I successfully drove that and other manual transmission cars.

What made the difference between my early-marriage automotive difficulties and the later success?  Practice in the parking lot.  I needed to practice the basic skills over and over before I tried to put them into use on the traffic filled streets.  I had good instruction in both instances, I had the ability to learn both times, but one outcome ended unsuccessfully, while the other had me triumphantly zooming away from stop signs.  Taking the time to isolate my difficult spots, and practicing those until I mastered the skills made all the difference.

The analogy holds true for dyslexic people and reading.  They need to learn the basics and practice those skills in isolation before motoring off onto the superhighway of reading passages and writing stories.

Kinesthetic methods build brain roads!

Using kinesthetic methods for the practice helps glue a new or shaky skill into the mind of the dyslexic student by bringing as many of the senses into play as possible, creating a very memorable experience surrounding that skill.  This is part of building brain trails between the scattered language centers of a dyslexic person’s brain that I talked about in my previous post.

Fuzzy boards

Fuzzy boards are such a go-to method that I have several varieties on the shelf in my classroom.  A fuzzy board is essentially a piece of foam core covered in furry fabric and hot glued in place.  Mine have been nicknamed “Cookie Monster” and “Teddy Bear” by the students, because of the color and feel of the fabrics with which they are covered.  Students use a pointer finger to trace words that are tricky for them onto the fuzzy board as they say the letters out loud, and finish with a sweep across the board as they name the word they just practiced.

This method puts to work the senses of touch, sight, speaking and hearing, and builds a muscle memory of how to form the letters for the target word.  Although students ask for more, three practices per word is just the right amount, and we practice only a few words at a time.  Bumpy boards (blank plastic canvas for needlepoint) are a variation on fuzzy boards with the advantage that a model of the target letter can be put underneath so that it shows through for working out letter reversals.

The Blue Angels learn cursive writing

Reversing a cursive letter is much harder that twisting around a manuscript one, so cursive writing is a great tool for dyslexic people!  We practice how to form each letter and have fun categories for the letters, which help the students keep the formations in mind.  For example, “1:00 Letters” include c, a, g, q and d because you go to the point on the circle of the letter which would be 1:00 on a clock, then retrace and finish the circle of the letter from underneath.  Airplane writing helps lock the letter formation into the student’s mind, and is silly, so we like it.  Students weight their writing arm with the hand of their other arm, and we go through the motions of making the letters as large as we can reach – our personal impression of Blue Angels making cursive letter moves. After three synchronized fly-overs of the new letter, students go to paper for practice on a smaller scale.

From forming a cursive c to nailing the difference between saw and was, kinesthetic methods make lessons memorable, blaze trails between brain centers, and promote success for the big tasks ahead.  Just like that Michigan parking lot practice which demystified manual transmissions for me.

So, if they have dyslexia, they can’t read, right?

So, if they have dyslexia, they can’t read, right?

by thecindyleafhall ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

People with dyslexia can learn to read and to spell, and to write coherent sentences!  They just learn a different way from non-dyslexic people.  

Dyslexic people have different brain architecture which spreads out the centers in their brain where language tasks take place rather than having a tidy little brain neighborhood of language factories whirring away at reading and spelling tasks.  But we can create “brain roads” from one center to another, making language tasks faster and less prone to getting lost along the way. Targeted and memorable practice transforms those brain roads into brain superhighways along which language information can zoom.  

Teaching a dyslexic person to read involves a lot of really fun and creative methods.  Fun for the student and the teacher! I say “make it memorable” (and I don’t mean scarred-for-life memories of classroom embarrassment).  I mean connecting a language concept with a fun activity or crazy story.  Many dyslexic people are highly creative, so the kids are along for the ride on this, often making great suggestions which we implement to give them ownership of their learning.  

Phonics are at the core of teaching a dyslexic person to read.  It surprised me to learn that there are 44 speech sounds in American English, but only 26 alphabetic characters. So somebody is working overtime to create those extra sounds! Many sounds are spelled in multiple ways.  We make letters into characters from our story, learning in a sequential way their sounds and characteristics. The letters’ personalities unfold like beloved book characters whom we crave to know more about and understand.  

For example, the secret life of the letter Y.

My students love discovering the secret life of the letter Y. By day, mild-mannered consonant, minding its own business, living at the beginning of words or syllables.  But!  Y sometimes dons superhero capes hidden in its closet that allow it to become an undercover vowel, making an e or an i sound, when the need arises.  And you can bet every child in the room wants to know exactly what the needs are that allow super capes to be whipped out and worn!

So they learn the Y Rule. This is a smidge of what I mean by making it memorable.  Secret Superheroes vs. letters on a page.  Hmm, I know which one I would remember more readily!    

And the fun has barely begun!  In another post I will give you a peek into kinesthetic methods, brain training games, and a whole lot of other great tools from my bag-o-tricks.

The O-G Method

I would like to mention that the sequential method for teaching a dyslexic person, and the kinesthetic methods which are so successful are all part of the Orton-Gillingham method.  It was pioneered by Dr. Samuel Orton in the 1930’s, and is the method in which I was trained to tutor dyslexic people.  Google it.  You will be reading about the O-G method for the rest of the day.  It’s that interesting.