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.

Looking for help with learning reading

and don’t know where to start?

Learning Reading Help Can Be Divided into 3 Categories

There are actually 3 Roadblocks to Learning Reading, 3 Roadblocks to Learning Writing, and 6 roadblocks to Learning Spelling. Whether your child has dyslexia, has an identified learning disability, is falling through the cracks at school or is even gifted… understanding what is interfering with their learning reading skills makes the difference in reading success or reading failure.

3 Roadblocks to Learning Reading.


1. Learning Reading: Phonics Related Problem
This is the type of problem where it is almost ‘painful’ to listen to your child read. This happens more frequently with children in the primary grades, although older children can also have this difficulty. This first roadblock to reading success is phonics related. Phonics reading problems are when a child ‘jumbles’ or mispronounces the words as they are trying to decode (the ability to sound out printed words) or encode (the ability to put letters to the sounds that make up a word). You have no idea what the word is that they are trying to read until you look at it yourself.

2. Learning Reading: Fluency/Visual Tracking Problem
This is when you listen to your child read the selection doesn’t make any sense to you. You know something must be missing. The second reading roadblock to reading success is where it takes your child what seems like forever to read the sentence or they have skipped, omitted, or repeated words when reading. They may even re-read the whole selection and still not get meaning from it because they have missed bits and pieces of what they have read. This fluency problem happens quite often with children of all ages, from 1st grade to adults. Over the years I have found that most students that have reading problems or are ‘reluctant readers’ have fluency/visual tracking problems that interfere with their reading.

3. Learning Reading: Lack of Language or Vocabulary Problem
This is when your child reads and you know they don’t understand the meaning of the words they are reading.This prevents comprehension or being able to understand what you read. Many children don’t have a large base of language or vocabulary. This happens often due to poor visual memory or auditory memory skills. This makes reading comprehension difficult. This problem may not be noticeable until the 4th grade and above due to the relatively common vocabulary that is used in reading material for younger students.

There are solutions to each of these roadblocks to learning reading skills.

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.

Does Your Child Struggle with

Dyslexia? Reading skills?

Writing skills? Spelling skills?

Many children struggle with learning or work harder than they need to. In fact, many children work 3, 4, or even 5 times harder than they need to. I’m not just talking about children with dyslexia or an identified learning disability, or ADHD. Children that are falling through the cracks or are average in school or even gifted also often work a lot harder than they need to. I believe all children as well as adults are talented, but sometimes there is something going on that is interfering with learning which makes reading, writing, spelling, or math harder than it needs to be.

Stressed Because Your Child May Have Dyslexia and Struggles with Learning?

That being said, are you stressed out because you know your child is bright, but you also know they struggled with school last year? Is your stomach in knots because you know the homework wars are coming? It doesn’t have to be that way any longer. Reading, writing, and spelling do NOT have to be hard. Learning doesn’t have to be hard. It is time to Awaken the Scholar Within your child.

It Is Possible for All to Learn With Greater Ease Even with Dyslexia

Typically when a child is struggling it is due to one or more areas of visual, auditory, or tactile/kinesthetic perception not working as efficiently as they could be, should be, and can. There are answers to how to identify what the underlying problems are as well as what you as a parent can do to help your child improve their skills. Watch this video and see what parents are saying…that it is possible for this year to be different.

Be sure to read the 4 activities you can do to help your child even if they have dyslexia improve reading.

4 Easy Activities to

Improve Reading Skills Part 2

As a parent you do have the power and ability to help your kids improve reading skills. Now what I mean here is that you as a parent can help your child whether they have an identified learning disability, dyslexia, ADHD, or are gifted. There are 4 easy to implement activities that each take just a few minutes a day to improve reading skills.

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 4 Easy Activities to Improve Reading Skills (Part 1) 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.

Improve Reading Skills – Spelling

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 improving reading skills and 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.

Improve Reading Skills Example

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 how to improve reading skills as well as 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.

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

Ashlea S. writes:

We have a 7 year old who is in second grade and is having a difficulty spelling. Her spelling used to be great and she didn’t have a problem with it until this year. She wants to write her b’s as d’s and her d’s as b’s. It’s become very difficult to try to get her to focus on the word she is doing because she keeps trying to remember the word she did before it. What do you suggest we do to correct this so that she can start spelling the way she used to?

B and D Reversals is common for 1st graders. This is part of learning to write letters correctly. Think about it, the letters ‘b’, ‘d’, ‘p’, and “q’ are just flipped around from each other. There is no ‘form or shape constancy’. It is not like a shoe is a shoe is a shoe, no matter what the direction it is, even if it’s upside down. Learning the direction of letters can be a bit daunting. Remember, it is a learned skill. Most children are able to remember the different directions of the ‘b’ and ‘d’ and ‘p’ and ‘q’ by the 2nd or 3rd grade.

Knowing this about B & D reversals should ease your mind a bit, BUT, I still would not totally ignore it. Instead I would use a quick method to show her that she has her b’s and d’s on her body. I do that with the aide of ‘b and d’ poster and stickers. I don’t think they are up on my site yet, but they are available. The poster is  $5.00 and the stickers (10 of them in the pack) are $5.00. A story also comes with them.

You can order them by calling 530-888-7160 between 9 am and 4:30 pm Pacific Standard Time.

For other spelling help, check out the videos I have posted on my blog…

Spelling Problems? Learn How to Make Spelling Easy

Spelling Problems? What is the Cause and What Do I Do About Them?

Teaching Reading: The Short Vowels to Dyslexics, ADHD, & Homeschooling Kids

Hope this helps.

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET

I often hear from parents that are concerned about their child struggling to learn to spell. In fact Kathy B. writes about her son, “He reads well, but cannot copy from the board or from a book without many spelling errors. The spelling issue is very evident in his written expression also.”

Typically when a child has difficulty with spelling it is due to problems with the auditory processing areas of auditory discrimination, auditory closure, auditory memory, auditory visual integration. Visual processing may also impact spelling, specifically visual memory problems.

However, learning to spell doesn’t have to be hard. All children can learn to spell when you teach spelling in an auditory, visual, and tactile method that teaches the structure of the language at the same time.

One of the hidden secrets of spelling is that we only put letters together 8 ways to make words. See an example of how I teach the first of the 8 spelling patterns.

Hope this is helpful.

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET

P.S. Be sure to leave a comment below or ask a question to your right.

Hello,

I’m interested in a couple of your products.  Regarding the Spelling Sense book 1, what ages is this appropriate for?  How are the words arranged and how many do you give weekly?  I have tried a word family approach with my 9 year old  ( just turned 9).  He’ll do fine for that week and the next week, but after that he can’t remember them.  Do you have any suggestions?

Also, we just found out he has a visual processing disorder and recently began vision therapy.  We are doing vision therapy homework each day.  I’m wondering about your “How to improve reading in 5 minutes a day” to see if that would help as well.  Or I am thinking that maybe I should wait on it and focus just on vision therapy at the present time.  What are your thoughts?

Thank you.

Leah Cheshire

Hi Leah,

The Making Spelling Sense book covers the 500 most frequently used words. That is a basic vocabulary for 1st – 3rd. The Making Spelling Sense II carries on from there and gets into prefixes, suffixes, and root words which is a 4th – 6th level. I would start with the first one to give him a solid foundation. There are about 10 – 12 words per list.

The Five Minutes to Better Reading will actually augment the vision therapy you are doing as it also works on visual tracking at the same time as visual closure and fluency. You only do it for 5 minutes a day. Here is a link to a video where I’m using it with a student. How to Improve Reading in 5 Minutes a Day

I hope this has been helpful.

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET