Sentence Dictation - a POWERFUL Tool in Spelling, Here's How to Use It :)

I Love Learning to Spell using Sentence Dictation!

Spelling can be fun! And when we connect their spelling with their phonics, ALL students, struggling and non-struggling, connect both sides of the sound/symbol relationship coin! Reading and spelling makes sense. (In my last post shared the connection between spelling success and their phonics. Here’s the link.)

Connecting spelling to their phonics applies to ALL learners:

• struggling learners,

• non-struggling learners, and

• gifted learners.

  ALL children deserve to understand how reading and spelling are connected.

As mentioned in my last post, it is essential that their spelling instruction correlate with phonics instruction. They need to understand the connection of decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling the words they’ve learned to read as they use them in their writing).

One of the most important spelling components I included in Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”® is sentence dictation.

In Silent Elephant “e”®, sentence dictation connects decoding and encoding with comprehension in one meaningful activity that they enjoy and that is consistent throughout Parts 3-14.

As I have mentioned before, this consistency in instruction of connecting phonics, spelling and comprehension is vital for dyslexic learners but truly important for ALL learners.

To make sure your kids connect the relationship of decoding and encoding, sentence dictation does not occur in Silent Elephant “e”®  until children are fluently reading the sentences on their Partner Practice pages and have discussed what the sentences are about with you or their partners.

This ensures that they are not trying to learn to spell/write a word that doesn’t have meaning for them. This is so important, because if they are trying to spell/write a word they don’t know the meaning of, it will only cause them confusion and frustration, and they will find spelling difficult if not impossible.
 
When your kids fluently read and comprehend the sentences on their Partner Pages in each phonics lesson, they are ready to move into the encoding (spelling) part of the lesson—sentence dictation.

Here are a few steps that will ensure your child’s success in sentence dictation when working with their partners or you. Teach these skills before jumping into sentence dictation:
 

• Take turns reading a sentence to their partner. You may be their partner. This necessary step works on decoding and promotes active listening. If you are their “partner”, have them read the sentence to you and then you read the sentence to them having them actively listen as you read.

• Discuss the meaning of the sentence by sharing what they are picturing/imagining in their brain—comprehension. They could even draw the sentence, as drawing will activate more parts of their brain thus promoting greater comprehension.

• Take turns reading the sentence one more time.

• Have them turn their Partner Practice page over.

• Take turns repeating the sentence from memory, first together, then separately. Have them think about what the sentence and words look like when they say the sentence and listen to you say it. This works on both auditory and visual memory. If they need to review the sentence again, they can turn their Partner Practice page over.

• Only now do they begin writing. This, of course, is encoding as they are thinking, “What sound am I hearing and what letter(s) do I use for that sound when I’m writing?”

• If you are their partner, have them dictate the sentence to you and you write it. You are modeling for them.

• When you’ve finished writing a sentence, have them first proofread their own work and then proofread their partners/yours. They proofread by:

• Checking for space between words

• Checking for a capital letter at the beginning of the sentence

• Checking for an end mark—a period, question or exclamation mark

• Checking for capitalized names

• Checking for spelling accuracy

• Last, have them proof their work for accuracy by looking at their Partner Practice page. Celebrate with a high-five for their good work. Smiles all around!

  As you can see, decoding and encoding skills utilized in sentence dictation engage numerous parts of the brain:

• Visual processing, visual sequencing, and visual memory

• Auditory processing, auditory sequencing, and auditory memory

• Tactile handwriting skills

• Comprehension of text

• Analytical thinking--comparison of decoding and encoding

 Sentence dictation is a fun activity that children enjoy doing together without being completely aware of all the elements enhancing their learning—they just have fun and learn to share and support each other as they read and write.

I encourage doing sentence dictation several times a week. You and they will see the difference in reading, spelling and comprehension very quickly.

If you have further questions about spelling the Silent Elephant “e”® way, contact us at silentelephante@gmail.com or nina.silentelephante@gmail.com.

I Taught It. They did it. Why Don't They Know It Now?!?

 I taught it. They did it. Where did it go?

The Solution is Easier and More Fun than You Imagined :)

Why don’t they know it?
I taught them. 
We did it.
They seemed to get it then, but now, it’s gone. 
I’ll have to teach it again.

What’s up with this?

This is not uncommon and it’s definitely more common with students who have learning differences. You teach it and at that moment they seem to understand it. Later, it’s like they’ve never heard of the concept.

There’s actually a very simple reason for this: not all parts of their brain were activated in their initial introduction and learning of the concept.

Since all parts of their brain were not activated, they did not connect the new concept to their prior knowledge, nor did they imagine how it connects to future concepts. They are left with disjointed information that their brain tends to let go of to not feel confused.

This is why they give you that blank look when you return to the concept.

And, of course, this is frustrating for YOU and THEM.

For you, it’s frustrating because they don’t seem to be learning or progressing, of course, you’re worried.

For them, it’s frustrating because they don’t understand why they don’t remember anything (or very little) of the concept. Add to that, their feeling of disappointing you.

Let’s talk about this. Let’s talk about activating all parts of their brain. It’s easy! It’s fun! It will change everything.

Their learning it the first time, even as a dyslexic, is about total immersion and total engagement with a concept. When they are totally immersed in a concept, they easily connect it to all prior learning and can imagine how it will connect to future concepts.

In other words, they learn it. They own the concept. The next time it comes up in their studies, they will be able to tell you all about it and how it connects to all their studies. The problem of them not “remembering” is solved!

Now let’s talk about what “total immersion and total engagement” with a concept means and what it looks like.

A simple way to think about immersion with a concept, especially a vague concept like phonics, is to ask ourselves, “How many ways can we use our 5 senses, our body, and our voice to learn a new concept? We can draw, color, act, make and build things, play with puppets, sing, dance, imagine and share our thoughts. How can we immerse our whole self into the new concept, so they really understand it and use it in all their other learning?”

When their whole self is immersed in learning a concept, all parts of their brain are immersed as well, and therefore all parts of their brain will be active. For dyslexics, who have parts of their brains that are not easily activated to learn, this immersive engagement does the trick.

Immersing your child in every vague phonics concept to successfully learn to read, write and spell is why every single concept and every activity within every single concept in Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™ immerses their whole brain, their whole self in the learning.

They taste, listen, draw, color, explain, restate, clarify, connect, feel, share, smell and question every moment of their learning of a concept. In this total immersion they quickly and easily learn the new concept, connect it with the old, and understand how it connects to new learning that is on the way. 

They’re happy. They have fun. Their whole self is immersed in their learning. They are eager for more.

Here's some examples of being immersed in learning how their brain works. 😊 Enjoy!
Wait! I Have A Chest of Drawers in My Head?
Yes, There's a Chest of Drawers in Your Brain
Now You're Telling Me I Have a Rabbit in My Brain??
Analogies Open the Door to Learning

Contact me here with questions! Check out our Store here.

She Looked Down at Me and Said, “What Will You Do Differently?”

She Looked Down at Me and Said, “What Will You Do Differently?”

Today I want to share a story. Stories are always illuminating and fun.
 
About 6 years ago, I welcomed a sweet girl and her mom into my home to begin tutoring. It was the first time we had met, although I had visited with the mom on the phone. She had expressed deep concern about “Beth’s” lack of progress in learning to read.
 
Since I want everyone to relax when we meet, we share our favorite foods, games, hobbies, subject in school, etc. I introduce them to my service dog who’s a great icebreaker.
 
As I could feel this sweet young girl relaxing, I asked her if we could play some listening games. She very shyly agreed, so I began assessing her phonemic awareness skills.
 
She scored 90% on Silent Elephant “e”™ Phonemic Awareness Assessment Part 1, but her answers were hesitant. To continue to Part 2, Beth would have to have had 95% accuracy with quick, confident answers. I praised her and told her she was doing beautiful, which she was. She was working very hard to know the correct answers.
 
We moved to uppercase and lowercase letter names, to letter sounds and then to rhyme. We were giggling while having fun making up silly words that rhymed.
 
On the San Diego Quick Assessment, Beth scored instructional at a 1st grade level. On the Silent Elephant “e”™ oral reading inventory she scored Primer level. Beth was 10 years old and in the 5th grade. She was 4-5 years behind in reading. I could see why her mother was so worried.
 
When I asked her if she liked to spell words and write stories, she answered that she loved to draw pictures and her mom wrote the stories for her. I heard a sadness drift into her voice when I asked her to write some words for me. We only tried three words; she only got “the” correct.
 
We finished our assessments, and I knew we needed to begin at the beginning: Phonemic Awareness Part 1 and Short Vowels Part 3. We jumped into the phonemic awareness train game and had fun playing it together.

As we finished the game, Beth’s Mom said, “Beth, you may play with Mrs. Jones’ dog for a bit. I want to talk with Mrs. Jones in the kitchen.”
 

I was a bit surprised, but went to join her in the kitchen where she was standing with her hands on her hips and said as she backed me into the cabinet corner, “What do you think you can do differently than I have done to teach my daughter to read?”
 
Before I could answer she continued, “Beth has been in preschool, public school, tutoring with Sylvan Learning Center and other tutors, and recently I’ve begun homeschooling her part time while she also attends a public-school alternative learning program. So, what makes you think that you can teach her to read?”
 
I took a deep breath, stood straight and tall and looked up into her eyes (she’s about 6 feet tall) and said, “Let ME tell YOU about my background, how my reading program came to be, and how I KNOW she will learn to read quickly with Silent Elephant “e”™.”
 
I told her how my life changed the day I realized my daughter was dyslexic. I told her how I knew I had to be THE ONE that researched, learned and helped my daughter succeed in reading, writing and spelling.
 
I mentioned classes I had taken. I mentioned the hours I had spent learning about how our brains learn, about dyslexia, and about other learning differences. I talked about the hours I spent asking my daughter, my husband (who is also dyslexic) and all the children I taught what helped them learn and what didn’t help them learn.
 
I shared that Silent Elephant “e”™ teaches reading, writing and spelling all together, simple to complex, because our brain perceives them as the same subject, just different parts of, “words in print”.   
 
I shared how every vague phonics concept (they’re all vague) is introduced in Silent Elephant “e”™ by engaging the creative parts of the brain first and then moving to the analytical part, therefore stimulating both hemispheres to interact with the concept. I told her how the creative brain understands and stores the knowledge through the senses as we color, dance, sing, draw, perform puppetry and much more. At the same time, the analytical part of the brain is understanding the “whys” and the “rules”. I shared that when learning this way, the brain in never confused. It connects the creative with the analytical and logically fits ALL the pieces together easily.
 
Then, I finally took a deep breath and said, “You’re going to have to trust me. And just so you know, my daughter graduated Magna Cum Laude.”
 
She looked at me and said, “I’ll give you 3 months!”
 
At the end of those three months, I had to smile thinking about Beth’s mom staring down at me in my kitchen. By that time, Beth was already reading at a 3rd grade level. By the end of 8 months, she was reading at an 8th grade level - 3 years above her chronological age. And now, she’s a very successful, happy, high school student.
 
Beth learned to read, write and spell in a very short time even though she’s profoundly dyslexic, because Silent Elephant “e”™ taught her in the way our brain learns new information best: in fun and creative ways.

Have questions?

Email us at silentelephante@gmail.com or call us at:
Linda        208-859-4406                            Nina    208-860-3125

Analogies Open Doors to Their Learning

Analogies Open Doors to Their Learning 

The use of analogies in learning is powerful. They give our learners tools they can identify with and use to help them process new information more easily. 

I love Sayra’s analogy that I shared in my last blog post (Now You’re Telling Me I Have a Bunny in My Brain?) for two reasons:  first, it’s an amazing analogy, so “kid friendly”, and second, I love rabbits!

 I have raised rabbits and adored them, even when they ate many of the flowers in my garden! 

Sayra’s analogy is so imaginative and clever and I am so pleased that she allows me to share it with my students. Her “tiny bunny in our brain” takes my kiddos into a whole new world in their imagination. They have a “new friend” supporting their learning that they can talk to, listen to, encourage and soothe.  

I begin sharing the tiny bunny analogy by reading an old book I have about rabbits that shows crosscut drawings of rabbits’ burrows. We learn about how rabbits make their tunnels and how they know exactly where each tunnel leads.  

We draw rabbits and their burrows and share the many things about rabbits we enjoy. Of course, I have many stories to share.

I have them draw their tiny bunny so it “comes alive” for them and we discuss what their bunny likes to do and likes to eat. We are personalizing their bunny, which helps them feel closer to it and strengthens their use of this analogy.  

I sometimes pat my kiddos on the head pretending I’m petting their bunny while saying, “You are such a smart, wonderful bunny! You know exactly where to find the sound of this letter combination.” 

I tell them to pat themselves on their head, too, imagining they are petting the bunny in their brain and talking to their bunny saying, “I love you! You are so smart! We work together to learn! We are SO good. We never give up on each other!” 

I remind them how they can truly focus and how natural it is for their brains (their bunnies) to find commonalities and patterns, to draw conclusions, to sequence, to analyze, to synthesize and to evaluate.  

We practice being truly focused and quiet while sensing how their teeny bunny feels relaxed and peaceful which makes it very easy for it to find commonalities and patterns and, therefore, the perfect place to store new information.  

We draw their bunny digging a tunnel and nest for the new information and talk about how it knows exactly where it put the information.  

Because many of my kiddos struggle with anxiety and low self-esteem, we practice realizing that when they feel anxious, it means their cute bunny is nervous and running around. 

I encourage them to imagine petting, cuddling, loving and cheering on their teeny bunny to find the carrot, apple wedge, pellet, watermelon rind, letter sound or word without giving up.  

I encourage them to teach their bunny that it knows exactly which tunnel to go to because it is making connections with their prior learning.  

Then we practice helping the bunny know exactly which tunnel to go to so it will find stored information. I have them draw their bunny calm and confident as it moves down a tunnel and stores new learning or retrieves a letter sound or word.

My kiddos giggle with the thought of petting and encouraging their teeny tiny bunny. They begin to smile and relax, and THEY persevere! 

As they become comfortable with the idea of a teeny tiny bunny digging tunnels and building nests to store information, I show them pictures of real brains on the Internet. 

I teach them about the neurons in their brain. I teach them about how one neuron connects to another, which is similar to how their teeny tiny bunny’s tunnels connect. I teach them that when they learn something, their brain has made connections or pathways between neurons.  

I tell them, “Each time you practice a skill, you’ll remember how to do it and you’ll be able to do it faster than you could before. You get better and better! Every time you practice, you strengthen your neuron connections.” 

We talk again about the importance of truly focusing so they aren’t activating too many neurons at one time and confusing their own learning. We talk about the importance of being quiet, breathing deeply and knowing they are building connections and pathways between their neurons so remembering what they have just learned will be easy.

I tell them, “Be good to your brain! Challenge your brain! Love your brain! Pet that bunny!!” 

Now over to you…

Please email or call (or send photos like below) to let me know how either or both analogies are working for your kiddos.  

These bright smiles are telling the whole story.

Their mom sent photos of their work with the chest of drawer analogy and shared how using the analogy is helping them understand how their brain is categorizing. I so love their happy faces!

If you are questioning whether someone in your life is dyslexic and you’re not sure what to do, feel free to contact us.

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson 

Now You are Telling Me I Have a Bunny in my Brain!

Now You are Telling Me I Have a Bunny in my Brain! 

In my previous two Brain blog posts (Wait! I Have a Chest of Drawers in My Brain? , Yes There is A Chest of Drawers in Your Brain!), I shared how I use my analogy of a chest of drawers to simplify how our brains work and help children relax and realize THEY are in control of their brain, and therefore, THEY are in control of their learning. 

Not long ago over lunch, my dear friend Sayra shared her successful analogy.                                               

Sayra shared how she explained our brain to her son Matthew when he was young and struggling with learning to read. She shared that Matthew is dyslexic and that this analogy helped him relax into learning to read more easily. It helped him feel in control of his reading.  

Sayra shared that she made up a story for Matthew about how we all have a tiny bunny inside our brains. This tiny little bunny is our very good friend and helps us with our learning by moving around in the tunnels of information in our brain.  

This is the story Sayra’s used to introduce her analogy:  

One day when a little boy was playing in the woods, he saw a little, brown cottontail bunny. He watched the bunny as it hopped along the trail. Suddenly the bunny disappeared! He looked and looked but couldn’t find it anywhere. 

He went home to tell his mama. His mama had an animal book, so they looked up bunnies in her book. “Bunnies make burrows,” the book said. 

The little boy learned a new word – “burrows”. He wondered what burrows were. “Burrows are the homes of bunnies,” his mother read from the book. “Bunnies build nests underground. They sleep in the nests and raise their babies in the nests. They dig many tunnels to connect their nests. They dig at least two doorways. Bunnies are very good at making tunnels and nests.”  

The little boy’s mother looked at him with a smile and said, “Son, your brain is sort of like a bunny’s burrow. It has tunnels and nests and, just like the bunny, you make new tunnels and new nests when you learn new information.   

As you learn new sounds for letters, learn new words and read stories, you are making familiar places in your brain for those sounds, words and stories.  

A bunny making a nest for her babies is just like YOU making “nests” for letter sounds, for words and for stories.

 When you practice your letter sounds, your words and read a story over again, you use the very same tunnels to your nests - just like a bunny uses its same tunnels and nests. The tunnels and nests become very familiar as they feel like comfortable places. The tunnels and nests become easy to find.”

 His mama encouraged her little boy to pretend he had a smart, little bunny in his brain helping him learn.  

The little boy loved bunnies and he loved thinking about the clever, little bunny in his brain helping him learn to read! Soon he loved to read because he practiced each day with his bunny. His mama was so proud of him! 

Sayra continued to build her analogy by having Matthew imagine his tiny, smart bunny in his brain helping him learn something new. His bunny was right there with him. 

She had Matthew imagine just how clever and helpful his little, learning bunny was and how it knew every single tunnel and every single nest in Matthew’s brain.

 She shared with him how reading would become fun and easy because his bunny knew all the familiar tunnels and nests and how to connect all of Matthew’s old learning with his new learning.  

They talked about how his little bunny loves him so much and is SO HAPPY to help him, but sometimes his little bunny needs a little help from Matthew.  

Sometimes his sweet, little bunny would get over excited or nervous and start to run through the tunnels not knowing which way to go. 

Sayra shared with Matthew that he would always know when his bunny was running anxiously through the tunnels because Matthew would feel his bunny’s worry and nervousness. When Matthew felt worried, nervous or like he couldn’t remember what he had learned, that was the time his bunny needed HIS help. 

She taught him to sooth his bunny by saying loving words to it when it felt nervous or couldn’t remember. She taught him to pretend he was holding his anxious bunny in his arms while saying encouraging words. 

She had Matthew teach his bunny how to slow down, breathe deep and relax and that when Matthew relaxed, his bunny would know exactly which tunnel was the right one to use to get to the right nest. After all, HE had dug all the tunnels and built all the nests. He KNEW where everything was. 

Sayra shared that her analogy was extremely helpful for Matthew and that it helped him realize that he was in control of his own learning.

I love Sayra’s analogy! It’s so “kid friendly”. 😊

In my next post, I’ll share how I use it with my students and how I extend it into the science of our brain.

If you are questioning whether someone in your life is dyslexic and you’re not sure what to do, feel free to contact us.

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson

Yes, There’s a Chest of Drawers in Your Brain!

Yes, There’s a Chest of Drawers in Your Brain! 

My last blog post entitled “Wait! I have a Chest of Drawers in My Head?” explained how I help lessen children’s frustration and fear when they feel as if they don’t have control over their own learning.  

I start by talking about our amazing brains and what they do for us every day. Together we explore our five senses as I guide them to the realization that their senses and their brain work together. 

At this point, I introduce my analogy of the “chest of drawers in their brain”. This analogy is fun and silly and activates all parts of their brain with the use of imagination, story and drawing. It gives them a “tangible, seeable” way to understand how their brain naturally works, and they begin to “see” how they actually have control of their learning. 

 I begin by asking my kiddos to imagine the memory part of their brain being divided into drawers much like the chest of drawers in their bedroom. I have them draw their chest of drawers and share what‘s inside each drawer.  

We then spend time imagining how each letter sound has its drawer in the chest of drawers in their brain. Each combination of letters making a special sound(s) has its drawer. Each word has its drawer. Each phonics rule has its drawer. We draw and label lots and lots of drawers!  

We image all the drawers our brains would have and laugh at our silly images and drawings.  

Suddenly the realization of the enormous task their brain is required to do, and does daily, in order for them to remember what they’re learning bursts into their consciousness. I begin to see fear creep into their eyes. 

This is when I assure each child that THEY are in control of ALL those drawers just like they’re in control of where they put their socks. I assure them that the drawers are not random and stacked in the crazy ways we’ve been drawing them.  

I remind them that it’s natural for their brain to find commonalities and patterns, to sequence, to draw conclusions, to analyze, to synthesize, and to evaluate and that their brain has been doing this since before they were born which means THEY have been organizing the “drawers” in their brain all along.  

I assure them that since they are an expert at finding commonalities and patterns, at drawing conclusions, at sequencing, at analyzing, at synthesizing, and at evaluating, they have been and will continue to choose the perfect “drawer” for everything every time. 

Further, since THEY are choosing the perfect “drawers”, it’s easy for them to remember whatever they want when they want it. I assure them they know where everything is. 

Together we imagine how their brain has organized their “chest of drawers” and has been putting all their learning in the perfect places (drawers). We draw this organized chest of drawers. 

This drawing helps me emphasize that since THEY alone have been using their five senses, collecting information and storing it, THEY ALONE are in control of their brain.  

We laugh and have fun imagining someone like their parents, teachers or friends trying to put things in their brain.  

To support their feelings of “ownership” of their learning, I share that they may get excited, nervous or worried and feel like they can’t remember an answer or concept, but the truth is always there – they always have been and still are in control of where they stored that answer or concept and they stored it in the perfect most logical place. 

To strengthen their understanding and feeling of control, we continue by talking about how they can have greater control over their five senses and how that would give them even greater control of their learning.   

We talk about how we wonderful humans have the control to truly focus on what we see, what we hear, what we smell, what we taste, what we touch!   

We explore that TRULY FOCUSING means putting their WHOLE attention to what they are learning or doing. We practice truly focusing so they begin to feel how, when they do truly focus, their mind slows down, they relax, they breathe comfortably and they really observe (hear, taste, smell, see, touch – think about) what they are focusing on.

 As they practice, they relax even further and begin to feel how natural it is for their senses and brain to work together. We talk about how when they truly focus their mind stays on subject and naturally begins to make connections. We practice noticing this.

I encourage them to practice TRULY FOCUSING at home and school and to share their successes when they are with me.  

They soon realize that when they truly focus, they remember what they are learning.  

As we continue working in Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”, I frequently stop in the middle of lessons to reinforce that they are truly focusing. I ask them what they’ve just learned and how it connects with what they’ve already learned. I ask them questions that help them realize that they are the learner and they are in control.

 Questions like, “Where did you put this new sound? Does it go beside the drawers with the consonants sounds or the sound a cow makes?” They laugh and explain, because they know.

 I’ve taught this lesson to children for years. It’s a fun, silly way that guides them to understand they are in control of their learning.

 I LOVE watching them relax as we play with the chest of drawer analogy. I notice the shift in how they hold their head, how they walk in the door. I smile as they approach a new concept with confidence, a feeling of control.

 My chest of drawer analogy has been very successful, but thanks to my dear friend Sayra, I have a new analogy that sets their imagination playing with a whole new image. My kids love it.  

You will, too!  I’ll share it in my next blog post.

If you are questioning whether someone in your life is dyslexic and you’re not sure what to do, feel free to contact us.

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson

WAIT! I HAVE A CHEST OF DRAWERS IN MY HEAD?

WAIT! I HAVE A CHEST OF DRAWERS IN MY HEAD? 

Children who are struggling with learning often believe they have no control over how or what they learn. 

They sometimes think, and feel, that learning happens to them by magic. 

They think they learn new things magically or magically don’t learn new things. 

They begin to feel frustrated when they realize that even though the magic doesn’t work for them all of the time, it seems to be working for their classmates all of the time.

Their feelings of frustration and disempowerment build as they realize their friends are reading so much more smoothly than they are reading. They often sit in class wondering how their classmates know words so quickly when they struggle with each word.  

Their answer is – “The magic just doesn’t work for me. I’ll have to deal with that.” 

When children come to me for tutoring, they’re struggling to learn to read, write and spell. Their confidence in themselves as a learner is at rock bottom! They are sure there is something wrong with their brain—they are stupid and dumb. (Their words, not mine.) They are certain they will never learn to read, write and spell like their peers.  

It’s painful to watch them approach my front door the first time they come for tutoring. Their heads are down. They shuffle their feet up the sidewalk while being prodded by their parents, “Hurry up!” They begrudgingly sit on a chair or on the loveseat in my office. They barely (if at all) make eye contact with me. 

Luckily I have a golden retriever named River. He is my service dog, so I begin our first tutoring session showing the children all of the tricks River can do and all of the tasks he does to help me. We talk about their pets, animals they know personally, and/or animals they wish they had for a pet. River breaks the ice for us. I can visually watch my kiddos beginning to relax. 

After meeting River and learning about his job, we share our favorites: favorite color, favorite healthy food, favorite snack, etc. When I broach the subject of their favorite subject in school, I watch nervousness and shyness creep back in.  

I return to subjects of ease as we continue by sharing our interests and hobbies: sports, music, art, animals, and outdoors. My kiddos begin to relax again. 

Then I ask, “Do you like to read? Do you like to spell words? Do you like to write?” 

Their nervousness immediately returns. They’re mostly quiet—not wanting to share their struggles. But a few have told me they like to write, and they love when someone reads to them. 

Within the first weeks of tutoring, I begin talking to my children about how they learn—how their brain works. I share that their brain began working while they were still inside of their mom. They could see, hear, smell, taste, and feel touch before they were even born! Once they were born, their learning continued as they gathered more and more information using their five senses. We talk about their senses and how wonderful they are.  

I share that our brain receives messages from our senses and interprets them by finding commonalities, patterns, drawing conclusions, sequencing, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating. I share that our brain just naturally finds connections. In other words, through our senses our brain is finding meaning in our world. Our brain then stores these meaningful messages in an organized manner in what we call our memory. 

At this point I begin to use an analogy to further teach them about their brain and how they learn. All struggling readers benefit from using stories and/or developing images in their mind that help them make connections and understand concepts.  

In the next blog post, I will share with you exactly what I mean when I say, “There’s a chest of drawers in your head!”

If you are questioning whether someone in your life is dyslexic and you’re not sure what to do, feel free to contact us.

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson