METHODS IN TEACHINGREADING TOMENTALLY RETARDED

Many innovations have appeared in recent years to help teach reading. Some of these new approaches use fragments of older methods or combine elements of several methods; some of the new approaches have modified the sequence or presentation in an attempt to simplify the initial learning experiences and some new approaches represent attempts to operationalize recent learning theories.

WORDS IN COLOR (GATTEGUO, 1962) Words in color is an attempt to making initial

reading easier and more regular through the use of color, without changing the alphabet or the spelling. A simple phoneme sound is always represent by one color regardless of the spelling. The children learn the sound of the “with one” the color of short “a”. Whether the spelling is a, au, or ai, as in pat, laugh, or paid. It is written in white and pronounced with the short “a”. The short “u” as in up is yellow and short “I” as in pink and so on.

THE REBUS APPROACH (WOODCOCK, 1969)

Another attempt to simplify the initial stages of learning to read is through the use of rebus symbols for beginning reading. S rebus is a picture or symbol of a printed word and it is used in the reading material instead of certain printed words. For example, the printed word “be” is represented by a picture of a bumblebee, “in” is represented by a square with a dot inside and “dog” is represented by the picture of a dog

DISTAR READING SYSTEM (ENGELMANN, 1969)

This method makes use of a behavioral approach to teaching and specify the teacher’s wordings and actions. The steps to be followed in this approach include”: symbol action games are used to teach skills

such as left-to-right orientation and linear sequence.

Blending tasks are used to teach children to spell words by sound (say it slow) and to blend quickly (say it fast)

Rhythm tasks are used to teach children to recognize the relationship between sounds and words.

LANGUAGE-EXPERIENCE APPROACH TO READING- (LEE AND ALLEN, 1963)

The language-experience method views reading as an extension of the facets of language arts. The development of reading skills interrelated with the development of the skills of the listening, speaking and writing. The raw materials are the experience and language of the child begins by dictating stories to the teacher. These are written down by the teacher, and they become the basis of the child’s first reading experience. The language experience approach to reading permits the child to conceptualize the following about written materials:

What I can think about, I can talk about.

What I can say, I can write. What I can write, I can read. I can read what others write me to

read.

NEUROLOGICAL IMPRESS METHOD (HECKELMAN, 1969)

It is a system of unison reading by the pupil and the teacher at a rapid pace. The pupils sits slightly in front of the teacher and both read together, the voice of the teacher being directed into the ear of the pupil at a fairly closed range. The pupil or the teacher uses a finger as a locator as the words are read. The finger should be the location of the spoken word. At times the teacher may read softer than the reading voice of the pupil who may lag slightly behind. No preliminary preparations are made with the reading materials before the pupils sees it. The object is simply to cover as many pages of reading materials as possible within the time available without causing fatigue to the pupil.

EDMARK READING PROGRAM

The Edmark reading program was developed to teach 150-word sight vocabulary to retarded learners. i.e can repeat, can point and have sufficient receptive language to understand and respond to the teacher. The program comes in kit form with over 200 lessons consisting of word recognition, story and picture/phrase matching and direction book.

METHODS AND ACTIVITIES FOR TEACHING SPEAKING TO CHILDREN WITH MENTAL RETARDATION/INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY

Here are some methods and activities to improve skills in verbal expression among mentally retarded children. These techniques are not intended to be inclusive, but merely representative of activities designed to improve the child’s skills in speaking

Naming- have the child name common objects in the room or outside (chair, door, table, tree, store). Have collection of objects in a box or bag. As each removed have the child name them. Have the child name colors, animals, shapes, etc. use picture of objects. A collection or a file of good pictures provides excellent teaching materials.

Department store- the game of the department store (or hardware store, supermarket, restaurant, shoe store, etc.) gives the child the opportunity to use naming words. One child plays the role of the costumers and give orders to another child who is the clerk. The clerk collects picture of the items ordered and gives the order his costumer while naming them.

Rapid Naming- give the child a specified length of time to name all the objects in the room. Keep a record on the number of named to note improvement. Pictures can be used, having the child name the objects in the pictures. Another variation could be related to sports, outdoors, pets, etc.

Missing Words- have the child say the word that finishes a riddle. Who delivers the mail? (the mailman) I bounce a ____ (ball). Read a story to the children, pausing at certain places leaving out words ; the child is to supply the missing word. The use of pictures helps in recall and naming the objects.

Word Combination- some words can best be learned as part of a group; when one member of the group is named, the child may be helped to remember the second. For example, paper and pencil, boy and girl, hat and coat, cats and dogs. Series may also be learned in this fashion; days of the week, months of the year.

Use pictures to build morphological generalization Picture 1 shows: The boy is painting a

picture Picture 2: The picture is now (painted)

Point to the picture that describes each sentence

Picture 1: The dog is running The dogs are running

Substitution to form sentences- form new sentences by substituting a single word in an existing kernel sentence. Example:

I took my coat off. I took my boots off The child is reading. The child is running Discussion of objects- help the child tell about

the attributes of an object such as label, category, color, size, shape, major parts, number and comparison are useful areas for discussion.

Categories Place items that can be grouped to teach categories in box. For example: toys, meat, people, animals, vehicle, furniture, fruit. Ask the child to find the ones that go together and tell what they are. Or teachers can name the category while the children find and name the items. Put items together and ask which do not belong.

Oral language activities- a number of activities can be used to promote practice in the used of oral language and speaking. These include conversation, discussion, radio or television broadcast, show and tell sessions, puppetry, dramatic play, telephoning, choral, speaking, reporting, telling stories, riddles, jokes and role playing.

METHODS AND ACTIVITIES FOR TEACHING HANDWRITING TO CHILDREN WITH MENTAL RETARDATION/INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY

The following activities are representative of methods that have been useful in helping children learn to write:

Chalkboard activities- these provide a practice before beginning writing instruction. Circles, lines, geometric, shapes, letters and numbers can be made with large free movements using the muscles of the shoulders, arms, hands and fingers.

Other materials for writing movement practice- finger painting or writing in clay pan or sand tray, gives the child practice in writing movements. Put a layer of the sand, cornmeal, salt or non-drying clay on a cookie sheet. Use commercial homemade finger prints for the painting practice. The finger or the pointed stick can be used to practice writing shapes forms, letters and numbers. A small wet sponge could be used on a chalkboard to draw shapes.

Position- to prepare for writing have a child sit in a comfortable chair, have the table at the proper height, feel flat on the floor, both forearms on the writing surface. The non-writing hand should hold the paper on the top.

Paper- for manuscript writing, the paper should be placed without the slant parallel with the lower edge of the desk. For cursive writing, the paper is tilted at an angle approximately 60 degrees from vertical to the left for right handed children and to the right for left handed children. To help the child remember the correct slant, a strip of tape to parallel the top of the paper maybe placed at the top of the desk. To keep the paper from sliding, it maybe necessary to attach the paper to the desk with masking tape.

Holding the pencil- many, or unable to hold the pencil properly between the thumb and middle finger with the index finger riding the pencil. The pencil should be grasped above the sharpened point. A piece of paper or a rubber band can be placed around the pencil to help the child hold at the right place.

Stencils and templates- geometric forms (square, circles etc.) letters and numbers can be represented in stencils made from cardboards or plastic. Clip the stencil to the paper to prevent it from moving. Have the child trace the form with a finger or with a pencil crayon. Then remove the stencil and reveal the figure that has been made. The stencil can be made so that the whole creates the shape, or in reverse, a cutout of the shape itself where the outer edge of the stencil create the shape.

Tracing- make heavy black figures on white paper and clip a sheet of onionskin paper over the letters. Have the child trace the forms and letters. Start with diagonal lines and circles, then horizontal and vertical lines, geometric shapes and finally use letters and numbers. The child may also trace with a crayon or felt-tip pen over a black letter on paper, or may use a transparent sheet.

Drawing between the lines- have the child practice making “roads” between double lines in a variety of widths and shapes. Then the child can write letters by going between the double lines or outlined letters. Use arrows and numbers to show direction and sequence of the lines.

Dot-to-dot- draw a complete figure and then an outline of the same figure using dots. Ask the child to make the figure by connecting the dots.

Tracing with reducing cues. Write the complete letter or word and have the child trace it; then write the first part of the letter or word and have the child trace your part and then complete the letter… finally reduce the cue to only upstroke and have the child write the entire letter or word.

METHODS AND ACTIVITIES FOR TEACHING ARITHMETIC TO CHILDREN WITH MENTAL RETARDATION/INTELLECTUAL DISABILITYThe following are excellent suggestions for teaching computational skills among mentally retarded children:

Reading and counting numbers- in reading and writing and counting numbers, mentally retarded children should be exposed first to concrete objects, semi abstract and finally abstract. Avoid rapid teaching to allow the pupils to develop concept and skills.

Addition- knowledge of addition facts provides the foundation for all other computational skills in arithmetic. Addition is a short method of counting and pupils should know that they can resort to counting when all else fails. Addition can be thought of part of plus part equals whole. Important symbols to learn are: + (plus or put together) and = (equals or the same as). As with other areas, first use concrete objects; then use cards with sets that represents numbers; and finally use the number sentence with numbers alone; 3+2= ___. From this the child can also learn: 3+2 = ___, ___+3=5.

Subtraction- after a good start on addition subtraction is introduced. An important new symbol is – (minus or “take away”). The pupil places a set of object on the desk and then takes away a certain object. How many are left? 6-2=___. Then use cards with sets of them. Find six by using a card with a set of 2 and a card with asset of 4. Tell the you have a set of 6 when the cards are joined. Take away the of 7 and ask the child what is left.

Another way of illustrating subtraction is using rods. Start with the rod that represent the total sum. Place on a top a type of rod that represents part of the sum. Ask the pupil to find the rod that fills the empty space. The number line is also useful in subtraction.

Multiplication- very frequently the child with an arithmetic disability does and know multiplication tables. If this is so, division will also be impossible to learn. Multiplication is short method of adding instead of adding 2+2+2+2, the pupil can learn 2x4=8. the symbol to learn is x (times).

One way of explaining multiplication sentence is. How much 3 sets of 2? Using sets of objects the pupil can find the total either by counting objects, so by adding equals addends. The concept of communicative property can introduced. The sentence 3x5=___ does not change on the form 5x3=___.

In the number line approach, pupils can use the number lines for addition probably do well in using them for multiplication. The child adds a unit of 5,3 on the line to end up at the 15 on the number line. The rectangular array approach contains and equal number of objects in each row:3x5 is shown as

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Division- this computational skill is considered the most difficult to learn and teach. Basic division facts come from knowledge of multiplication facts. Long division requires many operations, the pupils must be able to do all the steps before they put them together. The new symbol is (divide) using sets :