Love will never reject others. It is the first to encourage and the last to condemn.

Nine Ways to Help A Child Learn To Read

The single most important thing that adults can do to help toddlers and preschoolers gain the knowledge they need to succeed in reading is to read aloud to them – beginning early.

The ability to read and understand textual material enables kids to be better students, thereby leading to better job opportunities and a lifetime of enjoyment.

Below are nine ways parents & grandparents can help toddlers and preschoolers learn to read.

• Read aloud to your child every day. From birth to six months, your baby probably won't understand what you're reading, but that's okay. You can familiarize her with the sound of your voice and acclimate her to seeing and touching books.

• To start out, use board books without words or just a few words. Point to the colors and the pictures and say their names. Simple books can teach your child things that will later help her learn to read. For example, she will learn about the structure of language – that there are spaces between the words and that the print goes from left to right.

• Tell stories. Encourage your child to ask questions and talk about the story. Ask her to predict what will come next. Point to things in books that she can relate to in her own life: "Look at the picture of the penguin. Do you remember the penguin we saw at the zoo?"

• Look for reading programs. If you aren’t a good reader, programs in your community like Even Start can provide opportunities for you to improve your own reading and to read with your child. Friends and relatives can also read to your child, and senior citizen volunteers are available in many communities to do the same.

• Buy a children’s dictionary. Look for one that has pictures next to the words. Then start the “let's look it up” habit.

• Make writing materials, like pencils, crayons and markers, available.

• Watch educational TV and videos. Programs such as Sesame Street and Blue’s Clues help your child learn the alphabet and the sounds they represent.

• Visit the library often. Begin making weekly trips to the library when your child is very young. See that she gets her own library card as soon as possible. Many libraries issue cards to children as soon as they can print their names (you’ll have to countersign for them.)

• Read yourself. What you do sets an example for your child.

Source: U.S. Department of Education/Helping Your Child Get Ready For School series

Math Tips for Growing Minds

Here are some ideas to bring math into your daily living in fun and creative ways.

• Have younger children and elementary children count everything: how many potatoes do I need to peel, how many strawberries in your cereal, how many forks do we need on the table, how many pieces of silverware are on the table, how many signs between here and the grocery store, how many Stop signs to your school, how any days until Christmas?

• Play card games that require math skills.

• Play board games that require counting

• Use bottle caps or flip tops as counters for figuring problems

• Clip coupons and see how much grocery money the children can save. In our home, if the child finds the coupon, clips the coupon and it is a coupon I use the child can get one half of the savings.

• Select software for the computer that improves math skills.

Make up story problems:

• Addition: putting sets together
  How many in all? How many together? What is the sun? What is the total?

• Subtraction: Taking sets apart
  Find the difference. How many more or less? How much bigger? taller? Compare two numbers. Heavier? Older?

• Multiplication: Putting equal sets together
  How many in all? How many all together?

• Division: Taking equal sets apart
  Find the average. What would one unit be? If shared? If divided? Find the quotient.

And remember HAVE FUN!

Audio and Visual Processing
By Toni Hager NDS

We have been working with Toni for the last 5 weeks. Our daughter’s auditory and visual processing has jumped two digits from 3-4 to 5-6.

Auditory and visual processing, also known as short-term memory, represents the actual quantity of pieces of information taken in by either the auditory or visual areas of the brain, not the organs themselves.

Processing is defined as how well the brain understands, interprets or categorizes information. Many of our problems associated with expectations and teaching are related to our lack of knowledge of these two very basic functions.

Development of auditory and visual capabilities is a result of stimulation. Today’s society is mostly visual; video games, computers, TV and books; whereas, in our grandparents’ day, they were more auditory, sitting around telling stories, reading to each other, having discussions at the dinner table, and listening to the radio. Development of one area allows the other area to become weaker; this causes neurological dysorganization which plays a huge role in learning and everyday life.

In order for the brain to process information it must first have the ability to hold individual pieces of information together—short-term memory. To understand, categorize, and interpret the individual pieces, the brain must first arrange them into some type of order. Generally, the level of language or ability to follow directions is a reflection of the individualís level of processing. 

The “Normal” two-year-old understands only two-step directions (get shoes, eat dinner, go ride) and speaks in couplets (want eat, no bed). A three-year-old processes three (simple phrases); a four-year-old, four; and on up to seven-year-old to adults. A seven year old or older should be able to understand and remember seven bits of information. That’s one reason phone numbers are only seven digits!

Short-term memory lasts only a second.  For example, someone tells you a phone number and you repeat it a billion times until you can write it down; each time you repeat the number is how long your auditory short-term memory is. 

Visually, you read something and instantly forget what you read.  The individual above age seven who holds 3,4, or 5 pieces of information together is struggling—to learn, to behave; they may have problems with mobility or speech, even functioning in daily life.

One factor affecting opportunity is vision and hearing itself.  If a child’s vision or hearing is impaired, obviously that child will take in less information. The brain learns to see by seeing and to hear by hearing.  Visual acuity, near or far sightedness, a lazy eye, an astigmatism, convergence/tracking; hearing loss, ear infections, and allergies or sensitivities all affect the quantity and quality of information our brain receives.  

Visual processing difficulties are demonstrated in such areas as lack of awareness of what is going on around them; problems sight reading or doing math; impaired ability to learn from books; or less ability to observe and react to changes in facial expression, which affects our ability to interact socially.

Auditory inefficiencies may be demonstrated in the development of normal receptive language (ability to understand what is said) and expressive language (ability to speak).  The receptive problem makes it difficult to follow directions, attend to what is said, learn through verbal instruction, utilize phonics, and interact socially.  How the brain processes the sounds is reflected by how the child speaks and behaves. An individual with auditory processing inefficiencies has only heard muffled sounds (like under water), inconsistent sounds or words, only certain frequencies of sounds (usually low range); this individual really didn’t hear the words or maybe the difference in voice tones.

Behavior is a reflection of auditory processing.  Behavior is the ability to make sense from the environment, make decisions, take appropriate actions, and achieve academically. For example, and adult (or a ten year old) who can only hold together 4 or 5 pieces of information will whine or throw a temper tantrum like a 4 or 5 year old when stressed, overwhelmed or not getting their way.  Academically, this individual will be struggling, unable to keep up with their age mates and a large percentage will drop out of school as soon as possible. Their daily life is a mess, usually unable to get or hold a job, overwhelmed, commit crimes, unable to keep relationships; many just “fall out” of society.

Below “normal” function generally is not a reflection of below “normal” intelligence, nor an inability to achieve “normal” function. Adults and children with processing problems are given labels such as learning disabled, ADD/ADHD, hyperactive, dyslexic, perceptually impaired, speech and language delays, slow learner, and “fall through the cracks kids,” to name just a few.

How well we learn is a direct reflection of how well we receive, process, store and utilize information. Many adults and children are attempting to cope with unidentified processing inefficiencies.  If identified, these inefficiencies can be eliminated, in most cases, through the utilization of some very simple procedures which eliminate the neurological dysorganization.  The real tragedy of processing problems is that they don’t need to exist.  

Toni Hager  is a neurodevelopmentalist. She evaluates and develops in home programs for persons with neurological dysfunction. CanLearn PO Box 10497 Spokane, WA 99209 (509) 328-7308  E-mail: canlearn@integrityonline.com   Website: www.kidscanlearn.net

When Students and Teachers Are Different Is This Child ADD or SP?

According to David Keirsey and Marilyn Bates, authors of Please Understand Me: Character and Temperament Types, children are often labeled “hyperactive” or ADD by “foolish school and medical personnel naively applying the current physicalism.” They say that the child who has a Dionysian (Sensible Playful) temperament is “likely to be active. . . he can be overstimulated, get too excited and roused up and not be able to calm down very easily.” (Those who are familiar with the Myers Briggs temperament types will recognize the SP as Sensing/ Perceptive). Since almost 40% of a classroom is likely to be children of this personality type, but only 2% of teachers are SPs, there is great potential for conflict here. Teachers who label these children ADD are not “foolish” in our minds, but they sure must be “frustrated!” How must it feel to be surrounded by children who are so different from you?

Differences between students and teachers need to be understood as simply that—differences! To build community between teacher and students, a student’s learning preferences shouldn’t be viewed as dysfunctions, learning disabilities, deviance, or rebelliousness, but rather as opportunities to develop and enhance the wealth of diverse talents in the classroom community. Children who feel that teachers misunderstand—or worse, actively disapprove of—their personality type may suffer in the long run from low self-esteem and chronic power struggles. When we ignore learning styles, we marginalize and oppress children, and we do not model respecting diversity for our students and co-workers.

The Murphy-Meisgeier Type Indicator for Children (MMTIC) and A Teacher’s Guide to Type contain specific suggestions for accommodating psychological type in the classroom. Order from Consulting Psychologists Press, 3803 E. Bayshore Rd, Palo Alto, CA 94303.

The short booklet A Student’s Guide to Type is a valuable guide for helping children understand themselves and others. To help parents establish more peaceful relationships with their children, A Parent’s Guide to Type, also is available. You can find it at www.peacemaker.org.

Reprinted with permission from  Peacemaker’s 16542 Orwell Road North Marine on St. Croix, MN 55047 – email us at peace@peacemaker.org  – www.peacemaker.org.

Foster and Adoptive Care Association of Minnesota
P.O. box 48716
Minneapolis, MN 55448-0716
612-233-3399

Articles have been reprinted from News and Views of Our Families 1992-2004