[senco-forum] Dyslexia assessments

I think that all those activities that we do with children - and the
computer programmes that are around - are there to help engage children in
the activity - to focus on exactly what they have to do - and hopefully for
it to become a habit.  The more you do it - the easier it tends to become -
because of repetition - gradual steps etc etc etc.

Sometimes we are lucky enough to be able to make the activity enticing - so
that it has child appeal - sometimes we have to be able to sell the hard
graft approach.

What I do know is that my "hard grafters" - who kept on keeping on at it -
experienced more and more success. 

And the more options you can give them to try - the better able they are to
find a way to use their "memory" to the best effect.

And I have a great deal of time for all CALSC materials - Mastering Memory -
and Time to Revise - smashing

Regards

Ruth

-----Original Message-----
From: senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk
[mailto:senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk] On Behalf Of
Mmilesep at aol.com
Sent: 28 June 2007 21:21
To: senco-forum at lists.becta.org.uk
Subject: Re: [senco-forum] Dyslexia assessments

In a message dated 28/06/2007 20:57:05 GMT Daylight Time,  
mary.kelly4 at ntlworld.com writes:

The  children
absolutely love the activities, but how can I tell if I'm doing  any good?

You could ask the children. And you could ask those around them.

I believe that memory capacity is finite and that what can be done is to  
improve its efficiency. All the activities you described Mary will do this.
as  
for a more objective evaluation - do they remember more, are they more
focused, 
 do other key adults notice any changes..?

I did assess auditory memory skill changes in my research whilst developing

Acceleread Accelewrite (royalties interest declared). Whilst on standardised

tests auditory memory showed an average 24 month increase after 6 hours work

spread over 4 weeks the best feed back was qualitative. And the best feed
back 
 from a youngster's teacher was, "What have you done to this child? They
seem 
to  be listening better, show more interest in books and and are altogether 
more  aware.

Part of me thinks that certain interventions just teach children to listen  
again and that the problem is a cultural shift towards ignorantly
encouraging  
children to be passive listeners - ignorance being lack of awareness of the

effect of the domestic regime.

 Just a few thoughts

Martin