H1 - crossing the midline

I think by now most of you know about H1's reading. Her emergent dyslexia is coming to be - not so "emergent" more like "hello, here I am."

As she progresses in her reading, which is coming very fast. As she progresses in her spelling - (she was getting 2 out of 8 right - to last Friday a perfect score with both challenge words spelt correctly.

I get this email from her teacher
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hello! I wanted to let you know something interesting about yesterday's spelling test. As you saw on the test she brought home, H1 scored 8/8 +2. However, the first time she took the test, she had the sheet of paper turned around and the red line and 3 circles on the right side instead of the left. She wrote the numbers 1-8 on the right side of the red line and then wrote every spelling word completely backwards, starting at the red line and going to the left. Every word was spelled correctly, though.

For example:
siof enu 1.

I later asked her to write the words again because she had the paper turned around the first time. The second time she wrote what I sent home yesterday.

I showed the 2 tests to (her reading teacher) and we were both surprised and also amazed that H1 was able to write them all correctly while backwards. It is interesting, though, that she didn't notice while writing them that the words looked funny. It seems like the fact that the red line was on the other side of the page is what got her confused.Have you ever seen something like this before?

Thanks for all of the work you do at home with H1. You are so dedicated to your children and a great mother!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ok.... hmmmm

so I got to thinking -

Hmmm - I didn't realize that. (with the red line) BUT, I have seen her completely flip them around. I see specific "sets of letters" flipped around often. ON is the most common.

What I find strange is that even after she was done, and she looked at both sets of tests, she couldn't "see" the difference? That would surprise me. I can see when she is doing it - that it happens. It is like the mirror in her head gets turned on. - But once she is made aware of it, she is able to correct it.



I tend to "hear" it - when she is reading. She will start the word from the wrong side.



The sheets that she is practicing on look like this




- and the books before were lakeshore learning writing journals, neither of which have a "red line". Our "method" is I have created a book that has a set of pages for each day - she writes out her words every day. If she just sits down and does it - she is done in under 10 minutes. And we take a spelling test, at least 3X before Friday. The "tests" (which I thought were the "most" important seem to really stress her out.) I moved from taking the test and then having her respell the words she got wrong, to always having her write them all out and then test at the end and start the day fresh the next day. Writing the words on her time line, seems less stressful.


I let her take the test by using the air spelling also at least once, and then she takes it at least 2X written out. I know the yellow dots are not where you are teaching them to start (they still start at the top) - but other than buying an expensive handwriting program - this is what I am working with. (I am debating buying the schoolhouse fonts program...) From what I have been reading, the more I can enforce the handwriting that it (the handwriting) becomes less of an issue and/or stumbling block in learning to spell and read. Then they focus less on how to "draw" a letter and can focus on the "bigger" picture of the whole word. I am just happy that she is working and it is not a struggle.

So...
where to go from here. The method I have is helping her understand, read and be successful with her spelling tests. That is all good.

I spoke with my SIL, who I think, many of you know is an OT. She spoke about the concept of crossing the midline.
She gave me a host of activities. The more research I did - the more that lead me to see the issue of crossing the midline can be HUGE with ADD also. Wow - so many things are coming together... Poor crossing body midline, affects child’s handwriting and the ability to learn new academic concepts.

Children with ADD or ADHD typically have problems with cross patterning movements, as they do not feel comfortable crossing the midline of their bodies. This problem with crossing the body’s midline of the body is because the left and right sides of the brain do not fire in synchronicity and they do not communicate well with each other.



So....

Crossing the Midline, or the ability to move hands and feet across the body and the ability to coordinate hands and feet together, helps students to learn new physical skills and is also important as students learn to write and draw. Encourage children to cross the midline with these activities:

1. Wheelbarrow walking
2. Playing hand clapping games like "See-See my Playmate", "Miss Mary Mack", and "Miss Susie"
3. Learning string games like "Cat's Cradle" and "Jacob's Ladder"
4. Playing hopscotch
5. Painting on an easel or drawing with chalk on a large chalkboard or sidewalk
6. Stirring pancake batter or other ingredients in a large bowl
7. Pedaling on a tricycle or bicycle

This is something I find interesting
27. Have the students work in cursive script. It is more difficult to reverse the letter pattern in cursive writing than in manuscript printing. This strategy will encourage more muscular power control and thus a more distinctive tactile/motor pattern for each letter.


OK that's all I have time for right now. I have a lot more research to do.