Hi, I am requesting help from anyone. My son is in the 6th grade, is in resource/special. ed. for written language and reading. I have worked with him alot over the last 2 years and his reading has come up quite a bit. Now his writing/spelling needs help. I just had him tested at school and his WISC-III is FSIQ=130, Perf. IQ=130, Verbal IQ=126 so he has good brains, just some extra spaces!
Now, my question is: what would be the best for me to work with him at home if his test reports says –Awareness of consonant blends and digraphs but inconsistent and easily confused when he encounters these patterns; frequently substitues, adds, or omits consonant combinations. Over-reliance on phonics decoding skills when encountering unfamiliar words, neglecting cues from syntax and meaning. He has difficulty when more complex decoding patterns are encountered: consonant blends and digraphs, vowel combinations, long vowel sounds, r-controlled vowels, multi-syllable words. he also has some difficulty with inferential comprehension.
If anyone knows of what software, program, books or whatever might be helpful I would appreciate it.
thanks so much!
Re: spelling/writing help needed
The over reliance on phonics reminds me of my son a bit. Does it mean he is a phonetic speller? Does he spell words phoneticly correct, laff for laugh, but not look at the word to see if it is the correct choice of sounds?
Seeing stars, a program by lindamood bell can help this. It teaches kids to see the words in their heads so they can differentiate not only the sounds in the words but what the word should look like in order to be correct.
Also, lindamood bell visualizing and verbalizing can help with comprehension.
Maybe you should poke around at the school to see if there is any teachers or speech therapists that are trained in LMB seeing stars and VV. Try and get him the help there first. If that doesn’t work you can go to the Lindamood bell website and order the materials yourself. It isn’t that hard to do. I think it is www.lindamoodbell.com if that doesn’t work trying searching for it. The LMB people are very helpful if you talk to them about the problems you are facing with your son.
Re: spelling/writing help needed
I have just ordered Avko’s Sequential spelling (I have heard it mentioned favorably on this board) and will let you know how it goes in a month or two. I am facing a lot of the same issues that your are with my own son. You may find this spelling program help with decoding of larger words, for example, in teaching spelling, they start with “all”, then “tall”, “stall”, “installment,” etc. You can visit their web site at:
http://www.avko.org/Sequential_Spelling/Seq_Spelling.htm
keep in touch and share what ever you find works.
From what test are these comments?
They look like something one would see on a Stanford 9 or other group achievement test. Is that true?
Thanks everyone!
Yes, this was taken straight off of the results for his IEP meeting. They did the WISC-III, I believe and a couple of other tests.
It is going to be a long haul no matter what!!
thanks for everyones help, I really appreciate it!
Micki
You’ll get different answers to your good question and you likely get better ones than mine. I’m puzzled a bit by over reliance on phonic decoding skills when meeting unfamiliar words. What else does someone rely on but phonic decoding skills? He’s fortunate to have such skills - many other children are put into remediation to obtain those very skills.
In any case, to me it sounds simply like your son has difficulty with spelling. He’s not alone. Some children take longer to learn to spell than others. Some people go through their entire lives working on their spelling. I think as we write and read, our spelling gets better with each passing year. In the meantime, there’s Spellcheck.
Inferential comprehension is another matter. For that, I’d suggest reading out loud to him on a regular basis - every day. (which you might do already) Ask him as you begin a book what he thinks it might be about. What does he predict will happen in the book? Go so far as to tell him that every work of fiction has a problem in the plot around which the book revolves. What might be the problem in this book based on its title?
As you read the book, ask him if he has a sense of the unfolding problem. Ask how he thinks the problem could be resolved. At the end, ask him if the book ‘worked’ for him? Did he like it? Why or why not? Did the characters’ behavior make sense? Did they respond as people do or did the characters not feel ‘real’ in their response?
That kind of ongoing discussion about a shared book can help to build his inferential comprehension.
Good luck.