vocabulary building

October 18, 2006

Dora,

Sorry but my response to your post is to ask a lot of questions to figure

out what kind of help he is getting in order to figure out what I'd try to

address your concerns. Does your son have services of a TOD (teacher of the

deaf), also called a HI (Hearing Itinerant) or HIRS (hearing impaired related

services)? If not, it sounds like he needs it. Is he getting any kind of

support

services in school? Does he have an FM system? Is he classified (IDEA or

504)?

The issues you bring up are the kinds of things our son, Ian, addressed by

working with his TOD as well as working with us at home. And don't panic too

much if he's not, our Ian finally started getting appropriate TOD services

when he started 6th grade. He is an 11th grader now and has caught up on quite

a

lot of things including vocabulary and writing skills. We didn't know of his

loss until he was 7½ and it took another year to get a correct diagnosis and

get him aided. He had quite a lot of catching up to do.

Sorry to ask so many questions, but for you to do this all on your own in

the evenings is a Herculean task, even if you weren't working and caring for a

sick parent. You need the school to pick up their end of this job and to

provide the listening and learning support he needs in the classroom, every day.

As for vocabulary building, there are lots of exercises and strategies that

you can use for that and we (this list) can suggest a bunch that have worked

for our kids. But from my own experience, first you need to determine just

how lacking his vocabulary really is. And is it just a need to expand

vocabulary or does he need help with more in relation to his language skills?

I'm sure this email has you shaking your head and thinking this is too much,

but it's not really. One little step at a time and you'll get where you need

to be.

Right now I have to run Ian out to pick up things for Chemistry ... they're

making little stuffed moles for Mole Day. (?!) I'll write more when I get

back.

Best -- Jill

October 18, 2006

In a message dated 10/18/2006 2:17:49 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,

dora_donna@... writes:

I know the school would be supportive of any ideas or suggestions.

They have never had a HI child and jumped right in and got him the

services and equipment he had before we moved here, so we feel that

we've been lucky.

Dora,

Again, I am on the computer for only a few minutes before running Ian over

to his TOD (HI). They have half days due to conferences, so unless I bring him

to her, they won't meet this week (long story, I'll skip it).

However, I had just asked Ian about the vocabulary lists they used for his

" dialog journal " when he was your son's age. He can't remember to name of the

program, but since I am about to see his TOD, I can ask her for all that info

and give it to you later tonight.

Today and tomorrow are insane for me ... I'm in and out all day. Sorry to be

so abrupt but I literally have to run all around town now (TOD and then on to

Swim practice, licking up girls as I go).

TTFN -- Jill

October 18, 2006

In a message dated 10/18/2006 2:17:49 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,

dora_donna@... writes:

I know the school would be supportive of any ideas or suggestions.

They have never had a HI child and jumped right in and got him the

services and equipment he had before we moved here, so we feel that

we've been lucky.

Dora,

Again, I am on the computer for only a few minutes before running Ian over

to his TOD (HI). They have half days due to conferences, so unless I bring him

to her, they won't meet this week (long story, I'll skip it).

However, I had just asked Ian about the vocabulary lists they used for his

" dialog journal " when he was your son's age. He can't remember to name of the

program, but since I am about to see his TOD, I can ask her for all that info

and give it to you later tonight.

Today and tomorrow are insane for me ... I'm in and out all day. Sorry to be

so abrupt but I literally have to run all around town now (TOD and then on to

Swim practice, licking up girls as I go).

TTFN -- Jill

October 18, 2006

In a message dated 10/18/2006 4:14:24 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,

stefanieac@... writes:

licking up girls as I go).

>

> TTFN -- Jill

LOL ... I didn't even stop to proof read myself. Oh now that's a doozie of a

typo!

October 18, 2006

My son is having trouble in areas such as reading comprehension and

understanding directions. He is 11 and in 5th grade. During his

teacher comference, she stated that it was because of his lack of

foundation in vocabulary. I have noticed that he asks what something

meanns and often we'll have to rephrase and define for him to

understand. Because he is shy, he doesn't ask at school if he has a

question. We are working on this. I encourage him to ask questions,

but am not there to see that he does. His teachers are trying to make

him more independent because next year in middle school, it will be a

different structure.

My questions are have any of you encountered this before? Do you have

any hints for building vocabulary? Any internet games that would help?

I'm going to begin reading to him at night before bed.

I know this sounds awful, but I'm taking care of a sick mother and I

work and by the time I get home, I'm exhausted. I'm worried because in

Indiana, students have to pass a standardized test in 10th grade to

graduate high school. He's bright, but lost three years of 'hearing'

since we discovered his hearing loss late.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks. -Dora

October 18, 2006

-Thanks, Jill. Josh has a HI teacher that comes in for one hour

everyday. She addresses and reinforces anywhere he may need help in.

She is currently working with flash cards from a target list of

vocab words he doesn't know. He has an interpretor with him although

he doesn't feel comfortable with signing. Not because he doesn't

know the signs, but because he feels embarrassed, I think. We are

going to begin signing at home. He's at the age where he wants to

fit in. He also receives speech three times a week. He does has an

FM system. He is classified as Hearing Impaired and has an IEP. I'm

not sure what you mean by IDEA or 504.

I know the school would be supportive of any ideas or suggestions.

They have never had a HI child and jumped right in and got him the

services and equipment he had before we moved here, so we feel that

we've been lucky.

I wasn't sure what you meant about his needing help in relation to

language skills. He communicates well with us, but I've noticed that

his 6 year old cousin uses words I know he wouldn't understand. This

is discouraging. On the other had it's encouraging to hope that some

day, he will catch up.

Last year, his interpretor was more involved in reading him the

directions and since this isn't happening this year, his grades have

suffered. He's getting discouraged and feels overwhelmed. I don't

want him to hate school. Thanks for your input. -Dora

-- In Listen-Up , JillcWood@... wrote:

>

> Dora,

>

> Sorry but my response to your post is to ask a lot of questions to

figure

> out what kind of help he is getting in order to figure out what

I'd try to

> address your concerns. Does your son have services of a TOD

(teacher of the

> deaf), also called a HI (Hearing Itinerant) or HIRS (hearing

impaired related

> services)? If not, it sounds like he needs it. Is he getting any

kind of support

> services in school? Does he have an FM system? Is he classified

(IDEA or

> 504)?

>

> The issues you bring up are the kinds of things our son, Ian,

addressed by

> working with his TOD as well as working with us at home. And

don't panic too

> much if he's not, our Ian finally started getting appropriate TOD

services

> when he started 6th grade. He is an 11th grader now and has

caught up on quite a

> lot of things including vocabulary and writing skills. We didn't

know of his

> loss until he was 7½ and it took another year to get a correct

diagnosis and

> get him aided. He had quite a lot of catching up to do.

>

> Sorry to ask so many questions, but for you to do this all on your

own in

> the evenings is a Herculean task, even if you weren't working and

caring for a

> sick parent. You need the school to pick up their end of this job

and to

> provide the listening and learning support he needs in the

classroom, every day.

>

> As for vocabulary building, there are lots of exercises and

strategies that

> you can use for that and we (this list) can suggest a bunch that

have worked

> for our kids. But from my own experience, first you need to

determine just

> how lacking his vocabulary really is. And is it just a need to

expand

> vocabulary or does he need help with more in relation to his

language skills?

>

> I'm sure this email has you shaking your head and thinking this is

too much,

> but it's not really. One little step at a time and you'll get

where you need

> to be.

>

> Right now I have to run Ian out to pick up things for

Chemistry ... they're

> making little stuffed moles for Mole Day. (?!) I'll write more

when I get

> back.

>

> Best -- Jill

>

October 18, 2006

In a message dated 10/18/2006 4:58:48 P.M. Central Standard Time,

kiminyme@... writes:

Put some burden on the teacher, too. When our son was in fifth grade, he

frequently just brought home spelling lists to memorize, but we also had him

make up sentences with the words, find the meaning in the dictionary, or do

word associations.

My kids have to choose three out of five activities to do with their

spelling words each week (crosswords, write out sentences, write out

definitions,

etc.) and that starts in second grade and continues until fifth. All of the

teachers do this in the district, so it must be something that is written into

the district curriculum. You can probably suggest this be changed in your

district.

Putz

Illinois Families for Hands & Voices

_www.handsandvoices.org_ (http://www.handsandvoices.org/)

_www.ilhandsandvoices.org_ (http://www.ilhandsandvoices.org/)

Email: support@...

_A Deaf Mom Shares Her World_ (http://www.putzworld.blogspot.com/)

October 18, 2006

In a message dated 10/18/2006 2:17:49 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,

dora_donna@... writes:

I wasn't sure what you meant about his needing help in relation to

language skills. He communicates well with us, but I've noticed that

his 6 year old cousin uses words I know he wouldn't understand. This

is discouraging. On the other had it's encouraging to hope that some

day, he will catch up.

Last year, his interpretor was more involved in reading him the

directions and since this isn't happening this year, his grades have

suffered. He's getting discouraged and feels overwhelmed. I don't

want him to hate school. Thanks for your input. -Dora

Dora,

First, I'd start with addressing the reason that the terp isn't reading him

the instructions. Why was this stopped? It sounds like it is something that

was working for him. Has it been stopped in order to get him to read them for

himself? Is so, then it seems to me that there needs to be a bit of a plan to

help develop the skill. He'll need to read instructions himself, then

explain what he thinks he is being asked, and then have the adult help him

understand what he is actually being asked to do or answer. We would show Ian

the

actual words that hinted or directly indicated what he was to do. Sometimes the

issue was a lack of knowing what some of the words meant. Ian still has this

accommodation in his IEP so that he can ask to have instructions or questions

clarified or re-explained -- but he has to ask for that help at this point,

it's not automatically given.

Sometimes there's a key word that Ian doesn't know, making it impossible for

him to understand what is being asked of him. We had that happen recently

when he was instructed to explain who had acted as a character's proxy and why.

He didn't know the word " proxy " so he was not sure what he was being asked.

It was part of his homework so I was the one to define it. Had it been during

a test, he could have had that explained to him by the teacher or proctor.

Ian had partially reasoned out the meaning but was not sure if it meant " acting

for someone " or " acting against someone. " Two very different potential

meanings hinged on that one word.

When I asked you if it was just expanding vocabulary or involved more

language usage, I was referring to his ability to communicate on several levels,

not just speaking/talking. Language is so much more than just pronunciation and

spoken language.

For instance, idioms confounded Ian. Allegorical writing still confuses him.

Language to him was a concrete thing, he couldn't really use it creatively.

He took the phrase " let the cat out of the bag " literally and at that point we

realized he just didn't get a lot of things because of his limited ability

to interpret language. He'd smile and nod, but that was just a coping skill,

it didn't mean he understood what was said. He also had a terrible time

organizing his writing. His spoken vocabulary was broader than his written one.

Both are considered expressive language, but he had a very uneven ability.

His TOD has been very good about identifying what Ian's language weaknesses

are and addressing them. One thing she did early on was to get a book about

idioms and they'd take one a week and learn about it. Where did it come from

and how it is used nowadays .. bit by bit he got the idea and thought that they

many were actually very funny.

Ian was also very nervous about his writing. The 5th grade Spec Ed teacher

had actually screamed at him on a regular basis about his " lousy " writing, as

well as screaming that he could hear when he wanted to and used his hearing

loss as an excuse (a whole long tale that I'll skip). This obviously only made

things worse. He was timid and insecure about making any mistakes, so his

writing was very immature and he used a very limited vocabulary and simple

sentence structure. (and no, that Spec Ed teacher is no longer working there,

grin)

So, in order to get him to be looser and more relaxed about writing, his TOD

started a " dialog journal " with him. This was done as " homework " every

couple of days. It was a composition notebook -- those old fashioned looking

ones

with the cardboard covers and that black and white pattern on the front/back.

She would write him a letter about a topic (like scout activities) and he

would answer her. She would intentionally ask him one or two questions to

prompt his responses. He was required to write a certain amount. At first it

was

two paragraphs. (3 sentences each, minimum) Then it became 5 paragraphs. And

after a while she didn't need to assign a length because he would write for a

couple pages on his own.

This dialog journal was never graded. That wasn't the point of it. It was

the good-old-fashioned idea of doing something often, making it fun, and

therefore mastering it by slow steady steps. Ian wasn't writing much except for

school at that point and he would often freeze up when trying, so the intention

was that writing could become fun by using this journal. He and his TOD were

exchanging letters, being pen pals -- and I NEVER checked it before he turned

it in. At first I wasn't even allowed to read it, thus intentionally taking

it out of the homework category. I would just remind him that he needed to do

it. What happened is that Mrs T would take Ian's errors and mirror them back

to him with proper form and usage. In that same time period, I encouraged

him to write letters to his aunts, uncles and great grandfather. Writing just

for fun with no one grading or judging him. (His cousin was working on

horrible handwriting at the time, so it worked well for both boys.)

His TOD was also working on vocabulary during their class time together. She

got some vocabulary lists that were age/grade appropriate. One copy was in

his notebook and one was taped into the back of the dialog journal. For class

they would pick 10 words each week and write them in sentences, make stories

with them, and a variety of other activities. The goal was to use those words

10 different ways, thus making them part of his active vocabulary.

And when Ian used any of the words from the vocabulary list in his dialog

journal, the TOD would give him points and put a check next to the word. I

think it was 2 points for the first usage and then 1 for each time after that.

We

worked out a reward system for when he reached 20 points. She would give him

a Jolly Rancher (his fave candy at that time) but he had also earned a

reward from our reward jar here at home.

In the reward jar were slips of paper that had things that our kids

considered rewards. No candy, no toys, no big money spending. It was things like

getting to pick the next movie from Blockbuster, picking the restaurant we are

at

next, getting the front seat of the car for the entire day (no swapping), a

Saturday shooting off rockets in the park, an afternoon at the bike trail,

kayaking with Dad, staying up a half hour later, getting an extra half hour of

Play Station time, one-on-one time with Mom or Dad. Our kids picked their own

rewards, picked things they thought of as special. We wrote them on paper

slips and into the jar they went. At first 20 points earned Ian a prize. Then

the ante was upped to 30, then 40. After a while it was simply dropped because

he'd outgrown it. I don't remember formally stopping it, I guess it ended

with one school year and was just never restarted.

Another thing we did was have him " tell us first " instead of just writing

his answers, which were always very simple short sentences. At first he needed a

lot of help and prompting, but he got the idea. Sometimes I would act as

his secretary, have him " talk the answer " to me and I would type exactly what he

said as he said it, including the word " and " in a long list of items which

would usually get commas. Then he'd write down what he'd just told me and we'd

compare. He use to think it was funny that I didn't know how to use commas,

but I told him, he hadn't said " comma, " he'd said " and. " (grin) We were

training him to " write like he talks " and after a time he got better and better

at it. His wit and humor started to show up in his less formal writing.

Also, we found that Ian wrote more fluidly when he was typing on the

computer. So, he'd write/type his essay, double space it, and then print it out

for

me to read. And I'd write in things like " why " or " when " or " tell me more " or

" NICE!? " (his favorite adjective of all time). And back to the computer he'd

go to expand on it or correct it.

It sounds like I'm talking about a many page report doesn't it? I'm not. I'm

talking about simple 3 to 5 paragraph essays that are written in 3rd, 4th,

and 5th grade. The first paragraph is the introductory paragraph, followed by

1-3 body paragraphs and then the last is the conclusion paragraph. We're

talking very basic writing and Ian would go through 2-5 drafts before he had

something he could turn in. At times it was an incredible amount of work.

We made a list of the adjectives he used most often: nice, good, bad,

boring, dumb, etc. And he had to find 10 alternatives for each of those

adjectives.

Then he had to not use the original words in his writing. Instead he had to

use an alternative one -- points were earned for the spontaneous new usages.

When we sent him back to " find another word for nice " he didn't get credit

because we had to ask. When he ran out of alternative words, we made a new

list.

Our daughter liked this and thought it was a great game, and she added the

" a word a day " game. We'd pick a word for the day and try to use it as often

as we could all day. It could be a very annoying thing if you weren't in on

the game. " Indubitably " was her all time favorite because my husband said it

with the silliest British accent and made a ridiculously prissy face when he

used it. This was a game and a silly family competition.

(FYI: indubitably was a real vocabulary word because there was a character

in a book who actually said it, so the teacher had put it on the official list)

We also play the " I misheard you " game. I think this game started because

Ian really did mishear us and we'd make jokes about it. But after a while it was

a real game and we'd intentionally answer something that wasn't said. For

instance, at dinner recently: I need a fork. Answer: No, it's chicken, not

pork. And then the race was one to see how many " ork " words could follow, used

in

complete sentences, of course. Unfortunately for other people, we still

play this game. It makes sense to absolutely no one outside the family and

strangers in restaurants have been known to look at us like we belong in the

looney bin.

None of this is a quick fix because I think that it's a slow process no

matter what. It's been a long process that involved many tiny steps. I did/do

just about anything I can think of to add more vocabulary to Ian's repertoire.

We play word games by making rhymes, we rewrite song lyrics as they play on

the radio (no wonder he loves Weird All), we intentionally mishear things ...

We're 8+ years into this and it is still an ongoing process.

Ian's essays are still interesting at times. His first drafts can have

sentences that could have been written by a college student, immediately

followed

by ones that sound like a 2nd grader who can't spell. Some of his

introductions or hypothesis sound like an adult wrote them and sometimes they

sound like

he's an ESL student with the strangest grammatical mistakes you've ever

seen. He still writes " tern " when he means " turn " and we still tease him that

terns must be his favorite bird since he writes about them so often. But he now

knows how to edit himself and develop his writing past that first draft.

Honestly, the essay portions of the Regents and SATs worry me, but less so

now than they did a couple years ago. I'll be a touch nervous on Saturday as he

takes the PSATs (with no accommodations in place -- another long story!)

But I also know that he is going to do much better than I'd ever dreamed of

when we started this process.

Hope this helps ... and now I have to literally get back to my drawing

board.

Best -- Jill

October 18, 2006