interested to see if anyone else has found that most kids that come to reading tutors or end up with IEP’s for reading, had trouble learning to recognize the alphabet out of context at age 5,
the kids could recite the alphabet, but cannot recognize the letters when shown them in random order,
i have yet to have a parent come to me with her poor reader where she has not said, their child could not learn the letters at age 5 and 6, struggled to learn them,
i know many vision optometrists have posted before, any ideas why the kids cannot recognize the letters,
and i am not talking about reading print, but seeing an isolated letter on paper and not being able to remember it, even after repeated exposures,
libby m
Re: You've got good advice there!
Thanks Victoria. This audiologist has worked wonders with my son so I trust her alot but still it goes a bit against my grain a bit and it is good for me to hear someone else who agrees. We moms are an anxious bunch who have a hard time not doing very much!!!
Beth
Re: You've got good advice there!
OK, spend that energy on doing something *else* useful, anything from advanced swimming skills improvement lessons (wonderful for coordination and all sorts of other things) to reading a good novel for interest (Harry Potter?) to doing comprehension books as puzzles to math logic brain teasers to …
Re: You've got good advice there!
I decided to go back and work on his visual skills—which are weak also and pretty different from all the auditory work we’ve done. I have visual thinking cards and several books on visual perception that have games and puzzles in them. I thought we’d do 15-20 minutes a day on it. Then I thought we’d rotate playing different games every night. I have a bunch that help build skills but never manage to get around to them. I especially like the I SPY games. Their visual memory game is the only interesting one I have ever found. And all my kids like it!! (and my LD son is reasonably decent at it)
Beth
I like your audiologist’s advice to let things “gel” for a while. Keep this person! She’s a real find.
This is a *normal* pattern in all learning. You meet a new topic, struggle with it for a while, make some big steps forward, and reach a plateau where you are not moving for a while. At this point it is an excellent idea to take a breather and work on something else, often something as different as possible — math or swimming or art, for example. After a period of time, weeks to months, this new material has connected in your brain with the other things you know, and you may make sudden gains without any *apparent* input. Then after a while consolidating the new gains you’re ready to go ahead again.
The “Puritan ethic” style of teaching, insisting on covering a set amount every day no matter what because it’s “good for you” is an OK method to drill and master repetitive things (you just have to do it with multiplication tables, for example) but it’s the worst possible way to master new material.
Good luck anf hats off to that audiologist.