DD 8 learning struggles

[Alison in KY]

My middle daughter who just turned 8 is struggling with our writing program. We use Writing With Ease 1. At this level I read her a small passage then I ask questions about what I just read. It's early narration. Anyway, she just can't hear the story and tell me anything about what I just read to her.

She does okay in the other subjects, but it just doesn't seem like those light bulb moments go off very often. She giggles at herself a bit, so I just don't know how to take her
She doesn't pick up as much when I read aloud as the other two kids do. Is this just a difference in learning styles or is this a small disability? How can I help her to improve in this area?


Alison

[Mom2Monkeys]

I think all the HOD guides have narration tips for parent and student. You might want to read over those first.
Then, take it a few sentences at a time, have her act it out as you read, or have her draw it out. I had my dd7 (almost who struggled/struggles with narration do these things. For drawing, I take a blank piece of paper and separate it into quarters by drawing a line down the middle from top to bottom and side to side. I number them 1-4 and have her draw out 4 important events or people from our reading chronologically.

There's also a narration cube that is very helpful...you can search "narration cube" and should find that post that links to it. Make sure you are modeling narration to her as well. Maybe you could take turns. If you use the narration activities Carrie has planned for storytime in each guide, you''ll see progress. These other things are great helps for a dc that is still struggling. I woudl think that if you are using HOD as is, you don't need the extra copywork and narration from WWE. It could be that it's overkill for her. Carrie's plans cover all that wonderfully and at the right level for your child's age. Which HOD guide is she in? Are you using it as is?

HTH!

[Carrie]

Alison,

I'm trying to remember whether you're using Beyond or Bigger with your 8 year old? Both guides have Narration Tips in the Appendix, which are very helpful in how to approach narration and in knowing how to help with narration. Both guides also have guided narration activities taught in either the history box or the storytime box of the plans, so you won't want to skip those. They made a huge difference in my kiddos' narrating skills.

While you can easily continue with WWE, if desired, at HOD we wouldn't recommend WWE for teaching oral narration skills. WWE is actually focused on having the kiddos produce a written product, which is different from focusing on oral narration. At HOD we focus on oral narration in the early years and move to written narrations when the skill of orally narrating has already been established.

It is tough for kiddos to narrate from a portion of a passage or a book (as in WWE), when only a small portion of the overall piece is provided and the provided story jumps from topic to topic each week. The common thread of an actual book with continued readings makes oral narration much easier for the child (as scheduled in HOD), and it is also easier to see and gauge improvement as the child narrates from the same book for several weeks in a row.

Blessings,
Carrie

[my3sons]

The HOD tips have been really helpful for my ds as he grows into orally narrating. I also have found he did better when we kept the pages he narrates on to a minimum. We used to have him narrate every 2 pages when I read a chapter for Storytime. He also was kind of giggly about it. I don't think he was sure what he was supposed to do for awhile. I followed the plans in Beyond, I'd narrate, taking turns with him, and modeling it for him so he understood what narrating is. Over time, he has gotten much better, though he needs to continue to grow.

Just to make you feel better - my Dad is one of the most intelligent men I know, and when he was listening to my older ds orally narrate after he read him a story - he told me, "This is not a skill I have. I could not do this! I am amazed at what he can remember. I never did this in school, but I sure wish I would have. I just read this book out loud to him, and I barely remember the big things, much less the little details. It's so great he's learning this!"

So, I don't think it's a small disability in any way. I just think she needs some time to grow into it.

In Christ,
Julie

[Tansy]

MY DD1 use to do this. I found touching her like lightly tickling her back, holding her hand or just a gentle touch on her knee helped refocus her on the outside world, not her inner child. And stopping way more frequently like every 3 sentences to start off with. I eventually worked up to half a page then 1 whole page then 2 pages.. I also was doing the stuff in the next paragraph as well.


It really can be a attention span problem you can try this write out some random numbers on cards like this.
342 571 908 7854 4321 7610 78230 82739 81206 23717
sit her down and say the numbers like this 3 pause 4 pause 2 don't say them really fast or with cadence, but in a mono tone. Then let her repeat them back to you. Work you way up to 5 digits if you can. A 6 year old should be able to repeat 5-6 numbers back no problem. If she can't, you can use it as a tool to train her mind to focus. before you start in on the narration/story time, give her 3-4 min of number training listen repeat/ listen repeat it sets up the mind to do the task you want her to do.

My dd at age 7 couldn't do more than 4 numbers with any accuracy. When we started, 3 numbers were hard for her to hold on to. It can give you a bench mark to see if she is improving later.