Anne Sentell

Cognitive Training Makes Reading Easier For Children



Posted: Wednesday, August 04, 2010

by Anne Sentell
Progressive Learning Solutions

There is a direct link between reading words per minute and accuracy. Fluency involves the ability to read with speed, accuracy and ease of pace. If a child is reading slowly, skipping words, sounding out most words, or not able to recognize familiar sight words there is a problem This would not be considered fluent reading. Progressive reading must be rapid and automatic to glean meaning and understanding. Cognitive and visual processing can help this condition by making the reading process more automatic and training the eyes to fixate on the words in the text.

If a child cannot fixate on a word long enough for recognition to take place this is an eye position maintenance problem. This process must be automatic and unconscious. In short, a child with fluency and eye-maintenance difficulties cannot maintain fixation on each word long enough, for the brain to register what word is being read. A child must be able to fixate on a word long enough for recognition to take place and reading is slow and laborious. A long duration time to recognize a word causes physical as well as reading fluency problems. The result of this problem may be: blurring, fatigue, nervousness, hyperactivity, rubbing or blinking the eyes. Reading problems may include: skipping words when reading aloud, slow reading, losing place while reading, reversals and avoidance of reading. The eye must focus on a word for approximately one-quarter of a second in the when reading. Processing training can increase the duration time of fixation on each word to one-sixth of a second, while still maintaining good recognition when reading.

Pointing can sometimes help stabilize the tiny movements the eye makes that can cause translocations of letters or seeing letters backwards, such a reversal frequency. Once a child can recognize a word immediately and fixate on it long enough for recognition to take place, this practice will stop. There are other methods a parent can use to help improve the duration time a child focuses on a word. Flash cards can be used by holding up an age appropriate word for a 3 seconds and putting it down - then ask the child to recall the word. In addition, if a tiny dot is placed in the at the bottom middle of the word, the eye will be drawn to the dot and center of the word. This will stop any eye movement when fixating on the word. As the child improves shorten the time the child sees the card to 2 seconds and then 1 second to one-sixth of a second and eliminate the dot. This should be done with a wide variety of words the child is familiar with, such as an age appropriate spelling list.

For a child to read fluently with speed, comprehension and accuracy, the eye-position maintenance system must steady the image long enough for recognition to take place. Visual and cognitive processing also improves comprehension and makes reading more automatic. The child is not so involved in the reading process or the mechanics of reading; but in comprehension, contemplation, fact gathering and organization, reasoning, problem solving and other operations. This would be true for reading a word math problem, history, geography, or a science fiction novel.

Cognitive training can help by improving attention and concentration, visual processing speed, and making learning more unconscious and automatic. When a child can process information fast and effectively reading is directly affected. Good home cognitive processing kits include eye tracking and maintenance training, and directly affect a child's ability to read fluently.

http://www.progressivelearningsolutions.org

asentell@live.com

member #240747
 
Anne Sentell has been working in the field of cognitive therapy and training for 12 years.  In 2000, she launched her own business Progressive Learning Solutions, helping children with cognitive processing and eye-teaming problems. The
program is a one-on-one 12 week intense cognitive processing training program, for children with ADD, ADHD, dyslexia and and other learning problems. Her program improves concentration, memory, visualization, visual memory, processing, and other cognitive related skills. 
 
 In December 2007, she published the Left-Behind Survial kit a home training version of her program, consisting of 5 books and the tools for parents, teachers and others to use at home or school and available in PDF download versions as well.
 
In 2008, she published her second set of books, the Auditory Building Blocks Program for children with dyslexia and other reading problems also available in PDF download.

http://www.progressivelearningsolutions.org

 

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