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Notes On DL v3

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10 views

Notes On DL v3

Uploaded by

gerge
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Notes on the downloads

(Rev 3, April, 2016)

We advise you again that you are not diagnosing the child; you are
observing him or her and recording some notes which will help you
adapt your teaching, and communicate with other staff, specialists
and parents.

Child observation chart

Note: using this chart is the first Peer Assessment. In this case, do not identify
the child; simply give the initials or fictitious name. Otherwise for your own
school records you can put in the name.

The chart will be useful in methodically building a profile of the child. You can
re-assess after, say, six months and compare both charts.

You will not be able to complete the last sections for every child.

Regular words

The GPCs are straightforward. Most children will not have too many
difficulties with these.

Irregular words

Using this list is the second Peer Assessment.

The GPCs of these words are complex and do not follow the GPC rules of
English. Many children will have some difficulties with the words that are not
already stored in long-term memory.

Ideally, the test should be made on a child of about 8 or 9 years of age. If you
cannot find a child, try an adult whom you know to be struggling with reading.

These words must be read using the direct access route, as their orthographic
and phonological representations have to be stored in long-term memory for
accurate reading and spelling.

As well as time and accuracy in the task, look out for the type of mistakes
made, if any. You may wish to refresh your knowledge by listening to the
video lectures again (‘Models of reading’ and ‘Identification – Primary’)

The type of mistake made is called ‘regularization’. The child is reading the
word as if it were a regular word.

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Time the test but do not pretend to an accuracy within a second! Round up or
down to the nearest five seconds.

Pseudowords

These are words that could be words in English, that is they obey the
orthographic rules of English, but they are not real words.

Because they will never have been seen before, the child must use the
phonological decoding route to pronounce them. Therefore you are testing the
upper, slower path.

You tell the child in advance that these words are not real words but you are
asking him/her to read exactly what is written as best as he/she can.

The type of mistake you may hear is called ‘lexicalization’. Take the third
word: the child may guess that this should be ‘parsnip’ and so he/she is not
really decoding accurately.

Rapid naming test

This test is mentioned in several lectures. It has been widely accepted as a


reliable measure of the speed of access to the name of an object.

Slowness in this test has been well correlated with difficulties in phonological
manipulation. You will recollect from Vincent’s lecture in the first week the
importance of automatization, which is linked to speed and accuracy of
reading.

First make sure that the child can name the objects. You can make up your
own chart of pictures and you can test in the child’s native language. We have
chosen here to select a small number of different objects and ordered them
randomly.

Try it with several children and measure the total time they take to name all
the objects in the chart, going from left to right and top to bottom.

Dyslexic learners have difficulties in accessing their phonological


representations so they will be about twice as slow as the non-dyslexic
learners.

Eye tracking test

This is language-independent. Ask the child to find each bell and circle it.
Allow two minutes. Express the result as (number found)/35 x 100.

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Also observe and note what search strategy he or she uses, e.g. just looking
randomly all over the page, or with a plan. The child may ask for a ruler or use
the edge of another piece of paper – this is OK!

Non-word repetition task

This task assesses auditory short-term memory. Guidance is in the document.

Visual discovery: ‘f’

The purpose is to find the grapheme, in its different forms (upper case, lower
case, different fonts) amongst other very different graphemes. It trains the
eyes to track. As shown in the film, you don’t ask them to call out the name
but simply to find them systematically and circle them (‘catch them’ as Vincent
says).

Tracking training: ‘f’s

This grapheme can appear single, or double, and in different parts of words,
and may be said in different ways.

‘Dotting test’

This is a simple adaptation of the well-known ‘pegging test’ used to assess


motor skills. Instructions are included on the chart.

Colored-lined paper

This is used to teach cursive writing. The body of the letter should be in the
middle, the descenders to the bottom line, the ascenders to the top.

As Vincent says, you can choose different colors, e.g. the top blue for sky and
the bottom brown for earth. It is not demonstrated in the film.

Phonics progression charts

These are built on the principle of ‘structure’, that is going from the simpler to
the more complex, ensuring that each step has been grasped before going to
the next. For example, teaching the more common occurrences of the sound
matched to ‘f’ before ‘ph’.

It also makes sure that there is a mix of going over what has been learnt and
what is new.

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