reading
Preventing Summer Slide
Help your child avoid “summer slide” with some fun summer learning.
Summer slide, unfortunately doesn’t refer to that cool new apparatus on the playground. Summer slide is what happens when students forget academic skill sets over the summer break. In fact, statistics show that a child can lose up to 30% of their math and reading abilities, putting them behind about 2 years by the 5th grade.
Now while that sounds dramatic, it is also avoidable. The summer is meant to be a fun break from the rigors of academia, but there is much learning that can be accomplished during summer fun and down time, leaving your child ready to tackle the beginning of a new grade in the Fall.
Some children naturally love to read, and will find the time during the summer to relax with a good book. Other children who may have reading challenges, and therefore don’t really enjoy it, can benefit from a reading skills program, where highly trained educational therapists get to the root of the reading difficulty, and help a child, in a fun and engaging way, to develop that skill.
Also, look for ways to practice reading, letter and number recognition in everyday summer activities. The signs at the farmers’ market while buying farm stand produce, street signs and license plates during car travel on vacation, and reading a recipe for a session of cookie baking are all examples of ways to keep those reading skills polished.
Math isn’t always thought of as a “fun” subject, but think of all the wonderful things that could be counted in the summer. Stars in a dark sky over a campground, seeds in a juicy watermelon, fish in a clear cool pond, popsicle sticks, water balloons, sea shells on the beach and cherries in a bowl.
Some children have a more difficult time with numbers, and again, a well trained educational therapist will be able to identify the root problems of the difficulty, and work with a child to develop the skills needed to succeed in this area.
This summer, support your child’s learning by making it part of the summer family activity plan, or by allocating just a few hours a week to an enriched summer learning program – leave the summer sliding for the playground.
Child Success Center SPARK Summer Program for Reading
Child Success Center SPARK Summer Program for Math
Clinical neurologist Jerome Schultz, PhD, discusses how summer programs can help kids with learning disabilities by providing academic support during months without school. Watch video.
Summer Reading and Fluency Program
Summer Reading and Fluency Program—give your child the gift of a lifetime.
At the Child Success Center Summer Academy, our goal is to effectively impact a child’s academic learning problems by preparing the brain for learning.
Gaining and developing reading and writing skills does not come naturally for all children. For every 1 in 5 children, developing the underlying language, visual, auditory, sensory motor and attention and memory skills to process knowledge, and thus achieve academic success, can be significantly challenging. Because learning styles differ from one child to another, some learn better in an emotionally safe environment where there is ample opportunity for repetition and mastery. In addition to environment, specific programs, designed to meet the needs of individual processing strengths and challenges, can be introduced to further facilitate learning success.
Bright students just shouldn’t be struggling.
When children with at least average intellectual ability struggle to learn, even with adequate instruction, there is likely some form of foundational learning disability.
Questions parents commonly ask are: “How do I know what support my child needs? Does my child need a tutor – a summer off or time spent in a summer program, and at what level of intensity? What are the costs involved?”
At Child Success Center, the first step through our assessment process, designed and implemented by experienced education therapists, is to identify your child’s learning profile. Then a customized program that prepares the brain for learning is created to “unlock” learning challenges by developing/strengthening the underlying/supporting thinking processes and laying down the basic academic skills. Working on either area by itself may make some temporary gains, but will not correct the learning difficulties in the long term. For some children, this “work” is accomplished in a “just right” learning group. For others, individual, one-on-one support proves more effective.
Whichever approach is decided upon, daily instruction is critical to the process. The summer offers a great time to provide a child with the frequency they often need but are unable to receive during the busy school year.
About the “Summer Reading and Fluency Success” Program:
Our Educational Therapists have designed a therapeutic summer reading program for children in grades 1-4. The assessment process determines the child’s weak areas and through myriad fun and creative activities, the neurological processes that build a strong foundation for fluent reading are addressed. An individualized plan will be created and delivered one-on-one or in small groups, and scheduled as daily intervention or as needed, depending on the child’s needs. Children who have struggled with reading begin to enjoy positive reading experiences as their neurological processes are strengthened and foundational skills are acquired. The results of the summer session will be evident in the fall school term as the child experiences success in…
- Word Reading (Decoding)
- Spelling
- Passage Reading
- Fluency
- Word Meanings
Individual intensives and groups are now being scheduled. Call today for a pre-summer assessment or e-mail: officemanager@ChildSuccessCenter.com
Child Success Center Announces Summer Academy!
Child Success Center Announces Summer Academy!
Summer is the time to address challenges and help your child grow their confidence to take the school year by storm! Child Success Center is orchestrating an array of summer, results driven programs designed to have your child confident and at the top of their potential when school begins in the fall. Most importantly summer is a time to have fun and Child Success Center programs are designed to be both fun and great learning opportunities. Click on our offerings below for more information and to get your child enrolled and on the road to new heights. Space is very limited, so please enroll today!
Kindergarten Readiness Camp – Give your child confidence in foundational academic skills and social skills for the best start possible.
Reading Club – Reading should be fun. If you child is struggling, help them over the speed bumps that are slowing them down.
Math Club – Math doesn’t need to be confusing. Our program makes it simple and as easy to understand as 1 + 1 = Success!
Speech Articulation – It’s time to make that lisp or other slight speech impediment go away. Set up a screening today to find out how a summer speech group can correct things within weeks!
Handwriting Club – So you want your child to be a doctor….but not write like one? Our team of Occupational Therapists will discover why handwriting is hard for your child and help them correct it over the summer. Find out how!
Social Skills Playtime Pals – Learning how to interact with others isn’t always easy. Our therapists can help your child become more engaging to make appropriate connections with peers and others. We can help.
Organization and Time Management – If your tween or teen has challenges staying organized or understanding time management, there are techniques and tools to help them function and stay focused for the rest of their life. They’ll find it fun. You’ll find frustration relief.
Early Childhood Literacy Development and Getting Ready to Read.
When should I begin preparing my child to learn to read?
Early childhood literacy development occurs from the time a child is born until they are four or five years old. During this period of emergent literacy , children become aware of the world of print and sound. You are probably already teaching your child basic reading skills, even if you are unaware.The importance of written language is demonstrated through naturally occurring experiences in the home and preschool or daycare environments, such as watching mom make a grocery list, and learning to recognize the letters and colors of a stop sign (Roth, Worthington, 2005).
What are some signs that my child is developing emergent literacy skills?
Activities such as pretending to read and write from books show that children understand messages that are conveyed through print. After listening to stories from their parents and teachers, they may begin to produce their own narratives and act them out. Some children may point out familiar logos and words in their surrounding environment.
Parents should continue to read aloud to their children and encourage symbol and color recognition during daily activities. Our next post will discuss risk factors that can lead to impaired reading skills including language impairments.
Additional reading: Are Spoken Language and Literacy Connected?
Language Development
Hearing your child speak their first word is exciting. Each parent anticipates their child calling their name first and then using new and different words; however, as a child builds his/her vocabulary and begins to put words together to produce phrases and sentences, what comes next? How does a parent know what typical language development looks like until we begin to compare to children? What child is the best “typical” language model? Let’s review narrative development to understand the stages of language development
According to Hedberg & Westby (1993), there are several types of narratives.
• Scripts: This form of narrative is used to express knowledge of a familiar, recurring event. It is usually told using the second person pronoun you and the
present tense.
• Recounts: This involves telling about a personal experience when prompted most often using the past tense.
• Accounts: We explain a personal experience without a prompt. The experience is usually not shared by the listener.
• Event Casts: Explaining an ongoing activity, reporting on a factual scene, or telling about a future plan.
• Fictional Stories: Relating past, present, or future events that are not real. The events being described focus on someone or something attempting to carry
out a goal.
According to Hedburg & Stoel-Gammon (1986), the stages of narrative development are broken into three different stages; however, stage III has a few sub-stages. Review the following stages:
Stage I: 2 years old Heaps
After a child builds his/her vocabulary using a variety of words, including nouns, action words (i.e. verbs), location words (i.e. prepositions), descriptive words (i.e. adjectives, adverbs), early pronouns, and social function words, a child will begin to form phrases and eventually sentences. These “stories” consist primarily of labels and descriptions of events and/or actions. There is no central theme or organization among the propositions. Sentences are usually simple declaratives. This stage consists of a collection of unrelated ideas. The topic of discussion frequently changes and the cohesive devices are not utilized to connect the story. Simple present progressive tense is used. This is considered a heap story.
Example: “A girl is eating cookies. The man is going to the car. The baby is sleeping.”
Stage II: 2-3 years old Sequences
As language continues to develop, a child will enter into the stage of sequenced stories. Sequenced stories consist of labeling events around a central theme, character, or setting. There is a description of what a character has done, but there is nothing in the story that is considered a plot and the events do not typically follow temporally or casually from one another. A child may begin to link story elements together.
Example: “She lives with her dad. She lives with her mother. Grandma and Grandpa live together. And these three children live with their grandma. And these two animals live with them.”
Stage III: 3-4 years old Primitive Narratives
After a child has developed his/her sequenced stories, a child begins to develop primitive narratives. These stories have a core/central person, object, and/or event. They contain 3 of the story grammar elements: an initiating event, an attempt or action, and some consequence around the central theme. These stories do not have a solid resolution or ending and contain little to no evidence of the characters’ motivation. These narratives build on the sequenced stories. It contains a central character, topic, or setting; however, the child begins to discuss the character’s facial expressions or body postures.
Example: “My dad, he went up to go to work. My mom stayed and sleep in. My two brothers, they went to go play with the toys. My dog, she went outside. My kitty cat came up and he tickled me and came up and started to meow. And then I started to cry because he bit me. And my brothers came runnin’ in and Mike said, “What happened?” They said, “What happened?” “My kitty cat just bit me.” So mom comes runnin’ in and she said, “What happened? Oh the kitty cat bit you. O.K.”
Unfocused Chains: 4-4 ½ years old
A chain narrative is a story that shows some evidence of cause/effect and temporal relationships; however, the plot is not strong and does not build on the attributes or motivations of characters. Although, there may be some notion of plan or character motivation present. The ending does not necessarily follow logically from the events. The story may be very abrupt. These stories contain 4 story grammar elements, which include those found in the primitive narrative level: initiating the event, attempt or action, and some consequence around the central theme. An unfocused chain does not utilize a central character. It is a sequence of events linked together logically or with a cause-effect relationship. Conjuctions, such as “and”, “but”, and “because” may be used when telling an unfocused chain story.
Example: “This man is walking. He saw a dog and a cat and he saw a girl too, with the cat and the dog. He said, “Hello.” He walked back and he said, “Brother, come here.” So her grandmother walked up to her and said, “You wanna go dancing?” They went dancing. And so it was a slow dance. And then they went back. And then these two children came. And then first he said, “I’m not.” And then he said, “What?” “I want to go out to eat.” So they went out to eat.”
Focused Chains: 5 years old
A focused chain contains a central character and a logical sequence of events; however, the listener must interpret the ending to this story. The sequences described during these accounts take the form of “adventures”.
Example: “Once upon a time there was a mother named Christie. And she had a husband named Tom. And they had some children named Heather and Christie. And they had a boy named Ronnie. And the mother told the boy to go outside to play. And then the boy came in and said, “Mother, mother, our dog’s outside and he’s barking.” “I will go see.’ “What are you barking at?” “I don’t know what he was barking at, Tommy, Ronnie, Ronnie. I don’t know what he was barking at. You go out there and see.” “He wants in.” “I’ll go let him in.” “There, I let him in.”
True Narratives: 5 + years old
By the age of 5, a child may be emergent in the true narrative story telling. These stories have a central theme, character, and plot. It includes the motivations behind the character’s actions, as well as logical and temporally ordered sequences of events. The ending of the story indicates a resolution to the problem. These stories include at least 5 story grammar elements, including an initiating event, an attempt or action, and a consequence.
Example: “One day there was a boy named Bobby and a girl named Sharon. They found a cat in their front yard and they brought it into the house. They fed the cat and they gave it some milk. They played and played with it and then a little while after a lady called and asked if anybody had seen her cat. And then they said that they had it at their house. And they brought it to the lady’s house. And she gave them each five dollars for finding the cat and having them feed it and give it milk.”
Story Grammars
Story Setting + Episode structure
Episode Initiating event+ internal response + plan + attempt +consequence + reaction
Setting Introduces the main characters, the protagonist, and the context of time and place
Initiating event The occurrence that influences the main character to action. It may be a natural event, an action, or an internal event such as a thought, perception, or wish
Internal response Indicates the thoughts and feelings of the main character in response to the initiating event. It may include an interpretation of the event, formulation of a goal or some other response.
Plan Indicates the intended action of the main character
Attempt Indicates the actions of the main character in pursuit of the goal
Consequence Indicates the achievement or non-achievement of the main character’s goal, as well as any other events or states that might result from the attempt
Reaction Includes any emotional or evaluative responses of the main character to the preceding chain of events
As a parent you may be thinking, “Wow, this is awesome, but how do I apply this knowledge to my child in our daily life!?!” Below is a chart that a parent and/or caregiver can do to further develop these skills in the home environment:
Activity What I can do to help:
Read a book:
• When reading a book, discuss the details on a specific page (e.g. what happened, who was involved, and where it happened)
• After the story, discuss these questions again and review the events in the book when reviewing the pictures- Do NOT expect your child to have the entire story memorized
Review a photo album:
• Review family members or past events telling the story of day your family spent camping or touring Disneyland, etc.
• This is helpful when relatives will be visiting from another city/state as their visits may be more infrequent
Retell events to the child’s day:
• Review the main points: Use words like “First, Next, Last” and remember to keep it simple. Children do not need an elaborate explanation. They need the facts.
• Work on sequencing getting dressed, or morning routines
• Daily routines are always exciting to practice sequencing
Retell events during a specific activity:
• If you are working on a craft, review how you created the craft (e.g. First, we cut the shapes out, then we glued the shapes together, and last, we cleaned our mess).
• Bake cookies and discuss the steps to make the cookies (Please, don’t go into the details of the ingredients—this will also help build a child’s vocabulary to discuss the meaning of new words (e.g. ingredients, recipe, etc.).
Story telling
• Before bed, make it a routine to tell stories using the theme, the characters, and the plot (e.g. teaching through a model).
If a child seems to have difficulty with developmentally appropriate tasks, caregivers may want to contact the primary educators and/or a speech-language pathologist for additional tips and help.
Remember, these ideas may work on building a child’s vocabulary, answering simple questions (e.g. yes/no, what, who, where), and sequencing events in the story through story telling/retell. Here are a few specific examples that may be helpful depending on the age of your child:
• Sequence the steps to the following activities
o Bake your favorite cookies
o Make rice krispie treats
o Make some homemade play doh:
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-Playdough-Play-doh/
http://www.ehow.com/how_2001321_make-playdoh.html
http://babyparenting.about.com/cs/activities/a/playdough.htm
o Create a trail mix to sequence steps: As there are many allergies out there, it may be best to create your own that is appropriate for your child and his/her needs
o If you plan on going on a trip, sequence the steps to packing your suitcase
o Play a game and sequence the steps for setting up, playing, and cleaning up (simplify when needed)
o Laura Numeroff books: If you Give your Mouse a Cookie; If you Give a Mouse a Muffin, If you Give a Pig a Pancake; If you Give a Dog a Doughnut; etc.
Sequence the parts of the story using a few visuals:
• http://tcdn.teacherspayteachers.com/thumbitem/If-You-Give-a-Mouse-a-Cookie-Sequencing-Activities/original-268377-1.jpg
• http://img0.etsystatic.com/000/0/5565820/il_fullxfull.282713824.jpg
• http://media-cache-ec4.pinterest.com/upload/74168725082772822_8TXIdfKB_b.jpg
o Pintrest would be another great craft idea option
• Thanksgiving Crafts
o Discuss Pilgrims: http://www.dltk-holidays.com/thanksgiving/crafts-pilgrims.htm
o Gather Fall Leaves and a pinecone; Discuss the Fall season and the leaves falling/changing colors (Even if this does not typically happen in California, it is fun to discuss and may lead to researching the Fall Foliage around the country): http://www.dltk-holidays.com/thanksgiving/mleafturkey.htm
o Turkey Crafts: http://www.dltk-holidays.com/thanksgiving/turkey_crafts.html
• Holiday crafts
o http://www.dltk-kids.com/
• DLTK is a helpful site and a great start to finding crafts, but the internet has endless ideas and it is always helpful to explore the internet and expand your own resources.
Information and specific examples gathered from:
Hutson-Nechkash, Peg (2001). Narrative Toolbox: Bleprints for Storbuilding. Eau Claire, WI: Thinking Publications.
