Reading and the Visual Spacial learner

[Jenivere]

My son will be eight in January and after a lot of observing and reading I've realized that his learning style is completely opposite of mine. He is left handed and seems to be a very visual spacial learner; I am not. So I'm reading up on ideas that will work well for him. I feel that phonics are really important for good reading skills but can't find a way to teach him that really makes sense. According to this http://www.visualspatial.org/Articles/reading.htm a site or whole word approach might be what he needs. If I try that and it works; what about introducing more phonics after he's actually reading? I want him to be able to decode words not just memorize them though I admit he has a fantastic long term visual memory.

[yllek]

How well is he reading currently?

[Jenivere]

He can't read more than basic phonics sounds. I've helped him sound out simple words but thats it. I'm kind of at a loss right now.

[MammaV]

We struggled here too and found out that we were dealing with 4 vision disorders. We're doing vision therapy now and after just a couple of months have seen an improvement in reading as well as the ability to sound out/blend sounds and distinguish different but similar lower case letters like b and d.

[MyLittleWonders]

For what it's worth, my oldest fits pretty well the visual-spatial description and we tried whole-word reading and it was disastorous. We stopped and regrouped, and ended up using Hooked on Phonics and All About Spelling (a spelling program that honestly could stand on its own as a phonics/reading program), and he went from being able to read basic C-V-C words back in March to reading at a late 2nd grade/early 3rd grade level now. I'm not sure if that'll help or not, but that has been our experience. Personally, I think most kids need the direct phonics/phonogram instruction.

[ambersrose]

Originally Posted by MyLittleWonders

For what it's worth, my oldest fits pretty well the visual-spatial description and we tried whole-word reading and it was disastorous. We stopped and regrouped, and ended up using Hooked on Phonics and All About Spelling (a spelling program that honestly could stand on its own as a phonics/reading program), and he went from being able to read basic C-V-C words back in March to reading at a late 2nd grade/early 3rd grade level now. I'm not sure if that'll help or not, but that has been our experience. Personally, I think most kids need the direct phonics/phonogram instruction.

Thank you for the All About Spelling recommendation. It looks like a great product and reasonably priced.