Using Multisensory

7/28/2019 Using Multisensory

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Using multisensoryteaching methods

http://www.dyslexia-parent.com/mag30.html

By John Bradford, the founder of Direct Learning

Studies from the National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development have shown that for childrenwith difficulties learning to read, a multisensory teaching method is the most effective teaching method.

This is especially crucial for a dyslexic child. But what does it mean?

Using a multisensory teaching approach means helping a child to learn through more than one of the

senses. Most teaching in schools is done using either sight or hearing (visual or auditory sensations). Thechilds sight is used in reading information, looking at diagrams or pictures, or reading what is on theteachers board. The sense of hearing is used in listening to what the teacher says. A dyslexic child mayexperience difficulties with either or both of these senses. The childs vision may be affected by difficultieswith visual tracking, visual processing or seeing the words become fuzzy or move around. The childshearing may be satisfactory on a hearing test, but auditory memory or auditory processing may be weak.

VAK Modalities

Multisensory methods are also known as VAK Modalities:

The three modalities of learning styles have been summarized by the acronym VAK, for:Visual,

Auditory, andKinesthetic:

1. Visual: That which you see.2. Auditory: That which you hear.3. Auditory-Digital: Your self-talk.4. Kinesthetic: The tactile ... where the child touches and handles objects.


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The best teaching method is to involve the use of more of the childs senses, especially the use of touchand movement (kinesthetic). This will give the childs brain tactile and kinesthetic memories to hang on to,as well as the visual and auditory ones.

An example

An example will make this clear. The majority of dyslexic children experience confusion over the directionof b and d. They can both be seen as a stick with a circle at its base. But on which side does the circlesit? A teacher might give the child a tactile (touchy/feely) experience of the letter b by getting the child todraw the letter really large on the carpet. This will involve the child using their arms, their sense ofbalance, their whole body. They will remember the day their teacher had them 'writing' on the carpet withtheir hand making this great big shape, and can use that memory the next time they come to write theletter.

Some teachers purchase letters made out of sandpaper so that the children can run their fingers over theletter b, giving them a strong tactile memory. The thought of it sends a shiver down my spine!

Writing the letter b in cursive handwriting on paper and with a big movement in the air puts a quitedifferent slant on this letter. The letter starts on the line and rises to begin the down-stroke: there is

nowhere else to put the circular bit but ahead of the down stroke.

Use plasticine, play-dough or clay

Yet another way to give a strong tactile memory of b is to make the letter out of plasticine, play-dough orclay.

A commonly used trick to remember the direction of b and d is to show the child the word bed on acard. This word begins with b and ends with d, so that if you draw a bed over the letters, the upright partof b will become the head of the bed, and the upright part of the d will become the foot. You can draw achild lying on the bed to complete the picture. This gives a strong visual memory for the child to use eachtime the letter has to be written.

You can also show the child how to hold up their index finger on each hand, with the thumb and secondfinger touching, making the word bed, but without the e. If they learn to do this, they can make thisshape discretely with their fingers each time they need a reminder in class.

The net result of these activities will be that a child has a visual memory from seeing the letter, anauditory memory from hearing the sound it makes, a tactile memory from writing the letter in cursivehandwriting, in the air, and from touching the sandpaper letter, and a kinesthetic (body movement)memory from having drawn the letter really large on the carpet. Altogether a multisensory experience!


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This tried and tested method has been used successfully for a long time, and its success lies in the factthat the dyslexic child is not limited to visual and auditory experiences but can make use of other areas ofthe brain in trying to establish clear memories of letters, words and numbers that are difficult to remember.

John Bradford (with apologies for my drawings!)2008

References VAKT Reading Method- Visual-Additory-Kinesthetic-Tactile Method - V.A.K.T.

Every Student Benefits From Multisensory Education(Orton-Gillingham)

NICHD Reading Research Offers Crucial Data for Educators

Feedback

I was on your site today. I am a great -grandparent by marriage working once a weekwith a soon to be 9-year old. These two little "tricks" will help me immensely as I workwith Maranda. Thank you, thank you!

Sending smiles! (A.R.O.)

You mentioned that some parents/teachers had the children use sandpaper letters to

give them another sensory approach to letters and you cringed at the thought. I am aMontessori pre-school teacher and the sandpaper letters (and numbers) are part ofpedagogical materials that Montessori designed. These letters and numbers are madeof sandpaper that are the equivalent of an emory board used to file your nails - very fine

sandpaper. In addition to using the fingers directly on the sandpaper, velum paper can be placed over the

letters to help the pre-schooler "feel" the letter as they trace over the letter, sending a vibration up the armand to the brain. If you are not familiar with Maria Montessori, she initially developed her materials andmethods to foster learning and self-esteem to children that were deemed "unteachable" and realized theywould work for "normal" children. (M.P.)

I would like you to know that I have tried the suggested method of 'bed' with one of the children and it

has helped him tremendously. (D.M., India)

We have made words and letters in various ways and used plasticine. This wasquite successful but it does go hard after a while. We have also used pipe cleaners.These are easy to bend into shape and very tactile. They can be carried with us onholiday etc and are not messy or sticky. My 11-year old daughter enjoys makingletters with pipe cleaners. When making words she uses only one color. She has a

very good visual memory and can recall the color used and how it felt. When she hasmade words or letters we feel them with our eyes open and closed. She seems to be able to store the

words in her memory best with her eyes closed. (R.H., Switzerland)

I was working with a child who found it hard to form the letters in the correctway, they were upside down, backwards, bits were missing etc. He did nothave a strong grasp of how letters should look. I took some pipe cleaners andused them to form the letters (in both upper case and lower case form). Theletters for the lower case were a little difficult as we bent them to show the
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