Not every dyslexic learner experiences the words and letters moving around. Some do, and in those who do, they don't see it the same. Interesting.
I’ve shared how Josie and one of my seven-year-old students opened my eyes by sharing what happens to the words and letters when they read. Since this revelation, I’m feeling even more joy in my teaching. (Here are links to the last two emails. Josie. Sweet seven-year-old)
My meeting each and every student exactly where they are is even more astute, because I’m listening more intently, asking the right questions and teaching them how THEY learn using Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™.
I’m continually amazed and very pleased that Silent Elephant “e”™ alone has made such a difference in their lives and that my asking the right questions has sparked a different awareness in me, making me an even better teacher.
A few days after my little seven-year-old student shared that the letters jump around on the page, I asked one of my ninth-grade dyslexic students to explain what she saw on a page of printed material.
I had been trying many teaching techniques to help Ahva develop smoothness (fluency). When she read aloud, she would physically tense up and her breathing became extremely labored. Her anxiety and tenseness were palpable. It contributed to her choppy reading.
I had her read sentences several times stretching out vowel sounds to give her more time to think about what the ending sound in a word was and more time to contemplate the next word in the sentence.
She unconsciously began bobbing her head slowly with every word. I had her put her hand under her chin so she could feel the bobbing.
When the bobbing subsided, we began working on phraseology. I taught her how to find prepositional phrases in sentences.
As she is in Part 14 now, I had her read the following sentence: “The lanky man in the dark blue suit was hurriedly walking toward the cashier at the counter to deposit money in his savings account.”
We discussed that our brains always strive for meaning. Our brains naturally break sentences into phrases: “The lanky man - in the dark blue suit - hurriedly walked - toward the cashier - at the counter - to deposit money - in his savings account.”
I taught her to focus on the questions her brain would naturally ask as it sought meaning in what she was reading:
What about the lanky man?
What is he wearing?
Where did he walk?
Where is the cashier?
Why did he go to the bank?
Where is he depositing his money?
She did begin to read with more fluently, smoother, but she couldn’t read a phrase that was longer than three or four words smoothly, even though I encouraged her to try to smoothly combine two short phrases in one breath.
I would have her read each sentence several times to practice. After reading a sentence several times, she ultimately read it smoothly as if in conversation.
However, I was still concerned that she needed multiple repetitions of a sentence to reach conversational fluency.
Thinking of Josie, I asked this awesome, conscientious ninth grader to explain what she saw on a page of printed material.
She explained that she could see a space of about 1.5 to 2 inches clearly and all around that space of clarity everything was distorted and stretched!
I sat stunned!
I asked her, “Is that why you only read three or four words smoothly and then have a long break before the next three or four words, and after practicing the sentence several times you appear to read it smoothly, because you have it memorized?”
She smiled at me a little shyly, and said, “Yes. Now you understand.”
Wow!
Ahva’s brain focuses on printed materials in a hyper focused way, much like a magnifying glass, where the center is super clear, but the periphery is distorted.
I sat admiring this young woman for her tenacity and positive mindset. I was in awe. I shared with her how Josie and my seven-year old saw print. I could see the relief on her face when she realized I understood and that she wasn’t alone seeing words differently. She was relieved there was help.
Here is Ahva’s story in her own words:
“Before I first came to tutoring with Linda, I just avoided ever reading on my own or in front of people. If I ever did read, within an hour I would get dizzy and have to stop. It was hard for me.
I would panic if I were called on to read in class. I’d feel sad about it afterwards and think I was just dumb or not trying hard enough.
I would try to read. It felt like the words were always moving depending on where I looked on the page.
Due to that, I would start to read and get two or three words read and get stuck on each group of 3 words that followed.
Now that I’ve been working with Linda, I have improved hugely. I can now get through sentences without freezing. My head hurting when reading has almost completely gone away. I am now willing to read in front of people!
I am VERY happy with where I am now in reading, and I am very thankful for having Linda help me through it! Not to mention she is a very good and kind woman whom I am very happy to call my friend!”
Ahva, 14 years old
This is amazing. I am so proud of her for being able to share her story with us!
Even though I wrote Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™ to teach dyslexic learners the way they learn, I’m still happily amazed at how the strategies and activities written into every component of every lesson also takes care of the letters and words moving and shifting.
Silent Elephant “e”™ does the trick because of continual engagement of every part of their brain, in every SINGLE thing they do throughout EVERY lesson. It’s sort of magic. But really, Silent Elephant “e”™ teaches them the way THEY learn.
If you are questioning whether someone in your life is dyslexic and you’re not sure what to do, feel free to contact us here silentelephante@gmail.com.
And last, your child (children) may not be struggling to learn to read, but you may know someone who is, please share this blog post.
Contact us here - silentelephante@gmail.com Linda Smith-Jones 208-859-4406