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Below you can read 5 letters from A Dyslexia Consultant's Mailbag: 100 Letters Answered 1. From Year One teacher seeking information 2. From a teachers' aide who suffered dyslexia as a child 3. From a parent whose son who was experiencing learning difficulties 5. From a parent seeking help for her teenage son who was diagnosed with dyslexia 1. From Year One teacher seeking information ***Letter Received I read, with interest, the recent article published in the "Peninsula Herald" on Dyslexia. I am a Year One teacher at a State School on the Peninsula and would really like your advice on what I should be watching for in my little ones - in an effort to make early diagnosis of this problem - and how I can help them. I have been very fortunate in having three bright, healthy children of my own but after teaching infants for a number of years I realise how many problems can be diagnosed, overcome, helped or corrected in these early years. I look forward to your reply in anticipation. Name supplied, Kippa Ring, Brisbane, Queensland. ***Reply Sent It is gratifying to hear from an aware teacher. Mostly I hear from desperate parents who have "been everywhere". If you could acquire "A Boodle of Doodles" and "Zany" in class, they would help your own class and higher ones where the 'look/say' victims still struggle. "Zany" is based on the alphabet, only not obviously, and alliteration and internal rhyme stimulate users to deal with letters beyond the initial letter or syllable in a scientific way rather than frantic guessing, if processing is irregular (as in unusual for useless). The see/hear/feel/say method applies so the calligraphy is BIG so the letter outlines can be felt simultaneously with the saying, seeing and hearing. Four sense memories engaged at once strengthens memory greatly. And faulty encoding at the short term memory stage is the biggest bother to the getting of a think tank of words to write, read or say for us all but especially if processing is not good even if intellect is superb. (Like a bee causing a driver to drive off the road into a tree?) Little in itself, but sufficient to undermine a life in a literate society. We have made phonics built-in and therefore palatable. Lists of unrelated classes of things do not stick. So context is the thing. The phonics integrated with humour are fun. They are often abandoned, ALAS, because an interesting way to teach them without losing control of a bored and wriggling class, especially with inexperienced teachers, is too much. The books of all levels and editions suit teachers, parents and people of all ages (littlies, you adapt for, or use the "Boodle") as humour pleases all and so slave labour is willing and happy. Without it nothing happens. So 35-year-old bank managers without spelling and 70-year-old retirees have thrived on it. Just somebody close, non-teacher, outside school will do well - PROVIDED ONLY OPTIMISTS AND POSITIVE PEOPLE TAKE IT ON. GRUMPS WITH BIG STICKS NOT WELCOME - PERSONA NON GRATA - AND THEN SOME. Analysis, phonics, syllabification are all built-in in a Chaplinesque way since five times as much is learned and retained if humour is used even if it does scare some old fuddy-duddies. All work is challenging but this is camouflaged by pix of fine, busy discovery art to stimulate the perception but NOT DISCLOSE THE STORY. If reading is hard the natural way out is remember the story from an adult reading and rely on the pix for any forgotten bits. This way they can fool everybody until Grade 3 when somebody suddenly realises that here is an intelligent non-reader --PANIC!! Simultaneous multi-sensory learning is ESSENTIAL for about 20% of people but superior for all as the literature concludes that rote learning, so widely practised in spelling and tables acquisition unfortunately, is the inefficient way to learn. Our way eliminates the spelling list (though ploys are given to cope if it is still inflicted from school) but teaches troublesome vocabulary, collected from dyslectics over seven years in reading and writing, in ways that stick in context. (Sprinkled in "The Omnibus Edition" and Vol 1 of "The Big Fat Beaut Book"). The gifted, and those with speech deficits including stroke and accident victims, all gain. Reading mothers helping in school (LAP, PAL) enjoy the jargon-free instructions and success of students. No more learn/lose or sieve syndrome anymore! 2. From a teachers' aide who suffered dyslexia as a child ***Letter Received I suffered from dyslexia as a child and found learning and school - stressful and difficult - in some ways my dyslexia is still evident, eg. spelling and reading. However I went to Art College and achieved a Certificate in Applied Art and have been working as a potter for a few years. I am now 26 years old and a teachers' aide part time (ten hours a week). I found all through my learning processes in life, being able to use my hands helped me achieve a high concentration and self discipline level. I was always frustrated by school work. As a teachers' aide I have organised craft work - stimulated interest in dull areas, and work with problems in Maths and English with some children. I find I can relate well with children who need extra time and patience and I could totally understand your methods of horse riding as I found learning to ride was very rewarding and confidence-building in regard to myself and caring for animals. I would dearly like to put my time and energy into working with children with dyslexia as I think I understand the frustration and satisfaction that can be achieved, and so I am writing to you in the hope that you could help in shedding light on the subject of dyslexia and what is being done in this area, or even a direction I could take in hopefully working with dyslexic children, in the city or on the coast. Name supplied, Sunshine Beach, North Coast, Brisbane, Queensland. ***Reply Sent Being dyslectic often goes hand in hand with being gifted and talented. I am reminded of an international congress I presented at where one paper I attended was titled "Double trouble; not gifted and learning disabled". From your experiences at school you will have observed that situation is poorly understood in Australia if at all. Teachers' aides and helping parents (under LAP - Learning Aid Programme, or PAL [note the reversal!!] Parent Assisted Programme), frequently use my materials. A co-ordinator from one of the regions collected a boot-full of materials to use in several schools (They are so generous with manure for the oval, or football gear, but so mean about books). A set should have reposed in each library of each school so that anxious parents or helpers, like you, could peruse the 1000 pages of fixit material and 400 pages of "how to" books. If they are shuttled round in a car this cannot be done. Also the remedial teachers sometimes train the LAP and PAL people after they have attended seminars here to learn first. This has good results. Some of the fine community service groups like Jaycees, Lions, Rotary and Church will mount seminars for Community Awareness, where I have the materials available, and spend a few hours with overhead transparencies, video, audio and hands-on work. These groups, and the seminars, enable study groups to form and books to be put in schools where they will be used. Things to think about. I have small seminars at my rooms which might help you. A person gathers a dozen people (like Tupperware!) and the fee is very low. For two hours in the evening all is explained, hands on. We cover:
You would be an invaluable aide if you took the seminar and brought some of the parents of the children you teach along with you so that you could network - a vital part of the process of getting them into the mainstream. NB : I would emphasise that my Banana Books are NOT the small format ones put out by William Heinemann a few years ago and put in school libraries by the Education Department and even, horror of horrors, used by high school English teachers for Grade 9 students who could only read that Grade 3 small kid pleasure book stuff. Mine are A3, large format, with fine discovery art that does not disclose the story but lures the reader into text to find which scenario is THE ONE. Unfortunately the confusion is great. I mention this because many of those little books are still on library shelves and people like you, trying to help, could well be misled. You might be interested to learn how the co-ordinator of the LAP, PAL programmes managed to get the job and end up with a boot-full of Banana Books. The Education Department regional people of an area of schools were concerned at the huge number of kids with poor reading, writing and number skills. They decided to do something. Good on them! But like everybody else they found the same old problems as you'll see, no materials that work. First off, they called for volunteer friends willing to learn to help in the schools with reading. No problem. Lots of lovely people out there, also very worried about the sad future of people, who, though intelligent, have not been taught to read and so on. Over 100 people arrived at the first meeting. It was decided to ask some lecturers from a teacher training college and university to give some useful lectures so they could then help out with reading. Along came these charming, good looking, well dressed gentlemen, all smiles and charm. They gave some highly theoretical, well meant lectures, so airy-fairy that by the next meeting only 60 people turned up for the meeting, the others having decided that they would rather join the space shuttle mob which would be much easier. The big bods were worried they would lose the 60 kind volunteers if they didn't find some communicators and ideas that would be sensible, and helpful, that did not frighten people, or bamboozle them with science. Why should it be so hard when only a few generations ago it was common for ordinary cottagers to educate their children in the basics? My grandfather taught his three children at home in a remote farm situation until his youngest child, the boy, was old enough to escort his two sisters, along the lonely road to school. They were at a good standard under his tuition when they went to school! So the remedial teachers were brought in to teach the volunteers how to teach the children underachieving at school in the 3R's. Alas, they too made the whole thing seem like Einstein's theories and several more volunteers regretfully left, feeling inadequate to the task. In desperation, some regular teachers were asked to find some answers that they could pass on to the volunteers. But this was the blind leading the blind, because, if the regular and remedial teachers had managed to do the job, what need had they of volunteers in the first place? A good scheme takes years of testing and trying like a new drug for a pharmacy. Usually a decade at least. Nothing daunted, the teachers chosen put their heads together and came up with the plan that the volunteers could take the poor readers along to the supermarket and read the labels on the boxes and jars on the shelves. How they could do this is not stated. The big bosses felt this was too cheapskate to do any good and the teachers went back to their classes. Now, they decided to "get a mother" who was good at English. Not a teacher. BINGO. They found a lady with a 6-year-old daughter. She was attending university as a mature age student and receiving high distinctions on her English assignments. She had no theories, read up on reading from the library and came to see me. What a rigmarole. I swear the above is true. 3. From a parent whose son who was experiencing learning difficulties ***Letter Received Could you please send me some information on your books concerning Dyslexia. As my husband and I are considering teaching our 8-year-old son at home because of his learning problems etc, we are quite interested in anything that may help him. His Occupational Therapist gave us your article which she found interesting in the "Woman's Day". Name supplied, Bridgewater, Tasmania. ***Reply Sent I am happy to say that my work is well suited to home tuition. It covers the basics for primary school and part of high school to an extremely high standard so that if your son returned to ordinary school after a year or two he would be working to his mental age and would be able to compete well. The trouble with doing the job yourself is usually the materials. If they are the same, and their administration is the same as school, then it is hardly worth bothering because the results will be the same. I sense frustration in your letter. Schools should have no trouble teaching all the children of normal or near normal intelligence to spell, write, frame stories on paper, recall multiplication tables and weasel out meaning from text. Otherwise the parents are paying taxes to pay their salaries and getting poor product. A child's whole life is curtailed financially, scholastically, emotionally, and vocationally. He is condemned to a limited existence in a literate society all because of incompetence in teaching him basic things he needs to know to crack books. Situations outside schools where the programme has been successfully used include a wide array of situations : A family of four primary school children and parents, after 6½ years building the cement hull of a yacht in the backyard and then furbishing the craft, decided on a 2½ year voyage around the world. All they have is "The Big Fat Beaut Book", built for use and abuse, 1000 pages, and another 400 on how to drive it, in hand books. Supplementary pleasure reading to taste, naturally. But that's the core. I have just seen a client whose case may interest you. She is a very perspicacious young lady. She is verbally superior and has excellent reasoning ability and critical faculty. Orally. On paper her hen-scrawl writing, miss-spellings, and jumbled expression suggest otherwise. What makes me boil is that the remedial teacher who has been teaching her for three years without effect had the temerity to show some of this bright child's mucky essays, an INDICTMENT OF TEACHER, NOT the child, to the teacher who would teach this lovely thing next year to see if she should be promoted into the next class in the hierarchy. The remedial teacher should have fixed up the fine motor problem causing the bad writing and spelling, and given that clever little thing long words to use and allowed her to use them in her life story as a stepping stone to more creative writing outside self. It is so simple, if a multi-sensory and holistic and challenging means is used. The teacher said that standard of written expression would not do, so the remedial teacher has the nerve to blame the child for her sub-standard teaching. With that raw material there is no excuse. NONE WHATEVER. Compensation for the pain caused to this child for the teaching incompetence should be automatic. Paying for shoddy gerry-built houses, all would agree, will not do and has to be dealt with sternly. The Master Builders' Association can strike off the incompetent builder, or it may reimburse the clients or arrange that the job is redone to suitable standard. So much more so should teachers perform well or accept responsibility when the lives and futures of bright dyslectics are blighted with poverty, menial, dead-end jobs, loss of self esteem, non-realising of potential which may be great. Isn't it time tough litigation was levelled against this cruel, inhumane malpractice? This subtle, hidden pain is classed as being intellectually handicapped in the media. I have just read a sneering, newspaper article on a famous boxer, now punch drunk, once a champion and diplomat with it. In part it says "He graduated from high school ranked 376th in a class of 391 and his IQ has been measured at 83. There is the thought he may be dyslectic". 4. From a parent who was running out of ideas for her 9 year old son who is doing Grade 2 level English ***Letter Received I have a son, James, who is 9 years old. He is in Grade 4. I first noticed he had a learning problem when he was in Grade 2. When he was assessed at school in the first year of Grade 3, I was told there was no problem. He had to repeat Grade 3. Last year while seeing a psychologist for personal reasons, they found James to have a severe dyslexia problem. After visiting the psychologist for about six months, we were last week referred to a Professor at the University for further tests and are now waiting for the results. I feel that too much time is being lost as he isn't on any programme at the moment. I had a teacher the specialist had recommended, coming to the house for private tuition once a week. She could no longer continue the lessons after a couple of weeks because of personal problems. At school, his class consists of Grade 4 and Grade 6 students, combined. His teacher tries to give him as much help as possible. James is average in maths but is doing Grade 2 level work in English as he cannot cope with Grade 4 work. He has trouble expressing himself and trouble copying work from the blackboard. I feel as though he needs to get help from somewhere but am running out of ideas on what to do next. Maybe there is some way you can help James. Waiting to hear from you. Name supplied, Eagleby, Queensland. ***Reply Sent I do sympathise with your plight and that of your son. To short-circuit the immediate future difficulties, which, by this time are easy for me to fix up with family co-operation and my tools and techniques, let's look at a poem penned by a boy just your son's age. It won a poetry award in a private school with a reputation for excellence, against contributors many years older. The poet had been brought to me three months before the poem was awarded the poetry prize and such a piece of paper with something so positive upon it would have been unheard of at that time. But with his very supportive family this boy's school life and that of his older brothers attending 'enrichment' and other euphemistically dubbed sessions for 'slow learners' is now okay - they're doing well and the anguish is over. Our poet was a very unco-ordinated character who fell off his bike so often (a bicycle for real as well as the metaphorical one of this book!) that he preferred to ride it on the beach so he'd fall in sand and not have as many cuts and bruises as roads gave him. His left and right was confused and he was a bit clumsy. The school is sports mad and he cannot get into teams because he misses the ball and gets offside. But tennis is good and many of my clients excel at that. And swimming helps improve the laterality, but at the beginning they miss the stroke rather. Good swimming instructors understand and give extra help to get them going after which they are fine. Same for other sports. Backyard coaching in passing and throwing balls and an improvised goal and netball goal standard, if an uncle is handy with tools, would help. Croquet and other manipulative games improve matters when extrapolated to wide field games. Chess too, for direction. But as explained elsewhere, all the physical regimens will only help the school work woes you describe minimally - and only as long as the routines are persisted with. But for many reasons, primarily social, some sport they are good at, or can become competent at, is very desirable, even if initially they seem hopeless. I advised a family with a very ambidextrous girl that she should be encouraged in horse riding which was something she craved to do. At first the horses sold to the family were wild and dangerous as horse dealers are often unscrupulous with 'green' people. Then they acquired a quiet, ugly, kind little grey and the parents had to hold the child in the saddle as someone led the pony, one walking each side, as she was so unbalanced. A year later a huge impressive equine travelling arrangement pulled up at my gate. A neighbour with a sense of humour later suggested she thought I must have won two lotteries, not one. All in optimistic golden yellow there was a four-wheel-drive late model vehicle, and an enormous fibre glass, state of the art, treble horse trailer with huge landscape windows. Inside this trailer was a dapple grey show pony in the pink of condition, obviously treble rugged and stabled, no scruffy coat and grass gut, or less than the best here. This classy little number was the sixth horse. As she progressed she had replaced the 'too slow' ones after the 'too wild and dangerous' ones were disposed of. They showed me all the sashes and ribbons and the child's glowing face said everything. They were half way through the programme I had given them in lit and num and she was succeeding in school. Back to the poet. He couldn't spell for nuts. Visual sequential memory, fine motor and auditory (speech) were all problematical. His Mrs Malapropisms were funny. He tumbled over his words and it seemed to just be his ebullient exuberance that did it until the tests revealed the comprehensive difficulty. His rote learned spelling lists were forgotten on the way to school, and no times tables would stick. His illegible scrawl embarrassed him greatly. But most of all he couldn't express himself and was bursting with imaginative ideas and loved books and words READ to him. Getting to the back page was awful from losing the place and backtracking because it couldn't be Eloises and was elephant in fact, which made a difference to the meaning and ruined the story. I taught him to spell and remember the word elephant forever because it was his greatest frustration in all the dictionary. We colour-coded the syllables, apologised for the inconsistencies of English, and said 10% of illogicalities must be simply remembered because the other 90% could be worked out scientifically, not guessed at sloppily. He found this a revelation and okay because his revered dad is a scientist. The parents nearly fell off their seats when he correctly spelled elephant, ph and all, after an hour. I met his mother the other day and they still laugh about elephant and the scientific breakthrough of working out, not guessing, which you are crook at if the sequences of memory are not good in the low level processing area. That day they brought one of the parents' pieces of written work done at the same age. There was a definite difficulty in evidence in the 'crossing' in the cursive script, a pause of the pencil, evident difficulty. The writing did not flow. But the days of copybook were in then, and the laborious writing was neat. Instead of copybook we advocate using hand-writing exercises in which a series of u's, m's and l's with skinny loops slope gently to the right. Then a slope card with suggestive marching soldiers, driving rain and people walking with umbrellas all slope. I liken it to being as if you are an instrumentalist in an orchestra. The slope lines and spaces showing through the page do not have to be landed on, or the soldiers and umbrellas observed, but by placing the page of lined paper over these images so they show faintly through, 'the conductor' is glimpsed out of the corner of the eye while at the same time 'the musician' reads the music on the stand and manipulates the instrument. Doing several things together is said to cross fertilise the mind in ideas. I agree. The little compartmentalised way suggests erroneously that the brain is also rigidly compartmentalised. Anyway, that is the copybook way. Me, I find doing the handwriting, spelling, comprehension, creative writing in the form of the life story with the new tough words is the way, especially as this beefing up is needed, for dyslectics tend to do only one thing at a time and therefore forget things and are untidy to the point of inefficiency. 100 birds with one stone does so much. The nicest thing about meeting the poet's mum was the happy smile on her face as she said "The boys are all doing well now". I remembered the lines of worry on her face and her husband's when they brought their youngest son those years ago, nonplussed, saying "We'd do ANYTHING" to help him - and getting the routine that he was working to capacity and any outside help was a waste of time and money, he would come good. They were aware of the need to delay no longer having given the school, fee paying, a few years to teach him. They pay so dearly and get so shortchanged. Their taxes pay the state school teachers and then they pay the private teachers and the outside help. Three pays. Then the incalculable fears, anxieties about the futures of the children without decent literacy. The limited chances in a literate society. Why should you have to be born to parents who are intelligent rebels to get an education in the basic tools of literacy and numeracy. That's how it is at the moment. If you have gentle parents who bow to authority, you rot in remedial classes and drop out with awful certificates which are more damning than helpful at an interview, and no chance of tertiary or vocational courses of any value. So you suspect that the professor, like the psychologist will be impractical. So you seek other help. Success and self esteem go together. No prof or psyche can give it unless they show you how to do the 3R's, and earn it. They don't. They don't help their own either. They BUY all manner of things and talk, but won't help practically. Read this book for 'how to's'. After all these curtain raisers, THE POEM. MY DAYDREAM By Bill Morris Two ducks swam in a pond 5. From a parent seeking help for her teenage son who was diagnosed with dyslexia ***Letter Received I have read with a great deal of interest an article regarding a series of books to help you to help children suffering from dyslexia. Our son Allan, now aged 15 years, was only diagnosed with this at his first year at Technical College. At the moment he is repeating Form 2 with a younger brother. He is the seventh child in a family of eight. Allan wants to leave school this year but we would like him to continue as he is very good with his hands, etc., metalwork, woodwork, graphics and art. Allan cannot read or write properly and maths are a big problem. I don't know exactly what level his reading would be at. Would you please be able to suggest a book for him, or would you like me to send photostat copies of his work or his latest school report. He has a variety of interests and can cope with any problem quite well. He has a galah, cockatoo, cockatiels, budgies, poultry and also a ferret. He loves camping, fishing, shooting and to be able to help his father with a small piggery. He has just started a vegetable garden and is very keen. I hope you don't mind my writing to you, but we would like to help Allan as much as possible. Trusting you have time to acknowledge this letter; and that your books will help lots of other people with the same problem. ***Reply Sent I find all the letters interesting, some tell me much I never learned in a grey stone or modern glass edifice teaching all about it. I have a big attic with boxes and sacks of letters, all annotated. It is from these that this little batch and responses came. I love the grass-roots authenticity of letters from people so concerned for their loved ones that they write to a total stranger in desperation having exhausted the schools, colleges, et al. A group from a Lions Club wanting to help the low literacy problem in their district sought a system to assist, that ordinary folks could administer. When they reached me one Sunday afternoon I found I was 22nd on their list. The tertiary institutions that churn out teachers had received them politely but couldn't oblige. Since then I have been flown to country locations, courtesy of the Lions and Rotary, and we all donate time, including media and club members to give free seminars. If a small charge is ever made the money goes to provision of books in local schools where LAP and PAL (Parent reading help) are keen and 'goers' and the admin. is willing to concede they have lost some children and applied all the remedial and one-to-one help without success. These shivoos are exhausting but we always save a lot of people and the stone in the pond ripples on for years, perhaps forever, with its repercussions. Your biggest problem will be getting the project off the ground for the former failing attempts to put things right have muddied the water rather as have the quack overnight cures that do not focus on the problem educationally. Have a look at my lesson plan following and I will take you through it step by step. This may help others because it is such a nutshell of what to do. I always advise people as they leave with this sheet, loose for pinning up somewhere, that they make multiple photocopies and post these here and there so they can readily be re-read by all and sundry trying to put in a spoke or two bob's worth in assistance. LESSON PLAN (To implement Christina Alexander's specially designed dyslexia BANANA BOOKS) 1. Concentration - Span-stretching game USEFUL HINTS!!! DO NONE on Bad, Bad days, some on fair days, lots and lots and lots on super days. Half an hour daily will get you there if you are small. Bigger amounts for bigger folks. Two helpers per person is best. One for words, one for storybook number. Only patient optimists. The "Life story" can start with one sentence but gradually it should mushroom to ten pages!!! Emotive language is perfectly alright - so is constructive criticism, encouragement ..... 1. CONCENTRATION SPAN-STRETCHING GAME For older people you must be careful to be witty about it and somehow make sure it is done. I am sure many school reports groaned about the shortness of it as if it is anybody's pigeon but the teacher's. If done daily, (less than ½ a minute it takes to begin with) the whole class would benefit as one child did the commissions. The idea, in learned tomes, is that you begin with half a dozen easy tasks which are recited as the person to do these listens intently, perhaps with eyes shut, the better to visualise in the mind's eye. These commissions or jobs to be done are repeated. BE IMAGINATIVE. Always vary them. Sometimes plant raisin or fruit under cushions to be lifted, that sort of thing. Much left and right tactile work. You will see the silly cyclists diagram is coming into play or the multi-sensory way AGAIN. Has to be!!!!!! Gradually increase the number, variety and difficulty of the acts to be done till twenty two can be remembered and done in the right order over a long time. EXAMPLE I'll tell you twice to help your concentration and spelling. It'll be helped too by just watching. First, stamp your way round the room till you find something brown and soft. Pat this three times with the left hand and three times with the right thumb. Find something gold and cold and move it to the left by 10 centimetres. Lift a cushion and thump it three times with the right hand. Sit down and make an ugly face, close your eyes and fold your arms, then your legs, sneeze and frown. I'll repeat. 2. RELAXATION BREATHING In any stressful situation (like exams about to start) with ticking clocks and frowning tense persons all round you, your memory for all that hard study is disappearing rapidly and your stomach is like a bucket of squirming worms. Try this simple private bit of calming. Calm body, calm mind, good recall! Consider your knees or feet nicely concealed under the desk and even if they were not, nobody would twig! Tighten them tightly like a six-stitcher to a count of six seconds. Now relax them for six more seconds. Repeat three times. Now you will feel as if the blackboard of your mind is cleaned of unnecessary clutter and you are better able to remember all that important info. If you are tense bodily then you are not able to do mental gymnastics - especially if you are a child. Older, mature people can keep going although their tense bodies mean they are not as efficient at cerebral things. Children, being immature, are likely to tune out, or throw in the towel, or give up by passing in a blank (or near blank) exam booklet from stress of exams. Very sad if they spent the time and sweat on learning the work, and now will not get the credit. As if they worked hard all week and were given wages of about $1! Marks in school currency are equivalent to dollars in the outside world. 3. Outline all or part of a 'stack' or 'twister' story by fingertip as you hear/feel/see/say each letter. 4. Pick the correct word from the recurring stacks of choices so the story reads sensibly. Write out using the slope card and writing aids provided. (Take these out of the slide binder till writing is brilliant then return them for your grandchildren. If the genetic bank has dyslexia and very likely along with it, innovation, creativity and giftedness). Now write out the story again using the wrong stack words the wrong way, for fun! Again, and I make no apology for reiterating it the 5 millionth time when it is so important, and I know the reason you are reading this book is to find out the truth and ways to help, use the multi-sensory, gents on the silly bike, routine. You are by now instant experts on all this. The writing out of the work the WRONG way is only to show you know the difference and to extend your vocabulary. This helps reading, spelling and written composition by increasing the words in your think tank or vocabulary, or enabling you to remember a nice big variety of words with which to express yourself. Remember it has been wisely said that the measure of an educated man or woman is how extensive this vocabulary is. Selecting the hard or tricky words for use in the daily bit of life story below is important in further consolidating those words in a meaningful way that means they STICK. 5. Play "Beat the Tape" multiplication tables, 2 X to 12 X with Baroque music in the background, especially JS Bach's Brandenberg Concertos - any of the six, as background. Never use simple music or bought tapes with clapping and foreign accents. Work maths books. (Both literacy and numeracy experts. One helps the other; that is, if maths is okay and you are weak at words so maths is pulled down because of your poor or slow reading of the problems to be worked, then the rigmaroles and lateral thinking and red herrings in the complex texts will beef up your problem solving so you can zap through the exams in maths and everything else. Remember that whoever makes the "Beat the Tape", there must be little riddles and jokes between the batches of tables so they don't get confused with those going before or after. (Something like the gong of a bell reverberating after the strike of the clapper so the next sound is mixed in). Only the 3 X may get mixed with the 4 X or 2 X. You see??? When the tape is played in the car or home (make plenty of copies), the answer must be quickly slipped in the gap before the answer, before the taped voice says it. The learner should cover the answers with a finger or marker and try to beat the tape, uncovering correct answers after each is attempted. The background music will help make the numbers stick so when you do divide or multiply you don't have to take your mind off the problem to rehearse the numbers of, say, the 7 X in your head till you get to, say, 7 X 6 = 42 by which time the bell may have rung or you have forgotten whether you needed that answer to divide or multiply with, and the problem may have to be read again, thus eating up precious time - and besides, it's very annoying to have to start from scratch and redo the thing. X and ¸ = TABLES!! 6. Write another bit of your story using a few of the new tough words from, perhaps, "Natalie Matilda Marzipan Much Marmalade", one of the stories. Note the alliteration and other tricky literary devices! This makes a stepping stone to creative writing. Remember the chart on the four sorts of common writing, (Page 537). 7. Read orally with someone cute and cuddly - turn about ... Nice double titles from the library to save swapping page and paragraph about alternately. The rest is common sense and you can check it later! |
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