What made things easier for my 6 year old to start reading

This made my entire homeschooling adventure days the most memorable of all - My 6 year old boy can now read! Hurrahhh!

There really is no such thing as a slow-learner or even the Big Moose (Archie Comics Character) guy if only learning blocks were identified early on.  Some kids, learn and memorize fast but are having a hard time in gross-motor.  Some can read early and read well but have problems with comprehension. While some, have auditory processing problems and could not even comprehend Rhymes, or letter sounds on words - which my son had.  So, you see not all minds are the same.  Some have learning blocks that needed to be trained.  My son, had it too but I see it as my challenge instead of his.  I want him to learn one thing - to love learning!  But to love it, he must unblock his reading challenge.

Isn't the worst thing any parent could experience is when a teacher or a principal calls on you just to tell you:

• "You're child is a slow-learner"
• "She is not reading (or catching up) at her grade-level"
• "He is Regressing!"
• "All of his classmates are doing well, but I'm sorry to say but your child seems to be having a hard time."
• "He can't even finish copy work and everyone else are already done!"

So you wonder, why my kid is acting this way? He looks fine to me when he's at home or with his peers. But, honestly, there is nothing wrong with your child so stop thinking that you have a slow or dyslexic child!  It's you! He simply needs you to teach him and focus off your problem-focused life to cope with whatever he is having a hard time on.  Parents who wonder, wonder too much about the problem instead of a solution that is readily available.  The teachers are not your child's problem solver - you are!  A simple 30 minutes a day on what your child is struggling on makes a lot of difference!

Honestly, it took me almost 6 months of direct teaching (with a proper homeschool curriculum) of at least 3 hours/day just to identify what is keeping my smart and amazing 6 year old from reading!

We did the usual phonics, alphabetic style of learning sounds then blending them.  Which we did for about 4-5 months but all he could do are sound out C-V-Cs (Bat and Sat... etc) but no blending at all which is really frustrating.

Then, upon doing a workbook Developing the Early Learner Series (Books 1-4) by Simone Bibeau, MA. Sp. Ed.  I found out that my 6 year old is struggling with an Auditory Processing which makes him harder to remember phonics and worse blending those sounds together.

He couldn't even figure out what sounds are heard when I say a word (ex. Bat = Baaaatt).  He knows all of the sounds of the alphabet because of the great stuff on Hooked on Phonics, Click N' Read, Starfall.com songs. But, all of these are left-brained focus.  My child is a right-brained learner with an auditory glitch. He was even having a hard time identifying rhymes (ex. Pail - Nail).

But, now what a lovely day! I have found the way to teach my challenged kiddo to process these sounds into words.  Training his brain to process info and store and retrieve data in a way that is easier for him!

My son is used to guess words from pictures.  So, first, I totally scrap all visual aids.  No words/pictures to look at.  Just listening, and listening to my voice which must be clear as crystal for him to hear.  I even would blindfold him at times just to make his focus on the hearing and not on anything else. He had a hard time on this activity.

We did this simple activity after he practiced the phonics, to relate the sound to writing and so we can also improve and touch a lot on spelling.  At first, he spelled B-O-L as Ball, but that is okay.  It means, he can start chopping off those sounds to form words.  I was delighted.

We did Rhymes for 1 week and started introducing the Jelly Bean Reading! Which I personally conceptualized based on different research I've read.  After 3-4 days, he can now read and blend those sounds very well!

I got an idea on how to do this from Candy Math Program - wherein Candies and treats which are kids favorites are used as actual manipulatives to teach kids about Math!  Click the link to download the free PDF.

Here's how we played the Jelly Bean Reading Game! I didn't plan on this game, it just came right out of my mind - for the love I have to make my son read!

Our Jelly Bean Reading Game!

I didn't do much effort on how it would look like. :P

1. Take out plain white sheets of paper (bond paper would do, just cut them into pieces)
2. Line up 3 or 4 blocks as the numbered block sheet for the phoneme sounds of each word you will be saying. *If your child is a non-reader but knows letter sounds but have a hard time blending them, you can start with 3. Progress to 4 or more when he is ready.  Putting 1,2,3,4 teaches your child to read from Left (1) to Right (3 or 4)
   
   
   
3. Draw a buzzer or find any buzzer that your child can use to ring when he's done. Make it fun!
4. Jelly Beans or any healthy treats/candies/crackers! Do this before a major meal.  They will eat them as an award!
5. For the game do a sample first, sound out the word "Tap, Taaaaapp"
6. Tell them to listen and place in candies to every sound they hear from the word said.  Ask them to place those sounds in order starting on the beginning sound to the last sound.  My kid, had a hard time at the middle sound, but later found out a way to figure it out more.
7. After they have lined up the sounds on the numbered block sheets, ask them to write those sounds to spell out on the lined-out blank (no numbers) sheet.
8. When they're done... ask them to press the buzzer!
9. When they did it correctly, praise them but before they eat it.  Ask them this, Can you eat the /B/ sound, eat the Last Sound, then eat the /A/ sound.  This way, they can recognize which sound is first, last, and middle as well as the phonemes.
10. Do 4-5 of this game and just add on tricks to challenge them.

The rice puffs are not too sweet, so it was for the consonants and the jelly beans for the vowels.

I had 3 and 4 phoneme game that we played just for  the day.  I got the words from the book we will later on read.
We read Fun Tales, tomorrow... Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss!

Since we finish school right before Lunch, I needed to get some of my twin girls' super flavorful Gerber Rice Puffs!
They are light and not too sweet for my little reader bunny!  Of course, he loves Jelly Beans.
Crackers would do great as well!

The resources below were very helpful for my struggling-reader-no-more little guy, which you can check out:

• Dianne Kraft, MA, CNHP - I love her research.  It's very up-to-date and very kid and mom friendly.  Learned about how to teach a right brain child and even how to teach these kids in a way that they will have fun.
• Earobics - A great tool for focus and auditory processing.  Try their online games for kids! They are awesome
• Phonemes - You will have to master this.
• Phonemic Awareness Activites - Download them and check it out! Great resource!