Edmark Reading Program

[Guest guest]

I need to get some advice on teaching my son, with severe expressive and

receptive language disorder, to read. He is 8 and in first grade. The

school is using the Edmark program in a 1:1 setting. This seemed to work

well for a while but he has been struggling alot lately. Because it has

become more difficult, he is very resistant and acting up in school whenever

he has to work on reading. He tends to look quickly at words and focus on a

few letters and then guess (for e.g., Jake will frequently mix up purple and

paper).

They have also added a phonics program (SRA) which is just resisting now

because he is resistant to all reading. (Jake does know the individual

letter sounds - it is putting them together that is tougher for him.)

So I need suggestions on how to teach reading so that it is not such a burden

that it brings out difficult behavior.

What reading programs have you used for children with language difficulties.

BtW, Jake is pretty verbal just quite delayed in his speech. He also has

trouble with language related abstract concepts (big/little, long/short, etc).

Thanks in advance,

Pat

[Guest guest]

I recommend to make reading functional and fun.

1. Teach him to read words of value to him like Video names, food,

animals, colors and other reinforcers

2. Have him match the text word (write it on an index card) to the object

or picture

3. Have him match and read phrases while matching the phrase to the

picture - dig up those old verb cards and make index cards that describe

them like " The girl is eating a cookie. "

4. Write out functional phrases " Come here. " " Stop that " " My

turn " " Help me please "

5. Increase the complexity of the matching like put out a pile of three

green squares and two blue circles and have him build the phrases and

match the words to the objects.

6. Have him build the sentences. I make a sheet of 20 word squares and

have him build sentences like " two big blue elephants " or " I see a boy and

a girl. " I have a big pile of these little colored animal critters and I

put out a pile of them and then a pile of words, he picks out the right

words from the pile and places them in order and then reads them. Giving

my son the power over his materials is effective. He thinks its a puzzle

and he can initate the behavior a little more so than being drilled " What's

that say? "

7. Read Dr. Seuss, Marc Brown, and Hill books

8. Make up your own stories - have him sequence pictures in order and

then apply the sentences to the pictures in the sequence

9. Write out things like " You be a monkey " (fun things) on cards. Turn the

cards over and take turns picking them and telling the other person to do

it " Jump up " , " Sit down " " Go to Sleep "

These are ideas that come to the top of my mind. I'm sure there are many

more fun and functional ways to teach reading. I know its not a program

that you get off the shelf. I too wished for such a product, but my child

resisted these canned programs. So we wing it with lots of homemade

materials.

Here are some pictures of what we do. You'll see an example of matching

phrases to pictures.

http://www.talkingwords.com/TalkingWords/Mini-Books/mini-books.html

You can make this stuff on your own with pictures cut out of magazines and

hand written words.

TalkingWords, Inc.

At 06:06 PM 1/30/02 -0500, pcirincione1661@... wrote:

>I need to get some advice on teaching my son, with severe expressive and

>receptive language disorder, to read. He is 8 and in first grade. The

>school is using the Edmark program in a 1:1 setting. This seemed to work

>well for a while but he has been struggling alot lately. Because it has

>become more difficult, he is very resistant and acting up in school whenever

>he has to work on reading. He tends to look quickly at words and focus on a

>few letters and then guess (for e.g., Jake will frequently mix up purple and

>paper).

>

>They have also added a phonics program (SRA) which is just resisting now

>because he is resistant to all reading. (Jake does know the individual

>letter sounds - it is putting them together that is tougher for him.)

>

>So I need suggestions on how to teach reading so that it is not such a burden

>that it brings out difficult behavior.

>

>What reading programs have you used for children with language difficulties.

>BtW, Jake is pretty verbal just quite delayed in his speech. He also has

>trouble with language related abstract concepts (big/little, long/short, etc).

>

>Thanks in advance,

>

>Pat

>

>

>

>