Reading Comprehension Strategies

The other day I was approached by a friend who told me that her son is reading well. His reading fluency is a year ahead, but he doesn’t understand anything he is reading. She asked if I had strategies that her son could use to improve his comprehension.

Growing up dyslexic, teachers spent hours working with me each week on reading strategies. In college, I decided to become a teacher and specialize in reading, so I could help others who struggled.  Here are the strategies that worked best for me, and I use in my classroom:

1. Ask questions- Teach your child to think about what they are reading. To do this, the child needs to take breaks from reading to ask questions. Main questions to ask: Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?

·         Who is the story about? (characters)

·         What happened in the story? (plot)

·         Where did the story take place? (setting)

·         When did this happen? (setting)

·         Why did the event happen? (plot)

·         How did the story end? (plot)

2. Annotating- Have the child highlight important information from the questions above. The child should also highlight main ideas in the paragraphs to show they are keeping track of what they are reading. If they have additional questions, they can write it in the margin of their page.

If the story comes with questions, have the child also highlight important words in the question along with the answers (or write paragraph numbers by the questions to show that they went back to the text to find the answer).

3. Re-read your annotations and form a summary- After reading the text, have the child go back through their notes to write a short summary on what they read.

I hope these strategies help improve your child’s reading. The best way to get a child to think about the text, and what they are reading is to model. I model at home by reading children’s books to my kids. After each page, I will ask a question. Showing them how to ask questions teaches them how to form questions when they are reading. This will help them learn how to think about what they read, so they will better comprehend the text.

So today, pick out a favorite book, snuggle close to your kiddo, and explore the fun world of reading and thinking about the text.

Sacrifice

Recently, a local business tried to host an “Autism Awareness/ Special Needs Night” for the community. The event allowed two hours at their facility. They said that parents would only need to pay if they were participating with their child. Parents that were spectators didn’t have to pay. Many Special Need’s Parents were upset about this. One mother wrote, “I do not get the option to be a spectator. I am a Special Needs Mom. I have to be right next to my child throughout the day. You do not understand the sacrifices we have to make for our children. To charge us extra when you are hosting a Special Need’s Night is crazy.”

The business ended up making some changes to the parent fee after listening to some parents, and apologized. But, this situation really made me realize that the outside world really has no idea how many sacrifices parents of Special Need’s Kids really make. So, I decided to touch base on a few:

1) Choice to work/ go to school

A lot of parents who have children with Special Needs choose not to work because of the child’s schedule and needs. Special Need’s Parents spend a lot of their time at therapy, doctor appointments, and providing care for their child. Recently, I had a friend who had to cut back on her work schedule and work part time, so she could be more involved in her child’s therapy. I had another friend take a break from pursuing her degree, so that, she could keep up with her daughter’s recent increase of doctor’s appointments and evaluations. Since my son started therapy, I had to stop consulting, writing curriculum, and speaking at teaching conventions. I decided that it was more important for me to continue his therapy over into our home and spend more time working with him. When my daughter was born and had Special Needs too, I no longer had the time to even consider picking it back up.

I have also known parents who had to work more and put their child in care of someone else, so they can afford to pay the entire medical and therapy bills. I was told by one mom that she wished she had the opportunity to be actively involved in her child’s therapy, but their family cannot afford it. She cried to me about the guilt she sometimes feels for not being as present as she wants to be.

2) Choice to move

            Moving is also not simple with a Special Need’s Child. When you have a child with Special Needs, you count on the whole community for help and support. You have support from therapy, team of doctors, and Special Need’s groups. Each state has different testing and considerations for funding. Moving requires starting over from scratch and rebuilding your community of support. It also requires taking a chance on funding and qualifying for therapy. Recently, one of my friends was asked why she didn’t just move to another state to try a new treatment for her son. Her answer was simple; she couldn’t uproot her support system. We also had battles with the choice to move. My husband has been offered promotions and different opportunities that he has declined because moving would not only uproot our support, but it would also risk our kids’ qualifications and funding.

3) Choice in schedule

            Special Needs Children have a tight schedule of therapies and doctor’s appointments. Even though we would rather be doing something else, if we did, then we would miss time on our child’s treatment. Special Need’s Kids also need more structure than the typical child, and do not adapt well to change. If we want to see our child progressing, we do not have much choice in our schedule. We have to get the therapy times available and work our lives around our child’s treatment times.

4) Choice to be a spectator

            Depending upon a child’s needs a parent might not have a choice to be a spectator. The child might need support moving around, balancing, changing surfaces, or communicating with others. The child might also need support for their behavior or responding to others or different situations.

5) Choice in bills

            Not all therapy, evaluations, and medical equipment is covered by insurance. A lot of Special Need’s Parents pay out of pocket for services and equipment that they believe will help their child. Supporting a Special Needs child can get expensive.

6) Choice in free time

The most important one is probably making time for themselves. It is so important for Special Need’s Parents to make some time for them. One of the best ways you can help support a Special Need’s Family is to help the parents have some free time.

 

Special Need’s Parents make sacrifices daily for their children. But every one of these parents would say that it is worth it to watch their child blossom and grow. I think that is why each milestone reached and each new accomplishment, no matter how small, is extremely significant because of the sacrifice made to get there.

Helping Your Child with Reading

This week I had two friends ask about reading, and how they can help their child at home. One of my friends expressed how parent/ teacher conferences were so hard because she didn’t understand everything the teacher was discussing. After talking to her, I thought it would be great for me to simplify reading, so parents can help their children at home.

One of the best programs out there for learning beginning reading skills (Pre-K to 1^st grade) is called Preschool Prep Company. This company has developed DVD’s, books, flashcards and activities that help provide a great foundation for decoding, phonics, phonemic awareness, and sight words. If you do not feel confident in helping your child, you can always start with that program. If you do feel confident, here is a list of skills a child needs for reading:

1 ) Decoding- skills used to figure out a word such as: word attack skills/ learning how to sound out a word (phonics), using context clues

·         Learn letters and their sounds

·         Build from single letter to a word

·         Look at word families

·         Look at clusters of sounds (break the word a part)

·         Look at words around the word

·         Look at pictures

·         Use knowledge of similar words to figure out a word

2) Phonics- learning to read by sounds or clusters of sounds

·         Learn letters and their sounds

·         Learn clusters of sounds

·         Use knowledge of sounds to sound out words

3) Phonemic Awareness- ability to notice, think about, and say sounds of words.

·         Learn letters and their sounds

·         Learn clusters of sounds

·         Use knowledge of sounds to sound out words

·         Learn how to rhyme/ form word families

·         Explain rhyming and give an example

·         Notice words that rhyme

4) Sight Words- words that are memorized by sight/ most cannot be sounded out

·         List of sight words can be found on the Dolch website: http://www.dolchsightwords.org/ another great source is Fry’s 1,000 high frequency words

·         Make a word wall at home on a poster board. Add a word every couple days. Practice words every night.

 

To develop these skills, you would start with working on one objective, such as, learn letters and their sounds. With each objective you want to: model, work on it together, and then have them do it by themselves:

I would break that objective down to one letter a day. You would introduce the letter, talk about its sound. Read a book about that letter. Then do activities, such as have the child write the letter, draw pictures that start with that letter, or find/ cut out / glue pictures that start with that letter.

Once the child has a basic foundation of the objectives above, the child needs to be reading on their independent level (child can read page with zero to one mistake) and modeled reading through an instructional level (child can read passage with no more than four to five mistakes). During modeled reading, you are reading to your child, pointing at words and checking for comprehension by asking questions (such as Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?). The child doesn’t read to you on an instructional level because it is too hard, can cause frustration, and they are unable to comprehend because they are too focused on using their reading skills to solve words. A great website for read aloud books is www.starfall.com. This site reads to your child while highlighting words that are being said.

I hope this helps you, as you navigate your child through the wonderful world of literacy. One of the best quotes I ever heard was, “No greater treasure will there ever be than having a parent read to me.” Spending one on one time with your child’s reading can make a big difference. I hope this helps you know where to start.

The Power of a Horse

The place that my son does Equine Therapy holds an annual Barn Dance and Horse Auction fundraiser where horses used in the therapeutic program are auctioned for a sponsorship. During the auction, a parent of a rider will speak on behalf of the horse their child rides. Yesterday, I was asked to speak on behalf of the horse that my child rides weekly. To fully explain the power of this program, I would have to start from the beginning.

When my child was born, I had read all of the books to prepare me for mommy hood. I had bought all of the equipment and baby products including a big container of Germ-x. I also made sure we made it to all of his appointments, where the doctor would tell me that he was mastering milestones ahead of time. By one year old, he had 12 words and he was putting words together by 14 months. Then, in a rapid turn of events, he got sick with RSV which turned into Pneumonia. Once he gained his health back, we noticed that he lost his language skills and began to withdraw. Being a teacher, I knew early intervention was the key. After evaluations, we found out that my son needed therapy for his language development and developmental delays.

I came upon Horses for Healing at a booth during Bentonville’s “First Friday”. I immediately was drawn to it because horses were used as a tool for therapy. My son has always had a close connection with animals. I knew it would be a perfect fit.

For two years now he has worked with the horses. Riding has helped him develop strength, coordination, and has improved his social skills. This year he started skipping and galloping for the first time, something he has longed to do with his peers. He also has gained strength to sit in a chair without propping himself up. Interacting with the staff, volunteers, and horse has helped him with making eye contact and has made him more comfortable with social interactions.

Last night, my son was having a hard night. He was tired and overwhelmed with change that had recently occurred. In the beginning of the ride, he could barely get his words out. At the end of the ride, he was calm and speaking in conversation. He got off of his horse with a huge smile. Watching the power of a horse to transform your child’s mood and help them be able to organize their thoughts into speech is a powerful experience. It was one of our best nights so far.

Teaching Your Child to Stand Up for Themselves

Socialization has always been a struggle for us. Both of my kids have a hard time with it. As they are starting to improve socially, we are encountering bullying.

My daughter has been hit and scratched. She is an easy target since she won’t make noise when this happens, and freezes still.

Kids have done the same thing to my son. He has been pushed, kicked, punched, and teased for being a baby. When this happens, he will freeze, run away, or not notice it because doesn’t understand that the kids are being mean.

My husband and I have been working with both of our kids at home on standing up for themselves and others who are bullied. The things we are teaching them are starting to help them. Here is what we have taught:

1.     Special Phrase- since my kids freeze and have a hard time expressing themselves, we have come up with special phrases for them to say. We role play saying these phrases and practice them often. Our phrases included: “stop that”, “no”, or “mean friend”.

 Older kids could question the bully (Why would you _______?) , or use their words to express what they don’t like (I don’t like it when you ________ ),and what they want (I want you to ____).

 

2.     Act Assertive- we teach our children to stand tall and confident when talking to the bully and use a “strong” voice when saying the special phrase

 

3.     Walk Away (to a safe spot)-  bullies feed off of a kid’s reaction. If the bully is not responding to the special phrase, we teach our children to walk away to a safe spot.

 

4.     Know Where To Go- we talk to them a lot about seeking help and telling someone what is going on. We reinforce the importance of telling the teacher, therapist, daddy, or mommy.

 

5.     Help Others- If our child sees someone being threatened by a bully, we tell them that it is nice to stand up for them.  Our children have been taught to stand up for others by standing by them, saying the “special phrase”, or going to get help.

 

6.     Avoid bullies- We teach our kids not to put themselves in places where a bully has an advantage. Stay within sight of others who can help you.

 

7.     Protect Yourself- Last, we teach our children that if someone starts hitting or physically attacking you, and there is no other choice, you must defend yourself. I honestly hope a situation never comes to this. I hate violence, but I do not ever want my child in fetal position on the ground getting beat up. Because I never learned how to protect myself, I was hurt badly by a crazy woman with road rage. I could have been killed if someone didn’t step-in to help me while she was choking me. I froze when I was attacked. I guess this is because I was taught to always turn the other cheek, but there are times when that is not an option.

What has helped my kids the most is practice. You have to role play situations so they know how to respond. This will help they learn how to think for themselves in these situations. It scares me to think that one of my children will be in school next year in situations where I am not present, but I am hoping that our practice will pay off.

The Hamburger- Feeding Therapy

Our family loves to have cook-outs. Hot dogs and hamburgers are a summer time favorite for everyone but my daughter. She has always struggled with eating beef. We have tried everything: cutting it into fourths, eating it dry, trying the meat without the bread, giving her condiments to dip it into, and putting condiments on it.

On the way to therapy, I stopped to get the kids food. I asked my daughter what she wanted, and she said a hamburger. I was glad that she picked it because she was on her way to feeding therapy, and I was secretly hoping that her therapist would perform some magic and get her to eat it.

Before therapy, I talked to the therapist about how my daughter struggles with beef. She will either spit it out or refuse to eat it. The therapist said okay and took her back.

Thirty minutes later, I got texted pictures of my little girl eating a hamburger!!! I was so excited. Her therapist gave it to her in mini- bites (my son calls it "just a pinch of food"). Also, when my daughter struggled with picking it up (due to sensory), the therapist gave her a fork, and she had no problem spearing it!

I am just thrilled. I hope she now will do this at home with me. Summer is coming up and grilling season is around the corner!

Motor Activities with Balloons or Balls

Today when we were at a birthday party, the balloons were the biggest hit. Every child wanted to play with a balloon. The kids enjoyed hitting them in the air. Watching the kids with the balloon made me think about balloons, hand/ eye coordination, and motor skills.

My kids love balloons and balls. It is one of their favorite things to play with. These tools are a simple and an inexpensive way to get kids to work on their therapy skills like oral motor strengthening, crossing midline, hand/eye coordination, balance, and multi-step tasks. Here are some fun activities we did at home with our birthday balloons. You could also substitute a ball for a balloon.

1.     Keep the balloon off the floor- You can play this game with your hands, rackets, or if you want to incorporate music, you can use hand bells.

 

2.     Partner toss/ catch- Toss and catch the balloon with a friend. If the child doesn’t have a partner, they can toss and catch the ball themselves.

 

3.     Throw/ clap/ catch- Toss the balloon in the air and see how many times you can clap before you need to catch it (balloon can’t hit the floor).

 

4.     Back to back pass- Sit back to back with a partner, and hand it off to your right, then grab it back to your left.

 

5.     Shoot it- Toss the balloon into a bucket.

 

6.     Kick it- Kick the balloon and see if your partner can catch it.

 

7.     Blow it- Blow the balloon from a starting point to an endpoint. You can make this really fun by making it a race.

 

I hope these seven fun activities bring a lot of laughter to your house as you work on helping your kiddo get stronger. I know my kids loved every second of it.

Our Words and Actions Matter

This weekend, my son had a soccer game. He was so excited. We all were. On the way there, he came up with a game goal to help him try his best. He wanted to make five goals and pass to other players. He said he loved his teammates and wanted them to score too.

When we got to the game, he ran out and started stretching with his team. After stretching, the team started warming up. Each child was told to do five skills. My son was focusing and working on his skills when a parent of a child on his team started yelling at his kid (since his child apparently was not focusing and did three skills instead of five). The parent called his child an a** three times while scolding. It broke my heart while watching it. The child went back on the field and did his two other skills while crying. The coach went over to the child and tried to encourage him and help him feel better, but you could tell his spirit was broken. The whole team then felt his sadness. My son was worried about him. The atmosphere at the game changed. It is crazy how one person can turn the mood around.

Being a parent is rough. There are times when you get so frustrated and angry. But as adults, it is our job to show love and grace towards our children. It is our job to build up their confidence and encourage them. It is also our job to discipline them with care and not break their spirits. As parents, we set the tone and environment for our children. A child is more likely to perform in a nurturing and loving environment. Knowing this, I started cheering for all of the kids and telling them they were doing a great job. Other parents joined in. Then, the kids joined in too. It ended up lifting the dark cloud that was put over the game.

 I know that everyday hold its challenges. Raising a special needs child adds even more stress. I just wanted to encourage all of us to remember that we bring sunshine to our child’s day through our loving actions and uplifting words. We all need a little grace.

Our Journey’s 4 year Anniversary

Four years ago, I walked into a pediatric therapy clinic for the first time. My child had stopped speaking and was withdrawing from us. I remember being terrified of the therapist confirming what I already knew in my heart. I remember wondering: Will my child be able to speak again? Will this continue to get worse? Will my child be able to connect with me and others? Will this therapist be able to help us?

I remember the therapist going over the results telling us that she thought it could be PDD, but we would have to wait until he was three to know for sure.

I remember crying for days over the results.

I remember falling to the ground asking God for a miracle.

I remember waiting. Waiting on tests, and waiting to see if treatment would help.

I remember crying in the therapist arms asking if she thought my child would be able to connect to others and have a friend.

I remember wondering how long this journey would be. Could it last his whole life?

Life was hard then. I had so many unanswered questions; I really worried about the future. I wish I could go back and tell myself that it would be okay.

My child did respond well to therapy. At his 3 year evaluation, they ruled out PDD and said it was SPD. Today on his four year anniversary, I look at my child and I see a miracle. Things I was so worried about have been laid to rest.

·        My child is talking in full conversation.

·        He is able to engage with others, does imaginary play, and laughs. Boy, does he laugh! Today he came out of therapy laughing with a friend so hard that they fell to the ground.

·        My child can be very silly. He loves making other people laugh.

·         My child can now self regulate or tell me that he needs help when situations are too much.

·        My child has learned how to adapt to change, and even though some days are hard, most days are great.

·        My child, who would only eat four things, now will try almost anything.

God has been faithful walking beside me this whole time and doing a great work in my child.

I am so thankful for the therapists who have also walked beside us on this journey and showed us unconditional love. Their love and devotion each session has made a life changing difference.

Four years ago, things looked dark. But now, I am seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, burning bright.

Free Sensory Play- Outside!

When you have two kids with Sensory Processing Disorder, you are constantly looking for ways your kids can engage in Sensory Play. I love looking on Pintrest for new sensory activities and sensory box ideas. But today, I had a wakeup call when I was reading my daughter’s developmental email. The email talked about the importance of letting your child play outside for sensory stimulation. Why am I spending time creating things, when we can get it all outside for free?

Here are a few outside sensory ideas that your child can do outside:

smell-  breathe in the fresh air, smell the flowers, plants, trees (pine needles/ pine cones)

feel- sandbox, water table, run bare foot in the grass, play in the dirt, pick up different kinds of stones, find different kinds of leaves and flowers, play in a pile of leaves, touch different trees and feel the bark textures

hear- birds singing, trees blowing in the breeze, animals walking around, water moving

look- for different animals, watch the clouds pass by, observe different colors

taste- if you have a garden, you can taste different fruits and veggies

In today’s Pintrest world, we are busy creating. It seems like our lives have moved more inside. Kids do not go outside to play as much as they did when we were younger. Playing outside is very important part of development. Now that it is warming up, it is time to get outside, enjoy the surroundings, and play!