Monday, May 05, 2014

Helping a child with learning difficulty

My JT has learning difficulty, probably mild dyslexic. Because he is not 6 yet, it is not advisable to send him for assessment. However we are sending him for therapy or some ppl wants to call it "reading class with O.T". but for me, I don't  give a damn what you wanna call it. its just a damn label and it is not a full stop for me. And he has improved a lot from it, able to read and write with minimal mirror image in English and I'm helping him in Bahasa too.

Every now and then he will have ejaan and spelling in school. It is very difficult for him to remember, and it used to be so stressful for everyone in my house. I'll be screaming "why you cannot remember? You just wrote that 1 minute ago!" And his dad will say "don't lah... Kesian lah" and his brother will say " titi is so sad. I do for him lah" and Jt would cry and cry. So I thought "ok this is not working. I need to make it fun for him" so I thought and I thought and one say I just went to my MacBook and searched for pic and did these.

There were total 6 pages, from missing vowels , then a few more missing alphabets, then just the hint if how many alphabets and then total blank for him to fill in. "Flying" was left blank from beginning because he already know the word. 

When he did the first page he said "ah... This is easy!" However he made a mistake at "riding" so I had to teach him how to remember the sound. 

I let him do one sheet, and then one two hours later I tested him with the 2nd sheet and the last 2 the next day.

In between, we played spelling games.
Me: ok me first. R
JT: I
Me: D
JT: I
Me: N
JT: G!!!!
Me: riding!  yay!!!!

And he'd giggle and giggle especially when he got it wrong. And we will start all over again. 

And for the first time, he came back screaming "I have a surprise for you!!!!"

"Are you happy mami? Are you?" He asked. 

I said "of course baby. Are you happy?" 

He said "yes!!!!" 

You know what is the best part about the whole thing? Not the Star that teacher gave but the happy and confidence look on his face. Priceless. 

And I shared this with his classmate's mum, who is facing the same issue as me. She said "Wah! You really use a lot of ways to help him. Then you should be very busy". 

As long as I can help him gain his confidence and learn how to read. :D

So I hope my post today will help parents with a child that has learning difficulty. Let them enjoy and have fun while learning, Be creative and try all sorts of ways to help them, most important is be there to support them even when they make mistakes. 

5 comments:

  1. Salute you Sasha. Your dedication is inspirational!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Ann, Thanks!

      surprised that someone actually still reads my blog!

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  2. So proud of you too Sha Sha!

    JD n JT are so lucky to have you as their mum. =)

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  3. Thanks for sharing this ....

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