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[Paisley Hedgehog]

nm

[Shay]

Shari,

Does lesson 2 include any video? I can only watch videos from 2am-6am without exceeding my bandwidth, so I'll have to have a "heads-up" to get my "head up" if there is video involved with any lesson.

 

Thanks!!

[Paisley Hedgehog]

nm

[Shay]

Some topics for discussion:

 

1. How successful are you in identifying the underlying cause of your student's errors? Do you believe it is necessary to know, for example, if there is a visual discrimination problem or a spatial orientation problem, or is it more important to just work on addressing the errors?

I don't feel as if I am skilled at identifying the "underlying" cause of the errors my students make and this is something I need to get better at. I look at their spelling and think, "oh, once we cover /ou/, she will not spell "found" as "fond." I guess I'm always thinking (perhaps erroneously) that the mistakes are a lack of teaching. Since I work with ps kids, some of that may very well be the case, but certainly not all. The underlying cause is def. something I need to pay more attention to, but how to properly respond? This is where a hs'er has an advantage, and a classroom teacher does not. Even if you are small group in a special education resource room, you have all different problems sitting in that room at once, and you really cannot hit all weaknesses in a daily small time frame. So, I am prone to "just work on addressing the errors," at this time, but I do think I'm successful with that.....lots to learn here, that is for sure.

 

2. Do you think any one part of the O-G approach is more important than the other? Or, on the flip side, is there a portion of the approach that you think is unnecessary? For example, do you think the tactile activities are integral? How about the constant spiraling? How about nonsense words?

This is a great question. At this point in time, I feel that having instruction be direct and explicit, structured, systematic, sequential, and flexible, and cognitive are most important. I'm just feeling that it would be hard to do each approach perfectly, and that to me is overwhelming to think about! I want to do it "perfectly!" This is where a good "program" based on OG is helpful, so that I don't leave out something important just because it isn't on top of my list.

 

3. If no two dyslexics are alike, how is it possible that one approach will work for everyone?

Right. So, you have to be a careful observer. I tend to pay more attention to errors a child has and just give extra practice right there. One may really struggle with ending blends such as -nd (common I've found) and another struggle with sound to symbol recognition. I have to give the extra practice to the area of weakness. I can do this with one-on-one tutoring, but a classroom or group makes it WAY more difficult. This is where I would collaborate with parents and if that not possible, get help for the kids to help work on weaknesses.

 

:lurk5:

 

One thing that caught my attention on one case study was "more of the same did not work for him." Amen, and amen! That is what people need to understand when working with these children.

 

Another was the area of difficulty mentioned: figure/ground difficulty. I don't know if this is such a problem in the hs, but it is in the ps. This area was mentioned in one of my favorite texts on learning disabilities and cited as a major source of problems.

 

Oh, one other thing: Gillingham said that there were "various intelligences" at one point in her career. Would we call these "strengths?" You will like this current article about Connecticut's governor. I think his mama played to his strengths when he was growing up!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/29/dan-malloy-connecticut-governor-dyslexia_n_842139.html

[Paisley Hedgehog]

nm

[merry gardens]

It's our first week of the O/G online course discussion, and I'm so excited to have a place to discuss what I'm learning! For anyone who missed it, this is a 10-hour Orton-Gillingham informational course available through EPS Publishers. Feel free to jump in any time!

 

From Lesson 2: Case Studies

 

Lesson 2 starts out with a list of the difficulties associated with dyslexia: visual and auditory; spatial; temporal; Language skills; and organization of information. These are further broken down into discrimination, sequencing, memory, orientation, expressive and receptive language skills.

 

This lesson contained two case studies for us to look at, and illustrated the difficulty in, and necessity of, pinpointing the underlying problem associated with visible results. For example, when a student is constantly misspelling words, why is he doing that? Is he not hearing the sounds in the word? Is he not seeing the correctness of what he wrote? Is he having trouble just getting the pencil to paper?

 

Further explanation of the O-G method is given highlighting each aspect of the approach, and how the simultaneous multisensory teaching technique is effective.

 

Some topics for discussion:

 

1. How successful are you in identifying the underlying cause of your student's errors? Do you believe it is necessary to know, for example, if there is a visual discrimination problem or a spatial orientation problem, or is it more important to just work on addressing the errors?

 

2. Do you think any one part of the O-G approach is more important than the other? Or, on the flip side, is there a portion of the approach that you think is unnecessary? For example, do you think the tactile activities are integral? How about the constant spiraling? How about nonsense words?

 

3. If no two dyslexics are alike, how is it possible that one approach will work for everyone?

 

:lurk5:

 

The case studies in that lesson made me sad for the children and grateful that I'm able to homeschool! It seemed that the students were being expected to write at a level far above where they were capable of writing--and I suspect that did more harm than good for them. My approach with my children is dramatically different. I ask very little writing outside of that which we do while we focus on reading and spelling, (especially of my 9 yo dyselexic). My 9 yo dyslexic just barely reached the level where I now feel that it's appropriate to address writing.

 

 

1) Can I identify the types errors in my children? Now I can--I haven't always been able. When I started learning about dyslexia for my youngest son, only then was I able to catch that spelling mistakes indicating another of my children needed help too. Yes, it helps to know the cause of the errors because we can work on the underlying problems differently.

 

2) Certain people may need more of one area and less in another, but I wouldn't call anything in the O-G approach unneccesary. I like the constant spiraling. Successful math program typically spiral, and it makes good sense to me that reading and spelling should spiral too. For a dyslexic with a large sight word vocabulary, nonsense words might be the only way to make sure the person learns the underlying phonic principles. Nonsense words might

 

3) Because it's an approach, not a program, method nor technique. ;) (Back to those words again.:tongue_smilie:) I find the specific technique of sky-writing helps one of my children far more than it helps the others--so I use that technique with him a lot, but less so with another child. The O-G approach is broad and can be adjusted specifically for each person as needed by a trained O-G specialist. BUT I don't just use the O-G approach--I use a very specific program based O-G, and that's not quite as flexible when followed exactly. I primarily follow that program exactly as writen--when I'm tutoring using that program, but at other times I supplement with some other things to fit our needs.

[Shay]

This is definitely my downfall. Even working with my ds every day, I still am not sure exactly what to call some of the errors he makes. Yesterday, we were practicing name/address and in two separate places he made a "B" where there should have been a "b." Was this a visual detail error? Was it a directionality issue? Was it a memory problem? He knew what letter he needed, but not how to form it, so ..... :confused: Even in the examples given in the lesson, I could not analyze the student work properly. Aargh!

)

 

I have a student who makes his B's and D's capital every single time he needs to use them. I finally guessed that he was doing it because b/d confused him, he gets them wrong, and this was his solution. I need to ask him about that. I don't have time to work on handwriting, unfortunately.

[ElizabethB]

I have a student who makes his B's and D's capital every single time he needs to use them. I finally guessed that he was doing it because b/d confused him, he gets them wrong, and this was his solution. I need to ask him about that. I don't have time to work on handwriting, unfortunately.

 

It would not stand out if he wrote in all uppercase! I actually like all uppercase, especially for a struggling student.

 

Here is a worksheet you could give him to work on at home, or while you are working with another student.

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/dbdb.html

[LizzyBee]

Some topics for discussion:

 

1. How successful are you in identifying the underlying cause of your student's errors? Do you believe it is necessary to know, for example, if there is a visual discrimination problem or a spatial orientation problem, or is it more important to just work on addressing the errors?

 

2. Do you think any one part of the O-G approach is more important than the other? Or, on the flip side, is there a portion of the approach that you think is unnecessary? For example, do you think the tactile activities are integral? How about the constant spiraling? How about nonsense words?

 

3. If no two dyslexics are alike, how is it possible that one approach will work for everyone?

 

:lurk5:

 

1. I have good instincts about my own kids - about what causes their struggles, how to remediate and how to accomodate. In the case studies in Lesson 2, I did better at picking out errors caused by auditory problems than visual, because that's what I'm used to dealing with.

 

2. We use an OG based curriculum, and I wouldn't remove anything. I wonder if Barton spirals as much as some of the OG programs, because I think more built-in review would be helpful, and other parents have made the same comment. But presenting information in auditory, visual, and tactile formats has been very effective. The nonsense words force my dd to sound out words because she can't guess based on seeing the words elsewhere. I'm convinced this has been crucial in remdiating her lack of phonological awareness.

 

3. I agree with Merry Gardens here. OG is an approach that is flexible and can be tailored for a specific person's needs.

[Shay]

I just thought of something else that struck me in the lesson. It was mentioned that the girl in the case study used inproper verb tenses "putted" or "goed" when younger and the teachers thought this was "cute". I had never thought of this as being related to dyslexia.

 

Well, this is one reason why I don't think Junie B Jones should be read aloud to such students (and it is a popular read-aloud in SpEd classrooms that I know of). I feel they should hear verb tenses used properly and Junie B misses the mark on this one.

[LizzyBee]

I just thought of something else that struck me in the lesson. It was mentioned that the girl in the case study used inproper verb tenses "putted" or "goed" when younger and the teachers thought this was "cute". I had never thought of this as being related to dyslexia.

 

Well, this is one reason why I don't think Junie B Jones should be read aloud to such students (and it is a popular read-aloud in SpEd classrooms that I know of). I feel they should hear verb tenses used properly and Junie B misses the mark on this one.

 

My dd used improper verb tenses for the longest time. This is only one of the things that I thought she can get away with while she's young because it's cute, but eventually nobody will think it's cute. We use Abeka Oral Language Lessons and her grammar has really improved. Her SLP was so impressed with the book that she asked me where to buy it.

 

None of my kids have read Junie B. Jones. After reading your post, I'm glad. :001_smile: