The phrase "Here today and gone tomorrow" pretty much describes a dyslexic child's memory in a nut shell. Well, actually mine also so I guess these nuts didn't fall very far from this tree. Oh and if you didn't read in my previous posts, I also have two reluctant learners. So we play a lot of games. I try to sneak "educational" stuff in them as much as possible. Kind of like moms that sneak vegetables in cookies. So here are a few games we have been playing.
Flashcards-
We use A LOT of flashcards. I print 2 copies of the sight words or most common words on card stock, laminate them, and then cut them up. I actually just buy a roll of vinyl self adhesive sheet protector at the dollar store and use that. I like the protector on the flashcards because they can trace them with dry erase markers. This works especially well for my 5 year old son who HATES to write his letters and is overly critical to himself on his ability to write. So I let him watch his videos and he traces the letters. This helps him not focus so much on how he is writing them but is helping his motor skills for writing. It is also drilling in the spelling of these wonderful words that don't follow all of the phonetic rules.
The reason I print two copies of the words are for the games. We play Go Fish, Memory, Name That Word, Bingo, and Slap That Word. I also have some blank cards with smiley faces that I use as "wild" cards.
Go Fish-
Each player has to read the card that they want to ask for and spell it out. If you have younger players this will help them if they can't read them and it also helps all players to remember how to spell them. We use the wild cards to pair up at them end of the game with the left over cards. The kids like to do this.
Memory-
Flip 6 pairs down first and as they progress you can increase the amount of cards as you go. Memory games are very good for dyslexic kids. I wish we had play more of them when they were younger. If they get a wild card they can get extra turns or whatever rule they want to make up. The important part though is that they read the words each time they flip the cards over.
Name That Word-
Give the child a stack of cards to use as a reference. Then they tell you, "The word begins with W and ends with T." You can ask for hints like how many letters, is it a verb, does it have any blends, etc. When you finally guess it then you say, is it "What" W-H-A-T? My daughter loves this and it is great on road trips or while I am cooking dinner. Make sure you spell it back though because they may not be reading it correctly. So we take turns doing this back and forth. It helps with reading and spelling them.
Bingo-
Divide the pairs into two piles. Make a grid of 16 cards for each player with one of the piles. Then use the other pile of duplicate words and read them out. If a player has a matching card then put it facedown on the card. The first player to get a line wins.
Slap That Word-
We put the words on the floor or table and at first I only use a few words. Then as they get faster I add more words. I give them a clean fly swat and as I call out the words they swat them as fast as they can. Since I have a younger child that likes to play with his big sister, I say it starts with "W" and ends with "T". This also helps them both learn to scan words quickly. Fly swats are great for all kinds of lessons.
So these are a few games that we play. Please feel free to leave a comment about games that you use or if you have any questions. Oh and please ignore my grammar errors. I get interrupted too many times to get my thoughts out much less grammatically correct. I am sure most of you know how that is.
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