1. Improve reading fluency in 5 minutes a day
2. Improve spelling and learn the 8 ways we put letters together to make words
3. Improve reading comprehension by playing a reading comprehension game
4. Improve writing skills using specially designed graphic organizers

My last post talked about the first activity you can do to help your child – reading fluency. Today I’m going to talk about the second activity which is helping your children improve their reading – and that is by helping them with their spelling skills.

So, the second of the 4 easy to implement activities to help your child improve their reading and writing skills is spelling. One aspect of reading is called decoding – the ability to sound out words. Another aspect is called encoding – the ability to spell the words you hear. Being a successful speller impacts your writing. Everyone actually knows the words you are writing because they are spelled correctly.

So many kids struggle with spelling and they don’t need to! Now I’m not talking only about children with LD or dyslexia or ADHD. Even gifted children often struggle with spelling. Spelling really doesn’t have to be so hard! If you understand that we just put letters together 8 ways to make words, spelling becomes easy. Spelling becomes easy for everyone, even children and adults with LD, dyslexia, or ADHD.

The majority of words use the most common vowel pattern which is the vowel consonant pattern. Just learning this pattern alone will help your child improve their spelling because so many one syllable and multi-syllable words have at least one syllable in them that follows this spelling pattern.

For example, the word example has 3 syllables. The first syllable, ex is a vowel consonant pattern, the second syllable, am is also a vowel consonant pattern. Only the third syllable is a different pattern. The last syllable, the ple is the consonant + le spelling pattern. I explain that when you have an le at the end of a two or three syllable word, it grabs the consonant in front of it to form the syllable. I even grab their arm saying the le grabs the consonant in front of it like in table, purple, people, and example. Doing this body movement helps this pattern sink in to kids and they ‘get it.’

For more information on spelling, see Making Spelling Sense. Making Spelling Sense teaches the 8 ways we put letters together to make words – the 8 spelling patterns with an auditory, visual, and tactile method. This special method is what really makes the difference because it addresses the underlying causes of spelling problems and at the same time it teaches the structure of the language and how to spell thousands of words.

I recently found you on the web and just watching your vids, I’m VERY interested. To wit: I’m homeschooling my 16 year old nephew who has been diagnosed ADHD and dyslexic. With the phonics reading materials I’ve found on the net and at my local library, I can only find elementary school age relative materials. Money is tight or I’d simply order EVERYTHING you offer.

Any suggestions?

Thank you for your time, and more importantly your efforts to bring REAL EDUCATION to this nation!

Sincerely,

Rich Brewer

Hi Rich,

Sorry for the delay in responding. I was out of town visiting my mom in Chicago.

I know what you mean about phonics reading materials being geared to elementary students. In fact, most are geared to kindergarten through 3rd grade. That is why I designed mine for all ages. I’ve always worked with students from kindergarten through adult ages. I figured that my younger students would feel like they were doing older kids stuff and my older students wouldn’t feel like they had to do little kid stuff.

You can always start small and gradually build what you are using. The first things I would get are the Making Spelling Sense, Making Spelling Sense II, and Five Minutes to Better Reading Skills. The Making Spelling Sense teaches all of the phonics, word attack skills, auditory processing, and word structure. The Five Minutes to Better Reading works on reading fluency and accuracy as well as visual and auditory processing skills.

The Spelling Pack saves you $4.00; the Five Minutes to Better Reading Set saves you $9.00

When you purchase all of them as the Reading Pack – which includes the Ten Minutes to Better Study Skills + the Comprehension Zone you get a $20.00 discount, plus you then have the comprehension piece in place. You also get a copy of my new e-book: Understanding LD and Dyslexia as a bonus with the Reading Pack.

Hope this is helpful.

I’m glad to see you signed up for the free teaching and homework tips from my blog. BTW: You can subscribe to the videos on You Tube too.

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET

http://bonnieterrylearning.com

It is difficult to tell if you don’t understand learning disabilities well, or are just ‘dumbing down’ the material to the point it becomes confused.

Hi Trexpaddock,

I do try to make things clear and somewhat simplified – rather than speaking in technical terms.

The breakdown I was referring to between the brain and the hand is actually called finger agnosia. It is written about in the book Windows Into the ADD MIND by Dr. Daniel Amen. Finger agnosia is when a person struggles with the mechanics of writing or when you try to write your brain becomes scrambled. Common symptoms of finger agnosia include:

1. Messy handwriting
2. Trouble getting thoughts from the brain to the paper
3. Staring at writing assignments for long periods of time
4. Writing sentences that don’t make sense
5. Frequent spelling and grammatical errors
6. Many erasures and corrections
7. Timed writing assignments are particularly hard
8. Printing rather than writing in cursive.

This is very common in people with ADD and occurs in part because the person has to concentrate so hard on the actual physical act of writing that they forget or are unable to formulate what they want to write.

Suggestion for dealing with finger agnosia:

1. Print as often as possible
2. Learn to type or use a computer
3. Try out different types of pens and pencils – also different types of pencil grips
4. Break down assignments and long reports into parts (an easy way to learn how to do this is by using Ten Minutes to Better Study Skills
5. Write an outline of the assignment to help keep you on track – use graphic organizers that are in Ten Minutes to Better Study Skills
6. Write down your ideas before worrying about spelling and grammar
7. Whenever possible, dictate your answer or report first
8. Use a binder/organizer to keep your writing assignments together
9. Modify writing workload
10. Avoid timed situations; give tests orally if necessary
11. Avoid having other students grade your work

Hope this is helpful.

Don’t forget to ask a question AND get your FREE Teaching & Homework Tips!

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET

http://bonnieterrylearning.com

One of the best ways I’ve found to help my LD, dyslexic, or ADHD kids learn to like learning is to play games. Game playing helps reduce the fears kids have. Games put your kids into a relaxed state when learning. Kids often make greater gains in their skills when they are in a relaxed state. Watch how this family plays the Math Zone. They have fun and learn at the same time.

Don’t forget to sign up for the FREE Teaching Tips to your right.

Hope this is helpful,

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET

P.S.: Be sure to leave a comment below and ask your questions to the right.

The call is filling up fast – Reserve your spot now. I have had so many calls from parents recently, wondering how to help their child over the summer. They realize summer is a great time to give their child a boost, but they also want to be sure they have an enjoyable summer. So, I decided to have a webinar where I will present information on summer activities to help your child’s reading, writing, and math skills improve as well as being rich in experiences and family time. You will be able to ask me questions too. Attendees will also receive a surprise FREE gift.

So, I’m hosting a FREE Live Webinar on Wed June 17th at 4pm. 

Searching for Summer Activities to Improve Your Child’s Skills and Still Have Fun

FREE Live Webinar on Wednesday June 17th at 4PM Pacific

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/331403458

LD Specialist and Board Certified Educational Therapist Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., is answering your questions about summer activities to help your child improve his skills. The webinar will be recorded; if you can’t attend, you’ll be able to listen later. Plus special surprise bonuses just for registering!

Guest Presenter Mary Leppert, Author and Publisher of The Link Homeschool Newspaper will also be on the call sharing her insight on summer activities including low cost music related activities she exposed her son Lennon Leppert too. He is now an accomplished musician.

Register now!

Learn About:

1. Low cost activities to improve your child’s skills

2. Improve your child’s reading in 5 minutes a day

3. Activities to do at home, in the yard, or on your block

4. Field trips to take

I’m here to tell you, there is a lot you can do to help your child improve their skills. Whether you are homeschooling, tutoring your child at home, or sending your child to a tutor; whether your child is dyslexic, has an identified learning disability, is falling through the cracks at school, you have the POWER to make this summer your best one yet, one that is filled with rich experiences and family time as well as skill building.

You really do have the ABILITY to change your child’s entire future by helping them improve their reading, writing, spelling, and math skills. There are many ways to do this without a lot of money up front. The fruits of what you do this summer will last forever!

Now it’s your chance to ask me, former girl scout and cub scout leader, director of numerous day camps, Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET your questions on how to help your kids improve their skills over the summer. 

Register NOW.

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/331403458

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET…

Bonnie has been teaching for over 35 years and has created numerous books, games, and guides to help students reach their full potential. She specializes in helping parents and teachers identify and address learning problems. Bonnie is a nationally known expert and contributing author to numerous educational journals and magazines including: The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, Homeschooling Parent, Parent’s Monthly, and The LINK Newspaper, RAW (Real Authentic Women), CEC Today, Education Update, and LDA-CA. Bonnie, mom to 3, was a girl scout leader for 10 years, a cub scout leader and assistant cub master for 8 years.

Mary Leppert, Author and Publisher of The Link Homeschool Newspaper…

Mary is the founder and publisher of the largest all-inclusive homeschool publications in North America: The Link Homeschool Newspaper (1995) and The Link Homeschool Newspaper Online (1999). Ms. Leppert is the author of The Homeschooling Almanac, and The Homeschooling Book of Lists. Since 1997, Mary has also produced The Link “kid comfortable” Homeschool Conferences. Mary Leppert is often sought as an expert in the field of homeschooling by virtue of her all-inclusive approach and knowledge, gleaned from homeschooling her now-grown son and 10 years of publishing The Link.

The webinar will be recorded, but you MUST register to access the recording if you can’t attend live. Plus special surprise bonuses just for registering!

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/331403458

Please forward this to anyone you think might be interested in it.

Thanks! There is limited space & I’ll be doing a massive mailing this weekend, so you’ll want to reserve your space early.

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET

Remember, I work with students from 1st grade through adults. Some have been identified with dyslexia, or a learning disability. Some of my students are falling through the cracks. Some are even gifted. Even my wiggly ADHD students do well with it since it’s hand-on. But, it doesn’t matter. When I can improve a student’s retention with using a color coded game I’m going to do it.

I like to have my students sort out the cards so they start to get a feel for the types of words that are in each category. For instance, they might not realize that the word about is an adverb. When they initially sort out the word cards by color, they get an idea of what types of words are in each part of speech.

Then I have them look at the cover of the box so they see how to set up the game and that  the game strip is just there so they will have an easy reference point for placing the cards. It is NOT a game board, it is not used for making sentences. It is just used as a reference for placing the cards. They know they will be making their sentence in front of themselves while I make mine in front of me.

I use this game with students from 1st grade on up – even high school students and adults. With my advanced students (any age) we do more sophisticated sentences and grammar work. But, back to the basics…

My younger students soon realize they need to have a gray card (capital letter), a blue card (noun), a red card (verb), and a buff card (punctuation) in order to have a sentence.
They learn they can add adjectives, adverbs, or prepositional phrases to their base sentence to make it more interesting, but they need to only have one subject and one verb for the first round of the game.

For example, the following are all legal 1st round sentences.

The dog barks.            The dog barks loudly.               The dog barks loudly at the park.

When a student makes a 3-word sentence I often start asking questions to encourage them to make more interesting sentences. This helps them to see how to improve and expand their sentence.

Example with prompts:

The dog barks.

(What kind of dog is he? Let’s use these adjective cards to find out. How does he bark? Let’s use an adverb to tell us how.)

The big dog barks loudly.

(What color is the dog? Use another adjective to tell us. Where does he bark? Use a preposition, article, and a noun to tell us.)

The big brown dog barks loudly at the park.

This type of conversation helps to equalize the game with more proficient learners and helps that younger student to become proficient more quickly.

(Sometimes making funny sentences makes the game even more fun and sentence writing is no longer work.)

The long hairy dog barks loudly at the tiny ant.

Then the magic happens! I have my students go to their bookwork where they are supposed to underline the subject once and verb twice. Instead I have them use colored pencils (blue and red) and underline their subjects with the blue pencil and underline the verb with the red pencil. (They are able to identify the subjects and verbs more readily because they have been playing with blue nouns and red verbs.)

Nouns and verbs start to almost jump out at them as a result of playing the game. Additionally, they are much better at not confusing the assignment. For example, when the assignment was to underline the subject one and verb twice, I can’t tell you how many times my students used to underline the subjects twice and the verbs once. They say to me, “Well, I underlined them, what more do you want?”

When I have them use a colored pencil it takes that away and impresses on their brains which word is the noun (subject) and which is the verb. We even color code whole sentences according to the colors in The Sentence Zone, identifying the prepositional phrases or dependent and independent clauses.

I find that students who are just beginning to write sentences soon find that they can write more interesting sentences after playing the game because they start to make sentences that are worth more points. They often compete against themselves, keeping a running tally from turn to turn or day to day.

Also, when a student has a writing assignment and his sentences are all about the same length, I just have to say, “You need to have some small point sentences and some big point sentences to be a good writer. Remember, good writers vary the length and type of sentences they write.” They know what I’m talking about because they have seen small point sentences and big point sentences.

Students who are proficient with basic sentences start to learn more complex grammar nuances such as subject – verb agreement, or needing to compose a sentence with a direct object and an indirect object in it etc. In fact I also use it for SAT prep.

Hope this gives you some new ideas for teaching and improving sentence writing and grammar. Learn more about The Sentence Zone.

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET

Sincerely,

Gena Smith

Gena,

I always like to start with understanding exactly what is going on…why a student is struggling and what areas are they good in. This helps me to be more patient and efficient when I’m teaching them. I want to be sure that I’m addressing all of their needs.

For instance, you work on phonics with a student and he really gets it, but is still struggling, the problem may be visual tracking, visual memory, visual closure, or any of the other areas of visual, auditory, or tactile/kinesthetic processing that were not addressed with the phonic program. So what you actually needed to do was to work on those areas. Ultimately you spent time, effort, and money and haven’t solved the problem. And, in the meantime your son gets more frustrated because learning is still hard.

Another example would be when a student has trouble remembering their multiplication tables, knowing if they have visual memory or auditory memory problems makes a difference. If the problem is one of understanding the concept of what is mathematically happening with numbers when you multiply them you would do something different to help them. Spatial awareness comes in too with the understanding that 4 x 5 is the same as 5 x 4 (They take up the same amount of space if the boxes below were all the smae size. Unfortunately the size changed when I put the tables in.)

4 x 5

5 x 4 = 20

So, when I created my products, I created them in such a way that each of them would address multiple areas of auditory, visual, and tactile kinesthetic processing sub-categories. That would ensure that I would be addressing their problematic areas, even if I didn’t know what each of their specific problematic areas was. Just using these materials would ensure that I’d be hitting the critical areas that students have problems with and at the same time teach them the specific skills they needed.

That said, no the learning pack does not include the Learning Difficulty/Disability Pre-Screening Tool and Informal Comprehensive Identification Tool. That is sold separately. It is very reasonably priced at only $37.00. Remember, taking your son to someone for testing can be anywhere from $500.00 to thousands of dollars.

I’ve listed the areas of perception that each of the products addresses.

Five Minutes to Better Reading Skills

Addresses: auditory and visual perception difficulties, specifically visual closure, visual tracking, auditory discrimination, auditory visual integration, auditory closure, and auditory memory. It is phonological, incorporating every vowel and consonant combination in the English language, with lots of review built in. It also includes a retrieval automaticity component that is critical in ensuring that children understand what they read.

Making Spelling Sense and Making Spelling Sense II

The auditory areas addressed are: auditory discrimination, auditory closure, auditory visual integration, auditory memory, and auditory visual coordination. The visual areas addressed are: visual tracking, visual closure, visual discrimination and form constancy, visual motor, and visual integration. The tactile-kinesthetic areas addressed are: laterality, directionality, spatial-temporal, and sensory motor integration.

The English language has a specific structure. There are eight spelling patterns in the language and the patterns are taught with story explanations. The process used shows students how letters come together eight different ways to make words. It takes the guess work out of spelling.

Ten Minutes to Better Study Skills

Addresses the following visual, auditory, and tactile-kinesthetic processing areas: visual memory, visual figure ground, visual closure, visual language association, visual language classification, auditory-visual coordination, auditory language association, auditory memory, laterality, spatial temporal, and sensory motor integration.

Writing and study skills it covers include: note taking, paragraph writing, essay writing, research paper writing, and letter writing. You will be able to teach your students the secrets to improving their reading comprehension as well as the secrets to improve their studying and the seven steps to take on test day to improve their test scores.

The Sentence Zone

Addresses visual motor, visual language classification, visual closure, spatial-temporal,
laterality, directionality, contact, and sensory motor areas of perception.

The Writer’s Easy Reference GuideTM is an individual resource for all students. It includes paragraph writing hints, essay writing hints, steps of the writing process, words to make your writing more interesting, common prefixes, suffixes and root words, grammatical and literary terms, how to write a bibliography with examples and much, much more. It “unlocks the code” of how to write a sentence, then a paragraph, then a better paragraph, then an essay. The guide helps all to be confident and competent writers.

The Comprehension Zone

Addresses visual memory and auditory memory too! Students read short passages of materials, identify the main idea and details, and rephrase the content in their own words. That is exactly what students do when they play the Comprehension Zone. Bonnie has created a visual/kinesthetic method for teaching kids of all ages how to read for meaning. They play for main idea, details, both, or to sequence what they have read or listened to.

The Math Zone

Addresses spatial awareness, visual form constancy, and visual motor areas of perception.

The BT Easy Math Reference GuideTM starts with addition and subtraction. Then, this 16-page guide shows step by step how to solve all elementary math calculations right up to fractions and decimals. Also covered are all those “other” math topics, such as word problems, bar and circle graph, rounding and estimating, place value, geometry, measurements, money, and averaging. You’ll learn the how, the why, and the memory tricks to help your students remember. Simple, clear examples, all in a sturdy, 3-hole-punched format you can slip into a binder. It’s a great supplement to any math program, for both parent and student.

B & D Posters are used by families as well as classrooms, typically one per classroom at the primary grade levels. The B&D Stickers come with 10 in a pack and are used with primary age children, typically placed on their desk as a reminder. Middle Grade and High School students who still have reversal difficulties love them and usually put them inside their binders as a reminder.

Hope this is helpful.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET

]]> http://www.bonnieterry.com/blog/index.php/2009/05/my-son-is-8-and-has-really-struggled-with-learning-what-do-i-do-where-should-i-start/feed/ 1 http://www.bonnieterry.com/blog/index.php/2009/05/reading-comprehension-problems-learn-the-3-causes/ http://www.bonnieterry.com/blog/index.php/2009/05/reading-comprehension-problems-learn-the-3-causes/#comments Thu, 21 May 2009 22:31:22 +0000 bonnieterry http://www.bonnieterry.com/blog/?p=473 Whether you have dyslexia, a learning disability, ADHD, or are just struggling with reading comprehension, it is due to one, two, or all three causes of comprehension.

Understanding the underlying cause of the comprehension problem is important because you do different things to address the different problems. So, view the video to understand the causes of reading comprehension problems.

Learn more on the 3 causes of reading comprehension and the 3 solutions to reading problems. Hope this is helpful.

Don’t forget to submit your questions at the right. Submit your comments below.

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET

In fact, smell actually plays an intricate part of our lives, of our sensory world, in the way we act. The process of recognition of a place is accomplished by our sense of smell. Think about this for a minute. The dentist’s office has certain smells related to it, so does the doctor’s office. Our homes smell wonderfully inviting when we’ve been baking or cooking a delicious dinner. We like to be in our homes when they smell good. A movie theater has another smell, as does a candy store. On the other hand, there are places we don’t enjoy being at as much, due to the odors. For instance a locker room after a sports event can be full of odors we don’t want to be near.

So, what does this have to do with learning? Our sense of smell adds an additional component to learning; it incorporates another sense so the brain is activated with an emotional and biological stimulus. Any time our brain is activated in multiple ways learning is affected, either positively or negatively.

Classrooms can have a variety of odors in them. Most of the time they are good odors. But, sometimes they aren’t. For example, when a classroom has just had new carpeting put in, there is usually a pretty noxious odor from the make-up of the carpet. Some severe educational consequences can occur due to this.

When the olfactory system is inundated with noxious odors such as formaldehyde that is out-gassing from carpet, children can suffer health, mood, and behavior problems that undermine school performance and productivity. Children can become allergic to their classrooms from carpet out-gassing.

This actually happened to my daughter when she was in the 4th grade. Her class was moved into a new portable classroom during the second month of the school year. The carpet did not have time to ‘outgas’. My daughter came home every day with uncontrollable coughing. She would get some relief at home by morning, and go back to school. By the time she came home again she was worse than when she left in the morning. I took her into the doctor after the 2nd day and then every day for an additional 3 days. We couldn’t figure out what was going on. So I went with her to school to see if I could see anything there that was causing the problem. Upon opening the classroom door I almost keeled over. The odor was horrific! And, at that time I was an asthmatic. I immediately started wheezing. I knew what the problem was.

So, we had to educate the school about the problem. We actually gave some solutions to help the carpet odor dissipate quickly. Unfortunately, they didn’t quite follow the suggestion [sprinkling the carpet every day after school with baking soda and then vacuuming it up every morning before school]. Instead they placed an open box of baking soda in the classroom. So my daughter ended up wearing a mask whenever she was in the classroom for nine weeks. After nine weeks the carpet odor had finally neutralized and she didn’t need to spend her days wearing a max.

The reason I’m sharing this is not so much what happened to my daughter, because she had an extreme reaction to the carpet out-gassing. But the rest of the class was also affected. The absentee rate of students and the teacher in that class due to respiratory problems was higher during that time period than the rest of the school. The behavior of the students in the class during that time frame was also awful. So did maximum learning take place during that time? Of course not.

Other environmental issues that can affect learning

Children can even become allergic their schools when construction is going on from all the molds that are stirred up during the construction. Also classroom pets can create havoc with children. Sometimes children don’t even know they have an allergy to pet dander and they end up being stuffed up in the classroom, which affects their ability to hear clearly. Some children respond to pet dander by becoming restless or irritable. So, you want to check and see if the classroom has a pet. Sometimes the behavior problem you child is having is NOT due to their not following directions, but is due to being allergic to pet dander from the class guinea pig.

So, when we are looking to create an optimal learning place for our children, let’s keep in mind it’s not just the hearing, seeing, and doing. It’s also the smells we smell that lead us to places where we feel good and safe and secure. When we feel good, safe, and secure, we learn with ease. So, let’s create good smelling classrooms to help our children thrive in learning situations!

Learn about the 3 roadblocks to reading, writing, and math success.

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET

Order your LD Screening Tool here.

A little more info for you on the tool as stated by Linda Foster:

In addition to providing the screening tools, this resource offers two valuable sections entitled “Guidelines for Choosing Resources to Address Learning Difficulties” and “More In-Depth Testing”. Both of these sections are designed to offer parents and teachers alternative resources to assess and manage specific types of learning difficulties and learning disabilities.

The LD Dyslexia Assessment – Screening Tool is a concise and comprehensive guide that defines various forms of learning difficulties and learning disabilities and provides clearly written tools for assessment. While it is geared for both classroom use and parent use.”

Order your LD Screening Assessment Tool here.

Had a few questions regarding the LD Screening Tool:

Hey Bonnie, what is the age range for this?

Ann

The LD Screening Tool can be used from K – 12th grades.

Hope this is helpful.

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET

……………

Hi Bonnie,

Do you ship to Canada? Please let me know if this is an option.

Thanks!

Jennie V

Yes, we do ship to Canada. You should be able to enter that into the address section of the shopping cart – enter that info in the city section and enter your zip code (postal code) in the zip code section and you’ll be good to go.

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET