[senco-forum] any advice please

I expect you've got it sorted...

Thanks Biff

I reckon to try to keep myself well up to date but I am receiving a lot of 
information on some things that I have just never heard of.  Have a lot of 
investigating to do for me initially and then with him to see what he thinks 
would be the most helpful stuff.

His reading isn't that bad - doesn't like it much though - can read Horrid 
Henry stuff by himself - what he likes to listen to on CD is fantasy - 
Eragon - Lord of the Rings - Harry Potter - Trudy Canavan - Across the 
Nightingale floor and stuff like that.  He reads most with my son - as they 
are all Warhammer addicts and you have to know the stuff from your handbook 
if you are to have a hope of winning!  Guinness book of records is a 
favourite - and the horrid history books - nice short bits and a picture.

However, coming to doing extended reading like those dreadful SATS require 
and he loses the sense as he stops to decode - and his lower school taught 
him the kind of phonics such as muh for M (and they are still doing it - I 
am hearing readers and helping writers who use a totally incorrect lot of 
sounds - what do I do - God only knows when you are there as a volunteer!)

I can see why teachers have thought that he is a middle of the road kind of 
person - I shall have to help him find the tools he needs to develop; the 
skills that will show them what he truly is.

Its a hard old life for him - he has a heart murmur - is colour blind - has 
had a nasty virus years ago that still requires check ups each year - is too 
like his mother to really ever get on with his father - and is attending 
counselling as he has had a spell of threatening to self harm and commit 
suicide!  His younger brother is truly the middle of the road child - 
nothing much phases him except Manchester United losing!

Lovely to hear from you - I hope all is going well for you and yours.

Regards

Ruth

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Biff Crabbe" <ba at biffc.vispa.com>
To: "Ruth Newbury" <rmnewbury at ntlworld.com>
Sent: Friday, February 02, 2007 9:44 PM
Subject: Re: [senco-forum] any advice please

>I expect you've got it sorted...
>
> I use Write Outloud a lot, but not as a main recording device - I find it 
> an
> excellent means of reinforcing sound - letter string correspondence, and
> there's some fun to be had using it on shared basis to record a story, for
> example.  It stops some 'I can't do this so I'll just bung down some 
> letters
> I've seen before' in their tracks.
>
> Part of me still feels intuitively that the missing link with weaker 
> readers
> is actually the link with spelling.  So the last time I had a burst of
> energy (partly for an OU module) I made some simple spelling sheets - each
> based on a single letter string, on a page of pictures illustrating words
> that use the letter string.  Practise recalling diifferent elements - I'll
> explain how I use them.  A work in progress, but I'm happy to send you all
> of these, if you remind me of your snail mail address.
>
> I've also got a couple of similar sheets for memorising the 2, 3 and 7 
> times
> table through association with pictures - needs a bit of explanation,
> definitely a work in progress.
>
> I did see (can't remember / lay hands on the name of the product) a maths
> program which 'exploded' the concepts of the four operations.  It didn't 
> do
> it for me at all, but having looked again I'm still left with the nagging
> feeling that for some dyslexic learners, it might just be the bees knees.
> He (it seems like a one-man show) does a demo CD.  I'll find the 
> reference.
>
> I'm also about to give Power of 2 a try with a Year 8 'not quite got the
> hang of HTU and why it works' lad.  I'll keep you posted!
>
> I've also found two maths programs from an Australian company (EdAlive)
> which have potential, judging from early field trials.  One is Ultimate
> Maths Invaders, which has a very limited classic Space Invaders interface,
> but is mildly addictive and disguises repetition well.  Lots of 
> computation
> topics, lots of levels.  The second is Numbers Up 2 (or 'Baggin the 
> Dragon',
> but I think this sounds like an illegal act).  This gives a range of word,
> number and picture based problems to solve.  Not madly exciting - you
> collect strength and courage, but none of my kids have beaten the computer
> yet.
>
> Best wishes
>
> Biff
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ruth Newbury" <rmnewbury at ntlworld.com>
> To: "1BECTA Senco" <senco-forum at lists.becta.org.uk>
> Sent: Friday, February 02, 2007 1:37 PM
> Subject: [senco-forum] any advice please
>
>
> I now have a final diagnosis regarding my grandson's performance in 
> school.
> (This has been a very expensive proceeding!  I can only advise those of 
> you
> who think teaching is underpaid to retrain as EPs.  You can all then 
> charge
> £425 for a full assessment.  I might add that this is from the best EP 
> that
> I have ever met - and who writes an extremely readable report, that can be
> understood by the uninitiated as well.)
>
> The main areas of concern are his short-term memory, speed of written
> processing, spelling, reading and maths.  Not a lot to work on is there?
>
> He is a year six student, due for SATs in May.  I am now getting all 
> geared
> up for the software I need to buy and equipment I need to get in order to
> get him sorted out.  He is quite a hard-working soul and wants to do well.
> He ought to be at the top set sort of level if you look at his non-verbal
> scores for example but he has a lovely zigzag profile and I am looking for
> ways to work at home to improve on the low level scores which are 
> certainly
> demonstrating areas and hold him back in class when he needs to be able to
> perform independently.
>
> Looking at memory I am about to use Mastering Memory and Time to Revise 
> from
> CALSC - both brilliant pieces of software.  If you have never met either 
> of
> these pieces of software have a look at the site.  Jane Mitchell also
> produces a very nice student diary guide as to how to plan your time too.
>
> I'm about to buy an Alphasmart Neo - which comes with a Kaz keyboarding
> tutor pre-installed.  I'm wondering just what typing programme most of you
> would choose for a boy of this age.  He enjoys computer games involving
> blood and gore or football.  Kewala springs to mind but is there anything
> new out that I haven't met?  As a firm believer in bribery and corruption
> I'm about to offer a cash payment for either grandson who has finished the
> course and can key in without looking at the keyboard by the end of the
> summer term.  He currently has a writing speed of eight words per minute,
> half the expected speed for his age group so keyboarding is probably the
> most essential skill he needs in order to be able to perform and a level
> with his peers.
>
> Wordshark and Numbershark are both on my list as well.  Saw the updated
> versions at BETT and they both look even better than I expected.
>
> Once I can move him onto a computer I shall produce Wordbar (from Crick)
> plus a planning tool.  We've already looked at these and he finds Mind
> Manager the best suited to his style of planning.
>
> Please don't imagine that I'm going to have him working flat out on all
> these every night.  I'm just looking to get ourselves geared up to work in
> stages to make up the deficits as we match up what goes with home work
> (twice a week-one English one maths) and what we can do for fun and what 
> is
> the additional graft!  Keyboarding is going to be the additional graft
> initially - 10 minutes every night.
>
> What I am hoping for is advice from you.  Have I picked the software you
> would choose?  What else might you be doing?
>
> And the diagnosis of dyslexia has proved to be just what he needed.  Until
> the diagnosis he just regarded himself as an inadequate student.  He now
> knows that with help he can do it, and that soon he should be out to do it
> by himself in he works at the right things.
>
> And I can also say that you end up feeling very inadequate as a 
> grandparent
> that you haven't seen that your grandson is dyslexic!  The EP was kind
> enough to say that all the things we have done with him since he was born
> have masked his dyslexia.  Looking at his maths performance I had debated
> about dyscalculia, but because I don't see him work that much I wasn't 
> aware
> of some of his problems.  As a granny I spend more time cooking with him, 
> or
> doing the fun things, than I do with the serious issues of home work!
>
> So any advice will be gratefully received.  I'm an old dog always ready to
> learn new tricks!
>
> Regards
>
>
> Ruth
>
>
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