there are words and then there are *words*

the benefits of vocabulary with high personal meaning… Big light in that tunnel:)
Robin

I observe that LD readers have the most trouble with the little words with lots of adjacent consonants, like “sulk, bulb, scalp.” My students will read the longer, more interesting words, then freeze when they come to these one-syllable words with tall, skinny consonants. I think it is a sequencing issue.

Funny thing, those words —

my DH can’t spell some words to save his soul -
I have learned to translate all sorts of interesting things written on the
grocery list.

But when asked if he can spell all the strange and complicated words
associated with electrical engineering - no trouble at all!

>>I think it is a sequencing issue.<<

Can you explain sequencing for me? Still on a learning curve with
all these reading terms.

thanks!

Anne

The chunks of sound you ahve to process and remember the order for are lots smaller in a word like “sulk.” For polymorphism, you can clump it into syllable chunks that are bigger. Anne wrote:
>
>
> Funny thing, those words —
>
> my DH can’t spell some words to save his soul -
> I have learned to translate all sorts of interesting things
> written on the
> grocery list.
>
> But when asked if he can spell all the strange and
> complicated words
> associated with electrical engineering - no trouble at all!
>
> >>I think it is a sequencing issue.<<
>
> Can you explain sequencing for me? Still on a learning curve
> with
> all these reading terms.
>
> thanks!
>
> Anne

Anne, I don’t have a clear grasp at all. Since I am almost the opposite of dyslexic, it is almost impossible for me to understand what reading must be like when you are. I have seen those exercises some folks have created to try to get us to understand, but they are only a crude approximation.

There is research that supports a deficit in something called “sequential processing.” This deficit shows up as significant in various studies of LD readers. While I can just read from left to right, word by word and letter by letter, somehow if you have this sequential processing deficit, this task is not easy at all. Instead it seems to require intense effort and concentration. How can you identify this particular deficit (not every reading disabled child has this deficit, but it is very common)? Students who seem to move letters about in words when they read probably have a sequential processing deficit. They also move letters about in spelling. Such a child might try to read “sulk” as “sluck.” When teaching this child and the child has just made this error, he or she will have a devilish time getting the letters in the proper sequence.

To remediate this problem I suspect that training similar to LiPs (Lindamood Bell phoneme sequencing program) may be the route to go. I don’t use this, per se, I do have many letter tiles and I do letter tile work with certain students intensively. It does help. Another thing I do is to just remind the student that we read left to right. It is like a muscle. It is hard for them to force themselves to process sequentially, but in time they can build up to it. They may never be as fast as people like myself are, but they will improve and be able to read.

I have always enjoyed the story an adult dyslexic told me and I like to share it, if you can bear with me this long. She went through school in various remedial classes, barely able to read. She married and had children. She had an intense desire to be a mom who read to her children, so she decided to learn to read. She found that she had to read for a total of two hours per day. If she missed a day, she regressed. Over time her reading improved. Eventually she was able to reduce the mandator 2 hours and gradually as she became an even stronger reader she found she could even miss a day and not suffer regression. It was much like building a muscle, nobody can do it for you.

I always recall my conversation with this woman. All a teacher can do is give the student the tools, then it is up to the student to take the tools and use them. Some people need manyfold more hours of practice to develop the particular muscle or skill than others, but everyone can do it; if they are willing to put in the time This is where things fall down, for obvious reasons most of our students don’t put in the time outside of our classroom practicing, so our time spent with them does not frequently produce the glowing improvements we hope for, though improvements are noted.

Could it be a matter of selective INTEREST? The words that are important to him and his job come easily. I’m certainly not in the field of special education but perhaps he is a savant in his area of interest.

I had a kiddo who could read all kinds of long football words — because he was familiar with them and of course they fit with the context.

It would be interesting to find out whether this kiddo could read *new* terminology that was longer (my football student did not have decoding strategies — ‘til he was taught them, anyway! — just good guessing strategies).

I would tend to believe that it is basically interest and motivation. So few teachers ever put themselves in their students’ shoes. OK, everybody out there, raise your hands if you want to spend hours reading word lists today.
I thought so.
So why should your student??

How many of you have zoned out trying to read a text on a subject you were supposed to learn but weren’t interested in, and alerted yourself as you turned a page that you have no idea at all of what you were supposedly reading? So, what’s so weird when a student does the same?

I am constantly amazed at how *well* most kids are socialized and how much dull, repetitive, frequently pointless stuff they will plow through because they are told it’s good for them and they have to.

Learning is sometimes difficult, practice is sometimes boring, and learning to work through some difficulties and some boredom is important if you are ever going to achieve anything. But if there’s a choice between content-free word lists and a content-rich piece of connected language, I go for the content every time. Word lists are sometimes useful to illustrate a point, but in limited doses to maintain attention.

And no, it won’t be predictability in a math text, because a lot of new terms will be introduced in each chapter. So good luck, yes, you’ve got a light at the end of that tunnel all right. You might look into buying books of mathematical puzzles as reading texts. (Check out used book stores, etc.)

Both, interest is a great motivator. However, having taught and observed LD readers for sometime now, I do not find that to be the entire explanation. There clearly are words I can “see coming” for all my students. Certain words are very difficult to decode. Along the lines of interest, clearly many students have success, in many situations, with using a combination of the first syllable (or so) of the word in the context to decode the word relatively quickly. Whether we like this or not, it happens and it can work for the student. What we don’t want is to find this method of decoding become the primary method. We do need for students to be able to read across the entire word. Plus, good readers do take in and process the entire sequence of letters in each word. How else would we know the difference between words like “sour” and “soar” and so on?

I am eager to read the article Sue has linked on the topic. Believe me, I give much thought to this issue.

I have had my son read long more difficult words to me that have really surprised me. In his case when he began reading at school he was allowed to skip and guess. This was a very bad thing. He tutor will not allow skip or guess and he is doing well. The bigger words he has to decode and think about he has no reference to guess from.

I am with everyone else on the interest motivation thought.