specially designed instruction

I observed what you call specially designed instruction for some time before I started to give specially designed instruction myself. Before I observed this being done by many individuals and at many schools, I had assumed there was a proscribed course of action for every disorder. Rather like a physician says, Ah, strep throat, well of course I’ll give pencillin for this.

What I’ve found out was that neither doctors nor teachers really have too many proscribed courses of action. Everybody has their favorite thing to do, some have the ability to think up something new when other things haven’t worked. If it works, great, if it doesn’t, try something else. I guess you’re right, there’s a certain amount of hit or miss in it.

It’s not near as much hit and miss as you presume - experience makes the better “doctor.”

I have come to learn that “tool” skills run in a hierarchy. I determine where to begin instruction via my own assessment, you cannot trust what others have said - it is imperative you assess on your own - assess with the materials you plan to use.

Begin instruction where the child may comfortably and with a modicum of effort succeed. Then, you’re off and running. Instruction should be relevent to need.

A few years ago there was a federal grant for the bringing together of all nationally recognized research as to why our children can’t read. What they found out was that every research project had the same specific reasons. It was no longer a mystery why the kids weren’t reading. Although my memory fails me on the list ( I think there were only 4) -each of these abilities had to be taught. The first - rhyming, phonemic awareness, automaticity. Although there are a hundred different programs out there. The aim is to acheive the specific skill needed. At risk children do not simply “pick up” these skills, they have to be specifically taught.

Specially designed instruction begins at the beginning and you flow until you hit a snag (find the problem). Hope this helps. I’m not a professional, just a Mom who has been there. Best Wishes, Sharon G.

I understand the need for phonemic awareness, segmentation, ryhming etc., I’m caught up on the presentation of it all. Joe is in 2nd grade and does not recognize letters nor can he demonstrate sound/symbol relationship. We’ve obviously done repetition (3 years worth), used tactile methods(writng in sand, play doh letters) kinesthetic( gross motor letter formation - air writing with arms legs etc.), we’ve used visual strategies(letters paired with pictures cues ie. Open Court and just object pairing), auditory (singing songs, verbal repetition, audio tapes). Specifically with this student, but even more generally, I’m feeling shamefully stuck. Everyone, student, teacher, and family are extremely frustrated.

Unless your hierarchy is well-known and widely utilized, you might be the pleasant exception to the rule. And are we talking about reading instruction here or is it more widely applicable? In any case, would you post the hierachy of tool skills or at the least an abbreviated version of it? That could be even more helpful to the original poster than simply the knowledge that there is one.

To post the entire hierarchy of tool skills would be text length.

I’ll begin with sums: there must be one to one correspondence mastered. The student should be able to count to at least twenty and be able to estimate accurately to ten.

Sums to Five
Sums to Nine
Sums to Twelve
Sums to Eighteen
2 digits plus 1 digit with a regrouping
3 digits plus up to 2 digits with one regrouping
The use of zero
4 digits plus up to 4 digits with one or more regrouping
3 digits plus up to 3 digits plus up to 3 digits with random regrouping\
Column addition with multiple regroupings

Once the concept of a fraction is understood at the concrete level

recognize simple fractions
recognize mixed numbers
add two simple fractions with the same denominator with no regrouping
convert fractions to mixed numbers
add two simple fractions with the same denominator with a regrouping to a mixed number
master simple equivalent fractions
determine thecommon denominators for two simple fractions
add to fractions and change the sum to a mixed number if appropriate
simplify fractions
Add three fractions, simplify and regroup
Add two mixed numbers with simplifaction and regrouping
Add up to three mixed numbers with simplifcation and regrouping

I’ve done this in just a moment to show you the steps in addition. One step leads to another, don’t move until mastery is achieved. We don’t begin students who cannot estimate with adding. You must begin at the beginning.

I hope this helps. KenSara wrote:
>
> Unless your hierarchy is well-known and widely utilized, you
> might be the pleasant exception to the rule. And are we
> talking about reading instruction here or is it more widely
> applicable? In any case, would you post the hierachy of tool
> skills or at the least an abbreviated version of it? That
> could be even more helpful to the original poster than simply
> the knowledge that there is one.

Not only the original poster but many others would find this helpful. Where is anything like this published?

While I would still maintain it’s largely hit or miss, you should check out Ken’s replies the thread below. He offers a list of critical steps in the addition process that seems to be rather the sort of the thing you might be looking for although it’s in mathematics. Perhaps if you post specific questions in reading instruction, he would do the same thing in that regard.

Cecil Mercer’s work has nicely documented many ways and hows of all this - to tell you the truth, much of this has come from the life and world of experience, I don’t have the magic text in my room - Again, I devise with a number of works near me: Mercer and Mercer’s “Teaching Children with Learning Problems”, Tom Lovitt’s “The 4th R - Research in the Classroom”, Patrick McGreevy’s “Teaching and Learning in Plain English”….but don’t expect these to be at Amazon.com.

Many of those of us on the line want to make and difference and help kids. Others want to sign us up to send dollars off to become millionaires - or to boast upon our newfound educational religion. Yes, I’ve written books - No, it’s not important as I try to really help people come to grips in these confusing times. Ken

I listed math because it was much simpler to do in the time I have available….and I apologize - I get about five to six parental posts daily to my e-mail, the same with phone calls - so I’m not just sloughing this off. What I wanted to show was that reading, like math, also has a set of steps running from the simple to the complex. I believe McGuiness’ book may line these things up - I don’t remember exactly. What I do know, is that you back up….that success breeds success…..also that punishment and failure lead to escape behavior. Some children get a lesson the first try…..some of us need five thousand. I hope this helps, Ken.

My 7 yr old daughters story was the same. Did not recognize letters(could not name them) are correlate phonemic sounds. I had been through everything. My house looked like a school house with SO many different resources. After MUCH advice, I took a different approach. I bought the Wall mounting size picture posters You know A for Apple, etc. and skipped the step of naming the letters. With a very unmotivated child I began with a song and dance. I marched around , with an apple, every opportunity saying ‘a’, ‘a’, ‘a’, apple, apple, apple, ‘a’ - apple etc.,. Once that sound was in while dancing,. I started the ‘b’ and used her baby doll. When I was successful with the two sounds, I took out the pictures and the ENTIRE summer we drilled with the pictures. Finally a breakthrough. She was not able to really name ler letters for another two years.

I don’t know if this will work for you, but I feel your frustration. I spent 24/ 7 -and lots of money, trying to reach her and one day it happened - but very slowly and with lots of repetition. Best Wishes, Sharon G.