Never Too Old
How Multisensory Instruction Works in a College Setting
by Nancy Redding, M.Ed.
We have a tendency, when we think of structured, multisensory language instruction, to picture a classroom full of six, seven or eight-year-olds reciting sounds while writing in the air. Now shift that mental image to a class full of 18-year-old college students and let's explore how to use these teaching techniques with older students.
Periodically, I teach a quarter-long class at De Anza Community College called "Spelling Strategies." This class is designed for learning-disabled students, some of whom are enrolled in college-level math classes but who aren't confident enough in their English skills to take even remedial writing classes. When I was first approached to teach this class 10 years ago, I was asked to utilize multisensory instruction to teach adult students about the structure of language. Before the first class, I'll admit I was apprehensive about doing auditory and visual card drills with college students. Interestingly, I have found that they enjoy the structure and repetition, feel successful, and make gains in reading and spelling skills. Most students tell me that the class helps their reading even more than their spelling, which is understandable since decoding skills are more quickly acquired than encoding skills. The first day of class, when asked what they do when they are reading and they come across a word that is more than eight letters long, most students give the same answer — they skip it!
There are a variety of ways that multisensory language instruction can be adapted for older students. I'll describe a few of them I use. They are techniques based on an Orton-Gillingham approach, which would also be effective in middle or high school. I open each class with card drills. At first, I use cards with common phonograms on them — short vowels, consonant and vowel digraphs, and consonant blends. I conduct a quick visual drill, in which the students view the card and say the sound associated with it. Then I have them write five or six phonograms from an auditory stimulus — I say the sound and they write the letters that represent that sound. Next, I dictate words that review phonograms or rules we are studying. Whereas with younger students I might dictate short words such as cat, bet, or made, with older students I use more sophisticated words. When students write Atlantic, magnetic, or inhabit, for example, they are practicing short vowels and closed syllables without writing three-letter words. Many students for the first time learn the sounds of all common phonograms as well as the rules that govern the English language. They become more confident knowing whether a vowel will be long or short, depending upon its placement in a word, and they master rules such as when to double a final consonant before adding a suffix.
Learning the six types of syllables* and how to break a word into syllables is a crucial skill for older students with reading difficulties. Without this skill, many students look at the beginning of a multisyllable word and take a guess. I find that having students practice reading nonsense syllables can help them to get a sense of how to decode longer words in syllables. Additionally, having students unscramble syllables to make real words is an excellent exercise — writing the syllables on cards so the students can actually manipulate them is very effective.
Toward the end of the quarter, we begin studying common prefixes, suffixes, and a few Latin roots that can easily be taught using the same structured, multisensory approach. For the card drills, I use a set of prefix, suffix or root cards. The daily repetition helps the students learn the spelling and pronunciation of these morphemes. For each new prefix or root introduced, we generate a list of words using that morpheme and together we discover the meaning. Finally, they write sentences with selected words, demonstrating their understanding of each word.
Students who take this class are often visual, spatial learners who prefer a "hands-on" approach. With this in mind, I have made sets of root, prefix, and suffix cards that can be used to generate families of words. In one activity, I divide the class into groups, and each group receives a set of cards. They must make real words, using their given root and appropriate prefixes and suffixes. The group then generates a definition for each word and the words are placed on a word web**. For example, a group may receive the Latin root rupt along with the prefixes ab-, inter-, e-, dis- and the suffixes -ly, -ing, -ed, -ture, -ive, and -tion. From this set, the group should be able to make a word web of at least 10 words (see Henry & Redding, 2002). In this way, the students are learning vocabulary skills along with spelling.
After one quarter, the students in this class are not reading and spelling at a college level, but they do make gains, both in language skills and in the self-confidence needed to keep pursuing their goals. A structured, sequential, multisensory approach is crucial for them as it organizes the information, utilizes a variety of sensory stimuli, and builds in the repetition they need. Many students find that learning how to break a word into syllables is the "missing link" to independence in their reading and spelling skills. For the first time, they feel they have a decoding strategy for longer words — and they don't have to skip them!
* The six syllable types are: closed (mat), open (he), silent e (mate), consonant+le (-ble), r-controlled vowel (car), vowel digraph (rain)
** A word web is a diagram with a circle in the middle, in which the student writes the bound root, such as rupt. Radiating from the circle are groups of lines on which words made by affixing the root would be written. For example, one group of lines might have the words disrupt, disrupted, disrupting, and disruptive.
About the Author: Nancy Redding received her B.A. in education from the University of Texas and her M.Ed. in special education from the University of Utah. She has worked with learning disabled students for over 30 years and is currently a learning specialist at De Anza College and St. Francis High School. Ms. Redding conducts teacher workshops on the structure of language, is a frequent instructor at Orton-Gillingham summer trainings, and has co-authored multisensory curricula. She is also currently Secretary of the NCBIDA.
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