All about M

My client, M, is a 14 year old female. M is diagnosed with delayed speech and language and an auditory processing disorder. She has been coming to the speech clinic since September 1998. In the past, M has worked on the sounds \th\ and \ch\, memory skills, multi step directions, counting money, telling time, constructing sentences, learning the parts of speech, increasing vocabulary, wh questions, and the sequencing of events in the correct order.

In therapy now, I work with M on the same goals. We have added some new ones this semester including orienting M to the calendar, months, and seasons, identifying common "survival" signs, social interactions, distinguishing between left and right, reading, and we are trying to improve her writing skills even if we aren't writing therapists.

With M I use alot of worksheets and actitivies that either my assistant or myself have made up. We use alot of games and pictures with M because she responds better to pictures. One method in particular that I am using involves reading. I read aloud first to M and then she reads for me. I ask her questions before she begins reading or after she has read. I help her with difficult words and she asks me about any words she is having trouble with.

In the article Read aloud and learn by Hannaford (Hannaford, C. (2003). Read aloud and learn. Literacy Today, 35. ), the author discusses how children learn better by reading aloud. Research has shown that by listening, children on average retain 5% of the information delivered; reading, 10%; and audio-visual techniques, 20%. By contrast, discussion (50%), practice by doing (75%) and explaining to others (90%) show significant improvements in the amount of knowledge retained. So by reading and explaining what they have read, children learn more.

I have seen this with M. When I read aloud to her, she is familiarized with the story. She reads words that you would never think she would be able to read. Then she reads the story and we discuss what happened and the difficult words for her. She can remember in detail what happened in the story which shows she is learning. She has trouble remembering 4 word phrases but after reading aloud and being familiarized with a story, she can answer your questions in great detail.

M also really responds to high praise and motivation. We provide alot of motivation for her and rewards. Sometimes she can get frustrated if she has to read alot, but she is motivated to complete the reading. She really enjoys the book she is reading right now and really gets into it. If I read with alot of inflection, she will too.

M has vastly improved in her reading this semester. When we started out, she had alot of trouble. Now when I read aloud to her and familiarize her with the story, she has alot less trouble. When she has to read directions or sentences in some of her other activities, she reads them really well too. At first, because she knew she had trouble reading, she was really hard on herself. But now she is seeing that she is making improvement and when she can read almost the whole page without my help she is really proud of herself. She is becoming a better reader with this method.