Hi Carolyn,
  I very much agree with what Josh suggests here, and would add one 
thing.  When developing phonemic awareness, we are not using any 
letters visually, just tracking sounds that are " heard".  So to tap 
/k//a/t/, she is not "seeing" anything (except perhaps in her mind's 
eye if she has sound symbol correspondence).  I use colored felt 
squares for this to give a concrete representation.  If she knows the 
letter c corresponds to the sound /k/, then she does not even "think" 
about the first sound in "cat" being represented by "t".  What level of 
materials does this student read in this manner?  Perhaps she has 
learned some things as "sight words " but "sees" them in reverse order? 
  I use a book called "Sounds and Letters" from Sopris West that had 
many "phonemic awareness" drills  manipulating sounds.  It seems like 
this individual does not track sounds in correspondence to how they are 
coded... ?  By the way, you did not mention that this individual may 
have English as a second language, so I am assuming English is her 
primary.   I had a Middle Eastern woman once, who was having much 
difficulty with writing. When I asked her to write something in her 
native language, she wrote right to left.  I realized what was 
happening, and it was a pretty easy fix!  In the case of decoding 
words, however, I think it will take a bit of work, but if this person 
has developed this strategy on her own, I would think she would be able 
to learn quickly using a multi-sensory approach.


On Mar 29, 2007, at 8:42 AM, Josh Hayes wrote:


> Carolyn,

>  

> I was very intrigued by your student's strategy.  If this approach 

> worked, I would say run with it.  But it seems that the right/left 

> decoding method is causing her substantial difficulties.  Using a 

> phonics system for instruction is going to require that she not 

> approach the word from right to left.  I don't want to diminish her 

> perspective on her reading approach, however her inability to 

> discriminate vowel sounds and the pattern reversals on some letters 

> suggest sound symbol correlation difficulty more than visual 

> processing challenges.  There is no reason why a d should be more 

> commonly confused with b or P.  They're all circles with lines 

> attached.  She seems to have difficulty with directionality on both 

> planes, and she might benefit from multi-sensory practice in 

> determining the connection to letter name and shape orientation.  

> These are all things that can be taught.   I would start with 

> phonological awareness and segmentation exercises.  What she may be 

> looking for, and I say may, is common pattern clues using consonant 

> endings with the vowels.  Again, if this was efficient, there would be 

> nothing wrong, but you need to experiment with other methods.  Wilson 

> is probably a very good match, but she needs to replace strategies and 

> hone her ability to discriminate sounds.

> I would also recommend that, if possible, she ensure that she has no 

> sensory problems, such as poor hearing or vision.  If she sees the 

> page clearly head on but blurry in the mirror, that would be the first 

> things I'd want to check out.

>  

> Good luck,

>  

> Josh

>  

> Joshua Hayes

> Instructional Coordinator

> SEARCH Homeless 

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