Jj is for Jottings 151. Daily Reading Time.
Daily reading time for children is much more important than just reading books leading to a longer life. It makes sense that children who read more have better vocabulary, reading skills, fluency, reading comprehension and overall literacy. It can also strengthen family relationships and helps children to understand the world outside. So just how many minutes per day should we be reading with our children? Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 137. Auditory Processing Disorders.
Following on from auditory skills and developing auditory processing skills, we now turn our attention to auditory processing disorders. There are so many conflicting ideas in the literature as to exactly what constitutes auditory skills. One could really become bogged down by this and therefore any resulting disorders. There is even disagreement as to whether it should be “auditory processing disorders” or “central auditory processing disorders.” I’ve decided to go with the thinking that “central” implies problems only at the brain level and consequently limits the definition.
Auditory processing disorders – attempting to prevent them is a good policy.
Jj is for Jottings 136. Developing Auditory Processing Skills.
Following on from the article on auditory skills, we turn to the topic of developing auditory processing skills. An article on communication milestones from 12 months to 5 years can be found here. But now we will explore the development of auditory processing skills in a little more detail.
One general way of developing auditory processing skills is to read to your children.
Jj is for Jottings 135. Morphemes.
There was a brief definition of morphemes in the article on learning vocabulary. Direct vocabulary instruction referred to using morphological knowledge to work out meanings of more complex words. So it’s probably time to go more thoroughly into morphemes and how important they really are. Knowledge of morphemes is important in phonics for both reading and spelling; and also in vocabulary and comprehension. That’s a broad sweep across both language and literacy. Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 132. Direct Vocabulary Instruction.
When a child has poor vocabulary knowledge for their age, it indicates that they struggle to learn vocabulary from their written or spoken language experiences. They will then need direct vocabulary instruction to increase their chances of catching up with their peers.
It also makes sense to teach them strategies to help them learn new word meanings from their language experiences. These strategies involve teaching them to use morphological knowledge (see previous article) to work out meanings of more complex words, or to search for words that might provide clues to the meanings of other words in context. A combination of this broad, strategy-based approach and direct vocabulary instruction will provide the best results, according to recent research. And it aids not just vocabulary knowledge, but also reading comprehension.
Many children with poor language and reading skills will have only a nodding acquaintance with many word meanings. They can even be quite common, concrete words which you would expect them to know. These children can easily slip through the net. Parents and teachers may not observe that, although children may use a word, their knowledge of it is actually very limited. It’s not just a case of “he used that word so we can mentally tick it off as part of his vocabulary”. We need to be more vigilant than that.
Direct Vocabulary Instruction needed at this age? Probably not for a cria.
Jj is for Jottings 131. Learning Vocabulary.
Learning vocabulary – the words a person knows and uses – is a lifelong process. Talking to and reading with your child right from the start is a good recipe for a child to develop a rich vocabulary. I have talked about vocabulary in previous articles, mainly in the context of reading with children and children reading for themselves. But, given that vocabulary is so important, I thought it was worth going into a little further.
Learning Vocabulary. The User Guide in “Aa is for Alpacas” explains how to use the book to enhance vocabulary skills.
Jj is for Jottings 130. Auditory Skills.
Auditory skills underpin the development of speech, language and literacy. Therefore it is vitally important to be aware of these skills and, wherever possible, assist our children to develop them.
Auditory skills include the following: Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 128. Hard and Soft ‘C’ and ‘G’.
The great thing about spelling rules – such as the bossy ‘e’ rule – is that, once you learn a particular rule, you can read (and hopefully spell) many different words. In other words, rules give you lots of bang for your buck. When dealing with hard and soft ‘c’ and ‘g’, we teach the hard sound first as part of basic sound-letter links, and introduce the soft sounds a little later. Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 126. The Bossy ‘E’.
The bossy ‘e’ (sometimes called the magic ‘e’) appears so often in written language that it is worth revisiting in its own right. It is a classic case of “Give a man a fish and you will feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” Once you know the rule, you can unlock thousands of words. Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 125. Nonsense Words.
Nonsense words are letter sequences which follow regular phonetic rules and are pronounceable, but which have no meaning. Examples are ‘bof’, ‘zim’, ‘chog’. They can also be called nonwords or pseudowords. There are stages in children’s development where nonsense words may play a part. These are: babbling, early reading, rhyming, and if they require assistance for speech sound development (speech therapy). All children babble, but children may not encounter nonsense words when learning to read or to rhyme. And many will not need speech therapy, or have access to it if they do.
Atticus is a FAN of nonsense words.
