severe symbol/sound correspondence

There are people who go through life unable to say the sound when they see the letter. I once had a student who could not well associate any sounds with their origin. It’s was a significant ‘glitch’ for her and perhaps for your student as well.

Are you sure it’s his memory for shape that’s the problem? If you show him a shape and take it away, can he draw it?

Isn’t this poor symbol imagery? Call the people and lindamood bell. You can find the number at www.lindamoodbell.com They are very knowledgable. I wonder if seeing stars would help.

Orton-Gillingham might be just what you need. A MULTISENSORY approach that is systematic and sequential. Key words are used for each letter: Drill cards are practiced which includes seeing the letter- tracing it or skywrting it while saying the name of it, then a key word follows, and finally the sound. a apple /a/. (Using stories such as in the Telian system might also be motivational and helpful. Or drawing the key word for each as Waldorf education does: a king drawn in the shape of a ‘K’ for example.)

I have taught kids with severe phonemic awareness to read using PG. I would be happy to share. Email me directly and I will call you.

Since I use both LiPS and Orton-Gillingham methods, I can tell you that this works for some kids. However, some kids take a very, very long time to get it into memory.
With some kids, to get through 3-4 letter cards a month using O-G is very good for that student because they knew none the month before. This pace can be maddening for the teacher because they think no progress is being made—and granted it isn’t normal progress overall. It may be, though, normal for that kid.

As soon as a student can feel the shape and connect with the sound verbally, I introduce letters. I use the alternate pattern (usually) so that I do a few consonant pairs and a couple of vowels, a few consonant pairs and a couple of vowels. Unlike the pure LiPS program, I do not introduce either short or long “oo” on the first few rounds. I use all short vowel sounds in closed syllable patterns (Cat, map, ship, etc.) As soon as I introduce the letter, I begin including a visual drill in my lesson plan using cards as the cue. I do a little tracking—no more than five changes (six if I get carried away)—and we do spelling with a pencil instead of tiles. I do some word building with tiles, too, though.

Let me know if you wish to see my LiPS-OG combo lesson plan. Nice reading materials from SPIRE (Progress Learning in Kennebunk, ME) if you are interested—it is a LiPS/O-G combo reading program.

I’ve taught a couple of kids with this kind of problem. You need to combione visual and kinesthetic and auditory learning *simultaneously* and *very, very repeatedly* to get things to stick. In practice, this means that you get some meduium to write letters easily and smoothly — the best modern system seems to be a small whiteboard and wipe-off markers — and then you do the following:
Form the letter on the board yourself, very large (two or three inches high is a good place to start. Get a good letter-formation guide and follow *directionality* rigorously — you can avoid b-d confusion and many other problems if you don’t teach them the same way; you’re also looking to teach a smooth and rhythmic writing style down the line, and why learn a mistake and have to unlearn it later? Teach *lower-case* first — over 95% of all letters in a book are lower-case, and it is easier to write once the basic forms have been mastered. Use as few pen lifts as possible (this is why capitals are quite difficult and slow)
Have the student trace the letter, large and smooth and quick, NOT finicking on details, and *while* tracing it, say the sound. At first you may need to guide the student’s hand; later you can give verbal directions (circle to the left, slide up to the top, and down to finish — directions for d). At first it may be a full lesson just to trace a simgle letter and say its sound two or three times. Over a few months’ time, you work up to being able to make a whole row of the same letter, ten to twenty readable copies, saying the sound each time. After the student can trace adequately, move to tracing once and then writing the same letter independently; still say the sound each time. And stay large and smooth, not tiny and finicky. After another month or two, move to the student writing letters independently from your dictation of sounds. At that point you can move into writing words etc.