Saturday, August 26, 2023

Help with Focusing for Reading

I'm constantly amazed at how different my kids are!

I have one that can concentrate through an earthquake, and one who's distracted by a bird flying by.

Yes, I'm exaggerating a tiny bit...but Ryan is truly distracted by anything that happens. His brain wants to focus on everything at one time.

Do you have a child like this?

If you do, then you know how difficult reading can be. Looking at, and sounding out words, and remembering what you just read is a lot to do at once; and becomes nearly impossible if your brain is distracted by all the environmental noise that the brain normally categorizes as "back ground" noise and ingnores. Not to mention all the other letters and pictures on the page that are screaming for attention.

However, there are ways that can help a child focus.

One way, is by using a simple item - an index card.

Light blue is the best color to use. Just cut a box in the middle of it - so that you have a small window.

Your child will then use the index card while reading so that the window is over just one word. Only one word is exposed, and the index card helps the brain to "zero in" on that one word.
Try it and see how it works for you!

Laura Bankston is author of Internationally selling Cooking with Kids Curriculum: Homeschool Cooking in a Box and the Homeschool Cookbook. She currently home schools her three children, maintains home school support websites, and manages their family-owned service business. For information on her curriculum and free home school support services, please visit https://www.homeschoolcookbook.com

Copyright 2004, Abundant Learning Publications. All Rights Reserved.

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1 Comments:

 Anonymous said...

I've also found black and white to be helpful too.

11:06 AM  

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