blending sounds

[yawningmonster]

I have written a few times about my ds. He has hf Aspergers. We are waiting for an appointment with a behavioural optomotrist. At a guess he has either dyslexia or dysgraphia or both going on. He is 7.

He has been enjoying Reading Eggs but has suddenly reached the point where he is stuck and frustrated. As far as I can see he has no ability to blend without help. So if I walk him through it CVC ok so what does the first letter say, ok the next one, the last one. Can you put those together...he can do it but he can't do it at all on his own and can only read the words he has actually memorised. He is unable to blend CCVC or CVCC unless I provide the CC sound.

He is very, very resistent to all the games/ sites/ programmes I have invented or shown him. Reading eggs was the only one he engaged with but now he resists that as it is past what he can cope with.

I know I need to go back to basics but he is so anti it all. He says he doesn't want to learn to read and write.

With writing he is able to do initial sounds, write memorised top 100 words (not even close to all of them) and use capitals and full stops correctly. He does not make even a close approximation of a word he doesn't know he just puts the first letter and then follows with random letters. His letter formation is interesting to say the least and letters are irregular sizes, have reversed orientation (lower case s, a, numbers 3, 7.). On a keyboard he mixes d and b, p and q but doesn't do this when writing or reading.

He has excellent fine motor skills, he does alot of drawing, messy play (playdough, gloop, cornflour and water, finger painting) loves to do mazes which he can do with his finger or with a pen, dot to dots, word searches. He also enjoys marble runs very much and a host of others. He seems to have good visual discrimination as he is great at spot the difference, search type books like where's Wally, finding odd one out etc. He is able to copy text fairly well but is fairly slow. We got a pole tennis set for christmas to help him strengthen his wrist muscles and he is really enjoying that and it is also helping with hand/eye coordination

He is behind on all curriculum areas but the most on writing. TBH I think with reading he is much further behind than they think and that he memorises his texts but is unable to actually decode them as he is unable to transfer to an unknown text.

We are a huge literacy family and he has been read to daily since he was born, he also really enjoys audio books and has a host of those. He loves to look at books and study pictures and devise what is going on from them and regularly takes books to bed to pore over.

What else can I do (other than what is already mentioned and awaiting various appointments?)

We have what I consider a good diet and he is on Omega3 and Acidophilus suppliments btw.

Thanks for reading this marathon

.

In some cases, possibly yours although it's difficult to say without knowing your child... there comes a time when you accept that they have weak phonological skills ie they find blending and segmenting incredibly difficult and you have to play to your Childs strengths. So if they have a good memory ( which it sounds like they do) I might controversially suggest that you give decoding a rest for a while and focus on increasing their sight vocabulary.

If you are really not keen on this, you could investigate 'toe by toe' which is a very prescriptive reading intervention, but in my experience most children find it deadly boring ( as do I!)

I hope this helps.... didn't want to read and run!

YM - you are certainly trying a lot, and ruling out certain things.

He obviously has very complex problems so it's really hard o know what to say.

Toe by toe won't be nearly good enough for him. If you want to do a learn to read program with him at home then the only one that I know of that might go at his pace is Bearing Away

Thing is, if he's so resistant to working with you I don't know how you'll get him to do it. Could you hire a teenager to work with him every day? He only needs to be doing 10 minutes a day. I don't think more than that will help at this stage.

Bearing away is fantastic. But getting him to do it will be the hard thing.

And you need to continue to work out what's causing his learning difficulties and what you can do about them.

Did you say you were in Wellington?

Have you contacted integrated learning therapy?

They look similar to the type of program's I've had success with.

We are in Quake City (CHCH) but the site looks very interesting. We have been recommended to go to the Hagley Diagnosis Centre (at least I think that is what is called) but we are waiting until we get the behavioural optomotrist, the ot, and an audiology assessments.

Sounds to me like you're doing everything in the right order.

I'm making real progress now - but it has taken years to get here.

You will get there. I know you will you. just need lots of strength to keep you going in the right direction.

Put integrated learning therapy on your very long to do list and stay determined.

thanks Indigo, I am sure we can manage a trip to Wellington at some stage to check it out more. It is breaking my heart because I think he has so much potential but the school have about given up on him, they just don't have a clue how to teach him.

btw thanks for answering Katy. We do encourage him to use his success methods as well such as memorising but would like him to have phonics as a fall back so that when confronted with unknown text he will have the skills to use phonics on those words he hasn't got in his sight memory if that makes sense. I also think that memorisation is exhausting for him and that he gets panicky when his memory starts to fail him which is what I think is happening in Reading Eggs...suddenly there is just too much to remember.

There's also fast forword which I haven't tried but which I'd put on your very long to do list.

You are right that school don't have a clue how to teach him. It's not their fault, they're just not trained in complex stuff like this.

So you'll just have to work it out for them. :)

Have you tried any internet resources? Mr Thorne does Phonics is a fab site with lots of songs, videos and activities for all levels of phonics.

looks like a trip to Auckland added to the list for the fast forward but again looks interesting and willing to add anything to the arsenal in order to help him.
Brigit thanks have tried several, several online resources sites and the only one he took to was reading eggs but that has come to an end for him for now but I appreciate your input.

Read the brain food plan

I have had amazing results with it - by doing all of it: diet, vitamins and exercises.

It really is my top recommendation to you - but I can't find any therapists in NZ who do it.

Still, you should be able to get massive improvements just by following the book.

thanks Indigo I will try to source it through the library and if will order through Fishpond or Amazon.

have you any knowledge of a book called Disconnected Kids. If so would you recommend it. It looks quite interesting and worth investigating.

We do encourage him to use his success methods as well such as memorising but would like him to have phonics as a fall back so that when confronted with unknown text he will have the skills to use phonics on those words he hasn't got in his sight memory if that makes sense. I also think that memorisation is exhausting for him and that he gets panicky when his memory starts to fail him which is what I think is happening in Reading Eggs..

Lots going on here, as everyone says!

I'm not sure that learning whole words by 'sight memory' is the way to go in view of you saying this:he gets panicky when his memory starts to fail him If he can't memorise some 160ish letter/sound correspondences how on earth is he going to memorise the thousands of whole words he would need for reading competence?

As you appear to live in NZ, I would suggest that you have a look at this website www.astepatatime.co.nz/ and contact the owner. She would be very supportive and also may well be able to put you in touch with a good tutor. I am suggesting a tutor as your ds may respond much better to some one other than you...

I'd also suggest that you have a look at these little books, which provide lots of phonics practice and overlearning but always in the context of engaging stories www.piperbooks.co.uk

And, for lots of very helpful information about phonics and phonics teaching (plus a very good, cheap, programme if you were interested) www.phonicsinternational.com

There is nothing at all wrong with the Dancing Bears programme which IB recommends, I just feel that you might need some support with it.

Like IB, I think that Toe by Toe probably isn't suitable for your ds

YM - yes I like and recommend disconnected kids.

Hi yawningmonster,
Here's my advice for what to do with your son.
If he can't blend three-sound words without help, get hold of a whiteboard or plain piece of paper, write the first word ?sat? on the whiteboard and say, ?We?re going to read a word with three sounds in it. I want you to say the sounds and listen for the word.?
Now, guide him with your finger to say ?s? ?a? ?t? and he should be able to hear ?sat?. It is important to use a sound at the beginning of the word that is a continuant ? a sound you can hang on to and extend so that he can really hear it.
If he finds this difficult, control the exercise with your finger. Say to him, ?I want you to say the sounds until my finger moves on to the next sound.? Now, under the , let your finger linger so that he is saying ?sssss?. Continue through the word.
You could also get him to run his finger under the word, getting you to say the sounds until his finger moves on. (Children do enjoy having this power over adults!) However, the point you?re making is that if you say sounds (precisely ? ?s? not ?suh?), you can hear what the word is.
After he?s read ?sat?, make him write it and say the sounds as he writes. When he?s written it, he needs to read it back: ?s? ?a? ?t?, ?sat?.
When you?ve practised with lots of words beginning with continuants (?f?, ?l?, ?m?, ?n?, and so on), practise with words beinning with non-continuants, such as ?b?, ?t?, etc).
After that, move on to CVCC words like ?film?, ?nest?, ?wept?. When he?s proficient (80% + successful), go on to CCVC words like ?swim?, ?frog?, ?slug? and so on. Notice that all of these words contain sounds that you can hand on to. This should make it easy for him to hear what the word is.
After reading a word, always make him write, saying the sounds separately, before reading it back at the end.