Hi all, Flexi-Schooling is going amazingly well and we are seeing massive improvements in my daughter. She can now read a book (so far 3 TO THE END - something I NEVER thought would happen a few months ago!), spell 100 out of the 300 most used words, knows her 3&4 times tables fluently, has improved her handwriting no end and has bundles more confidence & a joy for learning which had been rapidly disappearing before I started all this. BUT......
Sequencing - this has always been a problem! Days of the week, Time, Times tables, and MONTHS OF THE YEAR. My daughter had just about mastered days of the week, and is getting much better at time & timestables (helped massively by numicon - but that is something for another Blog!), but Months? At 9 years old, she still didn't have a clue.
This bothered me, after all - how could the seasons be truly appreciated and understood, without a sense of how the month names fitted with them? So I tackled the situation. It was a bit of a trial - but amazingly, after struggling for years, it only took about an hour to rectify!
1) I set out the 1-12 numicon shapes (but you could just have bits of paper labelled 1-12) on the table.
2) I then got my daughter to write all the names of the months that she could remember, in whatever order. We then added any she had missed.
3) Then I asked my daughter to stick the months on the correct numicon shape, e.g January on 1, March on 3 etc, if she looked like she was going to go wrong, I put her right.
4) We then talked through the months, using any 'memory tricks' that we could think of, e.g 'Your birthday is in November, the 2nd to last month,' 'Christmas is in December, the last month', 'August is great, it's in the middle, & it's your Summer hols!' We also separated the months into seasons,
Winter - Nov/Dec/Jan/Feb and discussed that it gets cold in November (when our birthday's are) and then we have Christmas. Then the New Year starts & often it's even colder & sometimes even snows! Then in February it is still cold for St Valentines Day.
Spring - Mar/Apr/May - it gets warmer in March, the mad March hare hops out & all the flowers start to spring up! In April we have April showers, but it doesn't last long because May is always lovely & a special month as it's our Anniversary.
Summer - June/July August - June is the beginning of the Summer Term and in July we are really in Summer for your cousin's birthday, August is the BEST month as it's when the school holidays occur!
Autumn - Sep/Oct - We go back to start a New School Year in September, with brand new uniform, shoes & a new teacher! Shortly after is October, and Halloween & Trick or Treat!
5) After talking about all this for some time, including vivid descriptions including colours, feelings, likes/dislikes, images etc, I removed the stickers with the months on & stuck them on the edge of the table in a random fashion.
6) I then asked my daughter to stick them back on again, in order.
7) She did this a few times, and then I packed everything away & asked her to recite the months in order 3 x.
8) She could do it! And ever since she has been able to not only know the months in order, but also whether it is the 6th, 8th or 12th month! Last night, she worked out how many months it had been since she had had her ears pierced to see whether she could now leave them out without the holes closing! Independant thought! I never thought I would see the day when she didn't ask me these things.....
If your child is struggling with sequencing months - try this method. It only takes an hour - and it works! (I have now tried it on other dyslexic children too, with the same results).
As an aside - I have finally had the Auditory Processing test done & it is true - my daughter cannot hear a 2nd instruction as her brain is too busy processing the first! Equally, she gets very easily distracted as her brain hones in on periphery noise (birds tweating, people whispering, horns beeping in the distance) rather than a person talking directly to her! So if your child consistently gets comments like 'lacks concentration,', 'needs to listen carefully to instructions,' 'needs to stop putting their hand up,' etc etc on their reports, BUT you know they are not a naughty child - get them tested! They get more time for exams if they have this issue - so it's worth it.
Ah well - onwards & upwards! There is still a lot to do, but we are getting there. Please let me know if you use my 'Months Method' & any results you have - I would be most interested to hear your experiences :)
Friday, 29 June 2012
Monday, 28 May 2012
I'm Awesome!
A fantastic morning with my daughter. We worked on adding 6 lots of numbers using Numicon (check out www.numicon.and worked out by fitting the 9-shape with other numbers you could clearly see that to fit in other numbers the gap in the 9 needed to be filled, so just meant that to add other numbers to 9 you just took off a unit - so 9+8=1 7 9+6= 1 5 9+9= 1 8 etc AND
then worked out that likewise the 11 shape has an extra 'bit' so that meant it added on an extra unit so..
11+8= 1 9 11+5= 16 11+7= 18 etc!
My daughter had never been able to do these sums before and always counted up on her fingers; a technique encouraged in School's but my pet hate (if we start relying on our fingers, we find it hard to trust our brains!). Within a short time she had mastered the technique & understood WHY it worked (important for a dyslexic brain as they ALWAYS need things proved & cannot really 'do' abstract). Before she had always counted up on her fingers which took time & she ineviteably counted too far on, got confused, tried again, got frustrated and just thought she was rubbish (yet again!)
This way, she got it, and she jumped around the room, opened the door & shouted to the neighbours,
'I'M AWESOME!'
Hell, yes!!!
then worked out that likewise the 11 shape has an extra 'bit' so that meant it added on an extra unit so..
11+8= 1 9 11+5= 16 11+7= 18 etc!
My daughter had never been able to do these sums before and always counted up on her fingers; a technique encouraged in School's but my pet hate (if we start relying on our fingers, we find it hard to trust our brains!). Within a short time she had mastered the technique & understood WHY it worked (important for a dyslexic brain as they ALWAYS need things proved & cannot really 'do' abstract). Before she had always counted up on her fingers which took time & she ineviteably counted too far on, got confused, tried again, got frustrated and just thought she was rubbish (yet again!)
This way, she got it, and she jumped around the room, opened the door & shouted to the neighbours,
'I'M AWESOME!'
Hell, yes!!!
Thursday, 24 May 2012
Lots of Stuff....
Flexi-School Update
So...it's been a while since I wrote an update. In the main flexi-schooling my daughter is going extremely well. She has definitely become more her happy, confident self again, and is learning tons! She told me how happy she was that she could actually read her 'quiet reading' book in School which was 'Charlotte's Web'. I asked her, 'what did you do when you couldn't read so well, or do the work set?' and she replied, 'I would just sit there staring at the page and not do anything, then I would get in trouble.' Oh the joys of School for a dyslexic child!
However....some days have been flippin tough - normally when I have had a row with the other half, or something 'big' is distracting me..... I find that my husband & daughter's behavioural characteristics are sooo similar that I can transfer my frustrations about him onto her very easily and this does NOT lead to a productive morning's learning! I have also felt quite poorly with a cold/aches in the past few weeks and instead of just taking things a bit easy, tried to stick with the regime & then failed to remain patient! For some bizarre reason, one morning I chose to do fractions, on a day when my head was pounding & I felt dreadful...It was all going okay, we worked on the concept of dividing by the denominator & multiplying by the numerator and she seemed to grasp it....then at the end of the hour or so, I asked her a question and it was like we had never done a fraction! I lost it! Then apologised and said it was my fault - that I clearly hadn't taught it in the right way (despite cutting up oranges, using numicon and every other strategy I could think of!)...well what could I say? "Where the hell has all that information we have just spent an hour working on gone? Why are you so stupid? Come on - think! You must know this by now!" All this she has heard many times...so I had to dig deep and blame myself...but it is very hard sometimes!
Then the other day, I looked back in her work folder and was absolutely amazed at the progress of her writing in 4 weeks. It has gone from a messy, misspelled 4 year old to a mature, much more accurate, neat 7 year old and I nearly cried!
Tutoring
A rather disturbing experience occurred a week ago during tutoring. I have a boy come to me who is a joy to work with and be around; he is happy, kind, thoughtful and funny; however, when he came to my Office for his session, I would not have recognised him. In fact, if I had not known him so well, I would have thought he was at best ADHD, at worst mentally unstable. He would not look at me, swung round and round on his chair, hit himself on the head and would not talk or do anything I suggested.
It was clear that I was not going to get him to do Toe by Toe - in fact, it seemed that the poor little red book was his personification of all his problems. I recognised he was angry, but he would not lower his guard. Nothing worked, until I asked him what he enjoyed doing, "Drawing," came the answer, so he drew.... pictures of teachers telling him off, of him crying, of him being angry....at last we talked about things and he became the boy I recognised again.
So...how many other boys and girls are displaying behaviour like this in Schools all around the Country? How many seem like they have psychological or behavioural problems when really they are just sick of being different, sick of having to work 3-5 times harder than everyone else, sick of being told off/to concentrate/that they should know this by now when they are trying so hard. No wonder they are a bit angry! As adults we would never put up with this treatment, and sometimes I truly think our education system is tantamount to mentally abusing these children by teaching in a way they just CANNOT learn. Controversial I know.....Comments?!
Some Advice from my Experiences
If you think your child may be dyslexic, s/he probably is, but here is a check-list from my experiences:
1) If your child cannot remember letter symbols in a natural progressive way, they could be dyslexic. Dyslexia merely means that a person cannot read/write/spell as well as their intelligence would suggest. (please note - parents are very competitive when it comes to reading & how well their child is doing. They will try to make you believe your child is just a bit slow or thick - but go with your gut - your instinct will usually be right).
2) Ask your child if the words move around on the page, or if they 'jump' around. Try turning the lights down & see if reading improves in dim light (you can time reading to check). If you are at all worried, book a colorimetry test at an optometrist. My daughter has scotopic light sensitivity, which can affect people with dyslexia, she couldn't read ANYTHING until getting tinted glasses, now she relies on them completely - they are a miracle!
3) Insist on a LASS test at School, BUT do not let them fob you off that the results show no problem. My daughter's results said she was 'borderline,' but on further investigation, we realised the results had not been properly analysed.
4) Get Toe by Toe - by Keda Cowling. 20 mins a day can change your child's life. Also, if you can, get a private tutor who has some knowledge about the issue to keep you both going - it's a tough road! However, if you are one of those lucky individuals (whom I have yet to meet) who has School support, this should not be necessary.
5) Remember - don't get too bogged down in it all (I have at times), your child is the same wonderful, unique and truly amazing individual they were before they started learning and the dyslexia became apparant. If our education system was different, their difficulties would not be an issue. Celebrate their strengths as much as possible - with support and understanding these 3-dimensional, out of the box thinkers can be something truly special!
So...it's been a while since I wrote an update. In the main flexi-schooling my daughter is going extremely well. She has definitely become more her happy, confident self again, and is learning tons! She told me how happy she was that she could actually read her 'quiet reading' book in School which was 'Charlotte's Web'. I asked her, 'what did you do when you couldn't read so well, or do the work set?' and she replied, 'I would just sit there staring at the page and not do anything, then I would get in trouble.' Oh the joys of School for a dyslexic child!
However....some days have been flippin tough - normally when I have had a row with the other half, or something 'big' is distracting me..... I find that my husband & daughter's behavioural characteristics are sooo similar that I can transfer my frustrations about him onto her very easily and this does NOT lead to a productive morning's learning! I have also felt quite poorly with a cold/aches in the past few weeks and instead of just taking things a bit easy, tried to stick with the regime & then failed to remain patient! For some bizarre reason, one morning I chose to do fractions, on a day when my head was pounding & I felt dreadful...It was all going okay, we worked on the concept of dividing by the denominator & multiplying by the numerator and she seemed to grasp it....then at the end of the hour or so, I asked her a question and it was like we had never done a fraction! I lost it! Then apologised and said it was my fault - that I clearly hadn't taught it in the right way (despite cutting up oranges, using numicon and every other strategy I could think of!)...well what could I say? "Where the hell has all that information we have just spent an hour working on gone? Why are you so stupid? Come on - think! You must know this by now!" All this she has heard many times...so I had to dig deep and blame myself...but it is very hard sometimes!
Then the other day, I looked back in her work folder and was absolutely amazed at the progress of her writing in 4 weeks. It has gone from a messy, misspelled 4 year old to a mature, much more accurate, neat 7 year old and I nearly cried!
Tutoring
A rather disturbing experience occurred a week ago during tutoring. I have a boy come to me who is a joy to work with and be around; he is happy, kind, thoughtful and funny; however, when he came to my Office for his session, I would not have recognised him. In fact, if I had not known him so well, I would have thought he was at best ADHD, at worst mentally unstable. He would not look at me, swung round and round on his chair, hit himself on the head and would not talk or do anything I suggested.
It was clear that I was not going to get him to do Toe by Toe - in fact, it seemed that the poor little red book was his personification of all his problems. I recognised he was angry, but he would not lower his guard. Nothing worked, until I asked him what he enjoyed doing, "Drawing," came the answer, so he drew.... pictures of teachers telling him off, of him crying, of him being angry....at last we talked about things and he became the boy I recognised again.
So...how many other boys and girls are displaying behaviour like this in Schools all around the Country? How many seem like they have psychological or behavioural problems when really they are just sick of being different, sick of having to work 3-5 times harder than everyone else, sick of being told off/to concentrate/that they should know this by now when they are trying so hard. No wonder they are a bit angry! As adults we would never put up with this treatment, and sometimes I truly think our education system is tantamount to mentally abusing these children by teaching in a way they just CANNOT learn. Controversial I know.....Comments?!
Some Advice from my Experiences
If you think your child may be dyslexic, s/he probably is, but here is a check-list from my experiences:
1) If your child cannot remember letter symbols in a natural progressive way, they could be dyslexic. Dyslexia merely means that a person cannot read/write/spell as well as their intelligence would suggest. (please note - parents are very competitive when it comes to reading & how well their child is doing. They will try to make you believe your child is just a bit slow or thick - but go with your gut - your instinct will usually be right).
2) Ask your child if the words move around on the page, or if they 'jump' around. Try turning the lights down & see if reading improves in dim light (you can time reading to check). If you are at all worried, book a colorimetry test at an optometrist. My daughter has scotopic light sensitivity, which can affect people with dyslexia, she couldn't read ANYTHING until getting tinted glasses, now she relies on them completely - they are a miracle!
3) Insist on a LASS test at School, BUT do not let them fob you off that the results show no problem. My daughter's results said she was 'borderline,' but on further investigation, we realised the results had not been properly analysed.
4) Get Toe by Toe - by Keda Cowling. 20 mins a day can change your child's life. Also, if you can, get a private tutor who has some knowledge about the issue to keep you both going - it's a tough road! However, if you are one of those lucky individuals (whom I have yet to meet) who has School support, this should not be necessary.
5) Remember - don't get too bogged down in it all (I have at times), your child is the same wonderful, unique and truly amazing individual they were before they started learning and the dyslexia became apparant. If our education system was different, their difficulties would not be an issue. Celebrate their strengths as much as possible - with support and understanding these 3-dimensional, out of the box thinkers can be something truly special!
Wednesday, 9 May 2012
Shocking!
I have listened to as much as I can on utube about dyslexia, and have heard teachers say that in hindsight they feel dreadful that when a pupil came to them that was struggling they sent them off with a wordsearch or to draw a picture - instead of giving them the help they needed and deserved. This week in Algar's Flexi-Schooling, I have been working with my daughter on maths and have been shocked by the lack of basic skills she has learned in the past 5 YEARS at School! Up until this week, she still didn't have a grasp of units, tens and hundreds, and told me that if this came up in a test she would just leave it! She said that teacher's would say, 'you should know this by now,' and then that she would 'sometimes just give up and sit there doing nothing quietly hoping nobody would notice.... I would be kept in at break because they said I hadn't listened properly, but I still didn't get it, and nobody helped me.' (she, of course, hasn't told me any of this in the past!)
Well, if it were just that she was a bit thick or naughty, I could accept this situation entirely - BUT, she proved she wasn't thick (and I know she isn't naughty!) because after half an hour with me, she understood completely!
I found a fantastic method through Numicon from the Oxford Learning Resources; it is such a SIMPLE idea but really appeals to the dyslexic brain that can't just accept something to be true; it has to have it proved!
Basically, I laminated 1,2,3 & 4 digit numbers then cut them up. They all have an arrow shape on the end and can fit on top of one another; thus when I asked her for 4000 she picked up the number, then when I asked for 300 she laid it on top (in the right place because the arrows fitted), then 80, then 2. She was then able to see how the number was LAYERED with thousands, hundreds, tens & units and it made complete sense to her WHY the digits were then in the places they were.
This was all it took - we worked up to ten thousands, hundred thousands & millions and she grasped it completely! For FIVE YEARS she has felt completely stooooopid because of this - it took half an hour to sort out....hmmmpgh!
If anyone else is having similar problems with hundreds, tens & units with their children - please do try this method & let me know if you have the same positive results! If you have any questions then do ask, I want to help!
Ah well - onwards & upwards!
Narinda
Well, if it were just that she was a bit thick or naughty, I could accept this situation entirely - BUT, she proved she wasn't thick (and I know she isn't naughty!) because after half an hour with me, she understood completely!
I found a fantastic method through Numicon from the Oxford Learning Resources; it is such a SIMPLE idea but really appeals to the dyslexic brain that can't just accept something to be true; it has to have it proved!
Basically, I laminated 1,2,3 & 4 digit numbers then cut them up. They all have an arrow shape on the end and can fit on top of one another; thus when I asked her for 4000 she picked up the number, then when I asked for 300 she laid it on top (in the right place because the arrows fitted), then 80, then 2. She was then able to see how the number was LAYERED with thousands, hundreds, tens & units and it made complete sense to her WHY the digits were then in the places they were.
This was all it took - we worked up to ten thousands, hundred thousands & millions and she grasped it completely! For FIVE YEARS she has felt completely stooooopid because of this - it took half an hour to sort out....hmmmpgh!
If anyone else is having similar problems with hundreds, tens & units with their children - please do try this method & let me know if you have the same positive results! If you have any questions then do ask, I want to help!
Ah well - onwards & upwards!
Narinda
Thursday, 3 May 2012
What we see is not necessarily what other's see; A Learning Curve
So...I was tutoring late into the evening last night and I came across a 'eureka moment'.
My tutee is dyslexic and has scotopic sensitivity syndrome so wears green tinted glasses, (SSS is a sensitivity to light, making black lettering on white extremely difficult to read as it moves about & sometimes floats off the page altogether! My daughter also has this - IF ANYONE WANTS MORE INFO PLEASE ASK!!) Anyway...back to the story .
We were playing a literacy game which consisted of using translucent (but strongly coloured) counters round a board to guess 'silent letters' in words. My tutee kept putting the counters directly on top of the words, then I would move them off as I couldn't see the word underneath - then he would move his counter and put it directly on top of the word again, then I would move it off & so on! Eventually I asked, 'Can you see the word underneath the counter?' 'Of course!' he replied. I couldn't believe it & tested him with 2, then 3 counters on top of the word AND with his green filter glasses on! He could still read any word I put the counters over, and if 3 counters were put on a word I couldn't even make out that there were any letters there - far less read the word! It was then that it hit me -
as teachers we teach as WE SEE THINGS -
NOT TAKING INTO CONSIDERATION THAT OTHER'S SEE THINGS DIFFERENTLY!
We rarely take the time to ask children what they ACTUALLY see; presuming that it is the same as us! Well....it's not! When I tried it on my daughter later (who wears purple tinted glasses), she agreed that by covering the word with the counter it actually HIGHLIGHTED not OBSCURED the word! Fascinating! And a big learning curve for me as a teacher AND a parent!
As an aside......after our tutoring session this morning I asked my daughter how she was finding it after nearly 3 weeks of being taught by mum, she cheekily said, 'The teaching bit is really good, I am learning a lot and you are patient, you just need to work on the mum bit, cos you're not nearly as patient as mum!'
Grrrrrrr!!!
My tutee is dyslexic and has scotopic sensitivity syndrome so wears green tinted glasses, (SSS is a sensitivity to light, making black lettering on white extremely difficult to read as it moves about & sometimes floats off the page altogether! My daughter also has this - IF ANYONE WANTS MORE INFO PLEASE ASK!!) Anyway...back to the story .
We were playing a literacy game which consisted of using translucent (but strongly coloured) counters round a board to guess 'silent letters' in words. My tutee kept putting the counters directly on top of the words, then I would move them off as I couldn't see the word underneath - then he would move his counter and put it directly on top of the word again, then I would move it off & so on! Eventually I asked, 'Can you see the word underneath the counter?' 'Of course!' he replied. I couldn't believe it & tested him with 2, then 3 counters on top of the word AND with his green filter glasses on! He could still read any word I put the counters over, and if 3 counters were put on a word I couldn't even make out that there were any letters there - far less read the word! It was then that it hit me -
as teachers we teach as WE SEE THINGS -
NOT TAKING INTO CONSIDERATION THAT OTHER'S SEE THINGS DIFFERENTLY!
We rarely take the time to ask children what they ACTUALLY see; presuming that it is the same as us! Well....it's not! When I tried it on my daughter later (who wears purple tinted glasses), she agreed that by covering the word with the counter it actually HIGHLIGHTED not OBSCURED the word! Fascinating! And a big learning curve for me as a teacher AND a parent!
As an aside......after our tutoring session this morning I asked my daughter how she was finding it after nearly 3 weeks of being taught by mum, she cheekily said, 'The teaching bit is really good, I am learning a lot and you are patient, you just need to work on the mum bit, cos you're not nearly as patient as mum!'
Grrrrrrr!!!
Tuesday, 1 May 2012
11-Plus & which brains should go to Grammar School?
Was busy tutoring my daughter this morning, who was getting on very well with touch typing with the help of EnglishType (check em out at www.englishtype.com - it's amazing the progress she's made; going from not knowing from where any of the keys are to knowing most of the top two lines in a matter of weeks!), when my mum phoned & said Radio Kent were talking about tutoring for the 11-plus. Well, this is one of my areas, so I checked it out...then phoned in...& of course - got my 2-pennyworth in about dyslexia & 'fantastic brains!'
Check it out between 2.38hrs - 2.45hrs on the following link;
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00r6rmn/Julia_George_Are_you_cheating_the_system_if_you_tutor_your_child/
WHAT DO YOU THINK??
Should the system for 11plus be reformed?
Check it out between 2.38hrs - 2.45hrs on the following link;
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00r6rmn/Julia_George_Are_you_cheating_the_system_if_you_tutor_your_child/
WHAT DO YOU THINK??
Should the system for 11plus be reformed?
Sunday, 29 April 2012
Auditory Processing - what?!?!
No - it's not a hearing problem, it's a PROCESSING problem.
The term has been bandied about by my daughter's School for a while now. I was told initially that the School would refer, but then the SENCO told me that the School Nurse did not refer for this any more & I would have to go through the G.P. I did this, but got an appointment for an Occupational Therapist!..... It was worth it, as it turns out my daughter has hypermobility & fine motor issues, so requires a slanted desk & special writing instruments, as well as exercises for strengthening the writing hand. All good stuff.
When I addressed the auditory processing issue with the School again, (this time with a specialist teacher present) amazingly enough the School Nurse WAS able to refer, (is it me, or was someone telling porky pies?!) The appointment came through for last Friday and as it turned out it was just for a hearing test (which I had already said was NOT an issue for my daughter - who can hear my husband & I talking about 'secrets' we do not want her to hear at the lowest of levels!); luckily the kind Doctor referred her on without further forms being filled in, which is the normal protocol...and so we wait, for another 6 weeks probably...for another appointment.
So, what is it I am looking into & why?
Understanding Auditory Processing Disorders in Children
by Teri James Bellis, PhD, CCC-A
'Children with APD may exhibit a variety of listening and related complaints. For example, they may have difficulty understanding speech in noisy environments, following directions, and discriminating (or telling the difference between) similar-sounding speech sounds. Sometimes they may behave as if a hearing loss is present, often asking for repetition or clarification. In school, children with APD may have difficulty with spelling, reading, and understanding information presented verbally in the classroom. Often their performance in classes that don't rely heavily on listening is much better, and they typically are able to complete a task independently once they know what is expected of them.'
Whenever I talk to my daughter's class teacher, their biggest complaint is the amount of times my daughter puts her hand up to ask the teacher for clarification, or repetition of an instruction. This, of course, really ticks them off, after all, why can't she just listen?! BUT, my daughter IS NOT a naughty girl, she would do anything to please, but constantly risks being told off by asking again & again, her hearing is excellent, she is very bright - WHY??? Maybe, just maybe, she can't help it? I have been into School, meeting with her class teacher & the head teacher because my daughter was sooo upset that she (once again) got 'adequate' for concentration on her report....Despite our discussions and acceptance from the 'powers that be' that she may be suffering with AP difficulties, this term's report came home, and yes, you guessed it, concentration was 'adequate', and if I hadn't brushed it aside, the tears would have rolled again.
So, if any of you have children who you know are pretty well behaved but keep getting reports that say 'lack concentration,' perhaps you too should go down this route...I will let you know if my daughter is diagnosed & what this will mean, if & when that occurs. In the meantime, please comment if you have any experience/info in this area. Thanks...
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