Ten General Principles of Instruction for Teachers to Help Kids with Learning Issues
Help kids experience success!
Involve the student – students need to be involved and actively engaged in their learning. Teachers need to discuss each aspect of the program with the child. Goals that are set together are far more effective than those set by the teacher. Talk with the student about the approach to learning they will take and ask for feedback. Teachers need to ask the student how they are feeling about the process and understand what is working and what needs adjustment.
Use multi-sensory teaching methods – students need to see, hear, say and write what they are learning! Teachers need to be as creative as possible.
Teach students to use logic rather than rote memory – students can learn about spelling rules rather than only relying on their memories. In maths, teach students about logic.
Present materials sequentially – use the metaphor of building a house and work slowly and sequentially.
Present material in small units – don’t overload the student. They need small manageable chunks of information.
Practice, practice, practice and review – always spend part of the lesson reviewing what was learned and review the previous lesson at the start of each lesson.
Help students organise time and space – use a diary or calendar to assist in planning and always have spare pens and pencils ready to give to students.
Individualised instruction – where possible, one-on-one time is highly beneficial.
Always be aware of the emotional climate – if a student is really struggling and it is affecting their self esteem and mood, be prepared to switch to something else; preferably something the student is really good at!
Laugh a lot – learning needs to be fun, especially if you want to convert students into lifelong learners.
Phonemic awareness is the understanding that syllables and spoken words are made up of specific speech sounds. It is possible to “tease out”, isolate or “sound out” these sounds in order to help a child spell or read.
Help your child develop good reading skills
It is well know that phonemic awareness is a powerful predictor of success in learning to read. Furthermore, children who are able to sound out and isolate specific sounds in words are usually better at spelling.
When children struggle to hear or manipulate sounds in spoken words, they have trouble with decoding (the process of transforming information from one format into another; e.g. letter combinations to words while reading).
Unfortunately many people in the past were taught the whole language approach to reading. (Also known as “look-say” or “sight” reading.) In this approach children were taught to memorise whole words rather than sound them out. This has caused many issues with children learning to read.
Research has demonstrated that explicit training in phonemic awareness benefits all readers. Parents often do a great job at teaching their children the symbols (A, B, C, etc.) or even some whole words, but they often miss important steps in developing phonemic awareness.
What can you to improve phonemic awareness in your child?
You can teach your child to:
Hear rhyme by singing rhyming songs, reading books that rhyme (Dr Seuss is wonderful!) and generate their own rhymes.
Engage in alliterative language play by listening for, and generating, words that begin with the same initial sounds. E.g., “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.”
Identify ending phonemes that are the same.
Break words into syllables. E.g. clapping or tapping out syllables.
Blend phonemes to make words. E.g. what word does “c” or “at” make?
Segment words into phonemes.
Make new words by substituting one phoneme for another.
Track print when beginning to read.
Sound out unknown or new words.
The more phonemic awareness we can develop in our children the better equipped they will be to learn reading, spelling and writing.
Reference:
Harwell, J, M. (2001). Complete learning disabilities handbook. John Wiley & Sons: San Francisco
Watch this video and see how these amazing dolphins have developed a new way to catch fish!
Dolphins learn new ways to thrive and survive and so can children with learning disabilities. Children can also adapt to their environment if they are given the right resources and skills.
Davis (1997), talks about dyslexia as a ‘gift’ -- a natural ability or talent. He lists several characteristics and abilities that most dyslexics or students with learning disabilities share:
Using the brain’s ability to alter and create perceptions
Being highly aware of the environment
Being more curious than average
Thinking in pictures rather than words (a much faster process)
Being able to think and perceive multi-dimensionally (using all the senses)
Being able to experience thought as reality
Vivid imagination
Through assessment, I often find that children who struggle with a particular cognitive function tend to excel in other areas.
This can be particularly frustrating for parents -- watching their child struggle to read, when they know they are talented in other areas.
Suffering from dyslexia, a developmental delay or a learning disability does not necessarily have to hold your child back.
Like the dolphins who adapted to their environment and invented a new way to round up fish, a young person can effectively learn to adapt, and even thrive, in the classroom.
Reference: Davis, R, D. (1997). The Gift of Dyslexia. Ability Workshop Press: New York
