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ReadingFish
The ReadingFish©
program includes a powerful series of cognitive-skills
training exercises. These brain exercises improve:
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- Left/Right brain integration
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The core of the program develops the
student's ability to form accurate visual imagery. The
student begins by describing a picture (expressive language.) The student learns a series of questions that need to be answered in order to describe the picture accurately. This provides the student with direction to help them identify what is important and a structure to relate those elements to another person. The aim is to create the same picture in the tutor's mind that the student is viewing, by using language.
As this process becomes easier for the student, the tutor then describes a picture to the individual using the same questions (receptive language.) The individual must accurately construct the image in his/her mind and describe and compare this mental image to the actual picture. The comparison is verified through expressive language as the student describes the picture created in her/his mind to the tutor. The goal is for the student to improve her/his observation and accuracy and form a gestalt of the image using receptive language.
When the student is successful at this skill, the process is repeated with individual words. At this stage we are looking for rich, detailed imagery for a relatively simple word. The individual then progresses to creating mental imagery for sentences, again using expressive language to describe the image to verify the gestalt. The final step is to move from a static mental picture created from a short sentence to a "mental movie" that can translate the meaning of a paragraph, essay or book into mental imagery.
Instruction now transitions to a variety of proven
meta-cognitive strategies for comprehension. All are designed to actively engage the student with the text, provide a structure for the student to extract the needed information and a method to improve the retention of the information. These skills are integrated with the mental imagery skills.
Most students gain the full benefits of the program in
just 35 hours. The typical range is between 30 and 50 hours, depending upon the needs of the student. It should be administered
at least 3 times per week. Each hour is divided into different skill areas with the tasks changing about every ten minutes.
For the past 6 years our students have averaged 3 years of gain in just 7 weeks (1
hour, 5 days per week.)
This program is intended for students who are at or above the 4th grade reading level. In other words,
for students that are reading to learn, not learning to
read.
Goals
Goals include a minimum gain of 2 years
for overall comprehension skills; improvements in identifying what is important in a sentence or paragraph; more accurate recall of details; improved ability to make inferences and draw conclusions;
reduced time spent on homework; and an increase in the individual's enjoyment of reading. Additional benefits include improvements in writing composition, vocabulary
growth, auditory comprehension (lectures and verbal directions) and conversational cohesiveness.
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