Re: Teaching Reading (Edith)

[Guest guest]

Edie,

I have two boys with (and three other NT kids). I don't have any

experience with dyslexia, so I'm not sure if my ideas will help you. They

are geared at the kindergarten level, though so maybe they could help.

I love to have the kids learn by having lots of fun. I am a big proponent

of giving kids a strong phonics base... phonics are something schools seem

to wax and wane about.

I have used " Hooked on Phonics " (checked it out of the library until I was

able to buy it second hand). I used it with my daughter and it did the

trick and presented a very strong phonics base. It also has some little

tricks to help with figuring out words with certain letter combinations.

The problem with it is that it is dull. My version is an older one, so I

can't speak for the newer ones with all of the bells and whistles. I bribed

my daughter through " Hooked on Phonics " and decided I'd like for my next

child to have more fun.

Enter Leapfrog.

My next younger child had lost the ability to speak and walk at one point

(due to severe seizures and ). The only thing he found comforting was

to sit in someone's lap and be read to. I decided that I was going to do my

best to get him reading as well as I could because I thought he would love

to be able to read.

At Christmas 2004 he got three DVDs. Each one built on the skills acquired

in the previous video. The first was " Leap Frog - Letter Factory " . The

second was " Leap Frog - Talking Words Factory " . The third was " Leap Frog -

Talking Words Factory 2 - Code Word Caper " . These are the best videos I

have ever seen to teach letter sounds. They are cartoons and this year the

kindergarten teacher was even using the first one ( " Letter Factory " ) in the

classroom. My older kids liked to watch them, too, so they must not have

considered them too babyish.

My son LOVES these videos. I didn't let him see them all at once... I let

him watch the first one repeatedly (not more than once a day... and that was

all of his TV for the day) until he was really solid on it, then moved on.

He's really only beginning to grasp the most complex one now. When he first

started watching the first video, in the space of one month he learned all

of the letter sounds and knew ALL of his upper and lower case letters. His

preschool teachers were beside themselves with excitement!

The next spring for his birthday we gave him a handheld " Leapster " . It has

really been a great tool. Actually, we could have gotten the above videos

for the Leapster, which I think he would love, but at the point when he was

ready for the videos his fine motor skills were so nonexistent that we

couldn't even consider that.

Along with the games that came pre-programmed into the Leapster, he has the

Kindergarten cartridge, the the Tank Engine cartridge and the " Mr.

Pencil Learn to Draw and Write " cartridge. He is now the best reader in his

regular kindergarten class, which is nothing short of a miracle. He loves

to read and will sit and read for hours.

I did use " Hooked on Phonics " a little bit with my son, but the majority of

what he learned came from watching the videos and applying what he had

learned. We did a lot of playing with letter magnets, making letters out of

playdough, writing letters in rice, and the like. He also had a magic slate

that he loved to try to write on 'til he left it in the hot car one day and

it sort of melted. I replaced it with a cheap " magna doodle " type thing

from Big Lots and he loves it just as much.

The experience of teaching my son to read was so much fun for him that it

was almost no work at all.

A plus... his determination to write and play his Leapster has pushed him in

the area of motor skills and he is doing really well in that area now...

almost caught up to age level. Last year a this time he had just learned to

draw a straight line.

Another plus... the other day the kindergarten teacher sent home a note that

the children were going to begin trying to learn to tell time. I moaned and

dreaded working on that. Then my son brought home his first " time " paper

and he had a perfect score. I asked him how he knew how to tell time and he

said he learned it on his Leapster!

I wish that getting you little guy reading would be as easy and fun for him

as it was for us. Each of our kids is different, though and what works

wonders for one may not be the answer for another. You might want to check

your local library to see if they have the " Letter Factory " video and see if

he likes it. They also sell it at WalMart, on Amazon.com etc.

Best of luck.

Caroline

> From: Edith Brickman <bedith@...>

> Reply-< >

> Date: Sat, 18 Mar 2006 10:16:37 -0800 (Pacific Standard Time)

> < >

> Subject: Re: Digest Number 2692

>

> To Caroline,

>

> Tristan is reading at about 1st grade level.

>

> Edie

[Guest guest]

Sorry,

Edie... not Edith

I'm losing it...

Caroline

[Guest guest]

The best is mood Bell. It's kind of expensive,

but I thought it was worth every penny.