Tag: teaching

Brain Files vs Brain Piles

Brain Files vs Brain Piles

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I am often asked exactly how a dyslexic person’s way of learning is different from a non-dyslexia person’s.  Parents in particular wonder how Orton-Gillingham can be better than a new, more modern way of teaching reading.

Brain Files

The answer to both questions is Brain Files.  The longer I work with dyslexic individuals, the more I liken their natural way of organizing information in their brain as the Piles System. We all have piles somewhere – maybe on the counter near where the mail gets dumped every day, or near the computer printer where untried recipes for Starbucks Outrageous Oatmeal Cookies competes for space with the car insurance paperwork. It takes longer to sort through it all the day that car insurance needs to be dealt with than if you filed things as they came in the mail or when you printed.

When a dyslexic child is presented with new language information, I don’t believe they just ignore it, I think it is as if they put it all into a big mental pile with the other language information they have.  It is there, and they can usually find it -given enough time, but it is not the most efficient way to go about.  As with us and our towering stacks of papers on the counter, there has to be a better way!

Enter Orton-Gillingham

The Orton-Gillingham method for teaching dyslexic individuals to read and spell is all about organization. It is specific, sequential; it starts with the basics and moves forward to the most complicated, covering every imaginable letter combination in between.  The O-G method is not only great for teaching language tasks, I am convinced it also builds the much needed Brain Files.

When I start with a new student, we begin with the alphabet.  We write it, and we name the letters and their sounds.  We learn which are the vowels and which are the consonants.  We learn that the consonants are the workers of the letter world, while the vowels are the prima donnas.  You have to have vowels, but it takes knowing the system to predict what they may do in any given word.  With this simple beginning, we have already begun to create file section for letters – consonants and vowels. The student now has a mental file in which they may drop information on those two subjects.  Subfiles are created, with the information categorized and neatly tucked away.

Lots of practice with letter sounds and language tasks means lots of retrieval of that information.  As with computer files, the more you get things out to work with them, the easier and automatic it is to find them. Orton-Gillingham provides that much needed practice, and adds the kinesthetic element to make the knowledge even more sticky.  The secret is finding a better way than the Pile Method to store them in the first place!

Now if only there was an Orton-Gillingham for the piles on my desk!

E-readers may boost comprehension for some dyslexic people

E-readers may boost comprehension for some dyslexic people

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With the popularity of e-readers, research is beginning to be done to see if this platform is a better one for our dyslexic learners.  The link above leads to an article about research done by the Smithsonian of this important topic.  It certainly is good to think about!

E-Reader article

Blossoming under the Right Conditions

Blossoming under the Right Conditions

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The Christmas cactus in my Dyslexia Center classroom is giving quite the show of blossoms already this holiday season.  I smile as I see it proudly flying its Christmas flags, though the calendar says Veteran’s Day was just Monday.  It took some doing to get this plant to flower.  It needed the right combination of conditions to put on the show it was holding inside.  Equal parts light and dark, limited water, a summer at home on my porch then into the classroom just as frosts begin outside.  The resulting blossoms make the efforts seem very worthwhile, and I am glad I took time to understand which conditions this plant needed to thrive.

Dyslexic students are a lot like my plant. They have such potential for enriching the lives of those around them, if only they are given the right conditions.  I love coaxing the confidence out of them, helping them try to sound out words, try to understand that the silent e at the end of the word is changing the vowel sound, try to remember that cursive f has loops above and below the line.

The sunshine of praise goes a long way toward helping a dyslexic student have the confidence to try.  Celebrating even small successes will help create an environment where it is safe to continue trying.

The soil of a program of teaching that is scientifically based, sequential and given with enough intensity allows students’ roots to anchor in something solid enough to hold and sustain growth is also key.  We use the Orton-Gillingham method for both small groups and tutoring.  It is a proven method that fills the gaps in student learning providing a solid soil for growth.

Fertilizer is an important key to plant blossoms.  In my classroom, I think the support fellow dyslexic students give provides the needed boost for others to feel accepted and comfortable enough to blossom.  Our success would not be nearly as high without this key element of peer support.

With the right conditions, dyslexic students can and do thrive.  I love seeing the buds of understanding appear.  Nurtured with teaching and fun ways to reinforce learning, the flowers of confidence and understanding burst forth, enriching the lives of all who see and rejoice in the transformation of lives.

Ideas on how to choose a book of the right level.

Ideas on how to choose a book of the right level.

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It is summer.  That means time to hit the bookstore, to sign up for summer reading at your public library, to soak up the pleasure of reading a book cover to cover in one or two days.  But, that means picking books at the right level of difficulty, or reading becomes frustrating or boring.  The article above has some great thoughts on how to pick the right book, and how to teach your child to pick the right one.  It’s worth the effort! choosing the right level book  Choosing the right level book

The Best Method for Helping Dyslexic Learners!

The Best Method for Helping Dyslexic Learners!

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Use what works best!

When we do laundry, we pick the detergent or stain remover that experience has shown us works the best on the mess we are dealing with at the moment. Dingy whites?  Use bleach. Ink pen marks?  Spritz on hairspray.  Grass stains?  Rub in Fels Naphta bar soap. We use the best tool for the job, and like the results we get.

Teaching children to read is similar to laundry stains in that there are a variety of learning differences to address. In the same way you would not expect good results from pouring bleach on the knees of grass stained blue jeans, you cannot take a dyslexic child to a traditional store-front tutoring center and expect his or her dyslexia to improve. Different challenges need different teaching methods. Tutoring centers are great for some reading problems, and may have helped your neighbor’s non-dyslexic child, but will not help your dyslexic reader. There is no one single solution for all reading problems. Dyslexia responds best to specific methods.

Brain rewiring

I have written previously in this blog about the amazing way that brains can be rewired.  New brain research shows us more about the brain all the time. Dyslexia is a brain wiring issue, and using a method of teaching which addresses these issues makes sense – and works great!

Orton-Gillingham Method

The best method for teaching a dyslexic child (or adult!) to read is called the Orton-Gillingham method. I have mentioned it before in blog entires, and you can google it and read about it for a whole weekend.

What makes the O-G method work?

The O-G method addresses reading and spelling as what they are – opposite sides of the same coin.  Dyslexic individuals struggle with both reading and spelling, so this approach really works for them.  Each phoneme (smallest sound of language) is taught individually, in a prescribed order.  Practice starts with phonemes, moves to words, then sentences and passages to read.  The spelling side progresses in the same way – how each sound can be spelled, how words are spelled and then sentences are written.

Syllables and Spelling Generalizations

The O-G method uses a lot of hands-on practice methods which can be crazy fun for both the teacher and the student.  Syllable types are learned along with their characteristics so long words can easily be diced into manageable pieces with predictable vowel sounds. Finger sounding keeps the sounds in order as the student works out a word.

Traditional school teaches spelling by memorizing lists of words for Friday spelling tests.  This works great for kids who are not dyslexic.  It is a lot of frustration for dyslexic kids, and does not teach them to permanently spell the list words anyway.  The O-G method teaches spelling by learning spelling generalizations.  These simple rules provide a framework for spelling many, many words, and keep the child from the agony of trying to memorize spelling words that just won’t stick.

An example of a spelling generalization would be to spell the /ch/ sound with a tch at the end of a word or syllable right after a short vowel.  Everywhere else, spell /ch/ with a ch.  You are thinking about words with tch at the end right now, aren’t you? And the generalization is surprisingly accurate, isn’t it?  For dyslexic students, it is almost magically easy.

Testing results show – this method works!

There are lots of reasons to shop for an Orton-Gillingham based tutor or program if you are looking for help for your dyslexic student. We are in the midst of our end-of-semester progress testing with the students in our Dyslexia Center. Results are showing astounding progress in our students this semester. The bottom line reason to use O-G is because it is the right solution for this problem.  Just like bleach for dingy whites.

Lincoln Verbs?

Lincoln Verbs?

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I was grading 5th grade grammar books with a combination of humor and despair when I came to Patrick’s book.  He so stumped me by writing that there are two kinds of verbs, action (ok, it was spelled acshun) and linconverbs.  What on earth is a Lincoln verb?

Then it hit me, he meant Linking Verbs.

People with dyslexia often misunderstand what others are saying.  We call it poor auditory discrimination, and it can sure raise havoc with vocabulary building and comprehension!  This issue is one of the reasons I am such a big fan of recording the text for a student to listen to as he or she follows along in the book. It is not at all uncommon for a student to look up in wonder and remark that they always thought a word was something completely different from the actual word.  Hearing text read as the student is following along has value on many levels.

I need to finish grading the 5th grade grammar books.  Patrick’s linconverb answer has me smiling. I can only wonder if in History he lists the 16th President as Abraham Linking.

Handwriting GPS

Handwriting GPS

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Yesterday I was working with the 2nd grade small group, who continue to tear it up on cursive writing.  They were learning capital E, which looks like a backwards 3.  Backwards comparisons are something we try to avoid in the Dyslexia Center, so instead we looked at how the cursive letter appears a lot like the printed one, only curvier.

The kids started by airplane writing, tracing letter models, then writing practice letters on paper.  Eric did not have the hang of it. At all.  He said his looked as if his E went ice skating and was about to wipe out.  Eric is the student with a gift of story telling, and often amuses us with them during handwriting practice.  He did have a point this time. His letter was not sitting on the line, not standing up straight.

I ask the students to analyze their mistakes and see if they can come up with the solution, or at least what needs to be fixed. Eric knew the problem, but the fix eluded him.  I came around to kneel beside him, and gently placed my hand over his to guide his hand and pencil as a correct letter was formed.  This techniques often helps the students’ muscles feel the correct path for the troublesome letter.  It worked for Eric, and he turned to me with a grin and said, “Hey, it’s like you are the cursive GPS!”

Yup, that’s me, cursive GPS. Guiding one student to success, one letter at a time.

Wow! I can do this automatically!

Wow! I can do this automatically!

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Sometimes, we really are on autopilot!

Our days are full of things we do without ever thinking about them.  We sign our name.  We cook a familiar recipe.  We drive to an often-visited location. We lock up for the night and get ready for bed.  A part of our brain which knows how these mundane tasks are performed takes over and we slip into automaticity. This is a good thing, because it frees us for other tasks which do require brain power!

Children with dyslexia struggle to put mundane language tasks into the automatic category.  Direct and explicit instruction along with many practice sessions are needed to help the child understand and master a language task.

Dysgraphia

Dysgraphia is confusion with the writing process.  It may be letter formation confusion, inability to write sentences, or a tendency to write sentences out of order so a story does not flow very well.  It is often surprising to read the written work of a dysgraphic child with outstanding storytelling skills, because you are expecting so much more than what you see on paper.

Eric’s story

Eric came to join our second grade small group in January.  This is his writing sample. 

When I look at this writing, I notice the labored letters, the many erasures, the mix of upper and lower case in the alphabet.  My notes tell me the alphabet took Eric three minutes and 23 seconds to complete.  This is a task which probably takes his classmates under 1 minute to correctly complete. We can safely say that writing does not come automatically to Eric.

The path to automaticity

We were making the switch to cursive writing in second grade small group, and Eric tearfully tried his best to form the unfamiliar letters.  A lot of tracing large, tactile letters, airplane writing, tracing in tubs of raw rice and onto bumpy boards helped clarify in his mind the way each letter was to be formed.  Eric is a master story teller, and often made up stories for the group about what was happening to “the guy” whose path our letter traced.  The effort payed off, Eric’s tears dried up and he began to smile as the cursive notebooks were passed out.  Recently, each lower case letter was mastered and we moved to capitals.

Success!

This is a recent writing sample, about three months the first one,  from Eric’s journal.  The alphabet took him 57 seconds to complete, as as you can see, it is legible  and all in cursive lower case letters. There were a couple of errors, but overall, a big improvement!

Below the alphabet are letters I called out in random order for the students to write down.  This mini-quiz shows me which letters are not yet automatic for each child.  Eric wrote all of his with no erasures!  He has hit the automatic gravy train!

The sentence at the bottom of the work is an example of why cursive writing is great for kids with dyslexia.  If you look at his earlier work, all the words crowd together without spaces between.  This is another characteristic of dysgraphia, called word boundary issues.  Cursive writing helps this problem because the letters within the word are connected, but there is a break between each word.  An instant reminder to give it a little space.

After successfully writing the page above, Eric smiled his endearing, crooked smile as he shyly told me, “ Wow! I can do this automatically!” Yup, that is the goal for each child.

A-Z of dyslexic strengths

A-Z of dyslexic strengths

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A – Ambition
B – Big picture thinking
C – Creativity
D – Determination
E – Empathy
F – Friendly
G – Generous
H – Holstic thinking
I – Innovative
J – Jolly
K – Kindness
L – Lateral thinking
M – Motivated
N – New ways of doing things
O – Observant
P – Practical skills
Q – Quizzical
R – Resiliant
S – Spontanious
T – 3D visualisation
U – Understanding
V – Visual thinkers
W – Wishful
X – X factor qualities
Y – You (helps make you the person you are!)
Z – Zest for life
What do you think? Any alternatives?
Dyslexic Kim posted this on her FaceBook page yesterday.  I love it!  What a wonderful way to remember the strengths of our dyslexic students and friends.
Rearing Competent Children

Rearing Competent Children

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Why no new blog entries for a week?

My blog has been quiet for a week because I am in New York City with a group of ten high school seniors.  My husband and I are organizing and chaperoning their senior trip.

I taught six of the students we have with us when they were in elementary school.  Two of them were in a Kindergarten music class I was assigned to cover during one of my classroom teaching years. Those two plus one more were in a first grade class I taught.  Five of the ten were in my mainstream classroom for their 5th and 6th grade years.

There is a unique and I think interesting perspective that comes from reconnecting years later with people whom you taught as children.  It gives a chance to see the results of seeds planted by you and others along the path of each one’s journey into young adulthood.

IMG_0878.jpg

The goal is competence

We all want school children to get good grades; to memorize those spelling words, math facts, presidents, states and capitols; and to learn to turn in assignments on time. Parent Teacher Conference topics range from social skills to attitude issues to messy desks.   All those skills and minor goals are part of reaching toward a loftier, more over-arching goal.  We need to turn children needing our guidance and advice at every turn into young adults who are competent to stand on their own two feet and make good decisions, asking for help when they need it and able to navigate the difficulties and challenges which come into everyone’s life.

This group proved to me they have learned the lesson well

Yesterday my wonderful, map-reading, subway-navigating husband was down with a foul bug and had to stay behind in the hotel.  That left me to take our group into the city for the day’s activities. Alone, I could not have pulled it off.  But with me were ten capable high school seniors, ready to use their areas of strength to make up for my areas of weakness.

I am not up for the task of navigation, but I know two of the students have shown a keen interest in learning the layout of the city and how to read the maps. Map reading becomes their job.

I am not great at the subway, but one of the girls has made herself a student of the way subway stops work, and how to know when to get on and off.  She tracks our progress and tells us when it is time to get off.

I cannot both lead the way and watch our backs, but the tallest guy is willing to bring up the rear of our group, shepherding the slower ones through heavy foot traffic of Times Square’s five o’clock hour and counting people at each turn to be sure our whole group makes it together. He makes sure we don’t loose anyone.

Others shoulder tasks and take care of each other during times of need.  In short, this little group of seniors shows competence.  They step up and do what needs to be done, and our entire group benefits. The day was a success, despite the challenges it brought.

I would say the seeds planted in these students by so many teachers and family members are flourishing.  It is a beautiful thing to stand in the midst of this group of teens on a rainy New York City afternoon and think I may have had a tiny part in bringing them to this point. How glad I am to be a teacher.