"Homeschool" materials for Dyslexia

In this post you will see the materials that have changed how Jada sees written text. The way I decided to teach Jada is not based on any recommendations by any psychologist or physician but based on the teaching philosophy of Picture me reading. I of course had to change and tweak the program a bit to accommodate Jada's learning style. That being said, I hope things improve in the future where she can learn strategies to decode words. However, at this point we do not have access to such programs as i posted in previous post. We are on the wait list for a private tutor school that teaches the Orton Gillingham program. I have more research to do but i hope to find the program privately. That's a whole other post tho...
So let's get started. First once again, this is a program from www.picturemereading.com and i am not getting any endorsements by posting my opinions of this program.

You will get cards that are the  Dolch sight words in the 5 groups: Pre-primer, primer, 1st grade, 2nd grade and 3rd grade. I laminated mine and put each section on a binder ring. There are multiple ways to organize the cards and suggestions come in the pack with full instructions.  one side is the word made into a picturegraph such as "up". once your child gets used to associating the picture with the word you then flip the card over as pictured below to the plain word "up".

Now it all depends on your child's level of dyslexia as to how fast they commit the picture words to memory. For us it took a few days and we only started with the words in the pictures above. I bought this handy table top pocket folder at scholastic as well as the hand pointer. Jada enjoys things that are as hands on as possible so the pointer was a great tool. Sometimes the pointer can be a distraction so at those times i put the pointer away and she has to earn it back by focusing on the task at hand. This has been a learning curve with the ADHD.  We spend about 15 minutes on learning new words and other nights around 10 minutes for review. Some nights we opt to review our words in a game format that i will post at a later date.
I also bought a booklet from picture me reading that helps you use the sight word levels to read common books that are mostly made up of sight words. A good example is: Are you my mother by Dr.Seuss

I bought this copy at a good will store so i didn't feel so bad highlighting all the words in the book that pertained to the section of sight words we are working on.  As she gets used to the next section of sight words I will go back and highlight more words. I also bought a smaller version of the pointer for this book but i couldn't find it for this picture.  It's exactly the same as the one pictured but smaller and one end is a pen.
After googling books based on sight words and visiting the library I had a really hard time finding levelled readers that were compatible with the pre-primer word list. I was frustrated and sad and felt stuck because we weren't quite finished learning all the pre-primer section. One late night I decided to just google " Dolch sight words"and  according to Wikipedia the best books for Pre primer is the old books from your childhood such as: Dick and Jane. I went back to the library and they only had a few of the Dick and Jane series. I then searched for the series on Chapters.ca and there they were all in their levelled reading glory! At $4.97 a pop it was a good find.

I also asked Jada's teacher for the very basic first reader books and she sent me a stack. I will have to ask her where she bought them from. With Jada we only read a few pages of a book a night or she will read a few and I will finish the story. I find I have to make it a game or she flat out refuses to read with me.

Now to backtrack a bit to the picture me reading cards. You are probably wondering how on earth I am going to teach all those nouns? Picture me reading has a booklet that has some examples of pictures to go with nouns such as boy, tree, shark, apple, cake, snow, Santa etc.

Since Easter is close I went ahead and made my own picturegraphs based on the frequent words around this Holiday. Also common words used at school over the next few weeks. I bought these lined cards from Scholastic as well as sentence strips. I'm no artist but you get the point ;)

When we first found out Jada was dyslexic i felt lost and has no idea where to turn or start. We are still in limo with what to do with her at school until the psychologist meets with them and gives her recommendations. We found out on valentines day and I knew the faster we get started on something, anything at all, the better her school life would be. I need to send out a huge thank you to www.dyslexiaroad.com because if she had not have posted about picture me reading on YouTube, where she linked her blog I would still be a miserable mess not knowing where to turn. 

She has great resources posted on her blog with other great tips such as huge white boards, auto books etc.

well dear readers I must go get our lesson plan started. I will update as I find more resources to help Jada.

Do you have ideas on apps or websites for interactive games for Dyslexic students? have a tip to share? I would love to hear them!

Thanks for reading and please leave a comment below and I will respond as soon as possible. 

Big Moves and a Diagnosis

Hi bloggers,
wow its been forever since i blogged! mostly because i had a hard time posting from my iPad.
lots has happened over the past year, we moved to a much better location and i started home schooling at night. I know that sounds strange so let me explain, Jada was recently diagnosed with dyslexia and adhd. The school system where we live do not have services to provide help with dyslexia as of yet. She still goes to public school during the day and at night i teach her the sight words she is so far behind on because she can't read in text. She sees things in pictures then translates them to text, if that makes since. I suppose this could be called tutoring or what not but Jada likes the term home schooling. If you have a 6 year old you know how particular they can be about labelling events, for example we can no longer say babysitter, we have to say kid sitter lol
I googled my heart out on how to help a child with dyslexia, talked to our psychologist, speech therapist etc. we were recommended to sign her up for a free tutor school that specializes in Dyslexia but unfortunately its a 2 year wait list :( she is also starting the lips program (Lindamood) with her SLP next week.
I came across a wonderful tool in my google searches called www.dyslexiaroad.com and she is also on youtube as dyslexiamom. On her site she linked to www.picturemereading.com and we have been night home schooling with it ever since. review days takes 15 to 20 minutes while new material days takes 40 min. We then have review and reading nights as well. It all depends on Jada's energy level and what extra curricular activities she has that night. Jada went from knowing 4 words to 30 words in a months time.  I do not get paid for endorsing there picture me reading program in any form. I am just sharing what works for us and i hope it will help someone out there reading this. I would love suggestions from you lovely readers :)

 The white board is up too far i know. It has been moved since this picture was taken :-)

We have little note pads sitting around in almost every room to promote spontaneous drawing and printing or math problems. So far Math does not seem to be a problem. I found this little note on my bedside table. 

I will post tomorrow the set up we have. Our lower level is where i do daycare however, Jada sees this area as a "baby class"  and mommy gets tired of being down there after a 11 hour day. So we are set up in our dining room and so far so good. The only problem is it can get very loud with a 3 year old and husband horsing around. hopefully once the spring hits the boy and dad can go outside during schooling times.
I hope you have all been well and i promise to update tomorrow with more pictures.

Yes we still do trays :-)

Hello again,
We took a long break from Montessori trays as my ideas were trying up and I felt burnt out. Now that Gage is two I see lots of opportunities that I was missing out on to extend his learning during those sensitive periods. So I put together some oldies (new to Gage) and some new trays and we will start exploring these tomorrow. Such a nice day we are doing some sensory bins outside. So here they are, if you have any questions feel free to ask. Also that little doorbell house with keys from Melissa and Doug toys is AWESOME!

Gage turns 2~ John Deere birthday

Hi strangers,
I have been trying to upload pics to make a new post but blogger would not cooperate with my computer. So thanks to the invention of apps for IPad I am now able to post :-) I stole (borrowed) some of the decoration ideas from Pinterest. However, the links did not work (hate when the happens) anyway here is my big girl Jada Raine now 5.5 and Gage Cortland now 2. P.s. He always has a dirty face :s must be a boy thing

Aliens Unite Sensory Bin

Inside this bin you will find 4 different kinds of aliens, marbles (think planets, black beans and split peas that are recycled from our last bin. Also a UFO with another Alien as the captain. The kids love sorting all the marbles more than anything in the bin lol. Thanks for stopping by and please see my sidebar for all the great blogs I link up to :) I appreciate your comments :D

Put Me Together Robot Sensory Bin

 

Have you ever seen the episode of the Backyardagains where they turn into robots. Sorry my question mark on my key board is messed up. Anyway we saw this episode recently and it got me wondering if we have any robots in the house. After a bit of searching we found these two along with some nuts, screws, washers etc.  In the bin I have black beans, green lentils, screws, bolts, washers, glass beads, pipe cleaners made to look like springs, google eyes, and a big black washer that was in the drawer from when we bought our front load washer and dryer. no idea what it`s for but why not recycle it. Can`t wait to show the kiddos this bin tomorrow.

Thanks for visiting and I appreciate all your comments. Please see my sidebar for all the great blogs I link up to:)

Monster Sensory Bin

Hi Guys, Yes I have been gone for a long time. I haven't even been reading other blogs as Pinterest took over my interest for a while there. Lately I have been hooked on Instagram! you can find me on there as Jadarainesmom. Jada is going to school in September can you believe that?! We are in the process of selling our house and we already found a house we want to move into, which means changing schools for Jada and as they have no bus I have to walk to and from. Anyway, busy being a mama to my own two rug rats and care giver to 6 children total each day. Life has been busy but full of surprises and love. This summer I have a older boy joining us and has been begging me for a "boy" sensory bin. I decided a monster bin would be popular as Monster University is in theaters here. I haven't shown the kids the bin yet but here it is :)

Inside is black dried beans, a handful of aquarium rock, Halloween  pumpkin decorations and styrofoam balls made into eye balls .
Thanks for looking and as always please see my sidebar for all the great blogs I link up to. Your comments are always appreciated and please check back in the comments for answers to any questions you ask :)