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my DD 6 with dyslexia has made slow but steady progress with reading over the summer. As she started 1st grade this year I'm finding that the WTM suggestions for 1st grade are not working well for us. I'm facing huge lack of motivation for history or language arts for  no matter how fun or interactive I make it. 

 

For example -

-The Caterpillar poem - she didn't want to color a picture to go with it or act it out, much less repeat it.

-Using Brave Writer, the person poster project, she was willing to let me trace her on paper, but stood by uninterested no matter how I tried to get her to help me decorate the person drawing and refused to give me any words to write down. 

-She colored the page that went with chapter 1 for history, was not interested in participating in any activities or discussion about it and interrupted me as I read to her when she was finished coloring to tell me she was finished and could she go play now.

She's shown equal lack of motivation for music and art, though she does doodle random lines on a piece of paper when I force her to listen to me read to her...

 

I am able to get her to do her phonics lessons (not without pushback, but once I push her through it, she works for me) and she's willing to do math for me (we're using a combination of Ronit Bird and Miquon).

 

Suggestions? While phonics and math are great, she really needs (a little) more than that at this point and I feel like I'm beating myself over the head trying to get her motivated! 

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Mine didn't like the poetry selections, either.  I started using short, interesting poems from Shel Silverstein and others that intrigued him (It was like pulling teeth to get him to memorize the Caterpillar, but he pushed himself to learn every line of The Jabberwocky)

 

History gets flipped in our house.  It's easier for me to lay out all the supplies for the activity, and then tell the story as we're doing it.  Let's make a shaduf!  What's a shaduf??? Oh..well.......

 

 

But as hard as it is to remember, the first few weeks can be tough to get back into routine.  I tend to set a timer for the first week or two, saying "the next 20 minutes we are doing history" and then putting it away after that for playtime.  It's a nice reminder to make time for everything in our day, playtime AND studies.

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Some of the stuff Timberdoodle puts in their grade level kits has been really spot-on with my ds. And I hate to say it, but when I read what you're putting there, I see motivated and sub in *ready*. She's not *ready* to do those things. Did you do the WTM K5 recs? Read alouds, discussing, a focus on a language-rich environment? It's ok to KEEP DOING those things until she's ready to take the next step. You cannot go wrong with that.

 

When she had her evals, did she have language testing? Some psychs do, some psychs don't, so that's why I ask. It would be in your report. It would be good to know if she's got some ADHD going on or if maybe her vocabulary or language is a bit low. I've had multiple people (psychs, tutors) tell me that kids with SLDs fall behind as their peers pull ahead and that language is the most insidious. But that's really different when it's maybe ADHD and attention vs. language, kwim?

 

Sometimes kids will be more engaged with these extra topics when they're doing something with their bodies. She may need some movement first or to have movement she's allowed to do during the read aloud.

 

Timberdoodle sells lots of doodling books. Back up and go easer. Back up to an easy, easy level (like something listed for pre-K even) and call it school work! First get the light going, then you can pick up and get where you're going. 

 

I'm only just now doing anything that identifies as social studies with my ds. He just plain wasn't ready. He got things incidentally from tv shows, etc., but he just wasn't ready. 

 

Music I'm surprised about. Does she like sing-alongs? Calming music? My ds had significant issues with rhythm, so things meant for young kids that were meant to involve rhythm weren't fun for him.

 

For art, Timberdoodle sells the Djeco kits. They were fabulous for my ds. They come with booklets with the steps, so you can do just another page or two each day, kwim? 

 

Trying dividing things into 10 minute chunks and taking movement breaks in-between. Try using a timer. You can also increase structure, so she can see the plan and know how much you're doing. 

 

And as far as WTM, well... you know SWB never taught a kid like yours, right? 

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On the Bravewriter, it sounds like it's too soon. Try something else. I'm doing some nice sequencing workbooks with my ds. You cut out pictures or sentences and glue them in order. Can she retell a short fable if you read it together? 

 

What does she LIKE to do? If there's something she likes to do, do more of it, even if it's sort of eccentric. Whatever she likes now very well may be something she sticks with for a long time. It has for my dd. :)

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On the Bravewriter, it sounds like it's too soon. Try something else. I'm doing some nice sequencing workbooks with my ds. You cut out pictures or sentences and glue them in order. Can she retell a short fable if you read it together?

 

What does she LIKE to do? If there's something she likes to do, do more of it, even if it's sort of eccentric. Whatever she likes now very well may be something she sticks with for a long time. It has for my dd. :)

I'm short on time right now and will read this more in depth later, but thank you for your suggestions.

 

Another layer of potential issue is that her 4 year old brother is nearly at the same level as her in some areas (and he is very auditory so if he hears it, he learns it) and is difficult to send away to play. I've started trying to spend individual time with each but I wonder if that impacts her willingness to try too.

 

 

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If she has APD, she may have language issues that need SLP intervention as well. You're sure she has dyslexia only? Has she had screenings?

She's had slp intervention with a prompt therapist. Her screening showed early signs for dyslexia and expressive language delay.

 

 

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So there's your answer. You'll want to update your language testing yearly, continue to work with the SLP, and do all the language work you can at home. That language delay is going to make school, everything about school, wicked. 

 

For my ds, language is turning out to be the pivotal piece. You can't do ANYTHING in school work without language, and when the kid isn't understand they're just gonna get up and walk away or having behaviors.

 

I had a thread recently where I shared some stuff I'm using for language. You can talk with your SLP. You can have sort of a team approach. Like I'll find things, take them in, and the SLP will give me more ways to use them. 

 

My ds is a mixed bag. He has this high vocabulary, so you think he understands. He scripts, so you think he understands. But if I want to read CONTENT to him, I have to back up, way up. I use readers with him that have pictures on every page. I finally found a series at the teacher's college library. I read him the NIrV, which has a reduced reading level. 

 

So like right now, we're doing a state study, and I'm using pictures books that have a sentence on each page. He watches Smithsonian and all this stuff. He's not dumb! But when we do academics and want to be able to discuss and respond and think and synthesize and apply, we HAVE to drop the level. I had an intervention specialist come in, and that was the first thing she said, drop the level. Like multiple grades. 

 

Sorry it's not a happy answer. He's actually really fun to teach when we drop the level enough that he can engage. And now that he's moving forward, I feel better too. Like it's not where you are but are you moving forward.

Edited by OhElizabeth
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For memory work, you might try small, like a 2-3 word prayer, or go with life skills like her birthdate or your telephone number. My ds STILL does not know his telephone number, which means he's not safe if he gets lost. He decided to learn his Aunt's first, lol. She takes him on outings, so it was a useful number to know! When I took him to Disney, I put a Mickey Dog tag on him with the number, so the would know who to call. People will write the numbers on their dc's skin. A poem sounds nice, but I'd be more concerned about life skills, honestly.

 

If you back up a few years, the language work is really fun! I got some neat Childcraft kits from the local community college teacher/curriculum lab, and they have kits for noun categories, things that go together, etc. So we're going through them, playing, explaining why with full sentences, etc. It's good stuff! There's a lot of PLAY you can do to work on language. And you might find that a play approach right now puts her at ease.

 

I would also consider having some really predictable structure, maybe with things she can do independently. Even with delays, she still will value competence, predictability... So right now I have my ds doing word searches by I think Carson Dellosa. The level on those may be too high for your ds. I would back up to things Timberdoodle suggestions for K4 maybe, kwim? I back up 2 grades, and boom stuff is more likely to fit. We just do it maybe in a more mature, sophisticated way, but the stuff starts off a closer fit. 

 

I'm saying give yourself permission not to "do a grade" with her. Back up the level on the language till you get engagement. If it bugs you, it doesn't have to be everything! How is she with audiobooks? My ds listens to all kinds of audiobooks. I can't say for certain how much he understands. He listens to them and memorizes. So there can be balance. But if it's not click, back up till it is.

 

There's a game Pickles to Penguins that you can play to work on noun categories. It was a really high starting point for my ds. We're doing better with the Childcraft kit, and now that it's clicking we can go back to harder stuff. 

 

Well rats, I'm looking this up, and they don't make it any more! Well what I usually do is just go through a publisher and see what is marked for his age or lower but looks like it would be HARD for him, and I go ok, now I've found a hole. I go through Super Duper, Lakeshore Learning, Carson Dellosa, Teacher Created, Evan Moor, etc. doing that. And our teacher college has goodies. Scholastic has a terrible website. My ds just needs smaller steps and a delayed timetable. So right now he's doing a Scholastic writing book and a Scholastic grammar book labeled for 1st grade. He's 3rd gr with a gifted IQ. That's FINE! I see it fits him and he's progressing. 

 

Fwiw, my ds is really enjoying the Fountas & Pinnell leveled readers right now. Again, I get them through the teacher's college. They're bunk for reading instruction (as in decoding), but they're actually excellent for someone who CAN decode. They're engagingly written and have pictures on every single page in the early levels. My ds was reading with no comprehension, so the F&P readers are helping him get over that hump and setting him at ease. They've really raised the bar for him on his ability to understand, so now it's starting to BUG him if he reads something and doesn't understand, where it didn't before. 

 

That's the thing. Your dd doesn't maybe have the language to completely tell you what's going on, but her behavior is showing where she's comprehending, where she's engaging, where she's really at her sweet spot for learning.

Edited by OhElizabeth
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So, I had exactly the same problems in grades 1 and 2 with my kiddos (none of whom have dyslexia but several of whom have ADD/Autism/Anxiety). WTM suggestions for grade 1 are WAY too advanced, in my humble opinion, at least for my kiddos. Bravewriter I use a ton, but again at older ages, and I actually didn't love the jot it down book. I agree with all the above. Lots of outside time, read aloud when you can, modified nature study (going out and looking at stuff in the most casual of ways, maybe get her to talk to you about it). My kids liked to memorize poetry, but we did easy and silly poems and they had the right of veto. Shel Silverstein and Robert Munsch are great. 

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Ok so with everyone's helpful comments I'm thinking through my expectations again and thinking that a lot of what we did for K might continue to work this year - especially if I look at it from the perspective that the language is the issue. (Which makes sense, because she'll do math for me, but there's very little language there right now)

 

For history resort to the "public school" method for lower elementary that was how they did it when I taught, which was to hit every major social studies holiday and let that suffice. 

 

she really doesn't like listening to anything longer than a picture book, so I might have to play around with some books to see if I can find something she'll listen to while she plays. 

 

I'll just give grammar up for now, and instead of jot it down or WWE, I'll stick to a single line of handwriting a day, keeping it to letters and single words rather than sentences. 

 

I'm not going to stress over music, and she'll get art as life happens (and I can always put art into social studies projects...)

 

Her main way of playing is almost always role playing and having all these conversations between her toy friends, etc. This is probably more valuable from a language perspective than any formal school work right now if language is what is at the root of this issue. 

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Peggy Kaye has some brilliant games for handwriting. That way she'd be working on her fine motor and the control without it devolving into her being compelled to copy words when spelling isn't on her radar, kwim? For my ds, spelling was not on his radar till this year. Recently HE started initiating spelling, so I thought ok, let's do this. I skipped all the spelling in Barton. We tried it and he could, but it wasn't on his radar of wanting it yet. 

 

So yeah, try the Peggy Kaye books. She has learning, math, reading, all sorts of books. I think that writing exercise we did (that we need to do more, because it was challenging!) was in learning. Games for Learning: Ten Minutes a Day to Help Your Child Do Well in School―From Kindergarten to Third Grade  this is it. I don't know what I expected, but what it is is really creative, playful ways to fill in holes developmentally. 

 

This language stuff, it's really wicked. It affects EVERYTHING. You have to respect where she is and then systematically, gently, push it forward. Like she's at picture books and will sit for them. That's great! So do that every day. Don't read her chapter books!!! Read her picture books. Our library does these really nice theme kits, but my ds is finally ready for them. You don't need a theme. Pictures let her attach meaning to the words. You need the language testing scores, so you can see what to target.

 

If she has not had a psych eval, honestly it's time. And if she has not had the CASL or CELF, it's time. There's other detailed language testing that can be done, like the VB-MAPP. 

 

There was stuff I tried to do a year or two ago that it would be nice to think oh if you get the materials stepped enough, it will be within reach! But no, it wasn't, even then, not even when I broke it way, way down. So her language could be functioning more like a 3-4 yo. Like look at what you do for a 3-4 yo with language and just flat do it. You read them books with pictures and words under the pictures. So like DK books are great. Picture dictionaries are great. Anything with repetition is great.

 

I'm saying that just because it's not happening doesn't mean you're failing. You can nudge a little, but if the readiness isn't there and you know your procedure is stepped enough, then she's just not ready. Then you go back to the previous level and expand there, broaden there. Like ok, you read a picture book. Now TALK about the picture book. Do you have Playmobil? There's SO much language to playmobil. Buy playmobil instead of curriculum, and just play with her, talking, narrating. 

 

Hanen has some good books on developing language through play.

Edited by OhElizabeth
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How is she socially? She's at a great age for We Thinkers 1. If you found social deficits and got her qualified (through your insurance, whatever), they could pay for a behaviorist. That would give her more time each week where someone is working with her, working on language, and it would give you a break. It's nice to have a team, so one person doesn't wear out.

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