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 g6QGAYX25362; Fri, 26 Jul 2002 12:10:34 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 26 Jul 2002 12:10:34 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <a05100301b965d35d1581@[63.204.143.45]> 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: Maureen Carro <mcarro@lmi.net> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-ld@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-LD:4028] Re: More LD questions X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Status: O Content-Length: 4920 Lines: 102 Andrea, Wow! a huge topic!!! I have worked with adults and "at risk" adolescents for 14 years. Although I am aware of the "eye wiggling" / remediation with colored film, etc., and tried those things early on. I found that to be the least, if it was at all, a problem with the students I worked with (a Welfare to Work population, and HS students attending alternative programs sue to failure of some kind in comprehensive HS programs). The students I work with are reading at very low levels.....between second and sixth grades for the most part. As I began to educate myself in multi-sensory O/G methods, I began to do regular diagnostic screening of students using WADE /Wilson Assessment of Decoding and Encoding, and/ or Joan Knight's Starting Over, as well as Comprehension Assessments, and MOST INFORMATIVE of ALL......the informal oral reading, ie from a newspaper or magazine . This combination gives me a sense of whether decoding is a problem, or they are good decoders with little comprehension. ( I have found many are not good decoders, even if they know some sound/symbol relationships individually). The WADE and Starting Over Screenings have lists of pseudo-words, to isolate decoding skill from visual memory recognition of familiar words. This is VERY insightful. e.g. a student reads "superintendent" when presented with "sup".......(which actually happened !) This gives me a sense of their phonemic awareness....ie, awareness of number of sounds/ syllables in a word, as well as what the sounds are, and clues about what strategies, if any, they are using to decode. The oral reading and miscue analysis is very insightful. Are they miscuing by reading a word that is similar in "structure" ie, invitation for invention.....? If that is the pattern, they may not be decoding, but "guessing" based on beginning and endings of words. If they are bright, they even can come up with something that makes sense in the context, but is inaccurate, and may throw off the meaning (context clues are for building vocabulary, not figuring out what a word says). Another pattern may be miscues that are semantic in nature, ie, they read house for home, they substitute words that are similar in meaning, and don't throw off the comprehension so much. Also, are they re-reading and self correcting ( which usually means they are attempting to get meaning) or just guessing and flying through? Are they "chunking" phrases, or reading word by word (fluency)? Are they omitting words, articles, prepositions, etc.? I try to get a sense of decoding ability, fluency, rate, and comprehension. For most of my students, lack of background info / knowledge, and vocabulary is a big problem. They generally do not use pre-reading strategies when they pick up a piece to read. many missing elements!! I address all three areas in every lesson (no matter what the level) / and carry the same into writing (encoding, phrase writing, sentence writing, and paragraphs). This works much better than colored film.....although I don't want to "dis" anything, and there may be a student for which this is "the thing". That just has not been my experience. Nor have I seen much convincing research on the method. (I am always open to new things, however, if there is a good source for me to read, please inform me.) I 've found handwriting to be a big problem. Many are not automatic in letter formation. Word processing is a must, but for GED, the students must write an essay. When I review student's work, and discuss capitalization for example, they often know the rules, but tell me they "forgot how to make a capital K." Also, they try to hide poor spelling with poor handwriting! So complex a task! Most of all.......demystify! Mel Levine's work is great! > >Art has made a point of distinguishing between students with learning >difficulties and those with learning disabilities--those with learning >difficulties have reading problems which disappear with careful teacher >attention to filling in the knowledge holes; even emotional "symptoms" can >disappear with student success. > >An example: eye "wiggling" which makes difficulty with holding down a single >image is probably related to visual magno cells in the brain not working as >they should--the result is difficulty in being able to focus, letters seeming >to slide over each other resulting in letter reversals. Remediation using >colored films placed on a page seems to help, also, training with an eye >patch over the the eye. > >Having been a school teacher I tend to be very interested in what teachers of >adult students are seeing in their classrooms, and to trust their perceptions. > >Of course the definition of "dyslexia" itself is an issue, maybe I can skip >over that for the moment. > >Thanks for your help. -- Maureen Carro 20 Alamo Oaks Lane
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