For teaching Christie letters we use sandpaper letters, making them in the sand downstairs, writing them, making them in playdough, using sign language, tracing, copying, finding things all over the house with the same beginning sound, etc. and yet, 15 minutes later it’s all gone.
By doing this it took us 14 months for her to learn ‘M’.
We got the preliminary report on her assessement today and there was some good news. Her auditory processing and verbal skills are off the chart (in a good way) but her ability to remember symbols (letters, numbers or other characters) was the 1-2nd percentile. They said her short term memory (5-15 seconds was great), however, her long term retrival is about 5th percentile. ie. anything more then 10-15 minutes in the past. I have no idea how to work our way around this. How can you teach letters when she can’t remember them for more then 2 minutes??
They gave me 4 pages of recommendations and after going over them together I told them that I do every single one of those suggestions already. If the ‘experts’ can’t think of anything new….
Sorry, just a bit down I guess.
Re: Christie's Assessment - was D ick and Jane
Well, you know she *does have* a long-term memory, because verbal learning got in there. Just not connecting the symbols to it. So, the idea is to take the part that is working well (verbal) and connect the part that she needs to learn (symbols). Work with her on saying things out loud as she does them — saying the words over and over while looking at them (and watch here eyes, that they are actually focusing on the word, you would be amazed) — saying the name and sound of the letter *as* she traces it, etc. Teach her the alphabet song if she doesn’t know it (verbal) and then have her point to the letters written as *large* lower-case forms *while* she is singing each name.
One technique I don’t like in general but as an emergency last resort: write out some repetitive nursery rhymes (or songs or hymns, just keep it simple at first) in nice *large* clear printing on posterboard and have her point to each word, sliding the finger left-to-right for proper visual tracking, pointingsliding *as* she says or sings the word. Once she has done the poem/song/hymn over many times, make copies of the words on large file cards, mix thm, and have her sort them in order on the table to make up the poem again.
Re: Christie's Assessment - was D ick and Jane
I think Victoria’s suggestion to always have her verbalize while doing the other things is great! My suggestion is to always have her verbalize the *sound*, not the letter name. Sounds are essential for reading, but letter names are not.
Since her verbal skills are good, I would also be sure to do oral segmenting and blending exercises with her. Start with three-sound (or even two-sound) words. For example, you say the sounds /c/ /a/ /t/ (each sound separated by one second), and she has to blend the sounds together into the word “cat”. Then it’s her turn to segment a word, perhaps /d/ /o/ /g/, and it’s your job to blend the sounds together to say the word “dog”. This is excellent prep for reading.
The sound/symbol correlation can be a tough one for dyslexics to make. Moving information from short-term memory into long-term memory is thought to involve the cerebellum, so therapies that stimulate the cerebellum are sometimes helpful. NeuroNet is one (http://www.neuronetonline.com ) and Dore is another. One of the things these programs have in common is lots of bodywork.
Even if you do not attempt one of these therapies, certain exercises that combine bodywork with sound/symbol work might be helpful. I am thinking, for example, of having her jump on a small trampoline while reading a chart full of Ms (and any other symbols she has learned). The rhythm and gross muscle involvement can be helpful.
Nancy
Jeannie, I know how disheartening it can be to get news like that. It knocked the props out from under me when they told me that Daniel has multiple developmental delays. They also added that even when I do teach him to read and write they don’t expect his IQ to rise much and the diagnosis will most likely change to mental retardation.
But you know what? Now you know what the deal is and what’s going on. And you know what to look for to help her (some way to get into that long term memory). There is a key to that lock somewhere, just gotta find it.
If you want to, email me the list they gave to you and I’ll see if I can help you come up with some more ideas. My addy is [email protected]
Don’t let it get you down. And don’t give up. Now you know what angle to attack from. And I’m sure some people here will be able to help.