Learning Reading Help:

Auditory Memory Part 3

In the last post Learning Reading Help: Auditory Memory Part 2 I talked about learning reading and went over some specific activities you can do in just minutes a day to target areas of auditory processing that affect learning reading. Remember, when you need learning reading help you want to be sure you are considering all of the areas that may be problematic to learning reading. Whether you have dyslexia, an identified learning disability, are falling through the cracks, or are gifted, these areas of visual and auditory perception are the reason why you need reading help.

Learning Reading Help: Auditory Processing Areas

There are multiple areas of auditory processing that affect learning reading. Auditory memory is just one of the areas. I’m sure most of you are aware of auditory discrimination, the ability to tell one sound from another. Problems with auditory discrimination can lead to difficulties acquiring, understanding, and using spoken language as well as poor spelling.
There are other areas such as auditory closure.  When you have auditory closure problems, you have difficulty with sounding out words, with attending to auditory stimuli, and filling in the gaps when you have missed parts of words or pars of conversations. These problems can also lead to incorrect English usage and spelling.

Learning Reading Help: Materials to Use to Improve Auditory Processing, Spelling, and Reading

In the following video I show you some materials that you can use with your children to improve not only auditory memory but 5 other areas of auditory processing and at the same time learn decoding and encoding skills that are critical to learning reading as well as learning to spell.

For more information on learning reading, visit http://www.bonnieterrylearning.com.

Learning Reading Help:

Auditory Processing Part 2

In the last post Learning Reading Help: Auditory Memory Part 1 I talked about learning reading and the one of the areas of auditory processing that affect learning reading, specifically auditory memory skills. Remember, when you need learning reading help you want to be sure you are considering all of the areas that may be problematic to learning reading. Whether you have dyslexia, an identified learning disability, are falling through the cracks, or are gifted, these areas of visual and auditory perception are the reason why you need reading help.

Learning Reading Help: Auditory Processing Areas

For example, if you have poor auditory memory skills, you will have trouble remembering the sounds of the letters you will have trouble with learning reading. But auditory memory is more than just direct recall of sounds. You need to be able to use the information you hear, manipulate it, and respond to it. If you have poor auditory discrimination you will have trouble with knowing if two sounds are the same or different. If you have poor auditory visual association you will have trouble with relating a particular sound with the letter that represents it.

Auditory Processing and Learning Reading Help Activities

So, what can you do to improve reading when auditory processing problems are creating so many learning reading problems? There are some very simple activities that can be done to improve learning reading. In the video I go over some specific activities so you can see how simple it is to improve learning reading. In fact some of these activities just take one or two minutes to do, and they can be done with the whole family so no one is singled out. These activities actually end up being quite fun and can be done right after dinner as a quick family time activity.

Watch the video Learning Reading Help: Auditory Processing Part 2 to find out more.

Stay tuned for Part 3 where I show you some materials that you can use with your children to improve not only auditory memory but 5 other areas of auditory processing and at the same time learn decoding and encoding skills that are critical to learning reading help.

Learning Reading Help

Part 1 Auditory Memory

When you need learning reading help you want to be sure you are considering all of the areas that may be problematic to learning reading. Whether you have dyslexia, an identified learning disability, are falling through the cracks,  or are gifted, these areas of perception are the reason why you need reading help.

Remember, there are 9 areas of  auditory processing, 9 areas of visual processing, and 9 areas of tactile/kinesthetic processing that affect learning. When you have a difficulty in any of those areas learning reading can become difficult.

Learning Reading Help: Auditory Areas

For example, auditory memory is just one of the 9 areas or auditory processing that is critical for learning reading skills. If you can’t remember the sounds of the letters you will have trouble with learning reading. However, there is more to auditory memory than just straight recall of sounds.

Auditory Memory and Learning Reading Help

I have worked with students that could restate whatever I said such as a list of words…blue, purple, red. But they were not able to use that information, process it, and then give me an answer. I have worked with other students that could remember songs but had great difficulty remembering their spelling words. And spelling is part of learning reading skills. There really is a difference between sheer regurgitation of auditory information and the utilization of the material you hear.

Watch the video Learning Reading Help Part 1 to find out more.

Do Your Kids Struggle

With Auditory Processing?

I often get calls and emails from parents concerned about spelling. Their child is struggling with spelling. Many kids as well as adults struggle with spelling. The problem with spelling is it depends not only on the structure of the language, it also is based on sounds. And sounds lead us to auditory perception or processing skills.

We learn three ways. We learn by hearing, by seeing, and by doing. Within each of those areas: vision, auditory, and tactile/kinesthetic, there are 9 sub-categories that affect learning. When you struggle with spelling it is usually due to one or more areas of auditory perception that isn’t working as efficiently as it could be.

Spelling and Auditory Processing

Think about it, when a student struggles with learning their sounds they typically struggle with spelling. When you don’t know your sounds or have trouble discriminating one sound from another, spelling can be very hard. There are several things you can do as a parent to help your child improve their processing. One thing is to use a spelling program that addresses the auditory perception areas and at the same time teaches the structure of the language. Spelling doesn’t have to be hard anymore.

Auditory Processing Device

In addition to using a spelling program such as Making Spelling Sense, you can help your kids hear their sounds with greater clarity by using this auditory device. It just takes a few minutes to make. I use this auditory device with kids of all ages. It really helps them to hear the sounds and the words more clearly.

I just did an assessment a few weeks ago and the student I tested still has trouble with some of his sounds. He is in the 4th grade. He has a lot of auditory processing difficulties. Remember, their are 9 areas of auditory perception that affect learning. Using this auditory device with him makes it easier for him to discriminate between the sounds. His life is becoming easier because of it. Sounding out words and spelling words is easier. This is great for kids with CAPD, and auditory processing difficulties, learning disabilities, dyslexia, or speech problems.

Playing Reading Comprehension Game

Improves Learning Skills

What if you could play a game and improve your child’s reading and listening comprehension at the same time? It also sounds too good to be true doesn’t it? But a game really can improve reading comprehension. As a learning disability specialist and board certified educational therapist I have probably worked with every type of reading problem, dyslexia, learning disability imaginable over my 37 years or teaching.

Reading Comprehension Problems

Many of my students had reading comprehension problems. They were very frustrated with their reading assignments. It was so hard for them when they had to read their social studies book and answer the questions at the end of the chapter. And they would often read the chapter multiple times and still not be able to answer the reading comprehension questions.
The problem was, no one had taught my students how to read for meaning. There is a specific way you read for reading comprehension. There is a certain way to listen for listening comprehension.

Solution to Reading Comprehension and Listening Comprehension Problems

As a result of teaching frustrated students of all ages, students that had given up on being able to understand what they had read, I decided to create a game that would teach them how to read for meaning and improve their reading comprehension. I knew from both working with my students and from research on learning that game playing was a great way to teach and reinforce skills. So I developed The Comprehension Zone: Rocket Rap to help them improve their skills.

What The Comprehension Zone: Rocket Rap™ did for our child:

“The Comprehension Zone: Rocket Rap had amazing results for one of our children.   We have been working with him on comprehension for years.  I often have him draw pictures of what I’m reading, we act things out and we read just a few phrases at a time and ask him questions whenever we are dealing with auditory learning.  He simply struggles in this area.  I was interested to see how he would do with Rocket Rap.

We began playing Rocket Rap often.  The improvement was rapid and dramatic!  By the end of the second game he was able to play successfully and currently it is easy enough for him to pick out facts while listening that he likes to try reading the card himself.

For the first time in his life our child will raise his hand when Mark asks questions during family worship and he will know the answer.  He will come up to us after church and spontaneously tell us something that he learned from the sermon.  He is so amazingly proud of himself and I’m amazingly thankful.

For our child who has always struggled with comprehension, for these results, I would happily pay double.  We’ve tried things similar to this in the past, we’ve been focused on this problem for years, but Rocket Rap has been the first activity that has been successful.”

Kimberly from RaisingOlives.com

Hi,

My question is what is the best sequence of teaching spelling patterns to dyslexic students?

Which spelling patterns in particular will be the most tough for the dyslexics to grasp & what knock-on effect can they have
on the learning of other patterns?

Which doors would be opened in reading & writing by knowing a certain pattern & which would be closed if the pattern was not known??

Kindly explain.

Thanks

Aisha.

Aisha,

There are only 8 spelling patterns in the English language. I teach spelling with the spelling books – Making Spelling Sense and Making Spelling Sense II. The spelling books are designed to work with dyslexics of all ages. In addition to teaching spelling patterns it addresses both auditory and visual processing at the same time.

I always start with the vowel/consonant spelling  pattern as it is the easiest one to learn and the most predominant spelling pattern in the English language. Then I go on to the vowel consonant silent e spelling pattern. The other spelling patterns follow.

As you gradually introduce the patterns with multiple lessons per spelling pattern, I don’t think there is really one pattern that would be considered the hardest one.

When you understand the structure of the language you can not only spell thousands of words, you can also decode thousands of words. Teaching spelling with this spelling program addresses both encoding (spelling – writing the word down) and decoding (sounding out words – reading) simultaneously.

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET
http://bonnieterrylearning.com

Need help with spelling? Teaching spelling or learning how to spell doesn’t have to be daunting even if you have a learning disability, dyslexia, or are even gifted. And, yes, even gifted kids sometimes struggle with spelling. Spelling problems are typically due to areas of auditory processing that aren’t working as effeciently as they should and could be working. But, when you teach spelling with the spelling patterns in an auditory, visual, and tactile way, everyone can spell.

When I tell parents that there are only 8 spelling patterns they are usually quite surprised. But, we only put letters together 8 ways to make words. Then, they become curious as to how I teach the patterns to my students. They ask me all the time to show them how to use Making Spelling Sense.

Here is a home schooling family using Making Spelling Sense with their younger kids. They use Making Spelling Sense II with their older kids. You can even see one of their older kids helping the youngest (who is in preschool) join in the lesson. Spelling is really a family affair! Watch the Woods family using Making Spelling Sense (with one of the first lessons) and see how easy spelling can be. They are doing the spelling lesson with multiple age kids.

Scroll down and watch a family learning the 1st Spelling Pattern:

Hope this was helpful. Be sure to get your FREE teaching and Homework Tips – go to the upper right side to get them!

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET

Hi Bonnie,

I’d like to place an order for a product of yours, but I have not been able to locate any age or grade range for any of the items.  Can you tell me for whom the Comprehension Zone is appropriate?

Thanks,
Susan Taber

Bonnie Terry Learning – Review of The Comprehension Zone: Rocket Rap

This review is difficult for me to write because this product had such a dramatic and positive effect for one of our children.  It has been an answer to prayer, a break-through for our child who has struggled with auditory comprehension for years.  I am grateful for the opportunity to use this product that we would not have otherwise had access to,  thankful for God’s sovereignty that our family was chosen for this review and that the vendor determined to send us this particular product (as part of the TOS Bloggers Program).

So as you read this review realize that I’m not unbiased, know that I’m indebted to this product for helping my child in a way that I had failed to help him on my own and take from it what you will.

Bonnie Terry Learning focuses on products for the struggling learner.  The goal is to enable you to be better equipped to develop strong reading, writing and math skills in your child with dyslexia, ADD, Autism or other general learning difficulties.  Even gifted children can struggle in some of these areas and Bonnie Terry aims at smoothing out those bumps in the road of education.  They try to help you “think outside the box” to address your child’s difficulties from an angle, direction or perspective that you may not have considered, a direction that may be the difference between success or struggle for your child.  Bonnie Terry offers a variety of games and products to improve reading, writing, math and study skills for children 7 years and older.

Bonnie Terry Learning sent our family The Comprehension Zone: Rocket Rap ($67).  Rocket Rap is geared for 1st  grade through adult to help develop and strengthen reading or listening comprehension.  The game comes with 3 sets of cards written at different reading/listening levels (2nd-3rd grade, 4th-6th grade and 7th-12th grade).  Each set of cards can be used in several different ways.  Children can find the factual information, the main point or work on sequencing.  Children are able to read the cards themselves or may listen as you read to them in order to work on either reading or listening comprehension.  This versatility makes it easy to play the game with children at multiple reading/listening levels at the same time.  The cards are self-correcting and include hints to help your child succeed and even allow for using a helper in the scoring.

The Rocket Rap game consists of a high-quality, over-sized vinyl game mat, 3 sets of cards, four playing pieces and a die.  Play progresses by the child reading or listening to the paragraph on the card.  Then they complete their task depending on their level.  Beginners name two facts from the card, intermediates relay the main point of the paragraph AND two facts and advanced students use several cards at a time and put them in the proper chronological order.  Each time the child completes their task they get to roll the die and move.  If they need to use one of the helpers you take one point off of their roll.

All of our children from 1st grade up were able to play together, which as you know is an important feature for our family.  Our older children (10, 11 and 13) were able to easily complete the comprehension activities on all levels of cards, but enjoyed working on the sequencing.  Our 9 year old was happy to play with the 7th-12th grade cards.   The game was interesting enough to the kids that they wanted to play multiple times, even when some of the novelty had worn off.

Pros:

* multi-level play

* nice, high quality game

* lots of fun facts about people and planets included on the cards

* improves focus on the task at hand

* gives older children an opportunity to read out loud

* ability to focus on several different aspects of comprehension

Cons:

* price

* there should be more cards (in my opinion)

* not a fast-paced, edge of your seat type of game, but our children all enjoyed playing it, so what can I say?

What Rocket Rap did for our child:

The Comprehension Zone: Rocket Rap had amazing results for one of our children.   We have been working with him on comprehension for years.  I often have him draw pictures of what I’m reading, we act things out and we read just a few phrases at a time and ask him questions whenever we are dealing with auditory learning.  He simply struggles in this area.  I was interested to see how he would do with Rocket Rap.

I began with the easiest level.  I read the card to him and he was to tell me 2 facts from the card.  When it was time for him to answer all I got was a blank stare.  When prompted with the helpers, he was still unable to answer.  I was honestly shocked that he could not do this.  The cards we were using only have 3-5 sentences, are chock full of facts and he couldn’t pick out one.  I ended up modifying the game for him, rather than have him tell me two facts per card to earn one roll of the die, I gave him one roll of the die for each fact he could pick out and we used lots of helpers.  He was still unable to finish the game.

We began playing Rocket Rap more often.  The improvement was rapid and dramatic!  By the end of the next game he was able to play without my previous modifications and currently it is easy enough for him to pick out facts while listening that he likes to try reading the card himself.

For the first time in his life our child will raise his hand when Mark asks questions during family worship and he will know the answer.  He will come up to us after church and spontaneously tell us something that he learned from the sermon.  He is so amazingly proud of himself and I’m amazingly thankful.

Final thoughts:

As I mentioned this is a tough review.  For 8 of our children this game would be a fun, helpful activity that is not worth $67, but for one child, for these results, I would happily pay double.  We’ve tried things similar to this in the past, we’ve been focused on this problem for years, but Rocket Rap has been the first activity that has been successful.

If you have a child who struggles with reading or listening comprehension, I certainly think that Bonnie Terry’s The Comprehension Zone: Rocket Rap is worth a look.  If any of you decide to go this route, I’d love to hear what you think.  Have our results been typical?

You may read more reviews of Rocket Rap and other Bonnie Terry Learning products at The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew blog.  You may read more of my homeschool curriculum reviews on my review page.

Bonnie Terry Learning sent The Comprehension Zone: Rocket Rap to our family free of charge (part of the TOS Bloggers Program) to enable me to write this review.  All opinions expressed are my own and I am not otherwise reimbursed for any reviews here on Raising Olives.