March/April - All Special Kids
Transcription
March/April - All Special Kids
ASK GENEVA, SWITZERLAND MARCH/APRIL 2008 Dear Friends, Contents READING A Word from the Editor 1 Reading instruction & the 2 Brain ISSUE NO.10 3/4/5 Disclaimer 5 Geneva View Point 6 Monthly Kid’s Social (Ski outing) C.A.R.E. Program 7 Summer Camp 8/9 ASK Geneva Calendar 10 ASK Bern Calendar 10 When ASK started in 2003, three mothers, Jane Howard, Loute Banchenna and Joy Tong, were simply looking for ways to help our own children. We have come a long way from that humble beginning, as several dedicated parents have joined ASK over the past five years making ASK what it is today. No one could have ever imagined the positive impact we would have on so many families arriving in Switzerland since then with the same needs as us three mothers. However, we cannot sit on our laurels and think that this is the limit of what we can achieve. We have many more hills to climb if we are to obtain a better life for our special kids; to become productive young adults, to assimilate into society with an understanding, respect and dignity that they all deserve. In 2003, ASK's main mission and goal was to assist and meet the needs of the English speaking parents' community. Now we are also providing support to parents with special needs children in the French and German speaking school systems, with the Bern Chapter formed last year and the Zurich Chapter pending. Wade and his beautiful daughter Bella With the growing need of support to parents of local school children looming, ASK plans on reaching out to local organizations to partner in our efforts to continue providing support to the families and especially the special kids to obtain a better understanding and appropriate support in the local school setting. ASK needs your help to make known in your organizations the assistance you are receiving from us, so that we can begin raising funds to support our programs and activities and expand our assistance to as many special need kids of every age, any level of learning difficulties and in every language. As always, ASK - we are here to help Joy and the newsletter team ASK - All Special Kids case postale N°147 2-4 Ch. de la Tourelle 1200 Genève 19 “Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow.” http://www.allspecialkids.org [email protected] Mary Anne Radmacher 2 READING INSTRUCTION AND THE BRAIN “When learning new words, either the brain’s upper or lower circuits can be used. For reading words in isolation the most effective approach is decoding the words using the upper circuit” Educationalists have developed different methods for teaching the brain to read based on observations and more recently through guidance from educational research. Today, with the help of brain imaging, neuroscientists can now directly study how reading instruction can influence the brain’s reading development. They can also separate out components of the reading system and consider the most effective ways to teach reading. When learning new words, either the brain’s upper or lower circuits can be used. For reading words in isolation the most effective approach is decoding the words using the upper circuit. However, the lower circuit plays an important role in working out new words based on meaning or contextual learning. Often the brain uses a combination of these two circuits, which involves partial decoding in a search to find a word that fits with the meaning of the sentence as well as with the letter/ sound relationships of the word. Phonics and Whole Language There are two popular ways to teach reading. One is phonics, which teaches children to recognise individual letter sounds. The other is whole language, which teaches children whole words within a meaningful context. These two teaching approaches target different circuits in the brain. Phonics instruction stimulates the brain’s upper circuit. This circuit processes individual letter shapes in the back of the brain and connects these to letter sounds in the front of the brain. Whole language activates the brain’s lower reading circuit. This circuit processes whole word shapes in the back of the brain and connects these to word pronunciations in the front of the brain. Whereas the upper circuit contains a set of rules that can be used to decode new words, the lower circuit stores vocabulary so that a word can be recognised in an instant when seen again. As we become fluent readers we rely less on the upper circuit, as most of the words we read are stored in the lower circuit. The upper circuit is useful for learning new words, as it provides a strategy apart from meaning for deciphering the pronunciation of a word. It analyses the visual features of a new word and then calculates the most likely pronunciation based on the rules of letter/sound relationships. Although no instructional method is purely phonetic (no exposure to contextual print) or purely whole language (no decoding instruction), these two methods develop different ways of reading unknown words. The phonics approach encourages decoding the word in an effort to calculate the most likely pronunciation. The whole language approach also encourages predicting the unknown word’s pronunciation, but based on the meaning of the sentence and its context within the story. While unknown words read in isolation must be decoded for calculating the most likely pronunciation, unknown words read in context can either be decoded or 3 BY DR. DUCAN MILNE (PAGE 2) predicted based on meaning clues. Research with electroencephalography (EEG) shows that the brain predicts words in a sentence based on meaning. When reading a sentence that doesn’t quite make sense, the brain will respond to the word that doesn’t belong. These are known as semantically incongruent words. For example, when reading the sentence ‘He spread the warm bread with socks,’ it is the word ‘socks’ that produces the inconsistency. Four hundred milliseconds after the word socks is presented, the brain responds: “Wait a minute, something’s not quite right here,” and a negative electrical potential is produced. This demonstrates that the brain uses meaning when reading words in context to help predict the likely pronunciation of an unknown word. Individual learning differences bring the phonics/whole language debate into question. A fundamentalist whole language or phonics programme neglects the instruction of either the upper or lower circuit. While some children can develop untaught skills implicitly, most children need explicit instruction. Fundamentalist teaching of phonics or whole language does not cater for all learning needs and leads to reading disparities. Children within the classroom have mixed abilities and are at different developmental stages. Some will need phonics as a means of decoding new words quickly whereas others will already understand letter/sound relationships and demand contextual text. Teachers should therefore combine a balance of phonics and whole language instruction depending on the individual needs of the children they are teaching. Without providing a balanced mix of phonics and whole language instruction, there is a risk that irregularities will develop between the relative strengths and weaknesses of the upper and lower reading circuits. Children who only receive phonics instruction will have difficulties identifying words within meaningful text, a function of the brain’s lower circuit, but will decode words using the upper circuit with relative ease. Children only receiving whole language instruction will have problems sounding out new words using the brain’s upper circuit, but will develop good contextual reading skills using the lower circuit. Synthetic and Analytic Phonics There are two methods for teaching phonics – synthetic phonics and analytic phonics. Synthetic phonics teaches the 44 sounds of the English language together with corresponding letter relationships. This method is effective as it provides a tool for decoding any new word. However, some children can have problems identifying phonemes, as they are very small units of sound. This is quite understandable considering the artificial nature of phonemes themselves. For example, some phonemes such as /b/ are impossible to pronounce on their own without adding the ‘uh’ sound. Nevertheless, the ability to manipulate individual sounds and letter relationships is a significant predictor of future reading performance. Analytic phonics makes use of word stems in words the brain has already “Four hundred milliseconds after the word socks is presented, the brain responds: “Wait a minute, something’s not quite right here” 4 READING INSTRUCTION AND THE BRAIN (3) “Synthetic phonics involves teaching the sound relationships of the different letter combinations of the English language” learnt to help sound out new words. Research shows that children develop this skill very early in reading acquisition. With analytic phonics, the brain draws on common letter/sound relationships found in word families. It analyses new words against the word patterns already retained. Analytic phonics places fewer demands on working memory as the coarticulation (the joining together of sounds) has already been made. For example, it is easy to decode ‘crash’ as / cr/ /ash/ because the letter patterns from other words (such as crab, crane and cash, ash) are easy to recognise, whereas synthetic phonics takes more processing to decode /c/ /r/ /a/ /sh/. Some words with changeable vowel sounds are easier to predict when visually similar words are known. Synthetic phonics teaches the brain’s upper circuit to read by developing an understanding of letter/sound relationships that enables us to decode new words, whereas analytic phonics involves a more central activation, representing interconnection between the two reading circuits. In this model, analogy involves an analysis of common letter relationships and their corresponding sound patterns, transferring from known words to the unknown word. Here, the decoding of an unknown word is supported through comparing known words with similar letter/sound relationships. Recent MRI research shows that the smallest unit of sound, the phoneme, is processed in the upper circuit. A larger unit of sound, the rime (such as the word ending –ime), is processed in a more central location between the upper and lower reading circuits. Analytic rime processing is faster than phoneme processing. Within the brain’s left hemisphere, the two reading circuits are indeed connected and support each other. Integration of these two circuits provides additional support for decoding, not only using meaning and context, but also through analogy word support. The brain’s word bank in the lower circuit does not contain a list of words in alphabetical order like a standard dictionary. Rather, the brain’s word bank is multidimensional. While some words are grouped around meaning, they can also be grouped around sounds. All of this happens at a subconscious level. At a conscious level, phonological assembly then allows us to manipulate the sounds in new words to find common patterns. We can identify single sounds from within words, and compare these sounds with words that look the same. In the brain, analytic phonics allows connections to be formed between different sounds, letters, and whole word shapes for new words that are acquired. Synthetic phonics involves teaching the sound relationships of the different letter combinations of the English language. This method is typically introduced with letter-name/letter-sound associations, letter-name/picture associations or actions relating to the initial sounds of words that are already known. After children become familiar with letters and their corresponding sounds, movable letters can be used to construct new words. CVC words (consonant–vowel– consonant) are easy to manipulate as they are closed syllabled, make the short vowel sound and contain simple letter/sound rules that are easy to follow (for example, dog, cat, pig). 5 Reading instruction (4) The –VC component at the end of CVC words is the rime stem. Through analytic phonics children can see that words ending in the same stem share the same sound pattern. The initial sound can then be manipulated to make new words. For example, change the /m/ sound in mat to a /b/ sound to make bat. Children can also perform other operations on CVC words with the moveable alphabet. Letters can be brought together to blend sounds, known as co-articulating, and separated to explain segmenting, deleting or isolating. Children can also substitute letters (with other letters) to make new words. For example, swap the /e/ sound in peg with an /i/ sound to make pig. Once children have mastered these operations, they become aware that words are made up of different sound units that correspond to different letters and can in turn be manipulated. Word-level work using moveable letters combines synthetic phonics, analytic phonics and phonemic awareness into one lesson. However, phonics instruction is only one part of a broader literacy programme and should be placed in the context of real reading. Summary While advanced brain research did not exist when these instructional methods were first deployed, it now provides scientific recognition of these methods. We no longer need to debate whether one technique is better than another. We can see the big picture. Different approaches target different parts of the reading brain, and we should strive to simultaneously target multiple modules, circuits and connections to produce learning synergies and to develop children who enjoy reading. (Article contrib- uted by Dr. Duncan Milne (smartkids.com) DISCLAIMER Dear Parents, In January, ASK hosted two lectures on Dyspraxia with Dr. Madeleine Portwood in Bern and Geneva. We informed the ASK community by email , in advance of her lecture, that Dr. Portwood is planning to conduct a research on "Fatty Acids and it's effect on learning and behaviour", in Switzerland. The research project will use the product "Eye-Q" produced by ViFor pharmaceutical company. On 30th and 31st January, ViFor representatives were present at both seminars and distributed free samples to attendees without our prior knowledge and/or agreement. Disclaimer: ASK does not promote the product "Eye-Q" nor do we have any agreement with ViFor or it's representatives. Please note that ASK only disseminates research information and does not endorse any products that parents may choose to use. Any participation in the research project of Dr. Portwood is solely the responsibility of the parents. ASK will not be held liable for any misrepresentation of the product, the manufacturer or the research itself. We apologise if there was any confusion caused by the presence of the two product representatives at our seminars and if it may have caused you any inconvenience. Thank you for your understanding. ASK - All Special Kids “Any participation in the research project of Dr. Portwood is solely the responsibility of the parents”. 6 GENEVA VIEW POINT— SKI DAY “The Ask Kid’s Social went skiing and I thought it was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it and when it was time to leave I didn’t want to go. I think that everyone who went had a lot of fun like me, it was brilliant”! • Sara-Louise Wilkins “Can we go again next year?” • Niall “I was very impressed with their patience, kindness and ability to communicate with the children and treat them as individuals” “It was crazy. We went down lots of slopes and some were difficult.” • Robert THANK YOU. Many thanks to Phil Trumper and his team from the Emmanuel Church for a wonderful day out. Each child had a minimum of an instructor and helper and was taken on slopes suiting his/her ability. We would like to make this an annual event and look forward to seeing more ASK families take advantage of Phil’s generosity next year. Karen Wilkins Kid’s Social Coordinator [email protected] “I was skiing. {It was} good!” • Raphael “I was delighted that he had such a good day and the best preparation for a few days skiing with school later this week. The instructors gave him confidence and a sense of fun. I was very impressed with their patience, kindness and ability to communicate with the children and treat them as individuals. I appreciated everything they did for us.” E.W (A Parent) 7 C.A.R.E. ASK ALL SPECIAL C.A.R.E. A family approach COMMUNITY ASSISTANCE RESOURCE ENRICH Are you searching for family support with an integrative approach? Are the siblings of your special needs kid feeling neglected? Are you having a hard time connecting with your teenager? MONTHLY Family Support Groups (3 groups: Parents, siblings and special needs kids) When: Jan 28th, Feb 18th, March 10th, April 14th, May 14th , June 9th 2008 Time: 6-8 pm WEEKLY Adolescent Group When: Jan 24th, Jan 31st, Feb 7th, Feb 21st, Feb 28th, Mar 6th 2008 Time: 5:30—6:30 pm Location: Webster University (Room TBA) C.A.R.E. contact: [email protected] 8 9 ASK 2008 SUMMER CAMPS Place: School Place:Edelweiss Edelweiss International International School 39 39Rue Rue de de Peillonnex Peillonnex 1225 1225 Chene Chene Bourg Bourg July 7-11, July 14-18, August 11-15, August 18-22 Skills Building through Constructive Play and Fun Activities New Optional Tutoring Morning Program 100Chf discount early registration extended to 10th April 50Chf discount for each additional siblings Making and playing with friends: Two things that children do that we ordinarily take for granted. Yet for many children with related learning differences, these two aspects of childhood do not come easily. The effects of learning differences may in fact preclude children from interacting appropriately, with poor self-esteem, low frustration tolerance and problem with anger or aggression being a constant source of concern for parents and teachers. The Camp Program from ASK – All Special Kids concentrate on social skills development for children with learning differences by providing educational and therapeutic environment, where children with socialization problems can learn and be supported as they develop their potential for fruitful relations with peers, family and school. Fun, creative activities are structured around nurturing and therapeutic atmosphere, in order to maximize positive peer interaction. Daily camp activities are based on learning cooperation, sharing, conflict solving, imagination, communication, empathy and assertiveness, to encourage development of self control, self-awareness and selfconfidence at the child's own pace. Supervision and safety are of paramount importance at ASK Camps, and the general welfare of the individual child is our primary concern. Teacher/student ratio are small, averaging 1 teacher to 2/3 children, for 3 age group (5-7yr old, 8-10 yr old, 11-14 yr old). This summer, we also add a new optional tutoring morning program developed by two special needs teachers, one is a dyslexia specialist. We also accept kid’s older than 14 to the morning tutoring program and age appropriate afternoon activities. Different Fees Structure for Tutoring Program Contact: [email protected] or [email protected] ASK-Geneva ASK/Bern-Chapter Upcoming Events Upcoming Events MARCH 2008 MARCH 2008 TEACHING THE BRAIN TO READ Presented by Dr. Duncan Milne 3rd March - Webster University (see page 9) MONTHLY PARENTS GET TOGETHER 18th March, 9am-11am RSVP: Roxanne Eicher, [email protected] MONTHLY PARENTS GET TOGETHER 7th March - 10:00 - 12:00hr APRIL 2008 C.A.R.E.– Community Assistance Resource Enrichment Program 10th March, 18: to 20:00hr, Webster University MONTHLY PARENTS GET TOGETHER Due to Spring breaks no meeting APRIL 2008 MONTHLY PARENTS GET TOGETHER 3rd April - 10:00 - 12:00hr “The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in a thing makes it happen” ASSESSMENT BY DR. GAVIN REID 14th to 16th April (by appointment only) ASSESSMENT BY DR. MADELEINE PORTWOOD 17th to 19th April (by appointment only) C.A.R.E.– Community Assistance Resource Enrichment Program 14th April, 18: to 20:00hr, Webster University Frank Loyd Wright “Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ASK Kids’ Social Agenda Open to all fun-loving kids Saturday 15th March 2008 from 18:00-20:00hr PIZZA EVENING Saturday 5th April 2008 at 18.30hr PONY RIDING & GROOMING (or CINEMA if wet) Thurs 24th (or) Sat 26th April 2008 at 18.30hr CHOCHOLATE MAKING & EATING, PRANGINS Sat 26th May 2008 from 2pm. TREE CLIMING, BREAD MAKING, RUN FREE @ SIGNAL DE BOUGY Sunday 29th June 2008 from 2.30pm ASK's FAMILY SUMMER FUN AND PICNIC