 MULTI-SENSORY
TEACHING METHOD
Studies from the
National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development have shown that for
children with difficulties learning to read, a multi-sensory
teaching method is the most effective approach. This
is crucial, but what does it mean? Using
a multi-sensory teaching approach means helping a child to learn through more
than one of the senses. Most teaching in schools is done using either sight or
hearing (auditory sensations). The child's sight is used in reading information,
looking at diagrams or pictures, or reading what is on the teacher's board. The
sense of hearing is used in listening to what the teacher says. A child may experience
difficulties with either or both of these senses. The child's vision may be affected
by difficulties with tracking, visual processing or seeing the words become fuzzy
or move around. The child's hearing may be satisfactory on a hearing test, but
auditory memory or auditory processing may be weak.
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continues * * * * * * * * * * * *
TEACHING PHONEMIC AWARENESS
 To
assess the skills needed I do a simple phonic spelling test. Where the group are
found to have similar needs we work together using a range of games and activities.
The children's individual needs are then targeted on their I.E.Ps and worked on
in a one to one situation. The learning objectives are then divided into three
sections; - Learning and saying.
- Identifying
phonemes and spelling.
- Recognising
letters and reading.
To
begin with I ensure the children know all the letter sounds beginning with the
vowels. The children particularly enjoy learning a 'vowel rap'. When they know
it well they are keen to go back to their class and perform it to the rest of
the class. This helps build their self-esteem and confidence; they have learned
something their peers don't know.
We then continue learning individual letter sounds [phonemes] and consonant digraphs.
The children like to use these 'special' words and again take them back to class.
We then play
games listening for phonemes and also their position in the words using a 3-,4-
or 5-phoneme frame, [depending on how many phonemes are in the words.] The children
slide letter cards in and out of the frame. b
a ck  Another
activity that has proved extremely useful particularly when introducing children
to the Ace Dictionary is a phoneme count game. This has helped when listening
for the syllables in words. It makes the children listen carefully to the sounds
and to count, clap or tap them out. When making the sounds of the letters I encourage
the children to hold their faces and feel the shape their mouth is making when
they are saying the sound. They also look at each other to see the shape their
mouths make. This then leads on to using rhythm and rhyme. They like the feel
of the sounds on their tongue.
After
working on a new phoneme we play 'I went to the supermarket ……’
game, which I have made into ‘ I went to Mrs.M's room and found these words
with……. ? …………. phoneme'. The children then
think about and recall the phoneme we have been working on. As we go round the
children must concentrate and listen to each other in case anyone needs any help.
We then progress
to looking for the letters making the sounds in short pieces of text [from a photocopiable
scheme specifically for this purpose] highlighting the words as they find the
letter sound or pattern we are looking for. The reading recovery scheme I use
has texts that are phonically based and we scan the texts/stories to look for
and sound out the phoneme in question. Using a traffic light system and blank
cubes with appropriate phonemes written on them in red, orange and green. We use
2or 3 cubes depending on how many phonemes are in each word. The children roll
the dice and the green lettered cube starts the word, the orange is the middle
and red stops the word. They then have to sound out the phonemes and decide whether
the cubes have made a word or not. Using
magnetic letters on a large magnetic board and digraphs stuck together has also
been a success. The children have learned to listen to the sounds and have realised
that by changing one letter they can make another word. By
Sue Maddox, a student on the Dyslexia
Certificate course.  Extended
'I-spy'
I
decided to make a slightly different 'I Spy' game for my pupil, as she
has a very short attention span and responds better to games with visual clues.
I have made a
set of pictures (I now have about 75 of them!) using the computer, so there are
at least two pictures for each letter of the alphabet. I have laminated these
and cut them out. I
spread out about 6 to 8 of these at a time, on the table in front of the child.
I then show her a letter (one of the plastic ones we use for sequencing the alphabet).
We talk about
what the letter says, what sound it makes, she used to need a lot of support with
this but can now identify each letter sound for herself. Next we look at the pictures,
saying their names as we identify them in turn so she can hear the initial sounds
too, I then ask her if she can find something on the table that begins with the
given letter. We
then set the pictures out underneath the letters as we go. My pupil really loves
this game and she often requests the game as a reward at the end of a lesson.
I make the game
as multisensory as possible, looking, listening, feeling the letter and
writing it, saying the letter sound. Sometimes
she takes it home to play with her Mum and brother and has also played it with
some of the younger children in the class, with my pupil as teacher! All in all
a very successful game. By Sue Shaw,
a student on the Dyslexia
Certificate course.  •
Phonological
Awareness - by William Ellis
• Explicit
or implicit phonics - by Dolores Hiskes
•
The sounds the letters
make (Dyslexia Online Magazine) •
'How
Now Brown Cow' - phoneme awareness activities for collaborative classrooms
- by Patricia J. Edelen-Smith (from LD Online)
• The
Structure of Phonemic Awareness - very thorough overview of the research by
Philip Gough and Kevin Larson, University of Texas at Austin, and Hallie Yopp,
California State University, Fullerton * * * * * * *
* * * * *
OTHER
ARTICLES • Hearing
a Child Read (Dyslexia Online Magazine) •
Confidence building in
class - Building self-confidence is not just an exercise that we can do with
a dyslexic child one to one. It is an element of our day-to-day teaching in the
classroom which benefits the dyslexic children as well as everyone else. Alison
Page describes some of the methods she has used.  •
Bullying
-
Bullying of dyslexic children is very common, and
can seriously affect their self-esteem. Even verbal bullying can have a dreadful
impact, and needs to be dealt with seriously, usually by asking the school to
arrange a mediation meeting between the child who is bullying and the child being
bullied.
 •
Increasing motivation in
class - 'More than
half of the students I work with come from one school in the area. This school
does not seem to operate by using praise or other means of tangible recognition.
The only feedback students receive is grades on papers and tests and report cards.
I was raised in a school
that spent a lot of time praising children and I am now a teacher who strongly
believes in praise as a means of increasing excitement and motivation for learning.'
• Teaching
Methods for Dyslexic Children -
Maria
Filomena Teixeira da Silva outlines her inspirating approach. •
Learning
to Read - Reading to Learn - helping children with learning disabilities to
succeed - Tips for Teachers from the National Center to Improve the Tools of Educators.
 •
Bobbi
Barrows (From LD Online)
Bobbi
Barrows began as an AmeriCorps volunteer. Americorps volunteers work to help teach
children to read, build houses, and respond to natural disasters. Bobbie was one
of only ten national winners from across America to receive the All AmeriCorps
Award at a national ceremony from President Clinton on January 15, 2001. She won
her "Getting Things Done" Award for her efforts in literacy. Bobbi, who has struggled
throughout her life with dyslexia, teaches dyslexic children to read in Mississippi.
Ms. Barrows also began a literacy class for adults using the Texas Scottish Rite
Hospital Literacy Program and she is now attending college to obtain her bachelors
degree in education with a speciality in reading so that she can become a "regular"
classroom teacher. Her story is a tribute to the success individuals with LD can
have and the impact they can make on the lives of others. •
The
Underlining Option - using the personal spelling and usage sheet - by C. Wilson
Anderson (LD Online) • Five
Guidelines for learning to spell, and Six Ways to practice spelling - by Susan
Jones (from LD Online)  •
Classroom
accommodations - a brief, helpful listing from Parent Journal
•
20
ways to make instruction more memorable - by Barbara Fulk (from LD Online) • What
teachers can do about learning disabilities - National Center for Learning
Disabilities • Adjustments
in classroom management - for the LD and ADHD child, by Suzanne Stevens (from
LD Online) • Interventions
for students with learning disabilities - from the National Information Center
for Children and Youth with Disabilities  •
Enabling the dyslexic
student - by Mike Juggins •
Teaching
Students With Learning Disabilities To Use Learning Strategies by Neil Sturomski
•
The
Disorganized Student - by Ken Shore - provides the characteristics of a disorganized
students and lots of ways in which teachers can help (from LD Online).
 •
Homework
How-To's - by Tanis Bryan and Karen Sullivan-Burstein •
'Alligators in the
Sewers' - Responding
to the Mythology of Phonemic Awareness and Phonics by Michael P. Ford
• Emerging
Reading and Word-Identification Skills - phonics and phonemic awareness -
the basic ideas.
 •
When
the chips are down! - strategies for improving children's behavior - with
Richard Lavoie (from LD Online) •
Provision of Extra Support - a
brief case study by Flora Gillis •
Teaching Strategies and Techniques
- lengthy listing of articles
from LD Online. This organization is broad-based, catering for the whole range
of learning difficulties, but some articles are listed which would be helpful
for dyslexic children, e.g. (lower down the page) section B on Teaching Phonological
Awareness and section C on Spelling. •
Many
students with dyslexia have difficulties with orthographic (spelling) skills.
Completing Visual Tracking exercises may help improve these skills. A series of
workbooks which provide significant practice is available at LDLearning.com
 Contributions
• AttackReadSpell
- During 20 years of running a school for dyslexic boys and girls I compiled the
AttackReadSpell programme. It is basic, easily used by teachers, classroom assistants
and parents and IT WORKS! Please look at our web site - www.attackreadspell.co.uk
• Divide
the big word into smaller components and underline each part with different
colored pencils; or replace a difficult (which are difficult for the child) word
with more familiar words, even at the cost of losing out on the meaning of the
sentence to an extent. (Renu, India) | 
