Monday, November 3, 2008

Telling a story

Telling a story in the right order or explaining what happened can cause problems.
students are often unaware of the need to sketch out a rough outline of an essay before actually writing it. This can look like this:
1. Introduction - how we decided to go on a trip.
2. What we took with us.
3. Journey to the mountains.
4. Setting up camp by a lake.
5. Getting lost on the first day.
6. Two million mosquitoes at night!
7. Cooking a meal on the camp fire.
8. Singing songs on our journey home.
9. Conclusion - like to go again, but with a mosquito net!
(ref: http://www.dyslexia-parent.com/mag40.html)

With this plan on a sheet of paper, a child can then write a paragraph about each part of the story, confident in the knowledge that each section of the story will be in the right order.

Writing problems

Some children face difficulty in writing. esp. with dyslexic children. They have difficulty in memorizing the sequence of movements which make up the writing of each letter. This can lead to uneven handwriting, and, if severe, may be described as 'dysgraphia'.
They may also find it hard to remember which way round certain letters go (like b/d, 9/p, p/q. c, z, j, g, and others).
Some of the suggested approaches:
a. to ignore the poor spelling and handwriting, and to grade on the content rather than the handwriting.
b.teach them cursive writing
c.allow to do homework assignments on a word processor at home, and to bring in the print-out.

Teaching children to read and spell

The most valuable aid to reading and spelling is to learn the sounds the letters make. Your child is able to work out each word from the sound made by each individual letter: for example 'b - a - t' runs together to make 'bat'. Most three-letter words can be worked out this way - log, bus, hit, rat, leg, and so on - if you learn the sounds. However, there are exceptions - the, are, was and others which have to be remembered on their own as a whole word.

Knowing the sounds of the 26 letters of the alphabet is the first milestone for a child.

Remember to use the sound and not the name of the letter: -
'apple' begins with 'a'.'burger' begins with 'b'.'cat' begins with 'c'.. . . and so on down to 'z'. ('x' is a difficult sound, like 'ks' at the end of 'box' and 'fox'.)

If your child is reading a book with you, the single sounds they have learned will sometimes help them with the first sound of a word.

Reading books is for pleasure, and you can easily kill this if you stop and make your child say the sounds of each letter. Many parents are unsure about this, and the Golden Rule when reading with your child is to tell them the words they do not know straight away. This will increase the enjoyment of the story for you both, and make your child want to read with you again.