improving memory

One thing I have learned is that when a child acts this way, the curriculum material is usually not appropriate. Many materials used in schools are not very good for dyslexics.

Most dyslexics have an underlying deficit such as developmental vision delays or auditory processing disorder. When this kind of deficit is not addressed, inattention is a normal byproduct. You can find out more about these kinds of problems on the DyslexiaSupport list at http://groups.yahoo.com . Try doing a search on “vision therapy”, “auditory processing disorder”, “Audiblox”, etc.

It sounds as if your daughter is not paying attention to auditory information. This would indicate a need to get auditory processing checked out. See http://pages.cthome.net.cbristol/ for more information (and there are probably better sites than this now).

It used to be thought that if a “normal” child could learn something in 10 repetitions, a dyslexic child just needed 100 repetitions or 1,000 repetitions of the same thing. This is simply not true. Repetition alone or rote learning does not address the needs of dyslexics.

If you would describe what exactly you are trying to teach, I could probably make some reasonable curriculum suggestions.

In general, if you want to improve learning skills, Audiblox is a good program. Audiblox works on attention skills, short-term visual and auditory memory, visual and auditory sequencing skills (which are almost always lagging seriously in dyslexics), logic and reasoning, etc. Website is http://www.audiblox2000.com

Nancy

All of what Nancy said is true, but it also sounds like inattentive ADD is a possibility from the description given.

Janis

If you’re a teacher vs a parent who could more easily do the audiobox, I’d suggest employing other modalities vs just verbal and written.This is true whether the kid is dyslexic or ADD. Schools are notarious for only presenting things in the weakest modality for dyslexic and ADD kids. There is the visual, use of pix, movies, charts (and the making of these by the kids). The use of music (cute melodies that can teach things). Doing— making things, producing plays, making models. Use of the computer— Power Point and multimedia presentations, etc. In some fo these the LD kids will really excel over the neurotypical kids. Also isn’t there the old saw, but it is true— I hear I forget, I see I remember, I do and I understand (of course except if you have excellent auditory memory :-)).

—des

[i][Thank you for your help. I am her English tutor. I teach her English at home along with her sister. At present I use pictures and audio cassetes. She does well if she hears as well as sees the words. If I pronounce them slowly she can write them, that is if they aren’t too difficult. Also, she can answer the questions correctly if I read them to her. Therefor, I know she understands. I never realized until now what a difficult language we have, so many different combinations to make up one sound. Phonics doesn’t help, it only confuses her more. She is good in maths and likes numbers! In the meantime I give her lots of ecouragement, hugs and kisses everytime she does somthing right, no matter how small the accomplishment. A little love can go a long way. Who knows, maybe some day I’ll be able to unlock her little mind. Is it possible for someone to have dyslexia and ADD? Costadinacolor=brown][/color][/i]

The fact that you’re teaching English as a second language changes the picture considerably. I assume that this child is having difficulty reading English even though she understands spoken English and can write a few words?

It’s very possible that this child is having difficulty recognizing the phonemes of English — that is, the individual sounds of English that are combined into words. This is a rather common problem among children learning ESL. They are learning English words as entities, not as combinations of individual sounds. This can work just fine for spoken English, but is not enough for mastery of written English.

What I would recommend is that you get a copy of the book “Reading Reflex” by McGuiness (widely available in bookstores for under $20, and often available in libraries) and engage this child in sound bingo, word building, and mapping exercises from the book. I would also do lots of oral segmenting and blending exercises with her (e.g., you say the sounds /c/ /a/ /t/, and the child blends the sounds into the word “cat”; you give the word “cat” and the child has to segment the sounds into /c/ /a/ /t/). These are exercises that will isolate the individual sounds in words and provide the child with practice constructing and de-constructing words using phonemes. These skills are essential for both reading and writing the language.

It’s possible to have both Dyslexia and ADD. However, both diagnoses would be much more difficult to arrive at in an ESL child. The inattention could easily be related to boredom or resignation that the tasks are too difficult.

Nancy

[i]At first, I thought that her lack of attention was because she couldn’t understand English, but afer talking with her parents and her teachers, as well as the comments from her classmates, ( I didn’t purposely ask them, they just would say something like “that’s the way she is in school” whenever I would catch her looking around,) I realized that the problem existed. I have tried to make the lessons more interesting and easier , also to only teach what I felt was neccessary. I have been known to stand on my chair to explain the word “tall ” for example. We sound out all words, mainly because I emphasize pronounciation and meaning more than spelling. Here, it is more likely that someone will need to speak English rather than read or write it. She does know a few words and their meaning., and she can remember some of what she was taught last year, she also does well with multiiple choice questions and exercizes where pictures are matched to words, especially if I read them to her as she reads them. I will certainly try to find the book. [/i]

It really does sound like attention and memory problems, then.

“Reading Reflex” is wonderful for teaching reading skills, but doesn’t really work on developing attention and memory.

A program that *does* work on attention and memory skills is Audiblox (http://www.audiblox2000.com ). This is not a program that teaches any academics, but rather works to develop underlying skills such as visual and auditory attention, visual and auditory short-term memory, working memory, etc. Cost of a kit is around $100, I think. It usually takes about 40 to 60 hours of one-on-one before you start seeing significant results in daily life. My bet is that this program would help the child — in all areas of academic learning, not just English.

Nancy