There's so many BRANDS of programs that deal with the importance of sensory integration in addressing learning disabilities.
Brain Gym
The Extra Lesson
Enki Education's Sensory Integration Program
Ayres
Therapeutic Movement
The SAVE Program (Sensory-motor Auditory Visual Education)
What they all have in common is a belief in the need to look at the whole child and address them as individuals first and then to look at what we all need to have hardwired in to make learning...a comfortable experience.
I have always been drawn to the holistic vision that Waldorf Education is based on. They have almost a hundred years of experience in addressing the needs of children, all children, and their goal is a WHOLE person. Their approach and attitudes towards learning difficulties and differently abled people is amazing.
Over the past 15 years that I've been researching Waldorf Education I've watched the movement become more and more approachable. However when people start digging in to the underlying anthroposophy they're often confounded by the "spiritual science" that is tightly woven into the fabric of their belief in human and planetary potential. I'm finally at a point where I can read Steiner without rolling my eyes in frustration or having an inner voice mocking things as I read along. I understand those that do hear that mocking voice though.
So I was really happy when I found the book Take Time, which is an approachable "accepted" mainstream look at Extra Lesson work. The book was written for parents as well as therapists and there isn't any spiritual science to wade through while you absorb all the practical advise. It's too bad it's so hard to find! It started out as a book by a non-waldorf speech and language pathologist. A few years after it was published she did a revised edition with a curative eurythmist (Waldorf Movement Therapy). Educational books don't often cross international borders and this is a British book. I had to get my copy from the United States! Bob and Nancy's is a great bookstore to deal with though.
Enki Education is, well, simply amazing and if they had packaged curricula for third grade I'd buy it in a heartbeat. They address sensory integration throughout the day. I'm utilizing what I have - their kindergarten materials - and I'll be purchasing their grade 1&2 materials when I can afford to. I find it difficult to take all the technical stuff I've learned regarding movement and turn it into activities we actually want to do without being self conscious about it being "therapy". It is one thing for the curative teacher to get Nature Girl to do exercises for her in an evaluation, it's another thing to seamlessly integrate those movements into our daily life. Enki's materials are just chock full of those exact activities - and they write above every finger rhyme. verse, or game what kind of sensory integration activity it is so you can look at the things you are grouping together and check off that you're hitting all your pointers - tactile, vestibular, balance system, and proprioceptive.
If you find other resources make sure to pass them along!
We've been busy here...meet Stormy
12 years ago
2 comments:
I'm starting my research - but there is a lot to wade through. everything I'm reading says Orton Gillingham ( SMT) is the only accepted method but i admit i don't know enough yet to think critically about this. I think that that is what you are trying to do . It seems that they have an approach that is already laid out.
I'm going to contact http://www.dyslexiaassociation.ca/ soon - they have a two day course to train tutors . It is expensive and the material is pricey but it may be worth it in terms of a good system and starting point. Have you looked at this? How do you feel about it? I realize that I am probably way behind here but I'll keep you posted on what I find.
Orton Gillingham addresses reading specifically. It is the backbone of MANY different programs to help dyslexics though - and not all of them are expensive! LiPS is an Orton Gillingham program and it is VERY expensive (it is what Landmark East uses). The Writing Road to Reading is also based on Orton Gillingham methods and it is inexpensive and approachable. This is what I'll be working with with Nature Girl because in one book I have everything laid out in sequential steps. I can easily assess when she has hotten something and if when she forgets it again (a real issue with her).
It is great for addressing the phonemic awareness that Nature Girl is missing BUT
it does not address the underlying issues with sequencing and memory. No Orton Gillingham based program can promise she'll learn to read "their way" so I'm wary of spending a fortune on learning a rigid system and buying all its products.
You can't apply it to mathematics for instance, and it may all come down to TIMING in the brain (I'll post more about this later). She's furthest behind in mathematics btw.
So we're going to be utilizing the sensory integration work and taking a multi-sensory approach with all academic work - reading, writing, mathematics, science, and social studies.
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