Learning new words

[Sally44]

I've posted a number of times about my son struggling with phonics. And he has recently, finally, been diagnosed with dyslexia.

Although I have had a strong idea of how my son might learn better, I have been reluctant to 'go it alone' because school is not currently supportive of any other approach.

As a parent I did not want to confuse my son further by using another system, but I decided to have a go with trying to use symbols to teach my son some sight words where phonics cannot be applied.

I really wanted to use a morpheme approach, but have been unable to get access to this.

I recently found out that school already have widgit, but are not using it for my son (which I find bizzare in itself, but anyway ....). So as school could 'potentially' do what I am doing with widgit symbols I decided to go ahead.

So I am teaching him the symbol and word without using any phonic letter sounds at all. Rather like 'look/say', but the look is at a symbol. The symbol also helps with semantics, which my son also struggles with.

Anyway, I started on 25/5/10 and have tried to practice it every day. We started with the words 'out', 'come', 'here' and 'where'. My son has now learnt those words. He can read/spell and generalise them and read them in other books. So he has learnt 4 words in two weeks. If he does consistently continue to remember them, that means I have taught him 4 words in 14 days and his school have not managed to teach him 3 words in two years.

For the time being I will continue and hopefully gradually add on additional words.

What I want to do is at some point hold a 'demonstration' infront of his teacher or the SALT or EP to show them what I have managed to teach him using a visual system.

I don't want to count my chickens yet, but I am very hopeful that this might actually work.

[Suze]

Well done sally , in trying to teach my boy the top 50 high frequency words, we made a word search game.Its exactly the same as matching up pairs, but with this you have to say the word out loud when you turn the card over and then remember where the other word was iyswim.My son hated to read and even getting a book out caused huge problems so this way we could make it competive and a game and every correct word match won him a haribo sweetie .He gradually learnt the words by memory/sight recognition.

[baddad]

Hi sally -

Glad you've found something that seems to be helping, and hope that any chicken's counted hatch as expected!

I don't know anything about 'widget' but any new way of working towards a goal that makes it interesting and fun has got to be worth a looksee.

Spelling was always a bugbear for my son, and daily reinforcement/recapping was an absolute necessity from day one... the primary used to give the class ten new spellings a week on Friday afternoon and test them the next Friday morning. From Friday evening onward we would be going over them at least three times a night; writing them, breaking them down into phonics and reasembling them, using scrabble tiles etc etc. By about Monday he would usually have learnt about a third consistently, and we would drop them to concentrate on the ones he was struggling with.. By Thursday night he would usually have around 6 - 8 we would be confident about and 2 - 4 that would be possible 'misses', but over time the hit rate got better and the learning curve shorter as he got more of the 'theory' on board and began pre-guessing rather than learning by rote.

It does seem incredibly unfair when we have to hijack our kids after school time in these kinds of ways, but they do gain so much from it when things finally fall into place for them.

I know exactly how you feel about wanting to 'demonstrate' for the school, having gone through a similar curve with my son and handwriting, but i found the best way forward was to suggest/gently prod them in my direction rather than suggesting more directly. At the time I felt they should have been achieveing with him what I was achieving at home, but with hindsight can see that there were all sorts of factors/dynamics in school that I didn't have to contend with at home. In real terms i think half an hour at home can be as beneficial as 3 - 4hrs in a school classroom - even with a TA - if a child is struggling, which for a single specific skill/subject could be a whole week's (or even longer's) worth of lessons. Add to that the fact that there may be whole days between the reinforcement/recapping, and the whole negative impact that can have on rote learning...

Anyway, hope things continue as promisingly as they started and that it's the starting point for one of those 'quantum leaps' that, while not exclusive, do seem more relevant for many kids on the spectrum.

 

L&P

 

BD

[Sally44]

That sounds like a good game. Maybe I could use that as a further reinforcer.

I've got to buy another laminator because ours has just started smoking!! Not that I've even used it alot this last year, but of course it is just out of its guarantee.

I think the widgit symbols are very good for teaching the meaning of words too, which is something else he struggles with. And I am hoping that eventually school will catch on and use widgit to put together his worksheets etc so that he can read them himself and become more independent. I really don't understand why they aren't already using them - but I'll leave that discussion for another day for the time being.

I am hoping that if I continue to make progress that that will mean school/EP will have to recognise what I am doing is achieving more progress. The frustrating thing with 'not making much/no progress' is that that becomes the 'norm' as far as school are concerned, when that really is not the case at all. If I can teach my son XX new words in a month then that should become the new benchmark.

I'm going to use his reading book as a way of identifying new sight words to introduce. At the moment school seem to have a list of CVC and Sight words to learn that are unrelated to his reading book and unrelated to his spelling list. So nothing is co-ordinated or interleaved at all.

 

[baddad]

My son hated to read and even getting a book out caused huge problems so this way we could make it competive and a game and every correct word match won him a haribo sweetie .He gradually learnt the words by memory/sight recognition.

but all his teeth fell out!

Don't know if they still offer them, but you used to be able to download 'Grey old twit's' wordsearch/crossword making flash software from 'adders' (adhd) website... they helped my son a lot when he was first working with words, as did 'Captain Underpants' books he was bought by a friend when he first started reading longer stories.

 

[Sally44]

Hi sally -

Glad you've found something that seems to be helping, and hope that any chicken's counted hatch as expected!

I don't know anything about 'widget' but any new way of working towards a goal that makes it interesting and fun has got to be worth a looksee.

Spelling was always a bugbear for my son, and daily reinforcement/recapping was an absolute necessity from day one... the primary used to give the class ten new spellings a week on Friday afternoon and test them the next Friday morning. From Friday evening onward we would be going over them at least three times a night; writing them, breaking them down into phonics and reasembling them, using scrabble tiles etc etc. By about Monday he would usually have learnt about a third consistently, and we would drop them to concentrate on the ones he was struggling with.. By Thursday night he would usually have around 6 - 8 we would be confident about and 2 - 4 that would be possible 'misses', but over time the hit rate got better and the learning curve shorter as he got more of the 'theory' on board and began pre-guessing rather than learning by rote.

It does seem incredibly unfair when we have to hijack our kids after school time in these kinds of ways, but they do gain so much from it when things finally fall into place for them.

I know exactly how you feel about wanting to 'demonstrate' for the school, having gone through a similar curve with my son and handwriting, but i found the best way forward was to suggest/gently prod them in my direction rather than suggesting more directly. At the time I felt they should have been achieveing with him what I was achieving at home, but with hindsight can see that there were all sorts of factors/dynamics in school that I didn't have to contend with at home. In real terms i think half an hour at home can be as beneficial as 3 - 4hrs in a school classroom - even with a TA - if a child is struggling, which for a single specific skill/subject could be a whole week's (or even longer's) worth of lessons. Add to that the fact that there may be whole days between the reinforcement/recapping, and the whole negative impact that can have on rote learning...

Anyway, hope things continue as promisingly as they started and that it's the starting point for one of those 'quantum leaps' that, while not exclusive, do seem more relevant for many kids on the spectrum.

 

L&P

 

BD

 

I am more than happy to spend time helping my son. But to date there doesn't seem to be co-ordination via school. Infact school said not to do anything with him at home because it was making me anxious. That wasn't what I was telling them. I was telling them that he could not read the books they were sending him home with. They felt he could read them. But my son was memorising them. So now, even when he has a new book I do not read it with him at home first. From the moment I did that they saw that he could not read. But after someone has gone through a book with him once he has memorised it. He can actually quote it word for word as I turn the page without even looking at it! Yet he cannot read the individual words if you point to them in that or any other book. So it isn't actually learnt.

 

At his last school he never received any homework because his teacher did not differentiate any for him. He got the same homework as all the other children which his teacher told me to 'ignore' because "he cannot do it". So every week I got a homework book that simply became a painful reminder of what he could not do. At his new school I had expected him to recieve differentiated homework. But they seem unorganised. They have the high frequency phonic and sight word lists which do not relate to the reading programme high frequency words; and none of those word lists are connected to his reading books or the spelling lists he receives every week. I had expected a reading programme with specific books which worked on specific words which would be practised at home and in school and which would be part of the spelling lists and that those words would be build into the curriculum to be practised throughout the day. If that was happening then I think he would make more progress. As it is he learns isolated words that are often not even in his reading books. His reading books contain words he cannot read and which are not the current ones he is attempting to learn.

My son can learn spelling lists of maybe 4 simple words. But after the spelling test they are forgotten because they are words that are more difficult than any of the words in his reading books, so he never comes across them again. And he also memorises the list in that format and cannot apply it elsewhere.

So I am going to introduce new sight words only as we come across them in his reading books.

I will see his teacher before the end of this term to show her what we are doing at home. I think she would be really positive to see he had made progress and would probably use it. But this is where I feel let down, because a school that is experienced in ASD should be aware of what I am doing but the only approach they want to use is phonics.

 

widgit is a system that has a visual symbol for each word. And the symbol gives a simple explanation of the meaning of the word. For example the symbol for 'out' is a red ball jumping out a box. Using a combination of symbols and words my son can read. Using only words he cannot. And he can learn whole words by associating the word with the symbol and not using any phonics at all.

Most, if not all special independent schools for children with language and communication disorders use either Widgit or Clicker along with other language learning systems such as THRASS or Toe by Toe. So for his school to have widgit and not use it is like keeping one of your best learning tools in the cupboard!

[Sally44]

http://www.dyslexia.gb.com/?gclid=CLmnkMX87KECFRI-lAodSTmLJg

The above link shows how the morpheme system works. It is just a short couple of minutes video taken from the news, but shows this dyslexia school and the Head.

I know someone via our support group whose child age 14 has recently joined this school and who is finally reading and writing after years of struggling mainstream.

Unfortunately my sons other difficulties were considered too severe by the Head for a place at this school to be a possibility.

[call me jaded]

A breakthrough! Well done.

 

I tried really, really hard to get the school to mirror things I was doing at home and I nearly imploded trying to get them to use a voice output communicator (a dynavox) but in the end it was just too much for them. Having to follow the NC to the letter when you're a special school for children with severe learning difficulties was a big factor in why they couldn't do it. Plus severe technophobia.

 

If I'd waited for the school DS would still be illiterate. As it was he would show me he understood and could read (because he wanted me to read with him every night) but it was several years and a different school before he demonstrated the skill to school. They rang me with the good news and were slightly crest-fallen when I said he'd been doing it at home 'for a while'. Little tinker - talk about demand avoidance. Still doesn't write, though. That means he's still illiterate lol. Thinking of getting an i-Pad.

 

 

[Sally44]

I think it is very sad and counter productive when schools have to stick with things that are not working for a child. And I can quite believe it is all part of the paperwork and requirements from local/national government etc.

But that also makes Statements so much harder to follow because they are individualised to the child's needs, yet the day to day lessons in school are for all the class.

I think that mainstream is causing many children to become square pegs in round holes. And I think there are enough children like ours that need similar supports for there to be a mainstream specialist school or even a mainstream specialist class. But in mainstream the 'support' classrooms are usually temporary 'catch up' units that expect the child to return to a mainstream class of around 30 pupiles accessing the NC in the mainstream approach. That is just not realistic for many children.

If you have a look at the video link I posted to Maple Hayes school, what Dr Brown says is that these children do not necessarily need more money throwing at them. What they need is teachers that are able to use different approaches and tools which they are capable of doing if they are taught those approaches and allowed to use them.

 

I is not easy as an unqualified mother to take hold of the reins and start introducing new/different ways of learning. I am hoping that I don't cause him to become confused with the other systems they use in school and definately don't want it to be counter productive. I don't even know if (if we end up at tribunal again), they may rule that he does need the morpheme approach, which is different again in the symbols it uses to teach words. But I need to prove that he can learn in this way before I can even ask about the morpheme approach.

 

If Dr Brown opened up another class for children with ASD on his site, then I would be in there like a shot! As it is he takes high functioning children with Aspergers who do not need any other input from SALT and OT etc.

[baddad]

Hi again sally -

 

I am more than happy to spend time helping my son.

 

I'm not sure if I'm misreading your post quoting mine or whether there was a misunderstanding (?), but just in case I thought I should say that I wasn't in any way suggesting you were unhappy to do so. I was just saying that for a parent it can sometimes make one feel unfair/heartless even though it's a 'necessary evil', and sympathising with you over that.

 

As I've said, I don't know anything about the morpheme approach or the school mentioned or anything like that, but I do think any new approach/angle is worth trying, and if it - or parts of it - work trying to get them represented within the classroom, but I think you have to be careful about how you achieve that and - particularly in a mainstream classroom - take all of the wider factors into consideration too. While the (dreaded!) curriculum is going to be a consideration in a specialist school - whether a local unit or something very specific like the school you linked - the opportunities to work around and adapt it are far greater than a mainstream environment which may have, say, 26 kids who are able to 'work' to the traditional curriculum with maybe three or four who need an adapted model. Trying to provide both in the same classroom is always going to be a trade off, regardless of a statement - however carefully worded - and the goodwill of everybody involved. A parent trying to 'take the reins' in that sort of situation may not be fully aware of all of the implications, and may even think if made aware that they are 'unreasonable'. They may - to the letter of the law, and applied to the wording of a statement - even be unreasonable, but sadly the letter of the law rarely looks at the absolute necessity in these situations for compromise and adjustment or considers that enforcing the letter of the law for one may actually create an equally unreasonable set of circumstances for someone else caught in the same system.

 

There's a joke on an episode of the Simpsons where Bart's put in a catch-up class, and with the perfect logic of a six year old says,

'So we've fallen behind the others, and we're going to catch them up by working slower? How's that gonna work?'

That's the biggest difficulty SEN kids face in a mainstream school; you can't offset the pace they need to work at to gain the foundation skills in an environment that has to work at the pace of the majority. So something like this school for dyslexia has a huge advantage, because not only is it staffed (student/teacher ratios) appropriately and sized (in terms of classes) appropriately and equipped appropriately and systemised appropriately but it is also able to be 'adaptive' of the curriculum in ways that just aren't feasible for a mainstream - or even most SEN - schools. Couple that with the fact that it has very rigid acceptance criteria for the ability levels of students attending, and it would be almost impossible for them not to achieve outstanding results.

 

Sadly, that opportunity isn't available to everyone and isn't ever likely to be, so for most of our kids the onus is going to be on them and us working flat out to create additional opportunities for learning so they can benefit from the slower pace they need and the additional input to let them regain some lost ground. As I said in my first post, it is often the acquisition of the 'core skills' that precedes a quantum leap in understanding, enabling us all to relax a little. It sounds as though you may have found something that can help in the acquisition of those core skills, and that is a huge gain. It's also possible that once you have gathered the evidence you need you'll be able to consolidate some (or all) of the 'tools' you've been offered into the mainstream routines, and that will be a massive gain too. But the whole dynamic Bart highlighted of 'catching up by working slower' is always going to be part of the equation, until that quantum leap moment when enough core-skills are in place to offer an even playing field.

 

L&P

 

BD

[Sally44]

I totally agree. Mainstream is a difficult environment for my son and many others because by necessity it has to cater for the majority.

And I understand the LEA insisting that his current school could meet his needs, when actually I don't think they can. And any LEA maintained school cannot 'refuse' to accept a child. I honestly think the school had a rough deal and I wish that they were able to stand up and say "actually we cannot meet this Statement or the needs of this child".

I'm more than annoyed/frustrated that the LEA has asked for a total re-assessment because that by necessity means I have to devote all my time to scanning reports and putting together my views which is difficult. Just the SALT report is over 50 pages long!

I know someone from our support group, whose autism advisory teacher actually recommended that her son goes to the independent school in our area that accepts children with language and communication disorders. She didn't have to go to tribunal or anything, the AAT said he could not cope mainstream and that was that.

I am in a different LEA and from our support group alone I know what parents are going through. Some parents have had their children out of school for a considerable time and the LEA still is trying to reintroduce them back into mainstream.

I have always worked very hard with my son on his behaviour, and he does have alot of insight into his difficulties and he knows that how he reacts sometimes is not acceptable. And I feel that unfortunately that works against him because he tries to keep it all together in school (sometimes successfully) and then says stuff to me at home about how he feels that is heartbreaking. And it is especially amazing that considering his language disorder he even manages to get this message across to me to a very simple way, but it is very clear.

He knows he is different. He knows he cannot do what other kids can. He knows there is something different with his brain and that he finds it hard to control himself.

I know that he will not manage mainstream in secondary school. And I am hoping that gradually everyone will come around to that opinion before transfer. His SALT said she agreed with me that when he speaks he frequently does not hear what the other person says because he is concentrating so hard on what he is trying to say. I know what the implications of that are for learning in a mainstream classroom. He simply will not hear or process most of it. But there are not any other options other than independent.

I do have a couple more schools to look at in our area. But as you say alot of those schools are working alot slower with children that are not as capable as I think my son is. But there is no real incentive from school or the LEA to prove my son is capable of more because that highlights that those schools are not appropriate for him.

 

My son said this to me today that really made me laugh, but also shows he just does not understand the meaning of language. In his school they talk about "the stickability spider that doesn't GIVE up." My son was struggling with something and said "I'm a stickability spider that doesn't GET up".

[dana]

Well done Sally. I am glad that you have found the way how to teach your son effectively. I don't think that it will confuse him in any way. In contrary, it will help him recognize the same words he comes across at school.

 

There was a time when I thought my son has Dyslexia. I used Doltch words (you could download them for free on the internet) and Lady Bird books and cards which are more expensive but really good. First he would memorise the high frequency words and then he would gradually use them in the very nicely ilustrated simple books, reinforcing them. It has worked with my son although he still finds writing difficult but it is due to his Dyspraxia.

 

I just wonder, if your son thinks in pictures rather than words? Maybe that is why the method you are using is more sutiable for him.

 

One more thing. I have observed in the video link about that remarkable school that Edd Balls didn't even want to talk about Dr Brown's method. It takes ages until new and succesful methods are accepted. What a shame.

 

Danaxxx

[Sally44]

As far as I understand it, there are many reasons for a child to have a SPLD/dyslexia. However the ONLY approach is phonics. Some children, when given more intensive, structure phonic learning do eventually make progress. For others it simply does not work. From the difficulties my son has, especially involving auditory processing it means real problems with sound to symbol learning.

Dr Brown is doing some amazing work. The children that go to his school have failed at every other mainstream setting and using phonics has not worked for them. His approach does not use phonics at all. He says for his children their auditory system is unreliable and needed to be bypassed by a totally different system.

What I also think is brilliant about his system is that the symbols also teach the semantics of the word. That is also something that frequently accompanies SPLD. For example my son knows what 'sleep' means, but does not know what the word 'slept' means. So to show him a symbol of someone asleep with a clock showing a 'back' sign helps him understand what the word means.

Whilst I was with Dr Brown he received a fax from a notorious English prison where the Psychology service were coming to the same learning conclusions as Dr Brown, and had searched the internet to see if anyone was also on the same wavelength as them. Dr Brown as been teaching this system for 35 years. The Psychology service from the prison wanted to send their staff to his school for training.

As Dr Brown said, it is not a question of more money. I think it is totally within budgetary means to have a class of children who are not making progress with literacy and for a teacher to be trained in this morpheme approach.

Unfortunately all of the dyslexia associations still believe only in phonics. However the auditory processing disorder UK website states and recognises that that is not a system that childen with that auditory disorder can access.