[senco-forum] Developing listening skills in secondary pupils- Eddie's CD

I'm sorry Eddie, I know your intentions are well meant but I have real  
problems with the effectiveness of this task.

If the child has a good visual memory then the listening would be a  
secondary cause of their being able to take down the dication...they will have  seen 
the passage and have had the difficult words presented to them prior to  
dictation. No wonder they might show success at the task, especially if they can  
take as long as they like to do it!

"This provides pupils with a prior additional and complete auditory  
familiarity
with the dictation piece. Pupil can opt to have a second  listening to this
recital."

If the same child were given a piece of dictation in the real world, a real  
mainstream classroom, there would be no prior familiarity, no pre-learning, 
they  would not have been given the piece beforehand and the results would be 
very  different. This activity does not prepare children to really listen or 
take down  unseen and unheard dicatation.It gives them the false impression that  
they could do so. Also they will not be allowed to transcribe dicatation in  
class at their own pace but at the pace of the teacher.

With a large amount of such very visual reinforcement, please explain how  
does this aids listening, which seems to be a minimal consideration?  

Multi-sensory  reinforcement does not aid a defiicit in one modality if you 
are remediating  that modality -you have to work on that modality in isolation 
or it just  confuses the issue. If a child attempting this has a visual 
deficit, the words  will be no aid, if they have an additionall listening deficit 
which is presumed  for them to be attempting this "listening" remediation in the 
first place, they  will be doubly disadvantaged. And if they have memory 
problems or writing  difficulties...well it speaks for itself. It attempts to do 
to much with  children that have problems in too many areas and teaches them 
very  little.

Your program is very useful in teaching children how  to write down what they 
have already seen, heard and are familiar with, which  can aid them in 
learning how to take dication in principle for those that are  unfamiliar with it 
and have no learning difficulties to overcome, but which in  real terms means 
very little because real life doesn't work like  that. 

If children have pre-learned material they will  succeed better - this is a 
fact and something that children need in mainstream.  Take that away and the 
children will fare no better than if they had never  attempted the program.

It is also a program which needs no adult intervention, very useful when  you 
want to sit a child in front of a PC while you get on with something else,  
no wonder teachers will jump at it...it's so much easier than acutally working  
with a child.

Best wishes,
Aly

Chair Auditory  Processing Disorder in the UK/APDUK

www.lacewingmultimedia.com/APD.htm 
www.apduk.org