Love Learning

Shouting Into His Good Ear

Several years ago, we had Spanish-speaking friends visiting in our home. While we chatted, my husband, who doesn’t speak Spanish, started making friends with their six-year-old son. I looked over and saw Jaime say something in Spanish, which of course, my husband did not understand. Jaime looked expectantly for a second, then leaned in close to my husband’s OTHER ear and repeated his statement very loudly, not realizing that what he was facing was a language barrier, not a hearing impairment.

I’ve recalled that moment so often throughout the years. Each time a child is re-taught a concept when he didn’t get it the first time, I think of Jaime shouting in my husband’s other ear thinking that this time, with a new ear and louder volume, he would be heard. When we teach a failing child in the same way we taught when first she failed, we are in essence shouting in the child’s “good ear.”

If the child fails a second time, he will inevitably experience a sense of inadequacy which will contribute greatly to yet another failure. The spiral of failure will deepen because of the huge impact a negative emotional state has on a child’s ability to think, learn, and remember.

What I have seen happen after repeated failure is that the child will begin to do things that will only make for more problems. She might act out, mouth off, quit, slump, glaze over, rebel, or any number of other tactics to avoid having to feel the pain of failure.

Articles in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal cited falling SAT reading scores this year, in spite of the efforts of No Child Left Behind. Shortly after reading those articles, the phone rang. A mother of a 7 year old was calling to discuss our Easy-For-Me® Reading Program. She has a 7 year old who is struggling with dyslexia, who, because of repeated failure, had gone from loving to hating books. This mother had searched endlessly for a program that would approach teaching of reading in a way that was different from traditional approaches. She found many, many programs available, but all the ones she looked at were basically the same…until she found the Easy-For-Me® program through an online search.

What sets the Easy-For-Me® approach apart (and in fact, all the Child1st learning resources) is that we are NOT traditional. We teach phonics explicitly, similar to the Orton Gillingham approach, but we embed visuals and movement in every part of the learning. We get the child reading words almost immediately. We use multiple modalities so that there are multiple regions of the brain being stimulated. We combine right and left brain approaches to activate both hemispheres of the brain. As a result, children who have been experiencing a voice shouting loudly in their good ear will finally encounter something which they can understand and which will bring them out of the spiral of failure and discouragement in which they have been lost.

Using Movement in Learning

When I was in graduate school, excited to learn how to teach in a way that would result in a better learning rate for children, I kept hearing people talk about incorporating movement in learning activities in order to benefit tactile and kinesthetic learners. I was curious about that, so I kept my eyes and ears open to see what I could learn.

Paper Feet Hop

One cute activity I came across was a set of footprints cut out of colored paper, each one containing a sight word written with magic marker. The activity was fun for the children because the footprints were taped to the floor of a long hallway and the children hopped on each footprint as they read the word printed on the paper. I was curious at the time how hopping on the paper footprints would help the child learn the words more readily and wondered if possibly because the activity itself was fun, it engaged the learner and made him more motivated to learn his sight words. I can’t really say for sure. My lingering question had to do with the fact that if the movement in the activity was supposed to facilitate learning, if the word on each footprint was different, yet the movements were all similar hops, how was the movement tied to learning? I’ve thought about this a lot over the years and what I did was try and come up with movements that mimicked the meaning of the word.

Lean to the Right

1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20

I first started to pay attention to movement years ago while I was teaching a group of preschoolers. We had written the numbers 1-20 on a chart with four rows of five numbers. During circle time, children would take turns pointing to each number as they led the rest of the children in counting. One morning, Peter’s mother informed me that Peter had suddenly begun to count by fives and she was surprised, and quite frankly, really pleased. She wanted to know if we’d been working on counting by fives. I said no we hadn’t.

Curious, I began to watch Peter when he was leading the counting exercise. It happened that he would track to the right, pointing to 1, 2, 3, and 4, and when he got to 5, he would swing his body back to the left to quickly point to the 6. He moved the same way when he reached 10. I began to suspect that the swinging motion to the left became associated in Peter’s mind and body with the numbers 5, 10, 15, and 20.

Lame Man March

To try out the theory of movement prompting learning, when it was time to start learning to count by 2’s, we formed a line and marched as we chanted our numbers. We would lean heavily to the right each time we said an even number. “One, TWO, three, FOUR, five, SIX,” etc. Next, we repeated the same march, but we whispered the odd numbers and spoke the even numbers loudly while leaning heavily to the right. Finally, we just thought the odd numbers, but continued to lean and say the even numbers out loud. So we counted on hearing the even numbers at the same time our body leaned into the even numbers as a means of learning to count by twos.

Moves That Prompt Recall

A young friend of mine was sad that I was leaving his home after a visit. I assured him we could talk on the phone after I got home. He immediately asked for my phone number. “Hold on!” he shouted as he ran into the kitchen. “I need to punch it in.” I was amused to see him key my phone number on the microwave key pad. Then he announced, “Now I will never forget it!” And he didn’t forget!

A first grader I worked with several years ago had a really hard time remembering how to form an M. He always confused it with a W. We established that the M looked like MMmmmountains, and to this visual reference we added a motion of hands together and down, while elbows arch high up like mountain peaks. Whenever Joel came to that troublesome letter, if he did his mirroring motion, he always made the correct sound!

It’s true that some children don’t seem to rely much on movement that mimics the concept that is being taught; other kids, however, seem to be unable to learn without mirroring their learning with their bodies. For these children, any time we spend thinking up accompanying movements to learning is so worth the time investment!

The Plastic Brain

One afternoon at a high school where I was teaching, I saw a student speed out of the parking lot going much too fast. Just blocks away, she lost control of her car. It flipped and crashed, and she was terribly injured. For many weeks we waited to hear that she had emerged from the coma, and one day that news came. But like often happens in similar accidents, the girl faced a life that was changed forever. She had sustained serious brain injuries, and we were told she would be in therapy for years.

One tiny ray of hope in tragic situations like these is that while a brain injury can result in loss of movement or capacity, our brains can often find alternate ways of functioning when one area is damaged.

The Brain and Plasticity

I came across an article the other day entitled “Scientists Study the Way the Brain Can Heal Itself.” (http://www.journalstar.com/lifestyles/health-med-fit/article_2ae1fa36-dbcd-5831-8bec-f46778086c67.html) The author speaks about the plasticity of the brain: “Plasticity means an injured brain can reroute signals through existing pathways and grow new connections between cells. It means the mind in some cases, and given the right prompting can begin to heal itself.”  

"For years what we have taught people is if you had right-sided weakness, just learn to write with your left hand," says Dr. Ross Zafonte, director of rehabilitation at the University of Pittsburgh. "This was probably the wrong thing to be teaching, because the brain is plastic [so] use facilitates recovery."

In a technique pioneered in stroke victims, patients struggle to use hands rendered nearly useless by brain damage. Many of the stroke patients show marked improvement after just a few weeks, and scans show increased activity in brain regions surrounding areas affected by the stroke.

Researchers believe the physical act of trying to use the weakened limbs can create new connections between existing cells. The training also may prompt the brain to recruit previously unused cells and pathways, a process neuroscientists call "unmasking."

"They're there already!" Bach-y-Rita [Dr. Paul Bach-y-Rita, a University of Wisconsin rehabilitation specialist] says of the pathways. "The brain is incredibly plastic, but it doesn't happen unless you demand it."

Plasticity and Learning Disabilities

Having taught in schools for several years, I have become very sensitive about the topic of learning disability, about how frequently children are given a label that implies that their brains are not functioning properly.  I’ve worked mostly with children who have been identified as struggling with learning in some way, and while I am passionate about not labeling children, I also understand that there can be serious blocks to learning and functioning for which there are no easy answers. The last thing I would want to do is yell “try harder!” to a parent who already feels that they have knocked on every door and asked every question and tried every known remedy.

On the other hand, I have personally seen too many cases in which children have labels heaped on them – multiple labels – and yet we discovered ways to facilitate learning for them. In those cases, I do  yell, “Try Harder!” And it is children like these that concern me right now.

One student whom I will never forget had the dubious distinction of having the most labels of any child in our school. To put this into perspective, our school was in a very depressed area, and we had multiple classrooms for each grade level. We also had a high number of failing students. So for Rob to have the highest number of labels was quite a distinction indeed. There were some things I did to help Rob, one being keeping him right under my nose when we had instructional time so I could track how he was doing. Another strategy that proved powerful for Rob was using finger-mapping as we studied the structure of words. This simple strategy apparently provided the missing piece in Rob’s understanding because by November, when he was tested (DIBELS), Rob was on grade level for reading. The next student study meeting in which Rob was discussed proved very interesting. Consternation abounded over the fact that while his IEP had recently been updated to reflect his myriad disabilities, he was now testing normal--it  threw a huge spanner into the works.

This experience with Rob and many others like it strengthens my resolve to keep getting the message out by any means possible: we simply must not give up on our children. While we cannot be guaranteed perfect restoration and healing, children do have an amazing capacity to learn and grow, many times far beyond what we would have believed possible. It makes it easier to hold on to hope and to move forward, knowing that we have such an amazing ally in the plastic brain which loves to learn and improve as it is used.

I do feel hopeful. When I read that scientists and doctors are beginning to strive for increased function in cases that seemed hopeless, it energizes me to keep on looking for more ways to stimulate the brain to learn. One thing we just can’t afford to do is stick to the status quo.

When Normal Doesn't Work

I believe that there are no bad brains, no broken children who must be fixed in order to fit in with their peers or to perform the way we adults believe they should perform.  I also believe that there are ineffective teaching strategies that engage a limited number of children and leave gaps in understanding for many others who learn from a different point of strength. 

If your child is struggling or simply not enjoying school, instead of teaching in traditional ways, try a multisensory teaching method, which simultaneously engages all of the senses.  By incorporating specific elements in your teaching approach, you can ensure that each child will learn and that you can successfully teach multiple children at once.  Multisensory teaching also creates a richer learning experience, benefiting even those who can learn in more traditionally accepted ways. 

These are key elements in a multisensory approach when teaching new material:

Hands on.  Children who best learn this way need to physically interact with materials; it will not be enough to simply hear something in order to remember it.  They may physically build an item, or come up with their own way to find a solution to a problem. After they have worked out their learning, asking them to talk about what they did will deepen their understanding and their ability to remember the lesson.

Visual.  Showing the learning in a picture (chart, graph, word map, etc) will enable children who learn visually to have a way to remember it.  They may take a mental picture of the image you give them and then mentally see this when they encounter the idea in the future. (Research tells us that children from ages 4-7 will learn most effectively through these key elements).

Movement.  Children who best learn through movement need to use motions that mimic the shape of learning.  For example, children who are learning their alphabet may be helped by making the shape of the letters with their whole bodies while saying the sound of the letter.

Patterns.  These occur both in math and in reading.  Children who learn by patterns need to have information presented in groups and these patterns pointed out.  For example, when working with spelling lists, it may help to group words like play, say, may etc. together. An effective math pattern is 0+7=7, 1+6=7, 2+5=7, 3+4=7.

Stories.  By embedding rhyme and rhythm into stories which give a reason for why something is the way it is, children who best learn through stories will have a way to remember.  When later asked to recall the piece of information, they may remember the story complete with the characters. An example is the letter A. We can say it is like an anthill (which has the same shape) and that a bug got tired while trying to climb up the side so tunneled straight through instead, forming the cross bar on the A.

Emotions.  Humor and attractive visuals are two of the ways to engage a child in the learning process.  Telling a funny story about what they are learning will make the child want to learn.

After completing a multisensory lesson, ask your children “How did you remember that?” Talking about it will help you to better understand your children and know how to tailor future teaching. Realize that each child may learn in a combination of ways.  Making children verbalize the way they remember also helps them understand themselves, allowing for future success in learning while boosting their confidence. 

Lesson plans using the multisensory approach are available in the Easy-For-Me® reading curriculum, available by visiting www.child-1st.com.

Autism & Asperger's

How can I help my autistic child learn to read?
Children with autism and Asperger's need to be purposefully taught in areas in which they are less strong, using visuals as often as possible. They need highly structured learning experiences, and as they tend to think in pictures, need plentiful visuals and concrete objects used in their learning. 

RECOMMENDATIONS:
■ Provide highly-structured environment in which the child's brain is connecting to his world
■ Specifically teach manners, social relationships in a structured setting (ex: taking turns, etc.)
■ Teach the child to take turns in speaking or playing in a game by using visual helps (such as a "turn" card which each child will hold when it is his turn to speak or play)
■ Use visuals attached to words so the child can learn to read them
■ Teach reading concepts using visual reminders for phonics rules
■ Avoid wordy directives as the child may not be able to retain it all
■ Use visuals or concrete objects to teach reading and math
■ In teaching skills, actually move the child's body through the process, whether tying his shoes or
   any other physical skill
■ Put sequences of directions in pictorial form on paper (such as tasks to do to get ready for bed)
■ Use the topics of high interest for teaching (ex: if he likes dinosaurs, use them for math problems)
■ If the child is good at drawing, have him use that gift in his learning by asking him to stylize his
    own sight words

Go to our website, www.child-1st.com, in order to learn more about mulitsensory products that will make learning easier for your child.