How the brain learns to read

Our brain is an organ of the body, just like the heart and lungs. The brain works at its own speed, as do your heart and lungs. Our brains store information in long-term memory. The storage capacity of the long-term memory is unlimited. 

Well-learned items can be called to the surface of our mind in fractions of 1 /1000 bits of one second. The brain loves retrieving information at lightning speed.

For example, your birth date can be instantaneously brought to the surface of your mind. The surface asks for information, like your birth date > long-term memory searches, retrieves it, hooks it into the surface in a looping process that looks like this: search > retrieve > hook > search > retrieve > hook > endlessly repeating.

The surface of your mind is called your short-term working memory.  The surface is very limited, easily distracted. In addition, it must constantly monitor what is going on around you, do you need to go to the bathroom, are you under stress, are you running out of time,  are you hungry, etc. The surface begins to vanish in about 1 and ½ seconds.  See why you must repeat a new phone number until you use it, or get a pencil to write it?  

1 ½ seconds is a large amount of brain time since the brain likes to operate at speeds of 1 / 1000 bits of one second.

And, amazingly, while reading, unbeknownst to us, our eyes are constantly scanning the upcoming letters so that the brain can get a jump on search > retrieve > hook. Your brain constantly tries to anticipate the letters, sounds, words, and meanings which are going to be needed for smooth brain operation.

You want your child to have a short term working memory with a happy endless loop of search > retrieve > hook.  My blog gives you 160 lessons but if you want one of my books, I use eBay as my website, people trust it. Search Instant Reading Help all my books will pop up for you.

The reason for my teaching methods: when the short-term working memory is waiting too long because a letter, or sight word, or complex vowel ending like cious is not well stored in long term memory – a bad cascade starts for your child.  When your child is slow or struggling with reading, it is not going to get better until someone shows your child these exact lessons.

The National Institute of Health reports that only 6 out of 50 children will catch up from a slow start. Most children who fall behind are truly smart. They simply missed learning these crucial lessons.  This is a spectacular tragedy because it is so easily avoidable.

Have a great day, Mary Maisner

 

reading comprehension



Don't you wish this panther could
tell you what he is thinking? 

Many tiny actions in the brain are taking place all at the same time when your child is reading. Getting the meaning of the reading passage is called comprehension.

Brain research is now showing us more about how the mind learns, then stores, then finds information while reading a page of print.

A comprehension tip: quit stopping to sound out words.  Tell your child any unknown word, have your child keep reading. Stopping breaks the short-term memory, thus all comprehension is lost. This is the way the brain works for everyone. 

Show your child how to keep reading using the words he does know, sliding over unknown words. At the end of the page, you ask questions - what is happening on the page, who did what, etc. Then go back to unknown words and help your child figure them out or tell him the word. In a few weeks, this method will give great results.

Put into my blog's search box - top left corner - fix reading problem which gives you step by step comprehension help for 2nd Grade - high school. First help your child get comprehension then help with: ce, ci; or ge, gi; or compound word story; or  adding ed; or tion; or silent gh, or difference between short vowels long vowels, etc.

If you want my book for your child, I use ebay. Search Instant Reading Help all my books will pop up for you. All include my contact info; email or call for help.  Have a great day. Thank you, Mary Maisner

Summer reading skills loss



Oh dear, I dropped my favorite
toy.

Find a 10 minute timer; use it twice a day. Morning is for skills work, afternoon is for reading a story. You will be more successful if you do not push for more time after the buzzer rings.

Take your child to the library or to a used bookstore. Let your child pick whatever: animal books, adventures, science experiments, Ripley's Believe it or not, joke books, etc. 

I like used books because your child can write in them.

You can assign Word Hunts for tricky look alike sight words: these, those, whether, which, though, thought, caught, brought, etc. You can get large print books at libraries and used bookstores.

Tip: Quit stopping to sound out; tell your child any unknown words. Tell your child to read the words he knows, slide over unknown words. Over time, this will reap better results.

All kids want to be great at reading but schools do not have enough time. 

Reading skills become lost when they are not used every few days: short and long vowels; adding ed and ing, changing y to i, vowel blocks ous, eous, ious, tial, tion, tious, tient, etc. Knowing chose and choose, lose and loose, bit, bite, rid, ride, and more.

I use eBay as my website, people trust it. Search Instant Reading Help all my books will pop up for you to consider.  Help your child have fun reading. Mary Maisner

help child read




I am smart enough already!    Don't bother me!


 

Can a smart child be in school for three years and still be wobbly with letters b and d? Yes.

Again this Saturday, a smart, quick-minded eight year old was missing the Usual Suspects: b /d and p / q / g.  Please understand: it is not a child's fault. 

Research shows it is unclear instruction. Do not panic. 

Tip: quit stopping to sound out words, tell your child any unknown word, have your child keep reading. Stopping breaks the short-term memory loop, thus all comprehension is lost.

Tell your child to keep reading using the words he does know. Slide over any unknown word. At the end of the page, you ask questions - what is happening on the page, who did what, etc. Then go back to unknown words and help your child figure them out or tell him the word. In a few weeks, this method will give great results.    

Use my blog's search box - top left corner - put in backward b. Also, sight words. My new books are sold at eBay. Search Instant Reading Help. All my books will pop up, all include my contact info; email or call for help.

Have a great day, Mary Maisner

ready for kindergarten



My owls like to look at
all the animals in their forest.

Use a picture to help your child think about the letter sounds he hears at the start of a word, like tree, bird, branch. Then practice printing the letters within three parallel lines you've drawn equal distance apart on a blank sheet of paper.

Tell your child that the letters fit inside the parallel lines like his feet fit inside his shoes. You will need to be patient; it takes a long, long time to print letters without a wobble. Do not obsess. Only letters b, d, g, p, q need to be correct. 

Ignore all other backward letters, they will not slow your child's progress, will self-correct by mid-2nd Grade, and are very rarely dyslexia.  Get an ABC letter strip from Target, Office Max, etc. Teach each letter name and basic sound: Aa apple, Bb bear, etc.

Lots of point and name is great practice. 

Over time, explain that the ABC letters in a word sit next to each other, like the toes of his foot: not tight but side-by-side. 

Using your picture pick words to practice, like tree, bird, sky, owl - tell your child the correct letters or allow your child to try spelling. At this point do not worry about correct spelling, but do aim for the correct beginning sound: bird, feather, tree, etc.

Your next target is teaching that words in a sentence need space between them, like cars on a street - they must not bump into one another. Teach your child to place his pointer finger on the paper to see how much space to have between words. And, tell your child that letters and words always go this way >>.  5 minute lessons are good, short and fun is best. 

I use ebay as my website. Search Instant Reading Help all my books will pop up for you. All include my contact onfo; email or call for help.

Have a great day, Mary

ready for kindergarten

My giraffe is not small.
My giraffe is very, very tall.

To make learning to print the ABCs more fun, find a picture your child will enjoy looking at for the length of a five minute lesson. Using a ruler or long magazine, draw three parallel lines completely across a blank sheet of paper. The lines need to be about equal distance apart but they can be an inch or 1/2 an inch apart. Start large.

After talking about the scene in your chosen picture, ask your child to name one item in the picture and tell you the letter sound he hears at its start. In my picture, he might pick giraffe, tree, leaf, sand, sky, horns, hoof - you see how this works.

Let's imagine he picked tree. You ask for the sound at the start of tree. (letter t)

Show your child how to make a capital T or lower-case t using the lines you have already drawn on the paper. Tell him the top line and the bottom line are like his shoes. His feet fit nicely inside his shoes. Ask your child to try to help the letter T fit nicely inside the top and bottom lines.

Lower-case t has a line that crosses right on the middle line. Capital T has a line which fits on the line at the top. Your job is to help your child work on this in a stress-free way. It takes every child's fingers a very long time to get control of a pencil. Your child's fingers will get tired - almost right away. 

Backward letters are not a problem; do not spend energy forcing your child to get them right. Help your child learn to point and name and say all basic ABC letters: Aa apple, Bb bear, Cc cat, etc.

But being wobbly with b, d, g, p, q will cause problems. Spend your child's limited energy mastering the names, sounds, and shapes of b, d, g, p, q. By early 1st Grade, be sure your child recognizes those letters even when the letters are inside words. Be sure your child is clear: old not olb and by not dy. Confusion within words of b /d and p / q / g causes a child to fall behind.

BTW, if your child is left-handed, please do not try to change this natural feeling.

I use ebay as my website. Search Instant Reading Help all my books will pop up for you. Have a great day, Mary Maisner   

ready for kindergarten reading



See the baby kittens?  yes  no  

1) Children are expert at reading their parent's mood so be calm and stay positive no matter what. Expect that learning a lesson is going to be successful over time - not immediately; show no frustration with your child.

2) If you have a reluctant child, get a 10 minute "hour" glass or other easy timing device. Show your child how it works. Be strict about stopping when the time is up. Short and sweet is best. Some parents cannot work with their children; get Grandma or Grandpa to help.

3) Start with easy lessons:  At Office Max, Target, etc. get an ABC letter strip. Learn the name and sound for 3 letters at a time. Sing the ABCs song; play "I Spy" for items that start with B, then C, and so on. 

Play memory-building games like Go Fish. Also, set a small item  somewhere in plain sight then ask your child to find it; place 4 items on a plate - look at them - then take away the plate and name all 4. 

Get a book of finger-games and play them; name items that come in pairs (shoes, socks, salt and pepper, etc.); sort the silverware for size and shape; look for round items, look for square items; soft items, rough-feeling items - talk about how items are alike / how they differ. 

Tip: Printing backward letters is natural, will self-correct by mid 2nd Grade, is rarely dyslexia, will not slow your child's progress - ignore them. However, b, d, g, p, q are crucial to success. Use my search box - top left corner - put in backward b. 

I now use eBay. Search Instant Reading Help all my books will pop up for you. All books are brand new and include my contact info; email or call for help. Let's make reading fun and easy for your child, Mary Maisner