Archive for category Special Education
6 Auditory Processing Activities Improve Reading Skills Without Spending a Dime
Posted by admin in Special Education on July 9, 2011
Auditory processing skills come into play when becoming a proficient reader. Think about this for a minute. In order to read you need to decode words (the ability to sound out printed words) as well as encode words (the ability to put letters to the sounds that make up a word).
Many students that struggle with reading struggle because they have auditory processing difficulties. There are actually nine areas of auditory processing that affect learning. Problems with any one or more of those areas can make learning difficult. The cause of the auditory processing difficulties may be due to CAPD, ADD, dyslexia, a learning disability, a learning difficulty or autism.
If you are a parent working with your own child, or tutoring a student, or homeschooling or a teacher, there are specific things you can do to make a difference in your child’s learning life.
Here are 6 activities you can use to strengthen auditory processing. These auditory processing activities use things you typically have around the house or in the classroom. Read the rest of this entry »
Language Awareness in the Special Needs Community
Posted by admin in Special Education on July 9, 2011
Language Awareness means thinking about what you’re saying
There’s a disturbing trend among disability advocates and even some parents. It’s a close-minded attitude about language awareness that has to stop.
I have been dismayed and hurt by some of the published material and propaganda out there regarding something I loosely refer to as language awareness.
Just what is language awareness?
Language Awareness defined: According to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary (11th Ed.), language includes “words, their pronunciation, and the methods of combining them used and understood by a community [emphasis mine].” My favorite dictionary defines awareness in multiple forms, but includes “having special or certain knowledge as from firsthand sources” and “focusing one’s attention on something.”
Combining the two words gives us a phrase, language awareness, and I define it using Merriam-Webster’s definitions as a guide:
* Being aware, either through personal or learned knowledge, and focusing on the usage of words, their pronunciation, and the methods of combining them used and understood by a community. Read the rest of this entry »