I’m looking for some suggestions and ideas for accommodations for working with a student who has poor visual memory and spelling skills. He is able to read and comprehend without any problems.
Is visual memory something that is usually worked on by an OT?
Thanks
spelling
DeeDee, I homeschool my child and we do Sequential Spelling AVKO. He really likes this program and it has helped him a lot. He has a slow processing speed and LD in Written Expression. Hope this helps. Jan
Actually, this type of problem is usually best treated with cognitive skills training. If the student can read without any difficulty, chances are there are no severe visual efficiency deficits (which is what vision therapy works on correcting). Cognitive skills training works on developing things such as visual short-term memory, pattern recognition, visual sequencing, working memory, and other skills associated with visual processing. Visual processing skills build on visual efficiency skills.
A program such as Audiblox (http://www.audiblox2000.com ) is usually very helpful. However, this program requires daily one-on-one work with an adult — typically a minimum of 1/2-hour per day 5 days a week for 6 months or more. This is why it is usually done by parents at home, rather than teachers (not as effective in a classroom setting) or tutors (too expensive because of the number of hours involved). Most children will start showing significant gains within 40 hours of one-on-one work, but it can take many more hours than this to achieve optimal gains.
Also, this type of program does not eliminate the need for specific spelling programs. Two spelling programs I have found extremely helpful are Sequential Spelling (http://www.avko.org ) and Spelling Through Morphographs (available through SRA). Sequential Spelling especially helps a lot with children who have poor visual memory skills.
Nancy