Re:Autism and Dyslexia/Dyscalculia

[Guest guest]

I am working with a student who has a PDD-NOS diagnosis. He is very

bright, VERY verbal ;-) and has a whole lot of energy. His

comprehension to listening activities is very good, and he has very

good imaginative play skills. I am having trouble teaching him to read

numbers and letters as well as sight words including his name and

words on the Edmark PC program. I am using ITT, 1:1. He is progressing

VERY slowly and inconsistently, and gets frustrated, He is very

motivated to start work and we seem to have paired well. He is on or

level when it comes other math aspects which do not require numbers;

same with reading aspects (such as story comprehension) that do not

require letters/words. He has been working on the same goals for the

past year (rec/exp id letters, own name, numbers)when he was in pre-k

(with a different teacher), I now have him for K. I have been working

with him using Edmark since the summer and he is just starting lesson

17 (my other students all thrive with the program), I am worried that

he may have other needs that I am not see or understand to help him

reach his full potential. I am thinking maybe dyslexia and/or

dyscalculia. Does anyone have insights how I could better help this

student? I am VERY concerned by his lack of progress. Please help.

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Some very simple things you might try are using a " window " cut in a piece of

colored cardboard so that he can focus on one word or set of numbers at a

time. This might help if he does better with single words than sentences or

phrases.

One other low tech thing I do is get a label maker that has a small screen

(Like the Brother p-touch) so that he can see what he is typing on a very

limited screen, and then print it out and stick it on paper for his assignment.

It might be fun for him to type his name that way. You can prompt keys using a

laser pointer or pencil.

Or you could try one of the old Language Master machines, often available on

ebay. You can write and record words, letters or numbers on large cards and

the student identifies them or just puts them in the machine to hear what is

recorded. The card travels right to left so that it goes past his eyes in

the same direction as reading left to right. This can easily be used to

supplement any program you are currently using.

You might also look into Montessori-style exercises such as writing letters

very large in the air, then on a blackboard the same size, then smaller, etc.

Sometimes writing letters and numbers helps kids learn to identify them.

Darla

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