Steps Training Course – Stage 2

Transcription

Steps Training Course – Stage 2
by Ros Lugg
The Learning Staircase Ltd
P O Box 582
Rangiora 7440
Ph: 0800 701 107
Fax: 0800 000 703
[email protected]
www.learningstaircase.co.nz
The Big Five
Dyslexic learners often exhibit difficulties (or signs of a residual difficulty) in each of these areas,
which is why we refer to them as ‘The Big Five’. However, many other learners, including those in the
‘low-ability’ category have similar weaknesses.
Therefore, any approach which addresses these difficulties is relevant to both dyslexics and other
learners with processing weaknesses.
Motor
Development
• Gross motor development
• Laterality & midline crossing
• Fine motor development
• Kinaesthetic memory
Sequencing
• Visual sequencing
• Auditory sequencing
• General
Visual
Perception
• Tracking
• Visual discrimination
• Perceptual organisation
• Visual recognition
• Irlen Syndrome
Phonological
Awareness
• Auditory discrimination
• Phonemic awareness
• Rhyme & syllabification
• Onset + rime
• Word retrieval
Memory
• Visual memory
• Auditory memory
• Kinaesthetic memory
• Working memory
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© The Learning Staircase Ltd 2012
Motor Development
Aspect
Affects..
Useful exercises/activities
Gross motor development
Trunk stability
Arrows Exercise
Ability to sit still at a desk.
Crawling
Posture for writing tasks
Perceptual Motor Programmes
Indirectly affects ability to
http://www.ot-mom-learning-activities.com/core-exercises-for-kids.html
concentrate and listen.
http://www.ot-mom-learning-activities.com/support-files/parent-info-gross-motor.pdf
Laterality
Hand dominance
Midline
crossing
Writing fluency
Sports
Visual tracking when reading
http://www.therapystreetforkids.com/CrossingMidline.html
Lazy 8s exercises
http://nspt4kids.com/parenting/help-your-child-develop-the-crossing-the-midline-skill/
Fine motor development
Handwriting
& pencil grip
Writing fluency
Written accuracy
Letter
formation &
Writing fluency and accuracy
Kinaesthetic
memory
Playdough. Jenga, Pick up sticks, jigsaws
Teodorescu Perceptuo-Motor Programme (Write Start)
Colouring activities
Feed the face! – (tennis ball)
Telephone book activity – scrunch paper and throw at target
Larger triangular pencils for beginning writers. Pencil grips
Dots on fingers to remind about grip!
Gross motor letter tracing. Use Visual/Auditory/Kinaesthetic routes
Teach cursive flick and joined writing at an early stage.
Prompts – laminated strip on desk, letters at top of page
Notes on Midline Crossing/Dominance
Cross dominance
This refers to a motor skill wherein the person favours one hand for some tasks and the
other hand for other tasks but is not actually ambidextrous.
Ambidextrous
This is the term used to describe a person who is equally adept or able to use each hand
and is very rare.
Lateralisation or laterality
This describes the development of lateral dominance, in other words one eye, hand, foot
and ear becomes dominant. It also involves the development of specialised centres and
functions in the left and right hemispheres of the brain. Thus, the right hemisphere sends
messages to the left side of the body and the left hemisphere sends messages to right
side. The ability to cross the midline is a prerequisite for appropriate lateralisation.
Laterality also involves good balance and vestibular function.
During a study at the Souther California College of Optometry, 73.8% of children already
diagnosed with a learning disability failed tests used to assess laterality and directionality.
Crossing the midline
This is the ability of the one side of the body to cross over to the other side by moving
across the centre line of the body, thus the right hand can cross over the midline and pick
up an object from the left side of the body, for example.
Signs that laterality has not yet developed:
 Non-dominant hand not used for support
 Switching hands so they don’t cross the midline
 Motor overflow
 Pointing with non-dominant hand
These can be observed with all young children, but if confusion with laterality occurs after
8 years of age, it can potentially cause problems.
Specific areas of difficulty if dominance is not established include:
1. Papers being read or written on are dramatically rotated
2. Difficulty perceiving left and right sides of objects and letters
3. Uncertainty about personal left and right body sides
4. Difficulty making decisions
5. Difficulty in accepting a change in rule or decision once it has been made
6. Delayed language acquisition
7. Difficulty comprehending instructions
8. Problems with word finding
9. Difficulty with organisational skills
10. Diminished concept of consequences
11. Poor gross and fine motor skills in general, in other words difficulties with kicking a
ball, colouring in, cutting with scissors, drawing, etc.
12. Writing patterns that are inconsistent and untidy
13. Not crossing the midline
14. Possible difficulties with writing and reading activities
The reason a child has a dominant hand, foot, ear and eye is because one of the two
brain hemispheres has stepped forward as the dominant hemisphere, thus taking the
lead in the process of making decisions as well as the way we perform tasks. This
dominance should be established by the age of five and it should correlate or be on the
same side of the body by the age of six years. This means that by six, the child should
demonstrate dominance on the same side for his hand, foot, ear and eye. It is normal for
a five-year-old child to sometimes use his non-dominant hand to perform a task that
should be done with his dominant hand, but this should be the rare occasion.
Laterality eventually evolves into directionality. A person needs to understand laterality
on their own body before they can apply it in space. We always learn to judge where
things are by first learning how to relate them to ourselves. When you start applying left
and right concepts to your external visual space, you are beginning to learn directionality.
.
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Directionality
Directionality includes the concepts of ‘up, down, ahead, behind, right, left’ and any other
concepts to do with space or direction. Directionality is very important in decoding letters.
If you don’t understand this concept, learning to read can be very confusing. For example,
the letters ‘b’, ‘d’, ‘p’ and ‘q’ all look like the same symbol if you don’t understand the
concept of orientation. Consider the following:
Are these objects the same?
If the spoons are the same, regardless of which way they are, why aren’t these the same?
b d
Research has shown that children who still have reversal problems after the age of 8 are
likely to have problems developing good reading skills.
Bilateral integration
The communication between the right and left cerebral hemispheres, which allows the two
sides of the body to move together in coordination with each other. In order to function
efficiently, we need to integrate information from various specialised areas of the brain in
order to coordinate a planned response. Most people develop what is known as unilateral
cerebral dominance, which means that their dominant eye, ear, hand and leg are on the
same side of their body. However, research has indicated that approximately 20% of the
population has mixed dominance, which can cause perceptual, organisational and
performance problems in various areas of a person’s life.
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Motor Development
The main thing aspect of motor development which affects literacy
is, of course, fine motor control. Fine motor control is needed for
handwriting and for mouse control or keyboarding.
How does Steps develop Motor Development?
Steps is not specifically designed to develop motor control as such, although there are plans for a
touch typing course.
However, there a few features which develop this aspect, including
kinaesthetic memory (memory for movement). The workbook courses include a strong emphasis
on handwriting and letter formation and the teaching method for high frequency/irregular words
develops kinaesthetic memory.
Blocks (game) – spatial awareness, quick thinking, fine motor skills
Clear the Skies (game) – spatial awareness, mouse skills
Alphabet (reference) – kinaesthetic memory for letter formation, handwriting
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Why teach touch typing to children with literacy difficulties?
There are many advantages.
Firstly, touch typing is an increasingly important skill for all young people in this age of computers.
Correct touch typing will enable all young people to word process quickly and accurately. This is
particularly important for children with literacy difficulties, as they can then access features such as
spell checkers, editing facilities and specialist programmes, such as TextHelp. Children with literacy
difficulties often find it much easier and quicker to word process than to handwrite. They benefit
from being allowed to use word processors in class or for homework and many benefit hugely from
the ability to use laptops.
Secondly, touch typing is a fine motor and motor planning activity. Many children with learning
disabilities also have a degree of fine motor immaturity. Dyspraxic children have this, as well as a
difficulty with motor planning. These children benefit particularly from touch typing since it
develops these important neurological aspects. It is not unusual to find that a child who has
completed a touch typing programme also has greatly improved handwriting! This is because fine
motor control has improved so much.
Thirdly, and possibly most importantly, children develop a kinaesthetic memory for spellings.
Kinaesthetic means 'movement' and a child will develop a memory for the movement involved in
typing a word, much as a pianist develops a memory for the movements involved in playing a piece
of music. This 'by-passes' some of the key difficulties these children have with spelling and enables
them to cope more quickly and confidently with written language. Many children have reported
that they can spell when they type, but not when they write.
Will any touch typing programme do?
No, not usually. Most readily available programmes are too fast and
not structured enough for learners with literacy difficulties and
possibly fine motor weakness. They also do not take advantage of
the fact that children can develop a kinaesthetic memory for words.
The most effective programmes are specialist programmes which are designed for children with
literacy or other learning difficulties. Type to Learn is one of the best of these programmes,
incorporating a complete spelling programme (at 3 different vocabulary levels), as well as a
structured touch typing course with plenty of reinforcement.
Type to Learn also has full teacher facilities and is diagnostic, providing extra practice for children
having difficulty with particular exercises. Type to Learn is currently forming the basis for literacy
programmes in a number of High Schools and is suitable for parents wishing to help their child
acquire literacy skills.
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Sequencing
Sequencing is literally the process of putting things in order. This may include letters (in
the alphabet or in spelling words), words, ideas, paragraphs, mathematical items or steps
in a process.
Difficulties experienced by someone with sequencing problems
Spelling problems (sequencing sounds in a word or letters in a word)
Maths difficulties
Reading comprehension problems
Inability to follow the plot of a book
Difficulty planning written work
Feeling overwhelmed when doing homework
Unable to follow instructions
Lack of awareness of how much time has passed
Difficulty with rote sequences – days, months, times tables
Lack of awareness of patterns in number
Processing an sequencing the sounds or syllables in a word which has been heard
Signs and symptoms
Difficulty with any of the above!
Reading - was/saw, of/for
Spelling – nosie (noise), sotp (stop)
Activities
Counting, skip counting and counting backwards
Sequence puzzles What comes next? 0 1 3 6 10 15 ___ ___
Pattern/shape sequences (logic)
Sequencing words to make a sentence
Sequencing sentences to make a passage
Sequencing lines of poetry/limericks
Resources
Sequencing Stories (Curriculum Concepts)
Thinksheet (software programme) – Learning Staircase
Memory and sequencing activities on Steps
www.lumosity.com
When I went to market……. (also develops auditory sequential memory and visualization)
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Sequencing
Sequencing is a specific difficulty for dyslexic learners. Sequencing difficulties can affect visual
processing, which causes confusions with similar words (of/for, saw/was, etc). It also affects
auditory processing, with sounds being mis-sequenced. It can also affect sentence construction
and planning skills for essays and other written work.
How does Steps develop Sequencing?
Sentence Builder – sequencing words to make a sentence, syntactic awareness
Word Search – visual discrimination, pattern recognition, tracking
Spelling – phonemic awareness, phonic knowledge, visual memory, visual sequencing
Spelling Test - phonemic awareness, phonic knowledge, visual memory, visual sequencing
Drop – visual sequencing, visualization
Fireworks (game) – visual discrimination, tracking, pattern recognition, visual sequencing
Pop the Balloon – spatial awareness of the alphabet, sequencing, keyboard awareness
Alphabet Order – tracking, visual discrimination, sequencing, working memory
Word Grid – auditory sequential memory, working memory
Hangman (game) – ability to sequence letters and predict word structure
Letter Chunks (general section) – alphabet sequencing, including reverse sequencing
Number Chunks (general section) – number sequencing, including reverse sequencing
Number Grid (general section) – auditory sequential memory, working memory
Days and Months (General Section) – sequencing days of the week and months using visual and
auditory sequencing
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Visual Perception
The term visual perception refers to how the brain makes sense of what the eyes see. It is
therefore not a physical difficulty. However, the development of visual perception is dependent on
physical aspects, such as vision and eye tracking, so it is always worth checking these aspects first.
Remember, if it a child has difficulty copying from the board, it may just be that he is short-sighted!
Physical aspects (things to check)
Eyesight and eye tracking
An optometrist will generally only check vision, but a behavioural optometrist will check
eye tracking and visual perception. An important function that bridges laterality and
directionality is our eyes.
Efficient eye movement skills are essential in developing good directionality skills. If your
eyes cannot move across a page smoothly and accurately, this could mean that you are at
risk for reversals and coding problems, because how we scan a letter is important when
coding it to the brain.
You can do a simple eye tracking exercise yourself. Just get the child to focus on an object
(end of the pen is very suitable). Tell them to keep following it with their eyes, but don’t
move their heads. Then move the pen slowly from side to side a couple of times. Then go
up and down and finish by moving it slowly in a circle. Look at the eye movements. You
will notice if they have difficulty following the movements – look out for eyes flickering off
the target as well.
Obviously, you may not pick up difficulties which would be noticed by a behavioural
optometrist. However, you will usually see if there are any particular difficulties. Also ask
if the child feels discomfort when doing this exercise – this often indicates weak ocular
motor muscles.
Eye dominance
You can check for eye dominance for close and distant vision. If dominance is different, i.e.
left-eye dominant for close vision, but right-eye dominant for distant vision, this can cause
visual perceptual difficulties – another reason to refer to a behavioural optometrist.
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Dominance for distant vision
Present the child with a tube and tell them to ‘look through your telescope’. Note which
eye the child brings the tube up to. Be careful to present the tube to the child in the
middle of their body, i.e. not to the left or the right.
Dominance for close vision
Make a hole in a piece of paper or card. Stick a piece of blutack or another similar marker
about eye height on a wall or door. Get the child to stand about 1 metre away. Give them
the card and ask them to line it up so they can see the blutack through the hole. Then ask
them to move the card right up to touch their face, but keep looking at the blutack. The
eye they bring the hole towards is the dominant one for close vision.
Visual Perception
(how the brain makes sense of what the eyes see)
Visual perceptual processing, or visual information processing, is a set of skills we use to
gather visual information from the environment and integrate them with our other senses.
This is done while incorporating all the integrated information with other things, such as
past experiences, motivation and development, so that we can derive understanding and
meaning from what we are experiencing. This process allows the development of schemes
to derive meaning from what we see.
Visual perceptual processing is very important, but especially so when learning. Without
visual perceptual processing, you would not be able to accurately learn to read, give or get
directions, copy from the board or from a book, visualize objects or past experiences,
remember things visually, have good eye-and coordination, integrate visual information
with our other senses to do things like ride a bike, play ball, or hear a sound and be able to
visually recognize where it is coming from (like an ambulance), just to name a few.
Visual perceptual processing can be broken into many components, but three key areas visual spatial skills, visual analysis skills and visual integration skills.
Just like anything else that is broken into components, these skills work together or build
upon each other to help you function.
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Visual Spatial Skills
These are the skills we use to understand directional concepts to organize our visual space.
This is how we visually project our body coordinates out into the world.
For example: When you say, "It is over to the left," the "to the left" has no meaning unless
it has a point of reference. So actually, you are really saying to the left of where YOU are. If
you don't know where your body is, it is hard to know where things are in relation to you.
Visual spatial skills require observing an object, then accurately reporting its relationship in
space relative to your own self.
Signs & Symptoms of Visual-Spatial Dysfunction
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Lack of coordination and balance (clumsy)
Difficulty learning left and right
Reverses letters or numbers when writing or copying
Difficulty with activities involving rhythm
Not good at sports
Does not cross the midline when doing tasks (switches objects from hand to hand)
Does not use nondominant hand for support when writing or copying
Rotates body when writing or copying (again to not cross the midline)
Visual Analysis Skills
Visual analysis, or visual discrimination, is used to identify, sort, organize, store and recall
visually presented information. It is the ability to take in visual information remember it
and apply it later.
Children with poor visual analysis skills often have trouble learning the A, B, C's and
recognizing words or simple forms even when presented repeatedly; for example, they may
correctly read the word "house" in one sentence and incorrectly read "horse" two lines
later. These kids tend to mistake words with similar endings or beginnings, generalize when
grouping objects. They also have a hard time understanding size and magnitude, (a cup of
water in a tall glass and a cup of water in a shallow bowl are not seen as equal amounts).
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Signs & Symptoms of Visual-Analysis Dysfunction
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Trouble learning the alphabet
Trouble recognizing words
Mistakes words with similar beginnings
Overgeneralizes - confuses minor likenesses and differences
Does not recognize the same word if repeated again on a page
Trouble with remembering and writing letters and numbers
Distractible
Short attention span
Problems concentrating
Traces or touches figures
Difficulty with understanding instructions
Hyper or hypo active
The Subskills of Visual Analysis
Visual Figure Ground
The ability to perceive and locate a form or object within a busy field without getting
confused by the background or surrounding images. This skill keeps children from getting
lost in details. Children with poor figure-ground become easily confused with too much
print on the page, affecting their concentration and attention. They may also have difficulty
scanning text to locate specific information.
Example: Looking for a specific piece of information when reading or searching for a
specific tool in a toolbox full of tools.
Activity: Where’s Wally?, Hidden Pictures
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Visual Discrimination
The ability to process visual detail. It includes the ability to determine exact characteristics
and distinctive features among similar objects or forms. In reading, this skill helps children
distinguish between similarly spelled words, such as was/saw, then/when, on/one, or
run/ran.
Activity: Letter tracking, jigsaws, Where’s Wally?
Visual Form Constancy
The ability to mentally manipulate forms and visualize the resulting outcomes. Recognition
that visual information in a form is consistent in spite of the object, size, or location. This
skill helps children distinguish differences in size, shape, and orientation. Children with
poor form-constancy may frequently reverse letters and numbers.
Example: DOG = dog = Dog, or that a cup of water is a cup of water whether in a tall glass
or shallow bowl.
Resources: Tetris, Blokus, Jigzone
Visual Memory
The ability to remember the characteristics of a given object or form. This skill helps
children remember what they read and see by adequately processing information through
their short-term memory, from where it is filtered out into the long-term memory. Children
with poor visual memory may struggle with comprehension. They often subvocalize, or
softly whisper to themselves, as they read in order to help compensate auditorily. They
may have difficulty remembering what a word looks like or fail to recognize the same word
on another page. They may also take longer copying assignments because they must
frequently review the text.
Visualization
Ability to recall a previously viewed image or object and mentally manipulate the image
from various aspects. Linked with visual memory.
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Example: Seeing a flattened box and being able to mentally reconstruct it and picture the
dimensions to decide if the object you want to put in the box will fit.
Visual Sequential Memory
The ability to remember forms or characters in correct order. This skill is particularly
important in spelling and also plays a role in comprehension. Letter omissions, additions,
or transpositions within words are common for children who struggle with this skill. They
often subvocalize (whisper or talk aloud) as they write. Recognizing and remembering
patterns may also be a problem.
Example: Recall a phone number 205-9786 vs. 205-9687, or in spelling "their" vs. "thier"
Visual Closure
The ability to visualize a complete whole when given incomplete information or a partial
picture. This skill helps children read and comprehend quickly; their eyes don't have to
individually process every letter in every word for them to quickly recognize the word by
sight. This skill can also help children recognize inferences and predict outcomes. Children
with poor visual closure may have difficulty completing a thought. They may also confuse
similar objects or words, especially words with close beginning or endings.
Visual Spatial Relations
The ability to distinguish differences among similar objects or forms. This skill helps
children in understanding relationships and recognizing underlying concepts. This area is
closely related to the problem solving and conceptual skills required for higher level science
and math.
Visual Spatial Orientation is involved with letter reversals. Many parents and educators
considered letter reversals after age seven to be a symptom of dyslexia. While this can be
true, the most common cause of reversals in older children is a lack of visual spatial
development--consistently knowing left from right, either in
relationship to their own bodies or in the world around them.
Activities: Blokus, Tetris, Jigzone
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Visual Speed & Span of Perception
The rate and amount at which information is being handled in visual processing. This is
also linked to visual retention span (the number of letters which can be retained in each
‘glance’ when copying.
Example: Quickly and efficiently copying an assignment off the chalkboard with only a few
glances vs. needing to glance at the chalkboard after every one to two words or bits of
information is copied.
Activity: Speed Stackers
Visual integration skills
All of the above usually involve visual integration, since one skill is rarely used purely in isolation.
However, there are specific aspects which are particularly relevant academically.
Visual-motor integration
This is basically linked with hand-eye coordination and it is required for tasks such as
copying from the board. The student may have difficulties just with the visual aspect or the
motor aspect, or integrating/coordinating the two together.
Children with visual motor integration difficulties are often slow at writing tasks and can
have extreme difficulty copying from the board.
Automaticity
Once all of these skills are developed, it is important for them to become automatic so they
take up less brain power to use. Just like learning to drive a car with a manual transmission.
At first, it takes a lot of brain power to get your feet to move the right way and for you to
time it with what your hand does with the stick shift. Not only are you learning a new skill,
but you also have to make sure you pay attention to the road and steer accordingly. Once
you get the hang of it, the ability to shift gears became automatic and you can devote that
brain power to eating a Big Mac and talking on the cell phone along with everything else
(not recommended, by the way). In order to have efficient visual information processing
skills, you have to learn the skills well to the point where they become easy.
Automaticity is essential to efficient learning.
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How does Steps develop Visual Perception?
All of the activities which develop phonological awareness have some impact on visual recognition
of words, since instant visual recognition also requires an understanding of phonic
patterns/phonological awareness. However, there are a number of activities on Steps which
specifically develop Visual Perception:
Find the word – visual recognition, decoding
Word Flash – visual recognition, development of occipito-temporal
Sentence Builder – reading in context, visual recognition
Word Search – visual discrimination, pattern recognition, tracking
Spelling – phonemic awareness, phonic knowledge, visual memory, visual sequencing
Spelling Test - phonemic awareness, phonic knowledge, visual memory, visual sequencing
Drop – visual sequencing, visualization
Visual memory – visual and spatial memory, word recognition
Fireworks (game) – visual discrimination, tracking, pattern recognition
Snap (game) – perceptual organisation, visual discrimination
Blocks (game) – spatial awareness, hand-eye coordination, directionality, fine motor coordination
Pop the Balloon – spatial awareness of the alphabet, sequencing, keyboard awareness
Reversals (letters and numbers) – visual discrimination, directionality
Alphabet Order – tracking, visual discrimination, sequencing, working memory
Directions – directionality, spatial concepts
Perception – spatial awareness, perceptual organisation
Spelling (General) – visual discrimination, pattern recognition
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Irlen Syndrome
What is Irlen Syndrome?
Irlen Syndrome is a perceptual dysfunction which mainly affects reading and processing other
visual information. People with Irlen Syndrome see printed text differently, sometimes seeing
quite major distortions, such as text becoming compressed, blurred or even moving.
Sample distortions can be seen at:
http://www.irlenatlantique.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10&Itemid=15&l
ang=en
Possible Symptoms
Visual and Physical Difficulties
 Light sensitivity
 Restricted visual retention span
 Difficulty with sustained attention
Reading Problems
 Poor comprehension
 Misreads words
 Problems tracking from line to line
 Reads in dim light
 Skips words or lines
 Reads slowly or hesitantly
 Takes breaks
 Loses place
 Avoids reading
Discomfort
 Strain and fatigue
 Tired or sleepy
 Headaches or nausea
 Fidgety or restless
 Eyes that hurt or become watery
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Attention and Concentration Problems
 Problems with concentration when reading and doing academic tasks
 Often people can appear to have other conditions, such as attention deficit disorder,
and are given medication unnecessarily.
Writing Problems:
 Trouble copying
 Unequal spacing
 Unequal letter size
 Writing up or downhill
 Inconsistent spelling
Other Characteristics:
 Strain or fatigue from computer use
 Difficulty reading music
 Sloppy, careless math errors
 Misaligned numbers in columns
 Ineffective use of study time
 Lack of motivation
 Grades do not reflect the amount of effort
Depth Perception:
 Clumsiness
 Difficulty catching balls
 Difficulty judging distances
 Additional caution necessary while driving
Distortions:
 Words on the page lack clarity or stability; i.e., may appear to be blurry, moving, or
disappear.
Contact Details:
Irlen Diagnostic clinic – Pakuranga
Suite 5, Pakuranga Professional Centre
267 Pakuranga Rd
Pakuranga
Manukau
09 576 5390
www.irlen.com
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Irlen Questionnaire
Tick under the appropriate column for the following
Often
questions
Do you lose your place when reading?
Do you skip whole lines when reading?
Do you accidentally skip words?
Do you repeat lines when you read?
Do you start off well, then slow down rapidly and get very
hesitant?
Do you confuse little words of similar shape? (was/saw,
dog/boy, of/for?
Do words go blurry or fuzzy?
Do words move when you look at them? (shimmer, wave,
jump up and down, vibrate?)
Do words look squashed together or ‘run together’ as you
read?
Do you avoid reading whenever possible?
Do you read a page and then find you can’t remember what
you’ve read?
Do bright lights (particularly fluorescent lights) irritate you,
hurt your eyes or cause headaches?
Does print on glossy white paper irritate you?
Do you prefer to read in a dim light?
Is print on coloured paper easier to read or see?
Do you frequently lose your place when you’re copying from a
board in class?
Do you get headaches when you/ve been reading a lot?
Do your eyes hurt when you read?
Do you rub your eyes a lot?
Do you blink or squint a lot or feel as if you want to open your
eyes really wide when you’re reading?
Do you get dizzy or feel sick when you read black print on
white paper?
Do you get car sickness a lot?
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Sometim
es
Never
Don’t
know
Auditory Perception
Physical aspects (to check and eliminate)
As with vision/visual perceptual skills, there are aspects which are affected by physical
difficulties and it is important to check these first. The main one is auditory discrimination,
which can be caused by a hearing difficulty, such as glue ear (otitis media). Glue ear is
much more common with dyslexics, but is relatively common with young children anyway.
Unless it is identified and resolved (usually with grommets), it can have a devastating effect
on the development of phonological skills.
Auditory Discrimination
This is the ability to identify the difference between similar sounding letters/words, i.e.
vine/fine, go/grow.
Auditory discrimination needs to be checked when starting to work with a learner with
literacy difficulties. A quick and easy auditory discrimination test is included in this set of
notes.
Phonological Awareness
There is considerable research from all over the world into the importance of different
aspects of phonological awareness. Phonological awareness is often a major weakness in
learners with dyslexia or similar processing difficulties.
Phonological awareness is often referred to as phonemic awareness, but there is a crucial
difference between these terms.
The term ‘phonemic awareness’ comes from the word ‘phoneme’, which is a single sound
in language. This includes the following individual skills:
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Identification of initial, final and medial sounds in word
Segmentation (breaking words into individual sounds
Blending (blending individual sounds to make words)
Phoneme transposition (ability to ‘swap’ sounds)
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The term ‘phonological awareness’ comes from the word ‘phonology’, which is the sounds
and sound patterns of language. Phonological awareness is therefore a broader term than
phonemic awareness and encompasses the following:
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




All of the above aspects of phonemic awareness PLUS
Onset + rime
Rhyme
Analogical transfer
Syllabification
Word Retrieval
Auditory discrimination
Phonological awareness is purely processing the sounds and
sound patterns in language, not understanding how those
sounds map onto text, which is referred to as phonic or
orthographic knowledge. However, it is an essential precursor
to phonic knowledge. There is no point trying to learn what
letters represent what sounds if you are unable to process
those sounds in language in the first place.
How does Steps develop Phonological Awareness?
The following activities are specifically designed to develop phonological awareness. Some of
these activities only involve processing the sounds or sound patterns themselves (phonological
awareness) and some make the link with the written word (phonological awareness + phonic
knowledge).
Chunks – onset + rime awareness
Word Building – onset + rime awareness
Initial Sounds – onset + rime awareness, phoneme transposition
Sound Tiles – phonemic awareness + phonic knowledge
Sound Boxes – phonemic awareness + phonic knowledge
Vowel Sounds (game) – phonemic awareness, auditory discrimination and phonic knowledge
Clear the Skies (game) - phonemic awareness, auditory discrimination and phonic knowledge
Vowel Ladder (game) – phonemic awareness, auditory discrimination, phonic knowledge,
blending, decoding/encoding skills
Alphabet (General Section) – phonic knowledge, phonemic awareness
Spelling (General Section) – auditory discrimination, phonemic awareness, decoding/encoding
skills
23
Phonemic/Phonological Awareness Research
“The majority of preschoolers can segment words into syllables. Very few can readily segment
them into phonemes. The more sophisticated stage of phoneme segmentation is not reached until
the child has received formal instruction in letter-sound knowledge.” Predicting reading and
spelling difficulties (Snowling & Backhouse 1996)
"The best predictor of reading difficulty in kindergarten or first grade is the inability to segment
words and syllables into constituent sound units (phonemic awareness)" Lyon, G. R. (1995). Toward
a definition of dyslexia. Annals of Dyslexia, 45, 3-27.
“The ability to hear and manipulate phonemes plays a causal role in the acquisition of beginning
reading skills”. Smith, Simmons, & Kame'enui, 1998
The effects of training phonological awareness and learning to read are mutually supportive.
"Reading and phonemic awareness are mutually reinforcing: Phonemic awareness is necessary for
reading, and reading, in turn, improves phonemic awareness still further." Shaywitz. S. (2003).
Overcoming dyslexia: A new and complete science-based program for reading problems at any
level. New York: Knopf.
24
Memory
Memory is obviously a huge topic, with many different aspects. Most learners with literacy
difficulties have some memory difficulties at least.
Visual memory
Weaknesses in visual memory affect the development of sight vocabulary. Learners in this
category need significantly more exposure to text to fix words in to their long-term memory.
Research indicates that a non-dyslexic learner only needs 4 – 10 exposures to a word to fix it into
long-term memory, whereas a dyslexic learner may need 500 – 1300 exposures.
Auditory memory
There are two key aspects to this.
Auditory sequential memory is the ability to remember a sequence
of items/pieces of information. Working memory is the ability to
retain information and simultaneously process it (as is necessary
for taking notes).
Kinaesthetic memory
This is generally very under-utilised for learning, but it can be very powerful. Touch typing
and joined writing are particularly important for developing a kinaesthic memory for
spellings.
Using gross motor movements is a good way to develop a kinaesthetic memory for the
formation of letters.
Memory for information
This is obviously linked with the above aspects, but specifically refers to the ability to remember
information such as verbal instructions or reading/listening comprehension questions.
Most of the activities on Steps develop memory in some way or other, since they are providing
reinforcement of the words or spelling patterns. However, there are specific activities which
prioritise memory skills.
25
Literacy
Skills and knowledge needed for spelling
Skills
Knowledge
syllabification
segmentation
blending
auditory discrimination
visual discrimination
visual memory
working memory
kinaesthetic memory
fine motor skill
analogical transfer
sequencing
spatial awareness
phonic knowledge
orthographic knowledge
word structure
morphology (forms of language)
etymology (sources/derivation of
language)
letter formation
What is spelling?
“The ability to spell is a highly complex and active intellectual accomplishment and
not, as has historically been viewed, a low-order memory task.”
Hodges (1981)
Terminology
phonology
phoneme
grapheme
consonant digraph
blend
vowel digraph
‘r’ modified vowel
schwa
The sounds and sound patterns of a language
A single sound
Letter or letters which represent a single sound
Two letters making one sound (sh, th, ch)
Two or three letters making separate sounds (br, tr, str)
Two vowels making one sound (ou, ai, ea, ee)
Vowel + r (ar, er, ir, or, ur)
Indeterminate sound in a word (letter, about)
26
Sounds (Phonemes)
There are 44 sounds in the English language
Vowel phonemes
a (hat)
e (net)
i (fig)
o (hot)
u (sun)
u (put)
a (lay)
e (mean)
i (guy)
o (own)
oo (food)
a (half)
aw (awful)
ur (purr)
oi (coin)
ea (ear)
air (chair)
ou (mouse)
Consonant phonemes
b (bit)
p (push)
t (test)
d (drum)
k (kid)
qw (queen)
g (good)
sh (sugar)
ch (chalk)
j (jet)
h (hit)
f (fight)
v (vast)
th (think)
th (there)
s (sun)
s (sing)
z (zest)
m (meat)
n (nut)
l (leg)
r (red)
y (yellow)
w (watch)
27
Development of Literacy
Beginning readers in the USA
Looked at predictors of reading success or failure
Pre-readers aged 3-5 yrs
Looked at variety of abilities
 IQ
 Speech and language abilities
 Attention span
 Motor skills
 Phonological processing
Found that phonological processing is even more important than IQ.
Bryant & Bradley (1983)
 400 4-5 year old (non-readers) tested on a number of
aspects of phonological awareness including ability to:
 Detect alliteration
 Detect rhyme
 Children’s reading and spelling tested again 4 yrs later (age
8-9)
 Found that rhyme detection ability at 4-5 years of age is the
most effective predicator of later literacy success.
Rhyme and syllabification the foundation stones for the
development of other aspects of phonological awareness.
Rhyme develops gradually from the earliest stages.
Syllabification develops in distinct stages.




Sentences to words
Words to syllables
Words to Onset + rime
Syllables/words to sounds
28
Why is the onset + rime approach so important?
 It utilizes an awareness of rhyme (sound pattern) to enable the child to recognise
and use spelling patterns.
 It simplifies the task – word families instead of individual words.
 It develops analogical transfer – the ability to apply knowledge learned in one
context to a different context.
 It teaches at a level of natural phonological development
Suggested resources
Wordbuilding activities in Steps
Chunks
29
Summary
Rhyming skills at 3-5 years of age are the single most accurate predictor of later
reading success.
 Therefore, developing rhyming skills (sound patterns!) is a high priority
Rhyme awareness leads to the ability to use onset + rime.
 Therefore link the awareness of sound patterns with the later awareness of
spelling patterns – teach word families.
Onset + rime awareness is a natural stage of phonological development.
 Therefore use the onset + rime approach particularly in the early stages to
simplify the task and aid memory.
Phonemic awareness does not develop naturally, but as a result of literacy teaching.
 Therefore teach and develop phonemic awareness as part of your spelling
programme, but be aware of the stage your learner is at – provide appropriate
scaffolding as necessary.
Poor early readers often have poor syllabification.
 Therefore develop the sound skills of syllabification. Check that your learner
can divide sentences into words and clap rhythms first.
Onset + rime awareness leads to analogical transfer – the most important
reading/spelling skill.
 Use the word family approach (even with more advanced learners) to develop
analogical transfer. Take every opportunity to teach your learner to draw
analogies – spelling and reading.
30
The Learning Staircase Auditory Discrimination Test
(Lugg 2010)
Conditions of Use
This test has been compiled by and is the property of The Learning Staircase Ltd. It may be freely
photocopied and distributed or quoted in other literature, providing that it is correctly attributed
and referenced. It may not be re-written or re-formatted.
What is auditory discrimination?
Auditory discrimination is the ability to distinguish between similar sounds. Weaknesses in
auditory discrimination may be caused by physical hearing difficulties such as glue ear, by
weaknesses in auditory perception or by a combination of factors. Auditory discrimination
difficulties are likely to affect the development of phonological awareness and may also affect
auditory processing of verbal information such as instructions.
Test Guidelines
Do this test if the child has phonological difficulties and/or you suspect for some other reason that
the child is not able to tell the difference between sounds. You may notice the any or all of the
following:





Poor listening skills generally
Mis-hearing words in isolation or in context
Particular difficulty with verbal instructions
Poor articulation of speech sounds and words
Difficulty developing phonological awareness
Instructions for administration
Note: You will need a photocopied recording sheet for each child.
Seat the child comfortably in a quiet room with no background noise or other distractions. Explain
that you are going to tell the child two words together and the child needs to tell you if the words
are the same or different. Give examples as follows:
“I’m going to say two words. I want you to tell me if they are the same or different. Listen to these
words”
Then say the words: “table – table” Make sure you say them slowly and clearly.
“Were those words the same or different?” Hopefully the child will say “same”.
“That’s right. Now listen to these words: table – cable. Are they the same or different?”
If the child has mis-understood the instructions, explain them in more detail and talk through the
differences between the words if necessary. Then say:
“Now I’m going to say some more word pairs. I just want you to say ‘same’ or ‘different’. But if you
can see my mouth move, it’s too easy. So I’m going to get you to turn around so you can’t see me.”
31
Ensure that the child is facing the other way completely, i.e. not sideways on. Then start the test.
Say each pair of words slowly and clearly. Mark the child’s response on the recording sheet. It’s
fine to repeat the pair if necessary, but mark the form by ticking the ‘R’ column. Numerous
repetitions may indicate auditory processing or attentional difficulty.
When you say the words, say them clearly with a neutral intonation. Make sure that your voice
does not inadvertently change when you say the matching pairs. Do not give detailed feedback to
the child while doing the test. If you need to give encouragement, keep it non-committal. “Great
work – well done!”
Evaluating results
When the test is completed, count up the errors. Use the table below to determine appropriate
action (see note below). If there are numerous errors, the child may need to be referred to an
audiologist. If there are only a few errors, ensure that this aspect is included in the child’s tuition
and re-test after one term. If no progress (or very limited progress) is apparent despite
remediation, consider referring the child to an audiologist.
Note: Bear in mind that the following table is only a guideline. Use your professional judgement
and knowledge of the child to decide on appropriate action. In the case of a younger child (below 8
yrs), glue ear is a strong possibility. This needs to be diagnosed as soon as possible if the child’s
phonological and other auditory processing skills are not to be affected.
4-5
Extra Tuition
monitor
4 – 7 errors
6-7
3 – 6 errors
7+ errors
8-10
2 – 5 errors
6+ errors
10+
2-4 errors
5+ errors
Age
and
Refer to Audiologist
8+ errors
Use the table at the bottom of the form to analyse specific difficulties. Count the number of errors
in each category. This will identify if there are particular difficulties with initial, end or medial
sounds, or with blends.
General notes
Not all sound combinations are included – this would take far too long. The samples provided will
give a good indication of auditory discrimination problems. The teacher can add in further
combinations if required.
32
The Learning Staircase Auditory Discrimination Test
Name: _____________________________________
Age: _________________
Reason for test: ______________________________________________________________
Tester: _____________________________________
Date: ________________
I = initial sounds,
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
car
pin
sell
bug
badge
whistle
win
king
lathe
bag
vine
sleep
go
stain
dig
scream
grow
shoot
sick
pray
Initial Sounds
Final Sounds
Medial Sounds
Blends
F – final sounds, M – medial vowel sounds, B - Blends
√/X R
tar
I
21 card
cart
pin
22 sit
set
shell
I
23 back
bat
bud
F
24 rich
rich
badge
25 sack
smack
thistle
I
26 thin
thing
wind
F
27 cot
cut
king
28 pill
pill
laid
F
29 dale
gale
bug
M
30 thread
shred
fine
I
31 scar
star
sleek
F
32 ship
chip
grow
Bl
33 din
bin
stain
34 bell
ball
dug
M
35 leg
leg
stream Bl
36 bet
but
glow
Bl
37 fat
flat
shot
M
38 lack
lake
thick
I
39 stick
stick
play
Bl
40 back
bag
Items (cross through incorrect ones)
c/t
s/sh
wh/th v/f
s/th
g/d n/d
th/d
p/k
t/d
a/u i/u
oo/o i/e
o/u
g/gr scr/str gr/gl pr/pl s/sm
√/X
R
F
M
F
Bl
F
M
I
Bl
Bl
I
I
M
M
Bl
M
F
Errors
g/d
d/b sh/ch /8
k/t
n/ng k/g
/8
e/a(ll) e/u a/a-e /8
thr/shr sc/st f/fl
/8
33
Phonological Screening Test
Name: ___________________________
Date: ______________
Phonemic Awareness
Initial Sounds
“I’m going to say some words. Tell me the first sound you hear in each
word.” Example: “dog” “Yes, the first sound is ‘d’”
cat ______
egg ______
goat ______
sheep ______
chips ______
thing ______
octopus ______
eel ______
Final Sounds
“I’m going to say some more words. This time, tell me the last sound you
hear in each word.” Example: “top” “Yes, the last sound is ‘p’”
rat ______
take _______
last _______
pink _______
fresh _______
discuss ________
graph ________
earth _______
Medial Sounds
“I’m going to say some more words. This time, tell me the middle sound
you hear in each word.” Example: “cake” “Yes, the middle sound is
‘a’”
loan ________
file ________
take ________
seem ________
head _________
cup ________
lot __________
thick _______
Syllabification
“Tap these words on the table and tell me how many beats you can hear in each word.”
example: “Elephant” 3 beats
hospital ______
automatic _______ table ________
hippopotamus ____ carry ______
Do
antelope ______
white _______
Blending
Onset + rime
“Listen to these chunks. Put them together and tell me the word.”
t – op _____
st – and ________
3-phonemes
“Now put these sounds together and tell me the word.”
c – a – p ______
s – ou – p _______ r – ai – n _______
r – ip ________
34
thr – ead _______
m – a – n ______
4-phonemes
“Now put these sounds together and tell me the word.”
s – t – o – p _____
s – o – f – t ______
Rhyme
“Listen to these words and tell me which two rhyme.” Check that the
learner understands what ‘rhyme’ means. Give one or two examples.
dog – sock – log
___________
bun – rug – run
_____________
pet – tap – rap
___________
cat – fan – mat
______________
dust – rust – pest
___________
fate – late – made
___________
Generating rhyme
“Tell me some words which rhyme with these ones.”
hat, mat ____________________
l – i – s – t ______
t – r – ai – n ______
whip, rip __________________
35
Phonological Checklist
Pupil Name: ____________________________
Aspect
Problem detected
Auditory Discrimination:
Initial sounds
Final sounds
Medial sounds
Blends
Phonemic Awareness:
Initial sounds
Final sounds
Medial sounds
Syllabification
Blending:
Onset + rime
3-phonemes
4-phonemes
Rhyme:
Generating rhyme
Recognising rhyme
36
Sample Lesson Plan - Two learners. Three 50 minute sessions per week
-
Teacher-led activity
Session 1
Mins
Learner 1
Learner 2
10-15
Word Race
Computer – Steps
10
Steps – practice own list
Work with teacher
10
Rhyme Game, followed by initial, final and medial sound activity
10
Work with teacher
5-10
Memory game/activity
Computer - Steps
Session 2
Mins
Learner 1
Learner 2
10-15
Computer - Steps
Word Race
10
Work with teacher
Steps – practice own list
10
Phonics or language game
10
Work with teacher
5-10
Perceptual game/activity
Computer - Steps
Session 3
Mins
Learner 1
Learner 2
10-15
Computer - Steps
Work with teacher
10
Work with teacher
Computer - Steps
10
Phonics or language game
10
Group or individual work with teacher
5-10
Perceptual game/activity
37
Sample Lesson Plan - Three learners. Four 60 minute sessions per week
- Teacher-led activity
Session 1
Mins
Learner 1
Learner 2
Learner 3
10-15
Word Race
Computer – Steps
Computer – Steps
5-10
Steps/workbook activity
Work with teacher
10
Rhyme Game, followed by initial, final and medial sound activity
10-15
5-10
Memory game/activity (if time permits)
Work with teacher
Session 2
Mins
Learner 1
Learner 2
Learner 3
10-15
Computer – Steps
Word Race
Computer – Steps
5-10
Work with teacher
10
Vowel Ladder Game (sample game) followed by short memory activity
10-15
Work with teacher
5-10
Memory game/activity (if time permits)
Session 3
Mins
Learner 1
Learner 2
Learner 3
10-15
Computer – Steps
Computer - Steps
Word Race
5-10
10-15
Work with teacher
Steps/workbook activity Steps/workbook activity
Listening Skills activity, e.g. listening to story or passage, then discussing and
answering questions – whole group activity.
Steps/workbook activity Work with teacher
5-10
Vocabulary/language game (if time permits)
10
Session 4
Mins
Learner 1
Learner 2
Learner 3
10
Work with teacher
Computer – Steps
Computer – Steps
10
Work with teacher
20
Language activity or game
10
Work with teacher
10
Visual perception game/activity (if time permits)
38
Organisational requirements
Quiet room with no distractions
Teaching table in centre – ideally round or oval (better for games
Computer for each learner
Headphones for each learner – ideally ‘earmuff’ type
Plug-in microphone for recording new words – not often used
Easy access to printer is ideal – can print off worksheets/homework
Additional resources
Essential for maximum effectiveness: Selection of hands-on game materials, including Stargame
resources
Very beneficial: Supporting software – maths, memory, listening skills, reading comprehension
Record keeping suggestions
Print off a record booklet/set of recording forms for each pupil or each group.
Have a separate folder for each pupil or group, which contains all of their records
39
Recording Forms
Suggested composition of Teaching Record Book
Front Section
Single learner or group information
Assessment information with pre-test dates
Background information on that learner/s if relevant
Photocopied Word Demons sheet (from Steps to Lit Teacher Manual) for each learner
Divider – coloured sheet or card (so that it’s easy to turn to the teaching records easily)
Teaching Records Section
Recording forms printed back to back. Include as many as you wish, i.e. one or two terms’ worth of
sheets.
Options:
1. Bind a separate book for each learner using the individual learner sheets.
2. Bind a book for that group using one sheet or half a sheet per lesson, with each learner’s
information in a separate box. This gives you a record of the whole session and is easier to
use in a group situation. However, you may wish to keep each learner’s records separate
even though they may be taught in a group.
Notes:
If using the form for two or three learners, you can replace the ‘Name: ____________’ bit by just
the learner’s name.
These recording forms are in Word format on the website and can be downloaded and copied
freely.
40
Teaching Record
Session: ____
Date: ________________________
Lesson
Feedback/Planning
Name: _____________________
Name: _____________________
Name: ____________________
Session: ____
Date: ________________________
Lesson
Name: _____________________
Name: _____________________
Name: ____________________
Feedback/Planning
Session: ____
Date: ________________________
Lesson
Feedback/Planning
Name: _____________________
Name: _____________________
Session: ____
Date: ________________________
Lesson
Feedback/Planning
Name: _____________________
Name: _____________________
42
Teaching Record
Lesson
Session: ____
Date: ________________________
Feedback/Planning
43
Notes

Steps Training Course – Stage 2

Transcription

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