Sequencing - Third and final part

Do not rush through these few preliminary lessons. These are some of the most difficult things for a dyslexic child to learn. I am continuing my post on a daily basis but you can stop and teach your student or child at his own pace.

Dyslexia- Sequencing part 2

Sequencing, as I pointed out in my previous blog post is almost beyond some of these very intelligent dyslexic children. They have a big problem trying to understand the days of the week and the months in a year. Questions like, “What day comes after Tuesday and what month comes after March?” can baffle them. They may not know the difference between yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Lesson - Preliminary

Before I start the lesson proper I will write on how you can help your dyslexic child learn some of the most difficult things they encounter. They have difficulty learning abstract things.

My first student John

As I had mentioned earlier John had to repeat primary one in a private school as he could hardly read a sentence after one year in a public school. With intervention and being taught in an appropriate manner he began to improve his reading in English and with that his grades in class began to improve.

Accent marks,Solution for a dyslexic child

Read the following and if you would like to help dyslexic children, ask your politicians or minister of education to incorporate accent marks in the books for the kindergarten and first 2 years of primary education. With millions being spent on grants to study dyslexic you should be able to get your politicians to get these books published.

Not Dyslexic

One day in 2006, a family friend's daughter met me in Kota Kinabalu city. She said that her son could not read and when I asked her how old he was she said that he was 5 years old. I replied that he was still young and asked her to come back to me when he was 6. I told her that I teach only kids who know the alphabets well. She quickly responded that he knew his alphabet and that his cousins who were the same age as him could read better than him. After much persuasion from her I asked her to bring him to my house that Saturday. Let us call him Ted (not his real name). I am not using the real names of any of my students.

Research Reports

I have introduced to you the article about the Australian boy in Japan. The following are further articles I had found two days ago. These research reports confirm my findings.
My question is,“What is the dyslexic association doing about all these research reports?”

Very interesting news find – A must read for all.

I surfed the net to see if I could find newspaper articles on dyslexic children in Japan and I chanced upon the following article about a dyslexic Australian boy in Japan.

The article is dated 10^th July 1999. That was 10 years ago. You can read the full article here.
I have copied some of the salient points :

A BILINGUAL boy who speaks fluent Japanese and English yet is dyslexic in English is helping scientists to shed fresh light on the causes of word blindness.
The boy was born in Japan and went to school there, where he learnt to speak and read in Japanese, but he spoke English at home with his British mother and Australian father

"It shows that dyslexia is not purely a reading problem because this boy can read, it's just that he can't read in English," Professor Butterworth said.

Unlearn

Teaching almost all my students to unlearn was a big problem. Teaching them something new is one thing but teaching them to unlearn something that they have learned and practiced for a year or more is not easy at all. I found that the child’s face went blank when I pronounced certain words. It took me a while before I found out the reason.

Dyslexia- American vs. British English

As if the inconsistencies in the English language which I wrote on yesterday are not enough, our Malaysian students have to cope with the differences between British English and American English. We in Malaysia have to write in British English. Teachers mark as wrong words spelt in American English.

Dyslexia - Malay, Mandarin and English

Bahasa Malaysia (The Malay Language)

This is our National Language and all students have to learn this language. The only letter that represents more than one sound in Bahasa Malaysia is the letter ‘e’. It can be pronounced ‘er’ or ‘ay’.

Dyslexia - A Different Perspective

 

In 2004 one of my neighbours asked me to tutor his son. I said that I have not given tuition to any child and asked him to look for a proper tuition teacher. He replied that since my children have done exceptionally well in school I should be able to help his son. After much persuasion, I agreed to try. After three lessons which were nerve racking he told me that his son was dyslexic. His son John (not his real name) had just completed a year in a public primary school and was going to be transferred to a private school in Kota Kinabalu and would be placed in primary one as he could hardly read. I had not heard the word dyslexic and checked the internet to learn about dyslexia. Having checked a few sites I took it up as a challenge to teach John. By this time I had taken a liking to John as he was a jovial child.