Some children thrive from whole word recognition but some of our children need targeted intervention

Guest blog from Georgina Smith, Dyslexia Expert

Over the years of assessing and teaching I so often see students of all ages who have  ‘gone under the radar’ as they appear to be students who are functioning with reading and spelling, some at an age appropriate level.

At times when I assess I see a student who appears on the surface to read reasonably well, with some flow and whole word recognition, however when they spell their written responses can default to a phonetic response and not be on a par with their reading.

There are also the children who practice so hard during the week only to forget the 10 spellings in Friday’s test.  Some recall many but then as time goes on, they can’t continuously recall those spellings they recollected only a few weeks or day ago when they write.

Whether a child is dyslexic or not, whole word recognition is not always the answer, all the time, for all children.  Some children thrive from whole word recognition but some of our children need targeted intervention.

I have found over the years showing students, of all ages, how to sound out, blends, breakdown, and learn the component parts of a word, to be able to transfer to less familiar words which are not high frequency enables them to develop reading and spelling.  The structured system of learning when to use patterns in words (i.e. mid/end) can often unlock the key to learning.  This logical way of learning in CodeBreakers suits many of learners I have encountered as a dyslexia tutor.

The system of over learning is also not one our schools cannon often afford time for when curriculum targets need to be met.  The joy of CodeBreakers allows student to work at their own pace with opportunity for over learning.

When a child learns to read by whole word recognition, often they will learn to spell that way too, recalling what a word looks like, rather than being able to sound it out and encode the word.

Today was a prime example of this, teaching a young leaner that ‘ea’ say SV /e/ as in ‘bread’.  He surprised me that he could tell me very quickly all the letter names.  So I asked him to make me the word ‘bread’ using the wooden letters and then show me what made the SV /e/ sound.  He couldn’t answer. So I asked him to move each letter to represent the sounds I said.  He moved ‘br’ for /br/, then ‘e’ as I said SV/e/, then he moved the ‘ad’ and I said /d/.  Clearly he has not identified that the ‘ea’ make the sound as only ‘d’ says /d/.

You may ask why I put this child through sounding out this word when he could spell it.  The answer, because I wanted him to recognise the letters which made this sound and be able to transfer this to other words he may not be familiar with and to learn to sound them out.

Too often when testing and teaching I find student cannot sound out using only the sounds (not letter names and letter labelling) and this impedes their ability to encode words.

Of course it’s true to say that every word will not be spelled with ‘ea’ and that’s why we need dictionary skills but that’s a narrative for another day.

If you would like to know more about CodeBreakers and receive a FREE sample contact us:

http://www.dyslexia-codebreakers.co.uk/contact.html

ST-NOV17

Logical Thinking

Guest blog post by Georgina Smith

Sometimes I wonder why the majority of students I see are boys.  There are many arguments about why boys are often seen to be struggling with literacy more than girls.  I think there are way too many complex issues in the mix to singularly give one causal link to this.

However it’s been suggested that girls play more at office and school.  Boys are said to not want to sit in a classroom environment and prefer to be outside.  It’s argued we often buy girls books and stationery as gifts more than we do boys.  There is also the opinion that we have more female role models in primary schools and the lack of male role models in primary school etc also has an impact on boys being interested in literacy.

I can already imagine some of you read this and raise your hands in agreement and others are shouting and reacting strongly against these opinions.  As I suggested, there is no one causal reason why we may see boys struggle more.  In fact is it the fact that more boys struggle or is the fact that we identify less girls?  Girls can be great at covering up mistakes and mimicking.  Maybe we identify more boys as they demonstrate more behavioural issues in the classroom?

However we can also consider the male and female brain.  Girls are more language orientated and more creative where boys are said to be more logical and mathematical thinkers.

It was during some of my 1:1 sessions with primary school age boys that the parents have started to mention that their sons seem to be thriving using a more logical way of learning spelling and reading than just based purely on sounds.  Parents have commented they feels schools may touch upon the rules of why to choose a c,k,ck to make a /k/ sound at the end of a word  such as ‘peck, stick, tank, think, picnic, arctic’ but they rarely stay on the rules long enough and allow them to practice the rules in the context of reading and writing.

When I teach using CodeBreakers I try to emphasise the logical rules such as /k/ at the end of a word.  Surprisingly there are lots of rules in the English language, many of the students really enjoy this method of learning along with all the games and play we utilise when delivering in a multi-sensory way.

Georgina is a member of PATOSS and an Associate Member of the British Dyslexia Association. She is also the author of  Code Breakers

www.dyslexia-codebreakers.co.uk

www.dyslexia-staffs.co.uk

Using Compound Words to Introduce Syllables

Guest post by Margot Edwards 

 

Teaching a child to understand the underlying structure of spoken language is a key component in the child’s development of phonemic awareness, a crucial skill for children who are learning to read.

It can be difficult, however, to explain the concept of syllables to a preschooler. Even small children are intimately familiar with the meaning of language. Sentences and words have meaning. But a syllable may have a meaning of its own (such as run- in running), or it may not (the al- in alligator). If a syllable has no independent meaning, many children simply don’t notice it as a unit of speech apart from the meaning of the whole word.

I recommend easing children into this tricky concept with a series of compound word activities. Compound words are multi-syllable words that are made up of smaller words, such as snowball, dollhouse, and horseshoe. Because each syllable of a two-syllable compound word is a word on its own, children are better able to notice the syllables and to understand what you mean when you talk about dividing a word into parts.

Recent research has shown us that synthesis (blending separate syllables into words) is easier for children than analysis (dividing words into syllables). So start with two synthesis activities. In the first, Making Compound Words, say two one-syllable words for the child (such as pop and corn), with a big pause in between, and the child will combine them to make a compound word. In a follow-up activity, Making A Longer Word, you give the child the two parts of a three-syllable compound word (e.g., blue and berry), to combine into a longer word.

Analysis of compound words is a more difficult skill, so I’ve created a series of six activities to teach the concept bit by bit. In Part 1, the child must identify the first part of a compound word (“Say fishbowl but don’t say bowl”), using a picture card as a visual clue. On the card are four pictures, one of which is the correct answer.

Part 2 is exactly the same activity but without any picture clues. Without pictures, the child will have to work harder to remember the word, divide it into parts, and say only the part you ask for.

Part 3 requires the child to pick out the second syllable (“Say rainbow without rain…what’s the last word in rainbow?”), with picture cards as clues. Part 4 is the same but with no picture cards.

In Part 5, give the child a mix of words. Sometimes you will have him tell you the first part of the word, and sometimes the second part. This is a big challenge for his memory and listening skills, but we provide picture cards to help him. In the sixth and final activity, the child must identify either the first or last syllable of a compound word, with no picture clues.

Start with the first of these activities, play it with the child for 10-15 minutes a day until he’s mastered it, then move on to the next activity. Before you know it, the child will be ready to dive into learning about syllables.

Margo Edwards is the Director of Content Development at SightWords.com, a website dedicated to the promotion of child literacy through a variety of free online resources. SightWords.com is proud to be sponsored by the Georgia Preschool Association.