By Kim Hook
The students have been working on a new program to target goals to increase language comprehension and writing. Goals such as recall of facts, getting the main idea, inference skills, and predicting and evaluating written language are addressed by connecting language to images or movies in their heads.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR READERS TO CREATE PICTURES IN THEIR HEADS?
Language comprehension and cognition require integration between the verbal code and the non-verbal code of imagery.
WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF WEAK CONCEPT IMAGERY?
• Difficulty with critical. Logical, abstract thinking, and problem-solving.
• Difficulty with written language comprehension. • Difficulty with oral language comprehension.
• Difficulty following directions • Difficulty interpreting social situations.
• Difficulty with attention to tasks.
• Difficulty with cause and effect.
• Difficulty with mental mapping.
HOW DOES THE PROGRAM WORK?
Students are taught structured words or clue words to allow them to better visualize or picture a story, lesson, or even directions that are verbal or written. The structure words such as: what, size, color, number, shape, where, movement, mood, background, perspective, when and sound are introduced and foster the student’s ability to make visual and mental pictures.
WHAT IS THE LANGUAGE USED TO CREATE PICTURES WHILE LEARNING?
• “We will picture words in our minds”
• “Words turn into pictures and pictures turn into words”
• “This will help us remember what we read and hear”
• “Wow! I pictured something similar or something different!”
HOW CAN YOU PRACTICE “VISUALIZING AND VERBALIZING” AT HOME?
1) After reading a story, ask your child what they ‘pictured’ for the movement or the action in the story. Movement is the easiest concept to visualize and can allow your child to understand, make connections, and attend to the story. An example can be a story that takes place in a park while it is raining. You can ask your child to visualize what is happening in the story. What do they picture for the movement of the rain? Is it falling (motion with your hands falling down)? What do they picture for the size of the raindrops or the umbrella? What sounds do they picture for rain?
2) After giving verbal directions to your child, have them tell you what that pictured for each step. For example, if you say “Put the green sweater in the bottom of your closet”, then have your child draw a picture of the direction and describe it to you with the help of the structure or clue words listed above.
3) While cooking with your child, talk about the sequence of events needed to make the meal. Have your child draw each step and use the structure words to retell each step. They can write a recipe book with words and pictures with details. Ask them questions like “What do you picture for the size of a spoon we will use? Is it as big as a bus or smaller than a shoebox?” Follow these steps and before you know it, your child might end up being a master storyteller