Re: Teaching Reading w/ Unusual Auditory Problems

Submitted by an LD OnLine user on

Hi,

My dd recently had an audiologist test her for auditory processing disorders. Her results found that she auditory decoding deficit but she found something unusual—her left ear is her dominant ear. The audiologist said that she almost never sees this sort of dominance and it will make things very hard for her. Because of this and problems that she has had with speech and language; she has suggested that she needs intensive, mult-sensory reading intervention, one-on-one language/auditory processing therapy, and a re-evaluation in one year.

I am currently homeschooling her. We may opt to send her to a private school for dyslexics that her brother attends—w/ good results, too. She must attend public school under an IEP first before she qualifies for the scholarship, though. In the meantime, (or perhaps indefinitely), I must implement some sort of intervention w/ her.

Her blending (CVC), rhyming skills are very low. Her letter recognition is excellent and she has about a 50 words that she can recognize by site (or quess—it’s kind of hard to tell). It is hard to keep her attention when teaching her—I would think she finds it tiring to keep processing auditory information—she doesn’t appear to have any attention deficit issues. She has a deep desire to learn to read and loves to have stories read to her despite the auditory problems ( her brother had the same problems but hated to be read to). Oops—I forgot she is 6; 7 next month.

I would please like anyone to suggest some good, intensive, one-on-one programs that I can at least get her started with. My homeschooling funds are limited but I would like to try to obtain what would be a good program for her.

Thanks everyone for your time.

AJ

Submitted by Sue on Thu, 12/30/2004 - 6:10 PM

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You can also check the “letterbox lessons” at the Reading GEnie (http://www.auburn.edu/~murraba) for a straightforward way of isolating that “sound-symbol” connection. Sometimes just isolating it helps immensely — but she may have deeper issues with the sounds than that.

Submitted by victoria on Thu, 12/30/2004 - 6:20 PM

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Did I get those teaching outlines to you? Things have been a little strange on the email and I fear I missed some requests.

[email protected]

I have mentioned here before that I am genuinely ambidextrous and it hasn’t hurt my reading a bit. I also may possibly be left ear dominant; at least I prefer the unpopular left side of outdoor concerts (where your left ear is towards the stage).
The whole dominance issue has been misinterpreted and overblown. In reality almost everyone has some degree of mixed dominance and the tendencies are statistical averages rather than hard lines.

I would work hard on coaching language in general as well as reading skills in particular and not worry too much about theories of brain structure.

Submitted by Sue on Thu, 12/30/2004 - 6:23 PM

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Oh, and — you probably don’t need to be told this — don’t spoil her love for learning and language. Separate teh “necessary drill” part from the really having a good time with language and words and stories part.
I heard a parent online who likened it to having a baby — she explained to her daughter that babies were wonderful and provided all kinds of joy and fulfillment… but you still did have to do things like change their diapers. Her daughter then insisted on wrapping up the flashcards in diapers :-) A sense of humor can help a *lot*!
Another thing that makes the whole “difficult” part easier is to realize that it’s better to *master* things and then move on. You’re not enslaved to a curriculum that dictates what you must have covered in X months or weeks or minutes.
When I was learning the Orton-Gillingham methods, I chomped on my tongue many times, chafing at the degree to which we were told to practice and repeat, even when it was easy for the child… s/he *knew* this stuff, why keep repeating it when we could be moving on????
Welp, after five years of objective observations… across the board, the students with the teachers who did all that drill and repetition — at a level that was easy for the student, or else it’s not really drill — did better. Even the students I was *sure* were so bright that they didn’t need it did better. Filling in the holes in the foundation is worth the many, many layers. IT’s boring for the teacher — generally not for the student because if it’s really drill it goes by quickly… and these folks get a lot out of being able to get something quickly and easily and getting it right. (When I thought about it… all that reading and stuff we natural readers do on the side serves exactly the same purpose — instant drill and practice. )
Fortunately, my little tongue has survived :-)

Submitted by Drae on Fri, 12/31/2004 - 1:23 AM

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Thank you all for your replies!

I am flexible—maybe too much—I could use a little more structure!!! I always have fun w/ her—she has a terrific sense of humor. She loves books, stories, etc., and I love to read them to her (Mom is a biblioholic). She is impatient and can be emotionally volatile, though, and gets very frustrated if she doesn’t get things ‘the first time’. She wants to do it right and do it right now. I have to encourage A LOT that it’s okay to get discouraged but to keep trying anyway and remind her of how many things she didn’t know how to do and know she can.

Victoria, I got your notes and I’ll be printing them out (after getting more ink) and going over them. Merci beaucoup pour votre aide (je said, mon francais est terrible!) :-)

Thanks again, everyone!

Drae

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 01/03/2005 - 7:25 PM

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The materials that Sue recommends are good materials, based on good multisensory practices. You mentioned that multisensory activities were recommended for you child. I also like Project Read, supplimented with additional wordlists from “Angling For Words” for review and practice.

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