The hardest thing for my 11 yr old with the Sound Reading so far has been the dictation-not the spelling or handwriting but remembering the sentence without me repeating it several times
I asked about this on a different board awhile back and a test with Detroit in its name was mentioned but the poster wasnt clear on the details
Does anyone know what length of utterance an 11 yr old should be remembering?
Is there a way to work on this other than working on exactly that skill(repeating back or writing sentences)
We have brainbuilder-I have lapsed on having him use it but honestly, he was doing quite well-7 and 8 digits, often better backward than forward, but distinctly average. I was surprised as I had expected him to be weak in this area
Would audioblox be helpful?
personal experience and opinion on dictation
Writing from dictation is a learned skill, and like all learned skills, it works best if you start small and work up gradually.
(a) You can start with short sentences, three or four words, and very gradually (one word per week) lengthen.
(b) You can break the sentence up into *meaningful* phrases of three or four words and dictate — first the whole sentence, then one phrase at a time, then the whole sentence again to allow checking. After a few weeks, you can use slightly longer phrases, again incresing slowly as in one word per week.
(c) A *very* useful technique is to have the student repeat the sentence or phrase orally *before* setting pen to paper. This is the necessary tool to get the sentence into the brain.
sentences
Well, that explains WHY my OG tutor has Jami repeat the sentence before she starts writing. I knew she did that, just didn’t know why until now.
Thanks Victoria!
Re: remembering sentences correctly-how to help
I will say that imagery techniques such as those taught in Lindamood Bell Visualizing and Verbalizing would be an excellent strategy to use to teach sentence comprehension and memory.
Janis
dictated sentences
Not everyone can remember a dictated sentence. I know adults who can’t do this and I have yet to understand why teachers continue this antique practice in their classrooms. It’s out of the Dark Ages.
The only thing to do would be to drop back to short sentences. Three words. Let him feel successful every step of the way to build his confidence and ‘train his brain’ to the task. Even two word sentences if you have to can help.
Cats jump.
He fell.
She loves lemonade.
The dog barked.
Don’t move on to longer sentences until he’s getting the two, then three word sentences right every time.
There’s no quick fix for this. Patience is key.
Marycas,
I am glad you posted this. I too have just started Sound Reading. I’m actually splitting it up for my two dc. Dd who is not LD but is a terrible speller is doing the computer program. (She revolted on Sequential Spelling but doesn’t mind a computer program.) I’m using the books for ds for fluency, but wondered whether there would be value in having him do the dictation.
In any case, I planned on having dd doing the dictation for handwriting/spelling after she finishes Cursive Success. But I thought some of the dictation sentences were pretty long to expect a child to keep in mind, and the booklet does not appear to give advice on how to dictate—the complete sentence at once or breaking it up into segments. (I agree with you that SRS has good potential but they really do need to proofread the materials and attend to gaps in the directions.)
I hope someone has some insights into this. Maybe we’ll have to call the company for their views.