I a have a student who is in Kindergarten. She is the only student who does not reconnize any letters in the alphabet. I have tried everything I can think of to help her. I have worked with one letter at a time for several days one on one with her and at the end of the three days she still does not know the letter. We are having problems getting the test results on her and I do not know what else to do. I wanted to know if anyone has any suggestions of what I can do to help her?
Re: Child who may be have a ld
In addition to the strategies in the post before mine (those are good ideas!); make letter cut-outs of anything with texture (sandpaper, dried glue dots on paper, glued rice or beans, etc. Anything that she can trace with her finger. Also, it will help if she says the letter while tracing it. Model a long, drawn-out letter that lasts as long as she is tracing the letter. Begin with capital letters, then move to lower case.
Re: Child who may be have a ld
All I will say is that I hope you get the right help and assistance for this child. If this student can receive the correct remedation at an early age, she will be much better for it.
My own daughter had these symptoms (and many more) in K-5. I waited until the beginning of 2nd grade to identify her (the school kept saying nothing was wrong).
A full evaluation is essential. We had every LD known to man!
Re: Child who may be have a ld
Hi Chrissy, go to the bookstore tomorrow and buy “Reading Reflex”; you’ll learn how to teach ANY child to learn to read. I’ve been tutoring reading for nearly 20 years with phonics and since learning the method “phono-graphix” (explained in the book), I’ve remediated nearly 100 kids to grade level within 12 hours…yes, it is possible. Read the book and e me with any questions:
[email protected] the web site of the company behind it is: readamerica.net Leslie
Re: Child who may be have a ld
Anna’s suggestions for multisensory are excellent. But please *do not* start with capitals. 95% and more of the letters in any book are lower-case — if you learn the capitals you still can’t read a thing except maybe a stop sign. Start with lower case and add capitals one by one as you need them.
Definitely say the sounds (not the names but the sounds — aaaaa rather than ay) as you form the letters.
I use a white board and markers and have the child form the letters good and big.
Also, get a good printing model with directions shown by arrow, and follow the directionality *absolutely*. You can get books at learning stores or even at WalMart. Note especially the difference between b (stick first) and d (circle first) Please don’t fall for the trap of “But it’s easier to make the f from the bottom and the d from the top”. Easier now, a failure in Grade 3 later — that is *not* a profit. As your child learns how a letter “feels” by forming the shape the same way over and over and over (just as she learned to talk by hearing and saying the same word over and over) she will have a solid base of learning and will not confuse letters.
My son had this problem in K. I only recently realized it was related to a severe ocular motor problem for which he is now recieving vision therapy. He did learn his letters with some multisensory techniques but I wish we just dealt with the actual deficit sooner.
She can’t visually process the letters. You will need to find a different route especially if vision therapy is not an option for her.
Things that help:
Go outside and draw the letter on the ground. Have her walk the letter. Then go in and write what she walked.
Michele gave some wonderful suggestions recently for multisensory techniques using play dough or wicky stix. You could also have her draw them in sand or shaving cream.
Try to get her to visualize the letters. Have her draw the letter in the air and make a picture of it in her mind.