Jodi-FL Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 how would you help a 19yo who reads on a 3rd grade level? we just took in a 19yo (who has a 3yo) who has been given 3 months (by the state) to get a job and an apartment or they are putting her daughter up for adoption. although she graduated from the local public high school, she can hardly read, write and doesn't type at all (? how do they graduate?) this is from one of the top schools in the state..... anyway. how to help her? i can get her an interview at several warehouse jobs (which is what she says she wants to aspire to....) but i think if her reading/ writing/ typing skills were better, it would boost her confidence to want more for herself. i have taught 6 out of 7 kids to read (the youngest is still learning) but i'm not sure how to help a 19yo...... thanks for your help! jodi in pa--still in shock over the conditions at the trailer park where i picked her up...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dulcimeramy Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 What?! 3 months to get a job and an apartment or they are taking her child??!?!?!?! Adults with masters degrees are not always able to find a job and an apartment in 3 months. If there is a warehouse job, help her get it tomorrow. This is an emergency. Then work on Plan B. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pamela H in Texas Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 How long has her daughter been in care? Too bad she couldn't find you at the beginning of her journey rather than at the 11th hour. At least she is trying now. Has she worked the rest of her case plan? I definitely would get her doing the warehouse (or something!) and such asap. Academics would be down the road a bit and is going to take much longer than 3 months. Schools have ways for low level kids to get diplomas. A student gets an English credit regardless of which English they take. In our schools, for example, they are called English A, B, C, and D when they are for students below a high school level. But English D gets you your fourth English credit just like English I and English AP does. And for math credits, they require 3½ including Algebra I, but you can get a waiver for the Algebra I if you can't do any level of that including the two year program. Then you just had to have the credits in numbers and ALL of those would be under high school level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Studies show that listening to an audiobook while reading along in a book, can result in 5 years of progress in just a few months. And I'd use a good spelling book to cover some phonics. I think this young lady has some rights that are being ignored. Sometimes it's just too hard to fight the negligent system, and giving up is the only way to retain your sanity, but sometimes getting some free legal help WILL work. Can you help her find an advocate? Here in my city there are 2 places that are day shelters and soup kitchens for women. They will help accompany women to a free lawyer and make intimidating phone calls to stop anything from immediately taking place before they can get the legal help in place to take over. I've seen them stop some tragedies. Sometimes people who are not homeless don't know about places frequented by the homeless, but that offer services to all poor women. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smillard00 Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Teaching reading is teaching reading, so I bet you already know a lot of ways to help her. Find something for her to read that is just slightly above her reading level, read it together with her and see where her deficits are. Then work on them. A bit of work on phonics/spelling would be helpful. This is dependent on her wanting to learn, of course. Listening to audio books would be great for her. Would she listen in the evenings while you're reading to your children? Everyone needs to be read to! One way to get her to practice reading is for her to read to small children. It takes the intimidation out of it and it's a good excuse to read simple books. She can practice on books that are easy for her at first and then work her way up. And maybe she could work with a typing program on the computer for half an hour each day to gain some skill there. Above all else, she needs some love and stability in her life and to watch some good parenting happening. I'm glad she has you on her side. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nansk Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Please consider using Webster's Speller to teach reading. I can't think of an easier way that'll get her further than Webster's will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choirfarm Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 how would you help a 19yo who reads on a 3rd grade level? we just took in a 19yo (who has a 3yo) who has been given 3 months (by the state) to get a job and an apartment or they are putting her daughter up for adoption. although she graduated from the local public high school, she can hardly read, write and doesn't type at all ...... I can answer this question. I once had a class of 12th grade remedial students. I had around 10 in the class. About half of them had moved from other countries. One girl had moved to the US the spring of her 11th grade year from China. She was in all AP courses and then my class. She didn't understand punctuation. She was brilliant. I had others from Korea, Iran, etc. I had one stereotypical dumb jock, one drug dealer attempting his senior year for the 3rd time ( dropped out of my class within 9 weeks), 2 boys that probably had some kind of learning disablility and then this one girl. She was SO nice, but could barely read. She had to be reminded to start a sentence with a capital letter and end with a period. She would redo her work as many times as I asked her. She was living on her own and working 40 hours a week. She was a part of the vo-tech program as well. I went to my department chair to ask her what I should do. I mean she did not have basic competencies in reading and writing. We both agreed that she was working to her potential and flunking her would not help her at all. I passed her with a D, and she got her diploma. So these are the kind of classes that most teachers are dealing with. I had a WIDE variety of ability within those 10 kids and several languages. I did the best I could. Christine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SunD Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 I was going to say Webster's Speller, too. I've been working through the syllabary with an 12yo non-native English speaker, and her progress is amazing. She had absolute basic phonics down (individual letter sounds), but was totally lost with even two-syllable words. Apparently that's about all the school teaches here. They're supposed to figure out the rest themselves. She just keeps getting passed along because she's not a troublemaker and at least attempts the work. I would 1 - Get her working in the warehouse, or anywhere! 2 - Save as much money as possible for deposit and such on an apartment (not sure how much you're able to help here). Also any type of programs that could save her money, like food stamps, rent assistance, etc. 3 - Help find resources to provide furniture, clothes, etc. She needs to be able to furnish this apartment with the necessities (cookware for healthy meals, bed and clothing for DD, bed and acceptable work clothing for herself, table and chairs for eating and working, cleaning supplies, etc). 4 - Webster's Speller. 5 - Ask if she'd like you to buy a typing program for her ... maybe after she gets settled and secure, she would be more interested in pursuing something like that and possibly getting a better-paying job. It wouldn't do much good until she's reading and spelling, though. 6 - She'll probably also need a plan for where her DD will be while she's working. Help her find low-cost (but safe) daycare, a free preschool program, offer to babysit, or something else that would be acceptable to the authorities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teachin'Mine Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 What?! 3 months to get a job and an apartment or they are taking her child??!?!?!?! Adults with masters degrees are not always able to find a job and an apartment in 3 months. If there is a warehouse job, help her get it tomorrow. This is an emergency. Then work on Plan B. :iagree: Getting her a job and then an apartment would be my total focus. She can always work on learning more once she has peace of mind that her child won't be taken away. Shame on them!!! I'd also try advocating on her behalf for her to go into some kind of training program and continuing to stay with you until she completes training and is hired. Many states offer such job training programs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jodi-FL Posted July 18, 2011 Author Share Posted July 18, 2011 good suggestions here. i think i'll do the finland reading program too, and put closed captioning on any t.v. she watches. though, we don't have cable so that might not work.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudoMom Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Phonics Pathways is for use with all ages, including adults. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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