Guest ThoseWhoCan Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 (edited) Hello everyone. I'm new, so I hope I'm not breaking protocol by starting my own thread on day 1. How do you teach reading to an older child who exhibits symptoms of ADHD? I have been hired by a couple who have been home schooling their children (D6, S8). I get the impression that they've been through a number of teachers at this point, partly due to their child being ADHD (this is my own opinion; they have avoided putting a label on him or broaching the topic of medication in our conversations thus far). Parents started out with an alternative approach that didn't stress reading, and now they're realizing that their 8 yr old can't read, and that that might be a problem. They want me to get him back on track as best I can. Apart from his ADHD (?), he is smart. He has a good vocabulary, he's creative, and is very vocal (though he can't hold a conversation for long, unless he's the one in the driver's seat). So I'm asking for advice. My feeling, and the feeling of the K-2 teachers who I've talked to, is that at the age of 8, and especially without the attention span of an average child, it would be counterproductive to attempt beginners phonics and make him read stories about cats and bats with hats. But I'm hoping some of you have more advice. I am a certified teacher of 6th-12th graders, and have a lot of ideas about what engaging activities we might do this summer that involve reading/writing, but without some tips from people who have been through this before with young special needs children, I am afraid all of those ideas could easily fall apart. Thanks!! Edited June 18, 2011 by ThoseWhoCan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
songbirdie Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 Reading Reflex - it's a reading program book available from Sonlight, or you can just order it elsewhere on the internet. It is a wonderful reading intervention program that works great for the older child who needs to "start over" from the beginning of reading. You can utilize it in whatever timeframe fits the child's attention span. I highly recommend it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
songbirdie Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 And I should add this: It helps them start over from the beginning of reading *skills*, not from the beginning of reading with trite, babyish subject matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandamom Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 Start at the beginning-- phonics. Age doesn't matter -- I use beginning phonics for middle schoolers if they need it and I use for it 5 year olds. I wouldn't hesitate to use it for an adult. You can use a variety of programs (Primary Phonics, Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading, Reading Reflex, The Phonics Page (website), Writing Road to Reading, spalding, Wilson, etc.) some of which are low cost or you can get from the library. Start where he is and progress. follow your student's lead -- don't force your student to follow your program. You will need a lot of repetition and you can use a variety of multi-sensory ways of teaching to keep him engaged. Read through this section of these boards for some suggestions. If you have any specific questions don't hesitate to ask. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 Just to point out, it might not be just ADHD, it could also be dyslexia or some other issue. My son has both dyslexia and ADHD and was able to learn to read at age 8 with *lots* of hard work. What worked best for my son was lots of short sessions every single day for a year, which is more feasible when you're living with the kid. If you have a choice about such things, I would meet with the child every weekday morning (once or twice a week really won't cut it) for an hour. Then give simple homework to be done in the afternoon, perhaps a reader that reinforces what he's been learning. If you go with a program such as Primary Phonics that has a workbook component you could assign something in that too. Then in the evening right before bed, have the parents go through a set of flashcards quickly. I'd do letter sounds and digraphs and work up to "sight" words (though most can be decoded) once he can decode fairly well. It will help with fluency. Once he's' done with the flashcards, give a second, easier reader for him to read at night. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merry gardens Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 Hello everyone. I'm new, so I hope I'm not breaking protocol by starting my own thread on day 1. How do you teach reading to an older child who exhibits symptoms of ADHD? I have been hired by a couple who have been home schooling their children (D6, S8). I get the impression that they've been through a number of teachers at this point, partly due to their child being ADHD (this is my own opinion; they have avoided putting a label on him or broaching the topic of medication in our conversations thus far). Parents started out with an alternative approach that didn't stress reading, and now they're realizing that their 8 yr old can't read, and that that might be a problem. They want me to get him back on track as best I can. Apart from his ADHD (?), he is smart. He has a good vocabulary, he's creative, and is very vocal (though he can't hold a conversation for long, unless he's the one in the driver's seat). So I'm asking for advice. My feeling, and the feeling of the K-2 teachers who I've talked to, is that at the age of 8, and especially without the attention span of an average child, it would be counterproductive to attempt beginners phonics and make him read stories about cats and bats with hats. But I'm hoping some of you have more advice. I am a certified teacher of 6th-12th graders, and have a lot of ideas about what engaging activities we might do this summer that involve reading/writing, but without some tips from people who have been through this before with young special needs children, I am afraid all of those ideas could easily fall apart. Thanks!! I suggest you teach him as if he were dyslexic, with or without a diagnosis of dyslexia. Sometimes children with dyslexia get mislabled as ADHD, and sometimes dyslexia exists along with ADHD. I also suggest that you begin BEFORE beginning phonics. Check his phonemic awareness. Barton's websight offers a quick and free screening that's used before starting their program. http://bartonreading.com/students_long.html Part of that screening can catch more severe phonemic awareness problems. The program itself covers phonemic awareness exclusively in the first level and in combination with other basic phonics skills in the earlier levels. Covering basic phonics doesn't have to be babyish. To be honest, it worries me a little that professional teachers would steer you away from basic phonics. People with dyslexia and reading problems usually need more phonics --taught in a very methodical way--not less. Orton-Gillingham is well proven method for teaching people with dyslexia. Lindamood-Bell products are also well tested. The Lindamood-Bell LiPs program can remediate serious phonemic awareness problems. There are some basic phonics materials available that have been developed for older students. As far as books with hats and cats and bats, I would also suggest avoiding books with pictures. People with dyslexia who are smart can get quite good at guessing--and then instead of developing the ability to read, they develop the ability to guess. Some develop the ability to read words only by sight without understanding the basic phonics of our language, and that gets them by for a while but eventually it may not be enough. Go with phonics, but make sure that the child has phonemic awareness. Phonemic awareness related to the ability to process the individual units of sound that make up words. Reading requires both hearing and seeing--auditory and visual processing. Reading problems usually stem from problems with one or the other--or both. Poor memory for sight words can play into that too. Some children need to see words a hundred times or more before they recognize the words. Some children have all of that going on at the same time and more. And they can be smart. Really smart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 I have tutored older remedial students for 17 years. If they do not mind him being read the book of Romans as part of the lessons, they can have him work through my online phonics lessons. I also have some free written materials for an older student. The online lessons start at 3 syllable words from the 1st lesson after a quick lesson in syllable division. The written lessons take a bit longer to get to 2 and 3 syllable words, but are still written with older, remedial students in mind. Basically, you would use everything linked at the end of my how to tutor page. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 You're getting lots of great advice. This will sound very basic, and one would hope this angle has been ruled out already by the parents, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention vision as another possible issue (my frequent public service announcement). When I say vision, I don't just mean 20/20 acuity, but also how the eyes work together. It's a relatively simple matter to rule it out, by seeing a developmental optometrist (see e.g. www.covd.org). If he struggles to see the words, that would make your job pretty tough ;). (see also http://www.childrensvision.com/reading.htm) Just to point out, it might not be just ADHD, it could also be dyslexia or some other issue. My son has both dyslexia and ADHD and was able to learn to read at age 8 with *lots* of hard work. :iagree:Other things can look like ADHD, such as dyslexia, auditory issues, etc. It's likely that a professional evaluation (by a neuropsych or ed psych) may be in order, but I would not jump to conclusions on causes. Plenty of kids with just ADHD are reading well before 8. Your sense that he may be bright has me guessing there's some other problem instead of, or in addition to, a possible attention issue. Indeed, I know a couple kids with ADHD, dyslexia and vision issues - lots of combinations are possible. I suggest you teach him as if he were dyslexic, with or without a diagnosis of dyslexia. :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 A few more things... The most helpful things for my older, remedial students are nonsense words, syllable work, and spelling. You can do nonsense words with my concentration game, it's linked from my how to tutor page. Also, you want to make sure you're teaching the sight words phonetically, here's why and how: http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/sightwords.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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