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Earlier Featured Questions |
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Question
Pat is entering the fourth week of Step 4word and we are not yet seeing any real gains in reading. Do you think S4W was the right thing to do with Pat?
Answer
It's quite natural to be a little discouraged at this point in Pat's training. You are at the stage that the folks at Scientific Learning like to call "Progress Varies." This is the stage that follows the enthusiasm and cautious optimism of beginning the program and precedes the stage when we begin to recognize new behaviors and skills. I don't know if Pat has talked about how difficult the exercises are, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least if he has. Be alert to the fact that kids often use the word "boring" when they really mean "difficult," so this is a word you may be hearing by now. If you have listened in as Pat plays, you know that a game like Trog Walkers can become stunningly difficult. As always with FFW and S4W, hard work will pay off, but Pat may need some extra support now to keep making the effort.
Watch for changes in Pat's sense of self-worth, level of frustration, anxiety in response to mistakes or failure, ability to stay on task (or ease of staying on task) in the classroom, subjects he identifies as his favorite, feelings about how easy or difficult school is, degree of self-criticism, conversational skills, degree of organization, frequency with which he asks for or needs to have things repeated to him, and so forth. These are often the first areas in which we see evidence of improvement. Before any significant change in reading skill, we often see that students become more self-confident, more able to focus, and better listeners.
Real gains in reading skills will follow later, and Pat may need direct instruction in basic reading decoding skills and phonics again. Even though he has been through these lessons, he will benefit by going through them again with his new listening skills from FFW and S4W.
