Any parent will tell you that the majority of children with learning disabilities have problems spelling. They may have trouble with the sounds and phonics, they most often have difficulties with the visualization recall of spelling words, and this can impact their learning ability on just about every level! Have you ever sat reading with your child and found a word they did not know? Most often we pause and show them the word, possibly even teach them the spelling of the word, and thus we move on to the following page. How exasperating is it to come across the same word on the next page, just to find that they cannot remember the very word you showed them just minutes before? Then when the same word appears two pages later, they cannot consider the word once again. Imagine me, if this annoys you as a parent, how much more exasperating must this be for your child with their learning disabilities! As a Behavioral Optometrist who has practiced in the area of children and learning disabilities for over 20 years, I appreciate that there are lots of factors at work in the above mentioned situation. In an attempt to make simpler things for myself and my patients, I loosely categorize spelling disabilities into two camps, phonics and visual memory. Phonics Phonics requires the using of sound to pronounce the word, and it is principally useful when we stumble upon a word we do not identify. So, even as an adult, if you are reading and come across a word you are unfamiliar with, you use phonics to have a go at figuring the word out by sounding it. On the other hand, if you try to read using merely phonics, it is slow, painstaking and a entire disaster! Visualization To read skillfully you have to use sight words, not phonics. It is that easy! In order for children to read, they have to have a realistic collection of sight words that they can easily recognize. However, many children with learning disabilities are very poor at spelling and thus have an exceedingly small number of sight words to call upon as they endeavor to read. Thus any assistance we can impart that can enlarge the number of sight words for children with learning disabilities will assist in their search to read fluently. However, only going over and over the same words trying to pound the words into their skull just does not work! Why does repetition of spelling words work ineffectively when it comes to increasing a child's sight words? The reason is that the most underlying skill in memory, visualization, is not being improved. Monotonous repetition usually does not break through when it comes to spelling, and all it does is make parents and children irritated and aggravated. The main component of visual memory is visualization, and if you can manage to get a children with learning disabilities to visualize (and it is not at all times that easy!) then you will be able to assist them learn hundreds of sight words. Have you ever asked yourself why loads of children and adolescents these days spell badly? Maybe it is the teaching techniques, perhaps green house gas, perhaps fluoride in the water? No, I don't consider so! I consider that it is tied in with the advent of TV, DVDs and the internet. Previously kids listened to radio plays or had books read to them, where they had to imagine the scene in their heads. Now they observe DVDs or a website, where all the visualizing is done for them and they only take it in. Therefore we have given rise to generations of children with learning disabilities who can't visualize and hence cannot spell! Please understand, I love TV, it 's awesome, but it does not encourage me to visualize! I love working with kids with learning disabilities, and I love working with visualization. It's fun, the children like it and it continuously achieves results. So, the is this: 1. We want to get children visualizing 2. We want to apply this new found skill to sight word lists I have spent years developing special therapies and techniques specifically to enhance visualization and word recall. using these technique over a 4-5 month period, I recent had one little girl who had only managed to learn one word a month (in Grade 3), suddenly learn 155 words in 4 weeks. Another boy learned 78 words, another 156, and one girl, not to be outdone by the boys, managed 186 words in one month. These ideas do work if you provide them a go, consequently if you require to learn more about my special therapy program “Learning @ Lightspeed” assessment out our website.
Article Source: http://www.articlecontentprovider.com/articlesubmit
As a Behavioral Optometrist who has practiced in the discipline of children and learning disabilities for over 20 years, I distinguish that there are lots of factors at work in the above mentioned situation. In an attempt to simplify things for myself and my patients, I loosely group spelling disabilities into two camps, phonics and visual memory.
To discover positive, holistic and effective solutions for learning disabilities you can start using right now, visit Children Learning Disabilities.
Please Rate this Article
5 out of 5 4 out of 5 3 out of 5 2 out of 5 1 out of 5
