comprehension

I have heard that IdeaChain does very much the same thing for comprehension as Lindamood Bell’s Visualizing and Verbalizing. People who have had no problems using the V&V book would not need IdeaChain. However, some people prefer IdeaChain over V&V because it is highly scripted and contains all of the materials (for example, pictures, so you don’t have to cut pictures out of magazines for your lessons).

Mary

We have not tried Lindamood bells visualizing and verbalizing. Have you personally tried this program. Is the manual the only item needed to learn this or is the whole kit needed. Any information you have would be appreciated.

I have not personally used this program, but have seen it highly recommended by both tutors and other parents who have used it. Everyone I have seen post about it just used the book. They said that was all that was needed.

Mary

I’ve used V/V for age levels ranging from 6 years old through 15 years old. I love this program. You don’t need anything except the book. You don’t need to cut pictures out of magazines because in the back of the book are a series of pictures. What you WILL need to do is lightly color them but it doesn’t take much work since you’re not trying to make an artist’s rendition but rather the idea of the colors used. The grass, for instance, just needs a little green lightly sprinkled across it. You can lightly color in one or two pictures before each session. Also, you’re not likely to spend too much time at the picture/picture level anyhow. And you won’t want to do more than 2 pictures in a given session because it would be too fatiguing.

The book is very readable and the concepts are easily understandable. It’s not only helped my students but a wonderful side benefit is that I’M visualizing and verbalizing better than ever! It really has improved my visualizing skills although I never had a problem.

How often do you use it with your students? The company told me that it needs to be done an hour a day to be effective and that cutting the time to 30 minutes would not be a good idea.

That’s certainly the ideal and will accomplish the most in the shortest available time. But remember - that’s true of ANY program. V/V isn’t unusual or remarkable in that. Remember that they’re promoting their product and will of course urge you towards the very best situation. But the reality is that very few kids get, in school, the ideal amount of specialized instruction, in any program, that would be most advantageous for their learning. School budget constraints dictate the limits.

I’ve found that it’s OK to do it less frequently and for shorter duration of times. In fact, truthfully, if the child is REALLY having trouble with visualizing, then the hour can be overwhelming. Since I’m often also doing the LIPS program with the same child, I alternate the two programs during the hour’s session so that the child doesn’t fatigue. If I’m just working out of the V/V, I have to be really aware of the child’s mental fatigue level. It’s an intense program. With younger children I actually usually prefer the half hour V/V session to the hour especially in the early sessions. As they continue through the program and their skills increase, they’re better able to tolerate 45 minutes up to an hour.

Older children, except those with very poor visualizing abilities, handle an hour much better. It’s still fatiguing though. Two high school students I’ve tutored using V/V both told me that their brains felt like mush by the time they got home because they concentrate so hard during that hour.