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What are Mnemonics? It is simply a device which aids in
the memory of something. There are many kinds. These can be the key
to helping learning challenged children remember things that need to be
important to them. Here is one common example:
Click here for some more examples.
Thirty days hath
September,
April, June and November,
All the rest have
thirty-one
Excepting February
alone;
Which hath but
twenty-eight, in fine,
Till leap year gives it
twenty nine.
Mnemonics can also be
acronyms or visual aids. Everybody's brain is unique. The way you
were raised as a child and your present environment both contribute to learning
connections between cells making the memorization of something harder or easier.
Our minds search for ways to connect new information to past information.
This way we hope to remember data. Information that is not meaningful goes
in one ear and out the other! Have you ever noticed that when our minds
are threatened by fear or stress that we do not remember details? Helping
our children to make learning pleasant and to have fun while remembering is a
key to making information stick.
Mnemonics can really
help a child or adult that struggles to remember important data. We can
train our minds to remember how to remember. What kind of learner are you?
What kind of learner is your child? Visual learners (65% of the
population) find that retaining facts is easiest when they read information, use
notes, diagrams and pictures. Auditory learners (30% of the population)
relate most easily to the spoken word. They will tend to listen to and
take notes afterwards. Often written information will have little meaning
until they hear it spoken out load. Kinesthetic Learners (5% of
the population) need to touch, move around and learn skills by imitation and
practice. Mostly these learners appear to be slow, but often it is simply
that information is not being presented in a format that these folks can
assimilate.
If you are a visual
learner, mnemonics will make use of the visual, literature style of learning
that suits you.
If you are a auditory or
kinesthetic learner, mnemonics will help you learn to use imagery for effective
recall. Auditory folks can use auditory cues such as rhymes.
Kinesthetic people can use performing actions or tools.
Stevenson Learning
Skills is a language and reading program that includes mnemonics and other
creative ways as a way of remembering letters of the alphabet, consonant
combinations, spelling and reading skills. We have using Stevenson
Learning Skills products for several months and we are pleased to share with you
that it is moving slow enough for our special needs children. Most early
reading programs move too quickly through the basics, leaving too many holes or
little comprehension. Stevenson has broken skills down to very basic
level.
No single instructional
technique can solve all learning problems. Stevenson weaves together a
variety of methodologies to improve decoding, encoding words and comprehension.
We are successfully using this program for Attention Deficits, memory weakness,
sequencing confusion, blending difficulty and organizational problems. We
think that the success we are having is due to Stevenson's unique way of
teaching both sound/symbol correspondence with multi-sensory techniques...even
in the very first lessons. Teacher directed instruction is applied
consistently using the mnemonics. We like the way it teaches children how
to remember. This skill will last our children for life.
There are a number of
great phonics programs that will suit different families. After using many
of them with our various 10 children, we have come up with a rough idea of how
fast each of them progress. Different children excelled with different
programs. We have used Sing, Spell, Read and Write for many years with our
normally developing children. It moves at a thorough pace, and is a great
way to learn with song. But for children with Down syndrome or slower learners,
the beginning work is way too fast. We need a program that literally shows
how to make letters of the alphabet...and how to remember them. In fact we
feel that children who cannot write or speak at all could benefit from
Stevenson's lesson cards of the alphabet.
Semple Math is a slow
moving math program that benefits children who need a simple program. Does
your child do poorly in math? Does he count on his fingers to add and
subtract? Do you find that no matter how he struggles, he just cannot
learn the times tables? Does he reverse numbers and have difficulty
understanding place value? Semple Math can change that. Just as you
remember Italy by the shape of a boot, the unique associational clues in Semple
Math will help your child remember not only the times tables, but all math
concepts and operations. Perhaps for those of us with children needing
help with printing numbers correctly or teaching older students that are
struggling with long division, Semple Math could be the answer. Using
mnemonics, makes learning times tables, remembering answers to simple adding and
subtracting and make change easily.
Prices are reasonable.
Check out their web site
www.StevensonSemple.com
We encourage you to
contact Stevenson/Semple at 1-800-343-1211 They are very happy
to offer consultation services and training in their program.
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