Academic Philosophy
Basically
my method for teaching academics to my language-delayed child is to enforce a scheduled
and consistent butt-to-chair period every day. Academic time is defined and
limited to a specific time every day after which he is free to do what he
wants. For my child, this method is much preferred to free-floating,
unstructured, fuzzy, or multi-modal instructional methods that chew up the
whole day and don’t ensure mastery of needed topics.
There
are a few reasons why I think this method works for my son. First, not only
does my son know when school starts and stops, he also knows the basic
structure of what is going to happen during that time. The weekly schedule is
similar from week to week. The content may change, but the basic structure of
the school day and the materials used stay the same. Second, lessons are
straightforward and repetitive; we do not allow him to get frustrated. He does
not get bored because he is constantly moving forward even if it is in very
small steps. He knows he will not be asked to do something that he is
unprepared for. He knows that he will not be tested before he knows the
material well. Repetition is not boring to him because gaining mastery of the
material is reinforcing for him. Third, he knows that when he done with school,
he is done! No one is going to ask him to do more academic work; his time is
his own. This knowledge of the time-limited nature of the school day had to be
taught to my son as well. In the beginning, for all he knew, we were going to
make him sit at his desk FOREVER--so why not start screaming now? Finally, we
try to ensure a school day free from fluff, twaddle, and woo-woo--just the
facts, ma’am.
My
child did not learn to sit and work for 4 hours every morning overnight. It was
a very (very!) long process. His hyperactivity and attention deficits were
ranked as “extreme” by one examiner; he was thought to have excessive motoring
and inattention “far worse” than that usually seen in ADHD. I had trouble
keeping him in the same zip code with me. He was 8 before he sat through a
meal. I have yet to have him stay with me in a store. ABA helped some; he
learned to sit and attend for a few minutes at a time during the alternating
sequence of drills and playtime used in early ABA. One of his SLPs worked over
a two-year period to prolong the time he would work without a break from 5
minutes to 45 minutes. Drugs help a great deal. Now he can work about an hour
and a half without a break (about an adult’s level of tolerance). He takes a
couple of short 5-10 minute breaks during the morning and returns to work.
Thoughts about teaching language impaired children
BREAK
IT DOWN!
Reduce material to its simplest level, even if you
have to go back to old-fashioned DT (discrete trial) techniques to teach a
concept. If the child doesn’t
“get” it, don’t keep going the same way or explain it the same way over
and over. STOP and STAND BACK FROM THE CHILD! Think. Ask yourself, what is
missing? Why doesn’t he understand this? Is there something he should know in
order to understand this and doesn’t?
If the child can’t read, nothing else
matters.
This was the best advice I ever got. If your child is
not reading at grade level, then reading should be your priority. If needed,
work on nothing else until reading is well on its way. In our early months of
homeschooling, we worked on reading and math facts only. We added in the other
elements as reading progressed.
Have the child learn to read before he
reads to learn
This is quite an old-fashioned notion, but for my
language-delayed child, an essential one. For a child that can’t ‘hear’ well (due
to central auditory processing problems) other methods of learning besides
reading are limited. One can take him on field trips or have him watch movies
or do projects about these topics, but only as a supplement. He will have to
use reading as his primary “input” method.
We do plan to introduce two subjects which you might
notice be missing from these pages--science and social studies--ONCE we are
well into expository reading comprehension. Once I am assured that my child can
read and understand non-fiction topics like science, geography, and history,
then he will study them.
School is year round and routine.
Sitting down to work becomes just part of every day Monday through Friday. My
child has no holidays except for major holidays, family vacations, and
illnesses. On the other hand, he has a limited school day--it doesn’t drag on
all day.
School socialization is over-rated. A
large amount of time (particularly in ABA programs) is spent in learning “how
to go to school”. This time that could be better spent on actually learning
something (like language). School skills are basically group skills; while
these are important, they can be worked on in non-academic settings (such as
Tae Kwon Do) where the stakes are lower and if the child has problems, it won’t
be at the expense of learning content.