Why Syllables are NOT a Mystery to Silent Elephant “e”™ Readers

Why Syllables are NOT a Mystery to Silent Elephant “e”™ Readers

Is the skill of dividing words into syllables a mystery to you? Do you really understand why dividing words into syllables is important?
 
This is for sure, it’s not mysterious to children learning to read with Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™.
 
When they reach Part 13, Level 1, they are typically at an instructional 6th grade reading level and have mastered the phonics rules for one syllable words.
 
They’re ready to dive into Parts 13 and 14. There they will learn how to divide multisyllabic words into syllables and learn why understanding how to divide words into syllables is important to their reading success.
 
In Parts 13 and 14 children become totally immersed in their learning of the 8 syllable rules because they are taught them using fun, whole body, multi-sensory activities that engage all their senses and multiple parts of their brain.
 
As they progress through Parts 13 and 14, they begin each day’s lesson by sharing all the syllable rules they’ve learned up to that point. At the end of Part 14, they easily and successfully share all 8 rules, how they use them and why.
 
Their knowledge of all 8 rules is tucked firmly “under their belt” ready to “move into action” whenever they need them. They are confident and clear about all syllable rules and easily begin to decode any new multisyllabic word they come upon.
 
At the end of Part 14, Level 1, children will be able to read any genre they’d like to read and apply their skills for dividing words into syllables to decode unknown words. Their reading vocabulary will continue to grow and grow, as will their reading ability level!
 

For you and your young learners, here’s the list of the 8 rules with clues that Silent Elephant “e”™ uses to support their fast progress in learning the rules and using them successful in their reading.
Rule 1: Every syllable has one vowel sound.
Clue: Rule #1 begins with “Every".

Rule 2: Compound words
Clue: “Into” is one of the easiest compound words at Kindergarten and first grade level.
 
Rule 3: Twins in the middle
Clue: Think of yellow.
 
Rule 4: Prefix/Root word                                             
Clue: Think of green first and then brown.
 
Rule 5: Root word/Suffix                                              
Clue: Think of brown first and then green.
 
Rule 6: VCCV & VCCCV
Clue: Use your fingers. (First, they’ll put up 4 fingers and then wiggle one at a time to show VCCV & then they’ll use all 5 fingers to show VCCCV.)
 
Rule 7: VCV                                                                             
Clue: The hardest syllable rule!
 
Rule 8: VV                                                                      
Clue: A bit tricky in the beginning, because your brain will always want to think of “two vowels go walking” first.
 
To further support you helping your young learners, here are some clues for accenting syllables:

• The first syllable of a root/base word is accented most of the time in English. ie: mon’e tar y, vig’il ance, hon’or ar y

• Prefixes and suffixes are never accented. ie: bond’age, re turn’, green’er, im plant’

• An ending syllable in a multi-syllable word ending with a “y”, “ie”, “ey” making a long “e” sound is never accented. ie.: dad’dy, cook’ie, kid’ney

• When there are twin/double consonants in the middle of a word, the unaccented syllable has the silent twin. ie.: funny = fun’ y, account = a count’

• When the twins in the middle are “c” or “g”, the syllable with the “c” or “g” making the hard sound will be the accented syllable. ie.: ac’ cent, sug’ gest, ac’ cept

Because Silent Elephant “e” learners review and share their knowledge of the rules at the beginning of each lesson and because of the multi-sensory activities that helped them learn the rules, they’ll have ALL the rules completely mastered at the end of Part 14.
 
From that point on they are free to pick up any book and feel successful. They have their knowledge of decoding multisyllabic words to help them decode any words they come across
 
When your young learner has completed Silent Elephant “e”™ Level 1, Parts 13 and 14, they will be at least at an instructional 7th grade reading level. This means they will be able to successfully read anything at a 6th grade reading level.
 
Typically, if children don’t have dyslexia or other learning differences, getting to this 6th grade level takes less than two years. If they have learning differences, it may take longer, maybe two years or more, but my experience has been with Silent Elephant “e”™, learning differences or not, they always get there.
 
They always become successful readers who love to read.
 
This is the important point, they always get there!
 
Every single student I’ve tutored has become a successful confident happy reader AND they’ve had fun along the way. They love reading and are eager and ready to read. Most of my students began Silent Elephant “e” way below grade level and were considered to always be a non-reader. With Silent Elephant “E”™ They ALL got there!
 
That, after all, is our vision!

Every child deserves to learn to read AND have fun doing it.

In this video I share a thorough overview of Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “E”™.  

If your child is dyslexic or has other learning differences, check out these blog posts.  
Of course, contact me at silentelephante@gmail.com and visit our website at silentelephante.com and our blog.  Both have TONS of info for you on teaching reading, writing and spelling.

YAY for DATA! YAY for Their SUCCESS!

YAY for DATA! YAY for Their SUCCESS!

I have 11 YEARS worth of Silent Elephant “e”™ data. 11 years!
 
I’ve been watching Silent Elephant “e™” truly change children’s lives (and their parent’s lives!) for 11 YEARS!
 
During those years, I’ve taught preschool through high school students who were struggling to read, write and spell. Some were staffed into special education. I have also had a few students who were not struggling at all but whose parents knew about Silent Elephant “e”™ and wanted their children to have a solid foundation in reading, writing and spelling.
 
Over the years my students have included those with:

• Dyslexia

• ADD or ADHD

• Speech and Language Disorders

• English Language Learners

• Autism

• Hearing Impairments

• Down Syndrome

• Dyspraxia

• Central Auditory Processing Disorder

• Low to Extremely Low IQ

• Other Learning Differences

• Those with No Learning Differences

 
I share all their differences, because IN SPITE OF their differences, they have ALL SUCCEEDED in becoming fluent, confident readers, writers and spellers. Some needed the gift of time, to move at their own pace slowly but steadily, which is a powerful component of Silent Elephant “e”™. Others quickly moved through the entire program.
 
THE point here is – THEY ALL HAVE SUCCEEDED!
 
Regardless of having learning differences or not, THEY ALL HAVE SUCCEEDED!
 
Are you ready to be impressed by the 11 years of data, the quick, amazing progress my kiddos are making in a short amount of time?

Over the last 11 years, students learning with Silent Elephant “e”™ 1 ½ - 2 hours/week, on average:

·Advanced 1 grade level for every 2 months of instruction. (Think of this: my students are not taking a school year to advance a grade level—they’re advancing multiple grade levels in one year.)

·Advanced to their age-appropriate grade level in 4 months (some in as little as 2 ½ months). (Some of them were 2-6 years behind their grade level when they began learning with Silent Elephant “e”.)

·Advanced 4 grade levels with 6 months of instruction. (😊 Wow!)

·Mastered Part 1, Phonemic Awareness within 3 months. (In 3 months, they understood the basics of written language and were ready to fly!)

In these last 11 years, 9 of my students have successfully exited out of special education which is unheard of. All nine of them are now competent, confident students who are having a good time in school learning easily and are proud of themselves.

Also in these 11 years, I have been able to support parents and teachers in their decision to refrain from placing a child in special education because the student was being tutored using Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e™” and both the school and the parents knew the success of Silent Elephant “e”™ students.  

I’m so pleased to share all of this with you!

 
I’m so proud of all those whose lives have been touched by Silent Elephant “e”™ (students and parents) from the beautiful, profoundly dyslexic young woman who is no longer struggling and is in her junior year of college majoring in neuroscience to the sparkling little one who began second grade this fall reading on a sixth-grade level after two years of learning with Silent Elephant “e”™ beginning in her Kindergarten year.  

If you are wondering how Silent Elephant “e”™ can support your children as their (and your) comprehensive pre-school to college reading, writing, and spelling program, please email me at silentelephante@gmail.com or call me at 208-859-4406. You will love watching their success as much as I do.   

Keep a song in your heart!

It Only Takes 2 Years!!

It Only Takes 2 Years!

Today I’d like to share more of my experiences with Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™  and continue my thoughts on why I am realizing it shouldn’t take 6 years for a child to be able to decode 6th grade reading words.
 
Over the last 10 years that I have taught reading, writing and spelling with Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™ it’s been my experience that children master phonemic awareness and learn all the phonics rules and are able to apply the phonics rules to fluently decode 6th grade words by the end of their 2nd grade year, about 8 years old. In other words, it takes about 2 years to achieve reading 6th grade words. 

Further, Silent Elephant “e”™ was written so this goal can be achieved with only 2 hours of instruction per week. Again, that’s what my data is showing because I only meet with my students for 2 hours a week. Of course, if they spend an hour per day learning with Silent Elephant “e”™, they will be decoding words at a 6th grade level even sooner.
 
Why would this be true? Why is this my experience over and over?
 
Well, they learn so easily and quickly because they are learning the way they learn best, through whole child/whole brain, multi-sensory activities that stimulate all parts of their brain for both learning and retaining what they have learned. These whole child/whole brain, multi-sensory activities are embedded into every moment of their instruction in Silent Elephant “e”™. My experience and data share the results.

I can hear some of you thinking, “But my child struggles with reading. It’s so difficult for them!”
 
If your child has a learning difference, multiple learning differences or any learning struggles, it may take longer for him/her to reach that 6th grade word recognition level.
 
But, you can rest assured that he/she will attain that level with Silent Elephant “e”™ faster, more steadily and with more fun than with any other reading program. This is because they will be learning using all their senses (multi-sensory) therefore connecting their learning in all parts of their brain. In the case of dyslexic learners, it activates under stimulates parts of their brain and makes learning and retention of learning much easier. 
 
This has been my experience with Silent Elephant “e”™, it may take them longer if they have learning differences, but they get there and they have fun getting there.
 
Let me share an example. I have been tutoring an ELL boy for 2 ½ years who has multiple learning differences and speech and language processing disorders (one can barely understand his English or his native tongue). He is also considered to have a low IQ.
 
When he came to me halfway through his 3rd grade year, he wasn’t reading at all. He didn’t know letter sounds or letter names. He was illiterate and basically non-verbal.
 
Today as I write this, he has mastered phonemic awareness and knows all letter sounds and letter names. He fluently reads simple to complex words, such as: so, ran, sphinx, lush, squint: words with single consonants, consonant digraphs and/or consonant blends. He knows how to read and write (spell) words with the suffixes -s, -es, -ed, and -ing. He has also mastered the first 425 words on the Fry Word List of the most common words. Further, he is formulating answers to high level thinking questions. 
 
When this beautiful boy, who has a goal of becoming a police officer, first came to me, his teachers were sure that he’d never learn to read.
 
That thought crossed my mind from time to time also when we first began, but I knew I couldn’t give up on this sweet, hard-working boy. He certainly isn’t giving up! Like I said, I knew he WOULD take longer than 2 years because of his learning differences and his language processing difficulties, but I had faith he would get there because of my experience with Silent Elephant “e”™. We started out very slowly and have slowly picked up speed. 
 
He’s now reading early readers’ books. You should see the smile on his face as he shows me a book he’s read: one about veterinarians, one about astronauts, one about dinosaurs. He beams with pride! He is feeling the freedom and joy of reading.
 
His dad, who had been told his son would never read, says over and over to me, “You, Mrs. Jones, you are really teaching him to read!”
 
I humbly thank his dad and I think to myself that I’m so glad I wrote Silent Elephant “e”™. It has been the steady, consistent, multi-sensory instruction his son needs to understand language and learn to read.
 
From my experience with other students, I know that now that he’s almost finished with Part 6 of Silent Elephant “e”™ his reading growth will speed up! I can’t wait, I can already see his face beaming with both pride and relief. He realizes he is succeeding. He is feeling the joy of reading.
 
This Fall he headed off into middle school with more of a feeling of confidence and that he has a future than he has ever felt. He’s still not reading on grade level yet, but he knows he is moving there, however long it takes.

This young success story has not been my only student whose parents were told their child would never read. Recently I had a fun experience with one of my 9th grade boys admitting to me with both embarrassment and pride that he got caught red-handed reading his mom’s text messages. A year ago, he was a nonreader.
 
He hadn’t meant to snoop into his mom’ phone, he just started reading, got caught up in what he was reading, didn’t even realize that he was reading so effortlessly, and didn’t even think about the fact that he really shouldn’t be reading his mom’s private messages. 😊
 
His mom told me later that she didn’t know whether to be excited and happy, because he was actually reading and engaged in reading or to be upset because he was reading things she hadn’t planned on him reading. In the end, she was thrilled!
 
He shared, “I wasn’t trying to snoop. I just started reading and I got so excited that I couldn’t quit. My mom was stunned!” He asked me immediately to give him a reading assessment to see what reading level he was on which, of course, I did. We celebrated the growth he’s made in ONLY 9 MONTHS.
 
Let me go back to where I started today, it’s been my experience with Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™ over and over these past 10 years that when you teach children, especially struggling children, the way they learn best with whole child/whole brain, multi-sensory activities embedded into every moment of learning, it doesn’t take 6 years to be reading at a 6th grade level. The average is 2 years, and that’s the average!
 
Those who don’t have learning differences learn more quickly but EVERY SINGLE ONE will succeed. That’s been my experience. I have many, many success stories. And I LOVE it!
 
Check out this blog post to enjoy a young one who flew - She Was Reading at a Fourth Grade Level at the End of Kindergarten.  There are also many more success stories here on my blog.
 

Contact us here – Linda Smith-Jones                   Nina Henson

Every Child Deserves the Joy and Freedom of Reading - gift for you!

Every Child Deserves the Joy and Freedom of Reading

With all my heart I extend to you this thank you gift! 

I truly appreciate that you are with us on our Silent Elephant “e”™ journey to ensure that EVERY CHILD experiences the JOY and FREEDOM of READING.
 
That is my passion. That is my WHY!
 
EVERY CHILD experiencing the FREEDOM and JOY of READING has been my passion, my why, for as long as I can remember, even before I realized my daughter was dyslexic. That realization just added fuel to the fire inside me.
 
I’ll say it again – EVERY CHILD DESERVES THE FREEDOM OF BEING ABLE TO READ, whether they have learning differences or not. (See my blog post It Shouldn’t Take 6 Years)

As you know, reading opens up every child’s world. It gives them the ability to explore and choose like nothing else can. It provides options. It paves their way.
 
I have had the privilege of watching student after student fly free because of Silent Elephant “e”™.  I am proud of Silent Elephant “e”™. I am even more proud of these confident and happy young people whose lives were completely changed because of Silent Elephant “e”™, such as the young 16-year-old who is starting college early. (More about her later.)
 
Now, back to your thank you gift!
 
I wanted to give you something to show how much I appreciate you for sharing my passion for EVERY CHILD HAVING THE FREEDOM OF READING.
 
My thank you gift is a PDF of Silent Elephant “e”™ ‘s  Lesson 51 - Vowel Digraph “ui” makes a long /oo/” also called Juicy Juicy.
 
I named my Silent Elephant “e”™ lessons with names that strike curiosity and interest in our students and also tells them what they will be learning. This name makes them giggle and it begins their multi-sensory process of learning “ui” and of having that knowledge at the ready for the rest of their lives when they come up against an unknown ”ui” word.
 
Juicy Juicy gives you a clear idea of how Silent Elephant “e”™ teaches a new phonics concept by activating all parts of the brain through fun whole child/whole brain activities. In Juicy Juicy these fun activities stimulate their senses as they learn that “ui” makes a long /oo/ sound.
 
Your gift includes the entire 7-page Juicy Juicy lesson beginning with your directions and their introduction using their sense of sight, smell, and taste. The lesson then continues with learning “ui” words, their meanings and using those words in sentences to develop comprehension. You will also see how we use Silent Elephant “e”™ markings to indicate phonetic concepts. This is another way multi-sensory learning is integrated throughout Silent Elephant “e”™. Each color and symbol has particular meaning which activates the parts of the brain involving symbology and color.
 
Since Juicy Juicy is a 7-page PDF please email Nina at nina.silentelephante@gmail.com to let her know where you would like her to send your thank you gift.
 
Again, THANK YOU so much for being a part of this wonderful EVERY CHILD GETTING TO LEARN TO READ journey with us! We look forward to hearing how you and your kiddos enjoyed Juicy Juicy.
 
As always, we love hearing your thoughts and answering your questions. Contact us at silentelephante@gmail.com or nina.silentelephante@gmail.com, or call me at 208-859-4406 or Nina at 208-860-3125.

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

Once Learned Through Experience, It's Theirs Forever

When Learning is Fun, It’s Easy and It Stays!

The eyes of the young boy hunched over his last worksheet in Part 14 moved effortlessly word to word. His hand stretched into the colored pencils spread in front of him with a smooth motion as he chose the next color he needed to mark the decoding in the next word.
 
Shaun quickly and confidently used different colors and different symbols to mark prefixes, suffixes, root words, consonant digraphs, consonant blends, consonant twins, the sounds of “c’s” and “g’s”, vowel diacritical markings, syllable division and accent marks.
 
He did all of this from memory.
 
By repetitively using colors to mark prefixes, suffixes, root words, consonant digraphs, consonant blends, consonant twins, the sounds of “c’s” and “g’s”, vowel diacritical markings, syllable division and accent marks, Shaun easily put the “puzzle pieces” in a word together to find meaning.
 

Example of a Level 3 worksheet with phonetic markings for decoding.

The Silent Elephant “e”™ colors and phonetic markings Shaun chose to indicate how to decode words are not random markings taught in isolation.
 
Instead, the phonetic markings and the colors used to mark them are the logical outcome of the fun, multi-sensory activities that Shaun experienced as he learned each phonetic concept. More importantly, he had fun learning the concept and the markings.
 
These activities included acting, puppetry, cooking, games, singing and many other multi-sensory activities that set the phonetic concepts firmly in multiple parts of Shaun's brain.
 
In Silent Elephant “e”™, every phonetic concept is introduced with a multi-sensory activity.
 
As he finished his worksheet, he began to glow with pride and as he raised his head, his bright smile beamed at me. He was proud.
 
Shaun was so calm, so in control, so meticulous and so very pleased with himself as he flew through that worksheet marking word after word, reading each sentence effortlessly with expression and comprehending completely.
 
He knew that he knew how to decode and read every word on that page, and he knew that he comprehended everything he read.
 
He also knew that just two years before, he wasn’t even able to read at a first-grade level and now here he was reading at a 9th grade level, 4 years ahead of his grade level.
 
He knew school was easier now and getting easier all the time.
 
He also knew that he is profoundly dyslexic and that learning to be calm and focused had been hard. He knew that learning to read, write and spell through the fun activities in Silent Elephant “e”™ had not only helped him find calm in learning to read, but helped him understand what he hadn’t been able to understand before. 
 
Looking up from his worksheet, his bright smile told me the truth of all of this.
 

Example of a Level 2 works showing phonetic markings for decoding.
Each marking takes their mind back to the activity they experienced to learn that concept.

Let’s ask those questions that come to mind, WHY was Shaun able to make such fast progress with Silent Elephant “e”™? WHY was this profoundly dyslexic young boy able to move from primer to 9th grade in two years?
 
It’s because Silent Elephant “e”™ is experiential, it’s multi-sensory, it’s fun.

It teaches the whole child through fun activities that activates all parts of their brain through their senses, thus “wiring” their brain with memories of these fun activities and with the knowledge learned during them to decode unfamiliar words. It teaches them the way they learn best – through fun experiences.

Long after he completes Silent Elephant “e”™, Shaun’s brain will retrieve memories of the fun activity he experienced while learning the phonetic markings associated with each learned phonetic concept. His brain will retrieve this knowledge when he needs to decode any unfamiliar word.

Shaun’s anxiety is gone; he will always feel confident that he has the skills to support him as he moves into high school, college and adulthood.
 
When children learn to read, write and spell experientially through fun, meaningful, multi-sensory activities, learning WILL be FUN AND FAST and it WILL STAY with them.

Contact us here or call us at:

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones   208-859-4406       or Nina Henson   208-860-3125

LOOK WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU ASK QUESTIONS! You write a reading program for ALL children!

LOOK WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU ASK QUESTIONS!
You write a reading program for ALL children!
😊😊

I have a passion for teaching children with learning differences. I never thought of leaving a child behind. I always wanted to make sure EVERY ONE of my students was learning.

However, that desire became stronger and more personal when I first discovered that my own daughter is dyslexic.

When she was three, I began noticing in her drawings how she was struggling with directionality.

One warm summer day as I weeded a flower bed, she sat under her favorite tree drawing. Suddenly, she jumped up and danced over to me to share her artwork.

As I looked down at her drawing, I asked her in my happiest “Wow! That’s beautiful!” voice to tell me about her drawing.
She joyfully exclaimed, “I drew my first picture of our family!” She pointed to each person in the drawing telling who they were.
Again, I asked with my cheeriest voice, “How are we all feeling?”
She looked up at me with the biggest smile and said, “We’re all happy!”
“How do you know we’re happy?” 
“Look at our big, happy smiles!”
“You drew a beautiful drawing of our family! I love it!”
She happily skipped back to continue drawing.

As I stood there watching her dance away, my thoughts began to spin. She had not drawn happy smiles. She had drawn frowns, but SHE was not seeing the difference.

That was the moment I knew she was dyslexic.

My husband is dyslexic, and he struggled in school. He was even retained in third grade.

I felt a little scared. My thoughts were whirling. I didn’t want my little girl to feel the unhappiness my husband had felt in school.

I knew she was going to face many struggles as she tried to learn to read. I stood there wondering how I, her mom, was going to help her meet all those struggles. What could I do? How could I help?

I promised myself that day, that very moment that I discovered she was dyslexic, that I would learn the best way to teach her and any other children with learning differences, because I knew they all had a long, hard road ahead of them.

As I set about learning even more about the best practices and strategies to teach all people with learning differences, I thought to myself, “Wait! I’m bouncing around hoping these strategies will work when what I really need to do is ask them! I need to ask my daughter, my husband, and my students, whether they have learning differences or not, for their help. I need to ask them questions, so I understand exactly what really works for them.”

I began to ask questions and I didn’t stop. I asked:
“What helps you learn to read, write and spell?
What did I do today that helped you learn more easily?
What did I do today that didn’t help you learn easily?
How can I teach differently to help you learn more easily?”
I asked these questions the day I first taught a lesson, a few days later, a week later, a month later, and several months later.

I began to notice a pattern.
EVERY ONE of them, whether they had learning differences or not, learned best and retained information best when I taught using “whole-body” and “multi-sensory” instruction.

I realized that “whole-body” and “multi-sensory” instruction was the best for ALL learners!
This knowledge guided every word and every activity in Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”.

Their answers to my questions and the research that supports whole-body and multi-sensory instruction, guided me to write activities that introduce every vague phonics concept with rich multi-sensory activities that stimulate all parts of the brain in every learner, whether they have learning differences or not.

This knowledge guided me to create Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” ™that teaches phonemic awareness and all phonics rules in a way that ALL children are immersed in learning the concepts and easily move from concept to concept because the rules are made tangible for them.

As I look at other reading, spelling, and writing programs, I realize even more why Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” ™is so powerful – it’s the ONE that was developed by asking the learners how they learned. I’m very proud of Silent Elephant “e”™.

 
My entire Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” ™program (Parts 1-14), the posters, the picture book My Awesome Grandma, and the videos are 25% off through December 31st, 2021. You can purchase the program as a whole or by parts. Click here for the store.

As always if you have questions, contact us at silentelephante@gmail.com

Keep a song in your heart!

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones Nina Henson

WOW! TEN YEARS of SILENT ELEPHANT “E” DATA!

WOW! TEN YEARS of SILENT ELEPHANT “E” DATA!

WOW! It suddenly hit me. I have 10 YEARS worth of Silent Elephant “e” data. 10 years! I’ve been watching Silent Elephant “e” truly change children’s lives (and their parent’s lives!) for TEN YEARS!

 During those years, I’ve taught preschool through high school students who were struggling to read, write and spell. Some were staffed into special education. I have also had a few students who were not struggling at all but whose parents knew about Silent Elephant “e” and wanted their children to have a solid foundation in reading, writing and spelling.

 My students have included those with:

·       Dyslexia

·       ADD or ADHD

·       Speech and Language Disorders

·       English Language Learners

·       Autism

·       Hearing Impairments

·       Down Syndrome

·       Dyspraxia

·       Central Auditory Processing Disorder

·       Low to Extremely Low IQ

·       Other Learning Differences

·       Those with No Learning Differences

I share all their differences, because IN SPITE OF their differences, they have ALL SUCCEEDED in becoming fluent, confident readers, writers and spellers. Some needed the gift of time, to move at their own pace slowly but steadily, which is a powerful component of Silent Elephant “e”. Some quickly moved through the entire program. ALL HAVE SUCCEEDED.  

Are you ready to be impressed by the ten years of data, the quick, amazing progress my kiddos are making in a short amount of time?

Over the last ten years students learning with Silent Elephant “e” 1.5 to 2 hours/week (which is not much time!), on average:

·        Advanced 1 grade level for every 2.25 months of instruction. (Think of this: my students are not taking a school year to advance a grade level—they’re advancing multiple grade levels in one year.)

·        Advanced to their age-appropriate grade level in 4 months (some in as little as 2.5 months). (Some of them were 2-6 years behind their grade level when they began learning with Silent Elephant “e”.)

·        Advanced 4.25 grade levels with 6 months of instruction. (😊 Wow!)

·        Mastered Part 1, Phonemic Awareness within 3 months. (In 3 months, they understood the basics of written language and were ready to fly!)

In these last ten years, 9 of my students have successfully exited out of special education which is unheard of. All 9 of them are now competent, confident students who are having a good time in school, learning easily and proud of themselves.

Also in these 10 years, I have been able to support parents and teachers in their decision to refrain from placing a child in special education because the student was being tutored using Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” and both the school and the parents knew the success of Silent Elephant “e” students.  

I’m so pleased to share all of this with you! 

I’m so proud of all those whose lives have been touched by Silent Elephant “e” (students and parents) from the beautiful, profoundly dyslexic young woman in her sophomore year of college majoring in neuroscience who is no longer struggling to the sparkling little one who began first grade this fall reading on a fourth-grade level after one year of learning with Silent Elephant “e” during her Kindergarten year.  

Thank you for celebrating with us! 

If you are wondering how Silent Elephant “e” can support your kiddos as their (and your) comprehensive pre-school to college reading, writing and spelling program, contact us with the links below.

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson

Keep a song in your heart!

A Stress toy - Who Knew Something So Simple Made So Much Difference

Something So Simple Made All the Difference 

I watched the peace and calm of my concluding tutoring session fly out the door as a new family happily bounced nosily in. They brought smiles to my face. I loved their joyful eagerness to begin tutoring!
 
After everyone introduced themselves, my departing family beamed saying, “See you next week!”
 
I welcomed “Amy”, her dad, her mom, and her older sister to have a seat in the office area of my home.
 
We settled down to get to know each other. I introduced my service dogs Sundance and Kona; they told me about their much-loved dog “Scooter”. We shared our favorite and least favorite colors, food, subjects in school, hobbies, and interests.
 
As we progressed through my “Get to Know You Session”, Amy and her mom became more and more restless. Amy repeatedly jumped up, ran all around my home, jumped on the couch, rocked powerfully on the rocking chairs, and rolled on the floor. She was obviously feeling tension about beginning tutoring. Her Mom kept jumping up trying to rein Amy in while smiling uncomfortably, giggling nervously, and making excuses for Amy’s behavior.
 
I knew immediately that Amy and her mom had ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).

I’ve taught many such students during my classroom and tutoring teaching career. I was not concerned. I knew I could help Amy learn to read.
 
But to begin helping her, I needed to administer phonemic awareness and reading assessments. It definitely was a challenge to gently, positively and lovingly settle Amy in a chair and get her to focus long enough to complete the assessments.
 
We finished the phonemic awareness assessment during this first tutoring session and completed the other assessments during the second session.
 
She achieved 30% accuracy in her initial assessment in phonemic awareness and did not know most letter names and letter sounds. She was a nonreader.
 
No wonder she was feeling so much fear and tension about beginning tutoring--she knew she was a nonreader.
 
That was four years ago when Amy was in second grade and already 2 years behind in reading.
 
She had good reason to be frustrated and concerned about learning to read, as she hadn’t been able to so far.
 
Adding to Amy’s severe ADHD, she is also profoundly dyslexic. She has been on medication for the past 3 years for ADHD but she is still hyperactive during reading as her medication is wearing off by the time we have tutoring late in the evening.
 
Amy began to feel success almost immediately when we began tutoring together with Silent Elephant “e” thus helping her relax a little.  Even with all her learning challenges, she works very hard with a positive attitude. It only took her a year coming to tutoring twice a week to master phonemic awareness. And in 2 years she caught up and surpassed her grade level in word recognition and reading comprehension. She is so proud of herself.

I am still tutoring Amy, as her parents feel I provide her security and stability.

Presently she is 2 years ahead of her grade level in reading. Her word recognition is superb. Her reading expression is outstanding. She does struggle with sequencing and maturity of thought in comprehension. Thus, our tutoring sessions focus on these skills.
 

Here’s why I’m eager to share Amy with you: suddenly two months ago, her comprehension achieved a 180 degree turn around in an extremely positive direction!
 
Even though I tutor on Zoom, I could visually see a different young lady on the screen--a relaxed young lady ready to read. I could hear a calm voice (not the nervous, silly giggle I most often hear). As usual, she read the pages in the book beautifully.
 
Then I began to ask her questions about what she had just read, and this is where I became speechless. She always does beautifully answering simple recall questions: characters, setting, problems, and solutions. However, when we move to higher level questions: sequencing, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating, her weaknesses quickly become apparent. As I mentioned above, she struggles with sequencing and maturity.
 
But on this particular day two months ago, she sequenced the story she’d just read into thirteen steps using her own words in great detail in complete sentences! No detail was missed or out of order! I was shocked! Nothing even close to this had ever happened before!
 
When I began asking higher level questions requiring maturity of thought, a calm, confident Amy I’d never seen before self-assuredly answered every question! I couldn’t believe it!
 
I told her how proud I was of her explaining beautifully in great detail everything she’d just answered for me. Then I asked, “How do you feel? Are you proud of yourself? What’s different about you today?”
 
She said, “I feel good! The only thing I can think of that is different is that I have this fidget ball in my hand.” She held it up for me to see.
 
Could this small ball in her hand make such a difference?
“Tell me about it,” I implored.
 
“My mom got this and 3 other kinds of fidgets (not the spinning kind), stress relievers and neato sensory toys from a teacher supply store. My sister is using them too.
 
“When I squeeze the neato over and over again, I just feel so relaxed. I’m not so nervous. I can think better. What I’m reading makes sense! I feel happy!” She was beaming from ear to ear!
 
I could hardly believe this was the same little girl I’ve been teaching for 4 years! I was thrilled, but afraid to get too excited.
 
And here is why I’m eager to share with you: this wonderful transformation has continued throughout each tutoring session for the last 2 months.
 
After a month, I called her mom to share our wonderful experiences, Amy’s explanation for the change and to ask mom to share her thoughts.
 
Mom was thrilled to hear of the transformation. She said that Amy was using the stress relievers while doing her on-line school lessons now and when doing homework. The stress relievers were helping her sister too.
 
I am so pleased by Amy’s transformation and her newly found way to succeed. I believe Amy won’t need my tutoring services after this school year. She’s unquestionably a successful, advanced reader now. I couldn’t be happier.

I wanted to share Amy’s transformation with you because I want to try these stress relievers with 2 other children I tutor. It might just be what they need to help them relax and understand what they are reading.
 
As you read this, maybe you are thinking of some kiddos in your life that might benefit from fidgets (not the spinning ones), stress relievers and neato sensory toys.
 
If you have any questions or experiences you would like to share, contact us.

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                               Nina Henson

The Day I Discovered My Daughter Was Dyslexic

The Day I Discovered My Daughter is Dyslexic 

My reading program, Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”, A Phonetic Reading Program for ALL Learners Particularly Dyslexic or Struggling Readers, sprouted roots in my imagination long ago.  

I became acutely aware that preschoolers to adults with dyslexia and/or other learning differences need a phonemic awareness and phonics program that teaches the way THEY learn!  

I thought to myself those many years ago, “I could write that program! I know how to teach them the way THEY learn.” 

My passion for teaching children with dyslexia was ignited thirty-six years ago when I discovered that my daughter is dyslexic.

I had already taught elementary education for twelve years and had my master’s degree for nine of those years. I did as any fledgling teacher does—I read books on how to teach reading, attended workshops and classes on how to teach reading and sought out advice from my colleagues for suggestions to help my struggling readers.

Some ideas were helpful, but I still felt extremely frustrated with my incompetence to successfully meet the needs of many of my students no matter how many techniques I tried and no matter how much individual time I gave each of my struggling readers. 

Then when my daughter was three, my desire to understand how to help struggling readers became more personal.

While sitting in the cool shade of her favorite tree, she drew a picture of our family. You know the kind—round heads, jellybean tummies with bellybuttons, and stick arms and legs.

She came dashing across the yard to where I was weeding a flowerbed and proudly announced, “Mommy,I drew a picture of our family!” 

I looked at the picture and kept my excited, joyful smile, but as I looked at it, I couldn’t help but ask with a light, happy voice, “How are we feeling?” 

“We’re all happy!” she exclaimed with pride.

“How do you know that?” 

“Look at our big smiles!” 

I hugged her and told her how wonderful and beautiful her drawing was. 

But she hadn’t drawn smiles—she had drawn frowns!  

As I watched her skip away, I took a deep breath. My heart went out to her! It became very apparent in that moment that she wrestled with directionality. 

My thoughts began to spin. My husband is dyslexic. I felt a little scared. How was I going to help her? 

At that moment, standing in the yard watching her dance away, I promised myself that I would learn the best way to teach her, that I would learn how to make the long, difficult road ahead of her to learn to read, write and spell as easy, as fun, and as successful as I could.  

I promised myself I WOULD understand how she, as a dyslexic, learns and I would teach her the way she learns.  

During the next few weeks, we spent a lot of time in front of mirrors—playing with make-up and drawing our faces as we looked at ourselves in mirrors. 

I guided her as we talked through what we were seeing and drawing. “Look how the corners of our mouths go UP so close to our eyes when we smile. Let’s FEEL the corners of our mouths going UP to our eyes.”

It took a long time before she could automatically draw a smiling face, but by three and a half she was winning many coloring and drawing contests in our city. 

Today she is an award-winning landscape architect. I am infinitely proud of her.

The day she skipped across the yard to share her drawing will be a day I will always remember vividly.

That day changed my world.

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! The Day I Realized She Was Dyslexic Changed My Life

Yes, The Day I Realized My Daughter is Dyslexic Changed My Life

In my last blog post, I shared with you the day I discovered that my daughter is dyslexic. That was the day that changed our lives forever.

That was the day we began our challenging journey together that turned out to be more rewarding than I could ever have imagined.

I knew we had our work cut out for us, but I never doubted that my daughter would successfully learn to read, write and spell!

I could not allow myself to doubt.

I became passionate about my research to learn how to best help struggling readers - in particular, dyslexic readers. I was not just learning for my students; now I was learning and mastering that knowledge for my daughter.

More than ever, I diligently asked my students and my daughter questions such as:

“What helps you learn to read, to write and to spell?

What did I do today that helped you learn?

What did I do that did not help you learn?

What made sense to you in today’s lesson?

What confused you in today’s lesson?

Are you still confused?

How can I teach differently to help you?”

I meticulously poured over all their answers, reshaping my reading, writing and spelling teaching strategies to meet the way they were learning.

As I reworked and reworked the way I was approaching my teaching, I began to see sweet success in both my daughter’s and my students’ learning.  I had shifted MY teaching to better meet ALL of their needs by teaching the way they learned.

Their answers to my continual questions, my research, my desire for their success, and my restructuring of my teaching guided my writing of Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” to become the reading program that meets the need for a precise, sequential, language-based reading program ensuring that ALL children will develop automaticity and fluency in reading, writing and spelling by the end of second grade.

It took me years to learn what I have learned about teaching readers, writers and spellers with learning differences, in particular dyslexic readers! My daughter struggled through those years with me.

But all those struggles were worth it. I wouldn’t change a thing, because now Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” is here with longitudinal data of the success of profoundly dyslexic readers, ELL/ESL readers and others with learning differences.

Silent Elephant “e” is here ready to engage the children you love to learn to read, to write and to spell quickly and in a way that develops their knowledge of their own individual talents and frees them to learn the way they naturally 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.

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson 

Signs of Dyslexia – How would you know if someone is dyslexic?

Signs of Dyslexia – How would you know if someone is dyslexic? 

Over my many years as an educator, I have often been asked by parents and teaching colleagues how would they know if a person is dyslexic. 

Let me start where it started for me.  

Long ago I met a man who was genuinely warm, funny, sensitive, compassionate, gentle, kind, and loving, and I fell in love with him, my soul mate, midway through our first date. Of course, I married him! 

Soon after we were married, I started noticing little things as we began filling out written forms, writing checks, writing shopping lists, and writing cards to relatives and friends.  

I noticed how he wrote with a mixture of capital and lowercase letters, with many letters reversed: notably “a”, “b”, “d”, “p”, “q”, “F”, “P”, “E”, as well as many numbers.  I remember being rather surprised. I hadn’t known anyone who reversed so many letters.  

As time went along, I became used to being the one who did the writing; filling out forms for us and writing personal notes in cards, so all he had to do was sign his name.  

You might assume having only to sign his name would be quite simple, but the stress he feels to make all of the letters correctly causes him to make errors about 50% of the time.  

To this day when he writes, he has a “death grip” on his pencil. He complains to me that his hand and arm hurt badly after just writing a few words. He often says that he has always felt that pain. Further, his writing contains many errors forcing him to start over—a cause of much frustration. 

As you can imagine, his struggles in school began in Kindergarten. Unfortunately, he was retained in third grade. Emotionally he has never gotten over this feeling of failure. He often says, “If my teachers had just had your reading program when I was little, my whole life would have been different.” 

Once at one of his class reunions, I met many of his high school teachers His most loved teacher said to him that evening, “Frank, I often think of you. You are brilliant. I didn’t know about dyslexia when you were in my class, but now I know you are dyslexic. You always got every question correct that you completed on a test, but you never completed a test. If I had just given you enough time to complete each test, you would have had perfect scores. I’m so sorry I didn’t do that for you!” It was good for him to hear those words even after so many years.  

Today my husband is a highly skilled retired jet engine mechanic for the U.S. Air Force. During his training, he aced all of his practical tests but struggled completing the written exams. They were mostly multiple-choice tests.  

He shared one exasperating testing experience. He was working on the written multiple-choice portion of an exam one day. His commanding officer was standing over his shoulder. “Frank,” he said, “what’s wrong? You know the answer. You just did everything perfectly in the cockpit.” 

He did know which sentence contained the correct answer, but he was not able to visually line up the “a.”, “b.”, “c.”, and “d.” with the sentences that were the possible answer choices, so he didn’t know which letter to pick. He explained this to his commanding officer who encouraged him to do what he needed to do to line up the answers. He placed a piece of paper under the sentences so his brain would line them up.  

Today my gifted husband is a river guide, a designer of custom-built homes, an amazing finish carpenter, a construction manager, and a pilot building a four-seater plane for our kids. Who would doubt his intelligence with his astounding vocabulary and abilities and success at everything he has turned his mind to? Yet all his life, he has had to work around and work with his dyslexia.  

Even at home while reading to our children, he had to think to process what he was reading. I remember listening to him read to our kids every night, as he would cuddle them before bedtime. He read slowly but comprehended everything and used beautiful expression. They loved it, as did he. 

My purpose for sharing these personal stories about my dyslexic husband is to help guide you in discovering possible signs of dyslexia in your family members and students.  

Often times, the subtle signs of dyslexia are hard to pinpoint, even though they are right in front of us. As with my husband, some of the more obvious signs are:

·       Ability to give intelligent clear articulate answers to oral questions.

·       Need to read and reread until words are thoroughly decoded in order to comprehend what they are reading.

·       Struggles with spelling.

·       Struggles with writing.

·       Letter and/or number reversals past the age of 9.

·       Difficulty with multiple choice and true/false test formats but given as essay format with ample time or if given the option of an oral exam, will generally score very high.

Thoughts to keep in mind:

·       People with dyslexia are extremely intelligent.

·       Dyslexia is very individual in each dyslexic person. For instance, some dyslexics do not reverse letters. 

I’m hoping that as you read this, it may explain experiences you’ve had with family members and students and that it may help you gain a new perspective on observations that you previously did not realize may actually have been signs of dyslexia. 

I want to end by sharing that I’ve found living with a dyslexic person can have amusing moments. One time my husband and our son were off to a construction convention in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Before he left, my husband had written down their motel’s phone number in case I needed to reach him. 

He called me each night to share what they had been learning, but on the last day, I decided to call him. To my shock, I reached a lady on the East coast. “Isn’t this a motel in Jackson Hole, Wyoming?” I asked.          

“Oh, heaven’s no!” she said. “I live in South Carolina.” 

“Wow. I’m trying to reach 555-555-5555.”  

There was a long pause. “That’s so interesting,” she said. “That’s my phone number exactly reversed!” 

“Well, that explains it.” I giggled. “My husband is dyslexic!”

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

Signs of Dyslexia in My Daughter, She Drew The Map Perfectly - Upside Down

Signs of Dyslexia in My Daughter 

After sharing signs of dyslexia in my husband in my last email, I want to share signs of dyslexia in my daughter. I do hope that my sharing will help you in discovering the subtle signs of dyslexia that may be going unnoticed in your family members, your students, and possibly in yourself.  

I want to preface this piece by saying that my daughter always had excellent and caring teachers—always! To this day, I truly appreciate their expertise, hard work, compassion and the love they gave my daughter! 

I shared before that I realized our daughter was dyslexic long before she began school. As you will recall, my first clue was her difficulty with directionality as she drew happy (actually frowning) faces of our family. Another clue in her drawings were birds sitting upside down on branches and upside down in their nests in trees!  

Knowing she was dyslexic, we enrolled her in full day Montessori preschool and Kindergarten. After two years in Montessori school, we met with her Kindergarten teacher to discuss placement for the following year. 

Our daughter struggled in Kindergarten! She had barely learned any letter names and sounds in two years; she had no interest in reading or spelling. She loved to “write” long stories filled with wonderfully creative ideas and illustrated with the most detailed, exquisite drawings, but the only recognizable words in all of her stories were “mom”, “dad”, her brother’s name, and her name. The rest of her “words” looked like squiggles with a few actual letters. We decided that she would benefit from another year of full day Montessori Kindergarten. 

In her second year, she again barely made any progress in language arts, but as that Montessori school did not offer first grade, we enrolled her in our neighborhood public school.  

Grades 1-3 were an endless struggle for her. Homework was a necessity every evening and weekend; it took her hours and hours. Practicing spelling words was a nightly affair, but even with nightly practice, spelling tests remained a challenge! 

My husband and I read to her daily. We used enriching vocabulary in our family discussions. We had her explain everything that she was doing and what she understood and why. She quickly and easily understood concepts, but she still struggled with reading, spelling and writing. 

As she grew, she continued to grapple with directionality, once in third grade, she brought home a learning packet on map skills. She had failed it. The vast majority of her answers were the opposite of what they should have been—north was south, east was west. It was obvious to us what was going on.  

We started playing an adding and a multiplication game using license plates on cars ahead us when she was in 4th grade. Most of the time her answers were correct. However, too many times her answers were incorrect. It took me months to figure out that 50% of the time she was vertically reversing 6’s and 9’s! 

In 5th grade, she drew a most beautiful, yet unusual map of the U.S. on poster board and labeled the states and their capitals for a Social Studies project. All I could do was smile. Washington was where Florida was supposed to be; Maine was where California was supposed to be. However, all of the names of the states and their capitals were written correctly, and in the correct direction. Can you visualize this! 

When she was in 6th grade, I picked her up from school to go to viola lessons. She is a talented musician. One day she was standing on the front sidewalk looking very concerned. She was staring up at the individually cemented letters displaying her school’s name on the front of the building. 

I rolled down the window and called to her, “Come on. Let’s get going.” 

She turned to me and emphatically said, “I am not going to school tomorrow!” 

“Are you ill?” I asked. 

“No,” she said. “Mr. C. (the principal) is going to be SO mad!” 

 “Why?” 

“Someone took out all of the letters in our school’s name and put them all back in backwards!” 

I almost laughed aloud but caught myself in time. “Honey, the letters are cemented into the cement blocks in the building. No one could take them out without bending and breaking them. Your dyslexia is causing you to see them backwards.” 

“No!” she insisted. “They really are backwards!” 

I got out of the car and told her to stand under the first letter in her school’s name and I stood under the “L” in “school”. It took her several minutes of looking at the letters and looking at where we were standing for her brain to finally reverse the letters and process them correctly. Suddenly she happily exclaimed, “Ok! They’re in the right order now! Mr. C. won’t be mad! Let’s go to viola lesson.” She jumped into the car and off we went! 

In high school, she exasperatedly walked in the door after her government class. “Why do teachers do that?” she demanded.

“Do what?” I asked. 

“Expect students to correct other students’ papers. 

We had to pass our paper to the person sitting behind us, so I had to correct the paper of the boy sitting in front of me. The top of the paper was True/False. I couldn’t tell if he’d written a “t” or an “f” for number 2. I marked it wrong, because his handwriting was messy! 

The bottom of the paper was multiple choice. For number 8, I couldn’t tell if he’d written a “b” or a “d”. I didn’t mark it wrong though, because at least he wrote it neatly!”  

“Sweetie,” I said, “You need to be an advocate for yourself, and explain to teachers that you are dyslexic and should not be correcting other students’ papers.” 

A few weeks later, she became upset with me and tried to express her anger by showing me the hand signal of “Loser” to form an “L”. She used her left hand, so I didn’t see an “L”. I giggled and tried to explain to her that if she was going to call me a “Loser”, she had to use her right hand to do it. She burst into tears and stomped to her room. Later we hugged and had a good laugh! 

Even today while riding in cars, I am continually reminded of her dyslexia as she tries to rapidly read street signs and storefront signs. She makes countless errors, because she does not have adequate time to process the words. 

To say being dyslexic is a challenge is an understatement!  

In my next post, I want to share the flip side of dyslexia.

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

There ARE Many Blessings to Being Dyslexic

There ARE Many Blessings to Being Dyslexic 

My daughter often says to me, “Mom, dyslexia is NOT a GIFT!” I feel her pain. 

Over the years, I’ve watched the daily struggles my daughter and husband experience in reading, writing and spelling. When they present me with a greeting card that they’ve written a couple of personal sentences in, I treasure it! Not only are their words heartfelt, but I know it took them literally two or more hours to write! First, they wrote two or more rough drafts and then ever so carefully and painstakingly wrote their feelings about me on the actual cards. 

But there are many blessings to being dyslexic. There are so many unique qualities in them, because of their dyslexia, that I hold dear. 

My daughter excels in art and music, although learning to read music was a challenge. In her early years of piano lessons, I had to rewrite all of her music on larger 12” X 18” music staff paper. As soon as she had a piece of music memorized, she never looked at the paper again! 

Further her ability to use muscle memory in her fingers helped her excel in performing on the piano, viola, cello, and guitar! She quickly learned to play the viola at school. Her teacher suggested she learn the cello to challenge herself. We met him at the music store one Saturday, as he offered to help us pick out an instrument. When they had chosen an instrument, my daughter asked him, “How do I play the cello?” 

He briefly shared that the cello was basically the same as the viola, except you had to learn to read a new clef in the music, to bow sideways, and the strings were in the reverse order. 

She sat down and played the exact song that she had just mastered on the viola on the cello! Although I wasn’t too surprised, her stunned teacher sat down. “I have never seen a music student do that before!” he exclaimed. She is an accomplished musician. She understands music deep in her whole body. 

And there are many times my daughter being dyslexic has made me smile. One such time was when she went to Japan during the winter and spring of 2001 and then that fall, I went to Japan as a Fulbright recipient. She was so excited that I would have the opportunity to see some of her favorite places in Tokyo.

As I packed for Japan, she said, “Mom, you need to know the long-distance number so you can call us. I’ll write it down for you.”  I was skeptical that she’d write it in its correct sequence. I watched her tap out the numbers on her imagined calculator on her thigh.  

In the same way her body knows the “feeling”, muscle memory, of a song on the piano, viola or cello once she’s learned it, her body, and therefore her brain, easily translates the imagined calculator on her thigh correctly. She was feeling the numbers and the phone number she wrote for me was correct! 

She drew three maps to share some of her favorite places in Tokyo with me. Two maps were perfect, and I found every place she was so excited for me to see. The third map was not as helpful. I got off the subway at the correct location and began following the third map. I walked for a few miles and didn’t see any site that was on her map. I began asking people if they could help me. Everyone said, “I cannot read English.” 

I kept walking. Unexpectedly a man that I had previously asked for help came up from behind and tapped me on the shoulder. As I turned to face him, he said, “I read little English. I try.” After looking at the map for more than a minute, he said, “Ah, so!” Then he turned it upside down! 

“Not this way. That way.” As I thanked him, I smiled knowing exactly what had happened. 

It took me quite a while to get back to the subway station and continue on in the OPPOSITE direction to find every special place on her map plus get some yummy cookies at her favorite bakery!         

I can only imagine how challenging dyslexia makes learning! I love my husband and daughter with all of my heart. I feel their pain as I watch them struggle. I also appreciate their talents and love trying to see the world in their talented, unique way.   

AND now, because of the struggles of my husband and daughter, we have an answer to the reading, writing and spelling challenges every dyslexic person faces.  

We have Silent Elephant “e”, and we can teach dyslexic children and adults how to read, write and spell with effective, explicit instruction in phonemic awareness followed by precise, sequential, language-based instruction using “Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”, A Phonetic Reading Program for ALL Learners of Any Age Particularly Dyslexic or Struggling Readers” reading program utilizing “whole body”, multi-sensory instruction.

Silent Elephant “e” frees them of the struggle. Being free from the struggle lets them more easily recognize the talents and gifts their unique perspective brings to the world.  (See Will I Always Be Dyslexic? Yes! And Many Famous People Are)

Every dyslexic and parent of a dyslexic child can breathe easier.

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 

OKAY?? Now What do I Do When I have a Diagnosis of Dyslexia?

OKAY?? Now What do I Do When I have a Diagnosis of Dyslexia?

Hmmm…you’re beginning to suspect dyslexia in your child or in one of your students. You have observed them closely as they’re struggling to read, write and spell. You’re wondering just exactly what are the early signs of dyslexia? 

While reading my blog posts, you may even be suspecting that you’re dyslexic. You may be beginning to find some clarity about yourself and your process of learning. 

The question that might be forming in your mind is: “What do I do now?”  

It has been my experience that too often parents and educators wait too long to ask this question about their struggling children or themselves. Many parents have said to me, “I wish I hadn’t waited so long to get my child help. We hoped that everything would just suddenly “click” for them.” 

OK! What to do: 

First, I recommend that anyone suspected of being dyslexic be given assessments as soon as possible, whether preschool, adult or anywhere in between.  Research has proven that interventions are tremendously helpful even as early as preschool. 

If you have Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”, begin your formal assessment with Phonemic Awareness Assessment Part 1. If the child has 95% accuracy on Part 1, proceed to Phonemic Awareness Assessment Part 2. 

If a child does not have 95% accuracy on Part 1 and Part 2 of the Phonemic Awareness Assessments, begin teaching Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”, Part 1 Phonemic Awareness. 

Whether a child needs instruction in phonemic awareness or not, continue by assessing a child’s abilities in phonics. 

Using Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”, Part 2, begin the phonics assessments by: 

·       Giving the letter name and letter sound recognition assessments. A child will be successful beginning Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”, Parts 3-14 if he/she meets these criteria:

     -Upper Case Letter Recognition = 92% Mastery

     -Lower Case Letter Recognition = 92% Mastery

     -Letter Sounds = 92% Mastery 

If a child does not meet these criteria, please spend a week teaching the child the letter names and sounds he/she needs to reach 92% mastery. Use as many whole-body strategies as possible such as painting (with brush and fingers), drawing on paper or in sand, singing, or baking alphabet cookies that connect the sound to the formation of the letter. Connect the sound and formation of the letter to as many things in your day-to-day life as you can.  Using the short vowel posters will quickly aid in teaching 5 of the most important letter names and sounds!  

·       Next administer the Rhyming Assessment. The results of this rhyming assessment will pinpoint the exact developmental level the child is at in their ability to rhyme. A step-by-step guide to further developing their rhyming skills with fun, enriching activities is on pages 73-74 in Part 2. 

·       Continue assessing word recognition using the included San Diego Quick Assessment. Begin assessing with the Reading Readiness Levels. You will find the child’s independent, instructional and frustration reading levels. 

·       Conclude by administering the Oral Reading Inventory Assessment beginning one or two levels below their instructional reading level obtained from their San Diego Quick Assessment. The oral reading inventory will assess the child’s word recognition, fluency and comprehension. You will find the child’s independent, instructional and frustration reading levels. 

No matter the child’s assessment results, I always begin teaching all of my students phonics using Part 3 which is the introduction of the phonics portion (Parts 3-14) of the Silent Elephant “e” reading program.  

You may ask, “Why assess children if you are going to start teaching all children with Part 3?” 

First, initial assessment is important because you have to know where their starting point is to know how their knowledge has grown when you do your periodic assessments.  

Second, mastery of each phonics rule is absolutely vital. Any gap in their previous learning will cause them to struggle. I know some of them will quickly move through the beginning lessons, but I want to be certain that a child does not have even the tiniest gap in any of their phonics skills. To ensure they don’t, I begin at the beginning with all of them and let those who assessed higher feel their confidence as they quickly move forward.  

This brings up another important point, as educators, we must ensure mastery of each phonics rule before moving to the next. When you begin at the beginning, you KNOW they have each rule down pat.  

You can rest assured that Silent Elephant “e” ensures no gaps in their learning because there is continual review of each mastered phonics skill built into all following lessons making certain all children are retaining and advancing their knowledge of all previously taught phonics rules.  

All assessment results, from pre-teaching to post (graduation from Silent Elephant “e”), provide you, your students and their parents with a continual map of their progress.  

Children love seeing their progress written down in black and white and are so amazed at their rapid progress with Silent Elephant “e”! They are so proud of themselves! They are so eager to continue learning with Silent Elephant “e” and in their classrooms!  

They no longer feel defeated. They feel empowered to continue their learning and to become whatever they want to be! Silent Elephant “e” is a powerful program in so many ways! 

If you do not have Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”, there are other resources available to you:

·       You can contact the International Dyslexia Association for services and guidance as to how best to help yourself and/or a child.

·       You can contact your public school. Public school systems have school psychologists that test children even if they are not attending that school. You do have to be in their attendance area.

·       You can contact a private educational psychologist for testing for yourself and/or for your child.  

I’m so glad you’re launching your search for answers!  

If you discover that your child is dyslexic, my next blog post will guide you to discussing dyslexia with your child.

If you are questioning whether someone in your life is dyslexic and you’re not sure what to do, or you have completed the assessment and would like support deciding the next steps, feel free to contact us.

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson