Transcendent reactions

Successful navigation out of near-total meltdown yesterday. Georgia was complaining bitterly about having to do CLS (Core Learning Skills training) a.k.a.: THE DREADED EXCERCISES! As I was trying to explain to her why these are so important, she just simply began to dissolve into a blubbering, anxiety-ridden mess. I got her to sit down and breathe. Then I reached across the table to hold her hands, (she let me!) and had her try to verbalize what was getting her so worked-up. Here is what was gleaned: Georgia is tired of "being dyslexia", (which is not entirely unlike "Being Jonn Malkovich" I imagine), and wishes she were "Just like Emily! Why can't I be like Emily. She not dyslexia!" She has also heard that there aren't aids or special classrooms for kids who struggle at the High School, and so is terrified of being unceremoniously dumped into a "regular" classroom with no support whatsoever next year. I told her that would not happen, that Daddy and I will meet with the school in the next few months, and work all of this out. She's worried that if I come up to work with her at the High School, people will notice, and she will be seen as "different". She cried, "WHY am I diff'rent? I'm TIRED of being diff'rent than everyone else!" Ugh. This just broke my heart. I wanted to say to her that one reason we're doing these programs with Stowell is so that she WILL seem less "different"....but I felt that was a terrible thing to voice. Georgia is such an interesting girl! She's got a great sense of humor! She's insightful! So I told her that all this is to help her feel more confident, and secure, so that maybe one day she CAN help herself in the classroom. "It's going to take a few more years, and you have to be patient. It's going to take A LOT more hard work, and you have to be willing. Can you be patient? Are you willing?" We shook on it. She wiped her tears, blew her nose, and got down to work with a smile.

                                                                           
Amazingly we are at the end of our Phonics Actives program. But even though we've gotten through all of the lessons this doesn't mean we can't, or shouldn't do them anymore. I fully intend to keep going over older lessons, but right now I think more energy can be spent on AST-Reading. It seems to be taking us a bit longer to make it through each step in this first lesson. Georgia is doing pretty well, and even though I worry over whether her speech will ever be totally smooth, or her reading on grade-level, I do think she's making progress. I just have to keep in mind the larger picture. We've only been at this a few months. In the words of the nineteenth century transcendentalist Robert Frost: "But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep."Or maybe I should follow those immortal words spoken by the transcendent Dorie The Fish: "Just keep swimming! Just keep swimming! Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming!"


 Bob, meet Dorie......

Aw, nuts!

We've added yet another program, and I'm actually excited about it! AST-Reading. So now we'll be working on 3 AST (auditory stimulation and training) programs, rotating them out each day. Yes, EVERY DAY, MONDAY THROUGH SUNDAY.  

First of all, here is a good summary of what Auditory Stimulation is: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-auditory-stimulation.htm
This is what we refer to as our "Mic work". In the program that we follow with Stowell, Georgia listens to 1 of 2 "prescribed" Samonas CDs, depending on what work we are doing, and wears a mic so that she can hear herself speak. As I've mentioned before we are currently working on AST-Language and AST-Phonics Actives. I've briefly summarized in earlier posts what we do, but here's the broader view: (the REALLY broad view): (you might want to pause here to take a bathroom break, and get a snack):

AST-Language uses picture cards, and involves the instructor (Me! Surprise!) giving the student (Georgia! Woo!) words to describe each picture. There are 3 steps to each part. An example: one picture card has six photos of people doing various jobs. Part One: Nouns: Step One:: I name each person (Fireman, Builder, Workers, Policeman, Musician, Teacher), then Georgia repeats each after me. I name and point at random, until she can name them all clearly and with ease. Step Two: I say each person's "name", and she identifies by pointing to that picture and saying the name. Step Three: I point to a picture, and Georgia identifies by saying the name. Part Two: Adjective, Verb "to be":  as the header says, we're adding an adjective and forms of verb "to be". We run through all 3 steps like for part one. (Example: Smart builder.- The builder is smart.; Busy workers.- The workers are busy.) Part Three: Questions and Answers with the verb "to be" and adjective: is a question and answer exercise designed to further strengthen auditory memory, and work on articulation and flow: "Is the worker busy? Yes, the worker is busy". With the question and answer portion we break it up during one of the steps so that on one go-through Georgia asks the question, and I answer. Next I ask, and she answers. Part Four: Adjectives, action verbs, and objects: "The smart builder is studying plans." Again, we run through all three steps for this part until she is clear in her articulation and can remember the phrasing.
We've actually had a lot of fun with this one. It may sound a bit plodding, but we've been able to laugh when she gets tongue-tied, and make jokes along the way. While working on this at Stowell, one photo was supposed to be about two boys, but one of them clearly was a girl with a very short haircut. This was not overlooked by Georgia, and she had to correct it EVERY time she saw it.

AST-Phonics Actives begins by reviewing the vowel sounds she's learned up to that particular lesson. Then we go through 6 other steps using four columns of words.
So, Step One: Review all learned vowel sounds. Pretty much sums that up. Step Two: Listen and Repeat: I dictate syllables (words) in first column, one at a time. Georgia repeats, and points to and says  just the vowel sound. She uses the vowel chart for this. Step Three: Listen and Repeat Auditory Chain: I say the first two words (or syllables) in column two, Georgia repeats. Then I say the 2nd and 3rd, she repeats. Then I say the 3rd and 4th..... until we've gotten through every word. Example: "hurl; hail", "hail; mail", "mail; marl". The syllables create a chain in which only one sound is changed. This is REALLY difficult for Georgia. Step Four: Auditory Sound Blending: I say each sound in the given word, Georgia instantly blends the sounds to make the complete word. Totally auditory. This step has gotten much easier for her!  Step Five: Visual Spelling: I say a word. Georgia repeats the word and mentally pictures the spelling of the word. She then spells the word. SHE HATES THIS ONE. But, she has gotten so much better at it. It's amazing to see! Step Six: Mental Manipulation of Sounds: I orally spell a word. Georgia visualizes the letters to "read" the word. I then manipulate the word in one way, or another by changing a sound or letter. I then ask her to "read" or visually spell the new word. She also hates this step, but for someone who says she can't "picture" letters at all, she's gotten remarkably good at this! Step Seven: Syllable Reading: Georgia reads the vowel sound and then the whole syllable doing down a column. On alternate columns, she has to mentally notice the vowel sound but ORALLY read only the whole word. Again, she has made huge strides in this step!

The final portion of this learning trifecta:
  AST-Reading. The phonetic/language content emphasis of our first lesson is: sh, ch, tch. Step One: Listen and Repeat Syllable Discrimination: I say a syllable pair (ship-chip), Georgia repeats. We're looking for clear artic of ALL sounds. Step Two: Listen and Repeat Phrases: I say 2 phrases (chicks will hatch - chickens will hatch), Georgia repeats. Step Three: Contrasting Sentences: there are 6 pairs of sentences. (1st pair; The catcher was ready for the pitch. The catcher was not ready for the pitch.) I read each sentence with appropriate intonation and rhythm. Georgia repeats and taps each sentence....one tap per syllable. This is really working to build her memory as well. Step Four: Phrasing: consists of a four-sentence passage, split up in two columns. First column the passage is broken up at about 3-4 words per line. Georgia reads one line, then pauses before moving down to the next line. The second column is about 6-7 words per line. She is to pause at the end of each phrase, and pause longer at each comma and ending punctuation. Step Five: Visual Clusters for Decoding: We have word cards for this. I show the card ("This is the word 'ship'") and rapidly ask questions ("What letters say /sh/?" "What does the 'i-p' say?" "What does the 's-h' say?") to help her to see and identify logical visual clusters. (I do not point to them, she needs to see it as a whole). Step Six: Spell-Read: I use a book about on her reading level and she spells and then reads EACH WORD. If she doesn't recognize the word after spelling it, I just tell her and have her repeat. As the instruction says: "This helps her to notice all of the letters in a word and improves orientation and synchrony between what she is seeing and hearing when reading."
                                                                                                       

And that's it in a nutshell. Albeit, a very large and complicated nut. One that any squirrel with even the smallest amount of discernment should abandon. But not me. Well, for one thing: I'm not a squirrel. Yet I like to imagine that I might have a *bit* higher degree of perspicacity than your common ground squirrel. So I'll just continue trying to crack this nut until we get to that meaty center!

Hormonal Hydra

Whoa. The weeks are just flying by. We've gotten into a good routine with our Stowell work schedule, and so I have taken a full day sub job for the 17th. Georgia is not happy about it since it means I won't be coming up to school to work with her in the morning. She's worried we won't be able to get everything done! I told her it's a Friday, so we can move things around a bit, and not to fret. But as Brad said "One thing about Georgia....even if she dislikes doing a lesson, she dislikes not doing it more." If you know Georgia you understand that she is a creature of habit, lover of sameness. So I'm trying not to disturb our new routine too much. Some details of her schedule do change from week-to-week, though. For instance, the first few weeks she listened to her Samonas CD for 15 minutes, twice a day. Last week Liz changed that protocol, moving us onto another CD, and 30 minutes of listening in the morning before Georgia gets out of bed. This was working out really well until Monday dawned this week, and Georgia spawned another head. And fangs. I was noticing that she appeared to be modulating her voice much better, and seemed calmer. But then -BAM - hello Hydra! She is 14, however, so I suppose hormones could be blamed. Oy vey!

It's times like this I have to try really, really, REALLY hard to remind myself that all of this hassle is for a greater good. As Teddy Roosevelt said: "Nothing worth having was ever achieved without effort." But he also said: "If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for all your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month!" I think that pretty much sums up my frame of mind. So it helps when there are glimmers of positive steps forward. Like when Georgia will announce some bit of knowledge, or speak a thought in a complete phrase. It's even inspiring to me when she says something sarcastic, and understands what she's saying is funny. The other day we were driving to school and I was lecturing Maggie about God-knows-what. I said "Well, I hate to say I told you so..." and without missing a beat Georgia says in a deadpan voice "You already did." I even loved it when she proclaimed of our sleepy, fat, psycho kitty, (after he'd killed and dismembered a very large bird in the kitchen) "Oh, look at him! He looks so innocent of such a crime!" I heard a distinctive "S" at the end of "looks", and she meticulously pronounced "in-no-cent". Plus I just really enjoyed the entire phrasing she used, it made me chuckle!

I know that each week is likely to be different from the last. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. Especially if we can mark progress being made! But it would be nice to know ahead of time if I'll be packing a lunch for Hydra, or Harmonia.