www.TheOldSchoolhouse.com
photographic memory for phonemes,
phonics and sight words. We call it
“rule-less phonics” since it does not
require any memorization. It does not
involve any writing, either. She will love
learning sounds, and especially sight
words in this more right-brain manner.
You will find that she will learn six to
eight (and likely more) new sight words
a week, and know how to spell them
(forwards and backwards.) This way
you will see fast progress in reading and
spelling. Very likely, you will be able to
save your money on tutoring, since you
can easily do this type of reading instruction at home. It does not require
any special curriculum, but rather just
using a new teaching strategy.
If this young lady was in my “pull out”
reading, spelling, writing and math Resource classes in school, I would use a
completely different strategy than the
“typical” curriculum provides. I would
follow all the steps laid out in the Daily
Lesson Plan for a Struggling Reader. This
covers all the remedial parts of reading
she needs in a daily 45 minute lesson.
Next I would use the Daily Lesson Plan
for the Struggling Speller and Writer.
This is another 45 minute lesson, using
her strong photographic memory for
spelling. (No spelling or handwriting
workbook needed.) She will love it and
feel so smart! Lastly I would teach using
the Right Brain Math approach. She will
soon be quick at adding, and subtracting, using a completely different method
of learning that is intuitive to right brain
learners. (All these daily lesson plans that
I used with my students are downloadable for free on my website. All the right
brain teaching strategies instructions are
on there, too, at diannecraft.org.)
Be Brave
My advice to you would be, “Be brave.”
Use alternative teaching strategies, until
your daughter is testing above grade level
in reading, spelling and math. You can
use the quick tests to track your child’s
progress. These are attached to the Daily
Lesson Plans for convenience. Testing
every three months is important, so that
you can adjust teaching time or methods,
if needed, if you are not seeing the prog-
ress or “leaps” as I call them. It is not un-
reasonable to expect a two-year growth
in a year, using these alternative teaching
methods. Once the child is testing a little
above grade level, then you can choose
from any of the great “typical” curricu-
lum around.
Would you like to have your question featured on “Ask A Specialist”? Just email me,
at craft@ecentral.com. I will not be able to
publish all answers, but I will answer all
questions personally, via email.
For free downloads and articles on al-
ternative teaching strategies, go to www
. diannecraft.org
Dianne Craft has a Master’s Degree in Ele-
mentary and Special Education. She has 25
years’ experience teaching bright, hardworking
children and teens who have to work too hard
to learn. Using her unique “Three Pronged
Approach” to eliminating learning blocks, she
and her team now provide Personal Internet/
Phone/Skype consultations for families across
the country. For parents and teachers who are
interested in learning new strategies to get kids
“unstuck,” Dianne is happy to announce the
release of her new 9-workshop Teacher Train-
ing video series, “The Struggling Learner Semi-
nar.” www.diannecraft.org.
