I recently met one of my fiances friends named jc. jc was in and out of foster homes all his life and had a really bad childhood. hes is 18 years old and on a second grade reading level. He came to me about two weeks ago and asked me “Brandy will you please teach me how to read so that I can get my drivers liscense”. My lil heart dropped in my tummy. Being the kind person I am I told him that I would be more than happy too. Only Im still a little confused. Where do I begin? What do I use for teaching materials? What are some good teaching tips? Should I be more persistant on certain things? He is also ADHD and not to be rude but slighty slow. so what could I do to be sure that I have his attention and that he is really understanding what I am teaching him. I also work alot of hours at my job, which means our tutoring scedule is only twice a week for 8 hours per day. Is this not enough to keep it fresh in his memory? Id really appreciate any advice I could get! thanks! <3 Brandy
Re: In desperate need of help!
I would suggest getting the book “Reading Reflex” by McGuiness. This book is about $20 in most bookstores, or check your library for a copy.
Read the first three chapters, and then give your student the assessment tests in the book.
Invest in a small whiteboard and a dry erase marker for your student to use for the “mapping” exercises.
You may be able to skip all of the manipulatives. It’s quite a bit of work to copy the pages of manipulatives, cut them all out, and arrange them in envelopes or plastic baggies. Try starting out with just the whiteboard and marker, and see how that goes.
When you get to advanced code, invest in the company’s $39 “parent support guide for older students” and switch to that as your spine. It makes working through advanced code systematically very easy.
Having your student “map” sounds on the whiteboard should help him develop sound/symbol correlations, segmenting skills, and blending skills. You might need some of the manipulatives to effectively work on phoneme manipulation skills (what the book calls auditory processing).
An alternative would be to email the company (http://www.readamerica.net) to find out if there is a Phono-Graphix tutor in your area. Tutors usually charge about $50 per hour, but normally it would not take more than 18 sessions.
Nancy
Re: In desperate need of help!
What state are you in?
First thing I would do is get the stuff the test is going to be based on (most states have it all online). For this guy, I’d use Victoria’s ideas … but focus on the driver’s manual words.
You need a whole book, not just a few tips! Email me at
[email protected]
and I will send you a bunch of stuff I have typed up over the last few years. I send it out every couple of weeks to people who request, so if you don’t hear from me in a while drop another reminder.