Return-Path: <nifl-ld@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id f58D2Mf13213; Fri, 8 Jun 2001 09:02:23 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2001 09:02:23 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <3B20CC36.4A3804C1@ellijay.com> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-ld@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-ld@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-ld@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: Art LaChance <arthur@ellijay.com> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-ld@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-LD:3500] Re: message from Art LaChance X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.7 [en] (Win98; I) Status: O Content-Length: 5606 Lines: 109 Kate/Andrew, I'm sorry for the length of this, but I'm not sure this is as commonly known as I prevoiously thought. I didn't come from a K-12 background, so I'm only speculating on what happened there. We've seen many many students seeking reading help over the last six years who fit the scenario described below. This may be a regional thing. It may only affect a minimal number of folks, but it does work. I've only described two students that are in immediate memory, while there are many who we've worked with quite successfully over the years who fit the exact same profile. One day I sat with a young fella and asked him to read to me. I wanted to check to see if he knew how to decode unfamiliar words. He didn't. But he knew all the "memory" words, short not too involved phonetically. While he was reading this little children's book I noticed also that he was reading in a "choppy" manner, with short hesitations between words. I sort of confirmed to myself that he wasn't studying the words before he said them because he did know them, they were committed to memory and he could spout them off one after another as he read them, but when they were arranged in a sentence he maintained that choppy style. So one sentence went something like: "Mary got in the car and drove to the store." I had him read it three times, and each time he read that sentence he put the tinest little hesitaiton inbetween the words. (This boy had been identified as "the best reader in the class" and the teacher "didn't know what was wrong, he just had no comprehension".) third grade) So I sez Johnny, how would you say that sentence to me if we were just sittting here talking and you wanted to tell me about Mary going to the store. Well he just rattled it off, but just like he had read it to me, choppy with hesitations. Naw, you wouldn't do it like that would you? sez I. He thought for a minute and then said it again in normal verbal delivery. Then I asked him to try to "read" it that way. He looked at me with this puzzled look and attempted it, didn't make it, I stopped him within a few words, he started again and read the sentence just like he had said it to me when he wasn't reading it. At that point I took the book, turned the page to an unfamiliar passage, asked him to study it for a minute and when he was ready, to read it to me in the same way as if he were just talking to me. After a false start he completed the sentence. Didn't look up at me for a second. Then raised his head and his eyes were as big as dinner plates. So were mine. We did it some more til I was satisfied he understood the process, then gave him the homework of practicing that style. I followed his progress for a year or two until I confirmed that in fact he was an OK reader. Not too long after that I met with a young girl (again third grade) who had the same problem, only she was saddled with some intense emotional problems, some from personal life and some from school. Same scenario, no comprehension, and read in the same manner. Did the same exact thing with her. Met with her maybe 5 times over as many weeks, giving her "homework" of practicing that reading style at home. Then lost track of her. This child was in the process of formal diagnosis as LD in reading at the time. Well I didn't see her again until a couple of weeks ago, now six years later. She reads two years above grade level according to TABE D, form 7/8. "Reads all the time" sez mom. Apparently, some never learn that the "word lists" are not sentences expressed in complete thoughts. Just because we rearrange the words from vertical to horizontal lists means not a thing, the child has been trained to read "lists". Some can read those lists really fast so that it sounds like a sentence but generally they will ignore most of the punctuation also. That has become another red light for me in the evaluation phase. I find students of all ages who do the same exact thing. And we go through the process described above and they begin to enjoy reading. The down side to this process is when it's used with adults it's much more difficult to change the direction of the river. As time goes by from about third grade on, those neural pathways controlling the "reading" processes are growing stronger and stronger and fitting into the automaticity range, so the adult student really has to concentrate on making the changeover, and when they relax their grip they fall back into the old method. As a direct result of that I make them read out loud to themselves as homework so they can hear the difference. This has also helped the children make changeover more quickly. And I strongly recommend they read something of their choosing so the chances are that it will be more interesting to them than "curriculum". They are free to choose any book in the building to take home and practice with. And I don't give out "awards". Art Art LaChance Gilmer Learning Center Ellijay, GA "Kate Gladstone & Andrew S. Haber" wrote: > On 2001-06-07 10:40, Art LaChance at arthur@ellijay.com wrote: > > > teach them to read a single sentence as a complete thought > > What do you mean by this, Art, and how do you teach it? > > Yours for better letters, > Kate Gladstone - Handwriting Repair > kate@global2000.net, kate@WriteMe.com > http://www.global2000.net/handwritingrepair > 325 South Manning Boulevard > Albany, New York 12208-1731 USA > telephone 518/482-6763 > AND REMEMBER ... > you can order books through my site! (Amazon.com link - I > get a 5% - 15% commission on each book sold)
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