Substitution of words

My son also does this. Says home for house, father for daddy, etc. Seems to have good reading comprehension (so far), which surprised me since he struggles so to read. He is 11 1/2 and in his 6th month of vision therapy. It is better than this time last year. He was reading in preschool level last year and is about 2nd grade level now. I correct him every time and continue to ask him to take a deep breath and not get so frustrated. I also have him put his finger under the word and reread that word if he continues to do so with the same word when we reread the story later. (I have often wondered whether to correct or not do to such frustration, but decided I should). He has always gotten extremely frustrated but is some better now that he sees some improvement from his vision therapy. Still gets tired after reading but can read a few pages now rather than just a few words.

We did Reading Reflex which helped but didn’t get him to 4th grade reading level, as he should have been by then. I plan to go through the Reading Reflex parent support book after vision therapy is completed and maybe after an intensive week or two of Audiblox. Then work on Reading Reflex and Audiblox for an hour a day until finished with RR, continuing Audiblox as I feel is needed.

I really think that his root problem for all he struggles with is his vision (eyes are not working together (teaming), problems focusing near and far (as in copying work from a chalk board, etc.). From what I have gathered, his visual processing deficits are the result of 11 years of not learning correctly through the visual system. And due to this visual processing deficit, he struggles immensely with writing, expressive language, memorization of math facts and spelling words, as well as reading. (I believe you need both visual and auditory processing skills to be able to read fluently with good comprehension.)

Have you had you son’s vision evaluated by a developmental optometrist trained in vision therapy? See the vision therapy thread below. If you haven’t done so, I would read all the posts by MaryMN on this forum and Vegsource.com (Special Needs and Reading and Math boards.

It’s tough I know. This is my first year home schooling ds this year and I am learning constantly and trying to be as patient as possible and do all the right things. These forums are a true blessing, as well as MaryMN and other that have been so dedicated in informing people like me.

I wish you and your family the best!

Substituting word like this is really a strength of his comprehension. He knows what the story is talking about and puts in a word to fit. If your goal is comprehension of the story then it really isn’t important but, if you are working on decoding then it probably is important. I would say something like this, if he substitutes daddy for father, daddy is a word that fits in this sentence but what word is this. Not make a big deal about the misreading. I would praise his great understanding and tell him that confusing words like that shows what a good reader he really is.

Both of my boys also do this. They are both better visual learners then auditory. Both boys do poorly on vocabulary tests so it always amazes me that they can do this. They both also have poor phonics skills so how they are able to do this always elluded me. Their comprehension ability is higher then their decoding ability. I will be working with both of them using Reading Reflux this summer. When reading with my boys I also correct hoping that if they hear it enough it will stick. My youngest son (3rd grade) was reading pre-primer at beginning of year, he now does fairly well reading a beginning second grade book.

Thanks for the advice. My son used to substitute any word that started with the same letter, then it was any word that started with the first two letters, now it’s more specific words—synonyms. He must be actually decoding the word or recognizing it by sight because he can come up with a synonym. His comprehension is one of his strengths. He has problems with word retrieval, which is why he’ll substitute words. He does this when he is talking as well. I do the same thing. My son was a complete non-reader 9 months ago. He really has worked hard and has excelled. I’m very proud of him. I will take your advice Nan—“praise his great understanding and tell him that confusing words like that shows what a good reader he really is.” Afterthat, I’ll have him decode it and say the actual word. I have been doing this, but perhaps it was my delivery that wasn’t quite right. My son likes it when I actually sit him down and talk about this stuff before hand, which I haven’t done with this matter. So, I’ll do that as well—that should take some of the pressure off of him. He is very hard on himself. Of course, I tell him how wonderful he is doing, remind him where he was 9 months ago and how far he has come. Val

I agree with all of these posts. I joined a group on yahoo.com called “readbygrade3” They are currently talk about the different skills needed to be a fluent reader.

One of the members suggested that “word retrieval” is skill that is needed to be a good reader. (Much like visual process and auditory process skills.) If the ability to retrieving words is poor, then the child’s ability to read is hindered. Because, if that child has problems with word retrieval, he may retrieve the wrong word when reading.

We recently had a discuss on this board about the Rapid Naming. One of the latest ideas on testing to see which child will be a “good reader” and which child will not, is the need to test for rapid naming. Personally, I think that this also tests for word retrieval. (That’s my opinion as a mother, anyway.) My son demonstrates difficulties if he is required to rapidly name off colors or numbers. When he is given lots of time, he is able to do correctly 100% of the time. Because of his inablility to rapidly name object (which I see is poor retrieval skills) he makes mistakes when reading. (I see reading as a “rapid naming” task because you are putting all the sounds together, and then saying the word quickly even though no one is timing you.) And it’s not because my son doesn’t know the code or doesn’t know phonic when reading. It’s because of his poor retrieval of the words.

My son went through vision therapy which greatly improved his ability to read the small words like “the, then, said” but he continued to substitutes words like your child does. So, getting his eyes checked out is a very important first step. But, you may want to get him tested to see how he does with the Rapid Naming.

One more thing that may or may not be related to this topic is another thing I learned from this group. One person reported on readbygrade3 that a child who reads slowly and phonetically, is mainly using the frontal lobe of his brain. A child who reads fluently shifts to the left parental temporal lobe and the part of the occipital lobe thus, that child reads more effectively. Is this where words are stored? Is this where word retrieval gets hung up? How do you get a child to switch to using a different part of his brain to read? I find this information very interesting and would love to hear any comments about it.

Donna in MO

Thanks Donna. I have been looking into this topic as well. I have problems with rapid naming; however, I went on to become a jet pilot and a college instructor. My college kiddos and I laugh about it. I think it makes them feel good to know that even their instructor has her “quirks.” —I am now in early retirement or at least a long leave.

Like my son, I have excellent reading comprehension. I sailed throught school with A’s and B’s without anyone knowing that I had a retrieval problem and very poor phonic skills. I have the uncanny ability to memorize huge words—not spell them however. I am sure I am not the norm…I had to learn the code at 35 years old, so I could teach it to my son. For the first time in my life I am seeing in words. I have always seen in pictures or movies. It’s hard to explain to people who see in words. I will check out the web site you mentioned. I haven’t had his vision tested yet. He doesn’t seem to have any tracking problems, but he is a pencil pointer. He can stop reading in a middle of a paragraph to tell me something of utmost importance, but go right back to where he was with very little effort. He has very well developed spatial awareness. Tell me more. Thanks! Val

The way I monitor accuracy is to park pencils in each of our hands — he traces under the words, I trace over. It really helps with tracking.
When there’s a mistake, I just stop my pencil over that word - a silent signal. Usually half a second later, the right word’s come out… or I’ll mark the first syllable or point at the first letter — something to show what to “sound out.” It is so much smoother than stopping and/or talking. It also means I”ve got faint little signals so I can look for patterns in the errors — or note “hey, look how far we went without a mistake!”

Hi Sue! I do the pencil technique, too. It really works! I use the “silent” hints as well. He’s getting better and better at this. I do not do it every single time like I had to in the beginning of the school year. He wants to take over and do it himself. I still keep my pencil in my hand to point to things or help out when he is struggling. It’s nice to know that I am doing the right thing. Val

This is interesting. My son, who substitutes father for daddy, does have a retrieval problem. I wonder if there are any games that might help this. He does have good comprehension and memory of stories, movies, etc. However, when I call out his math facts he is slow to recall the answer even when he knows it. He has to say the problem in his head to get the answer. He seems to be an auditory learner.

One other thing, as we are going through vision therapy now, when he reads his wall chart (down first column then last, etc.) he has a very difficult time recalling the correct number unles he is swaying back and forth or stepping up and back. We try to make him stand still and it is a huge struggle. I think the moving must stimulate the part of his brain to help him recall. Any ideas?

Gina

Gina,

My son is a kinesthetic/tactile and visual/spatial learner—like me. Like your child, my son has to move in order to recall facts. In fact, I encourage it. In order to memorize skip counting and math facts we move around the room in a circle or whatever way we feel like. Our bodies seem to naturally fall into a rhythm or a pattern. Math is all about patterns. For instance, when we skip count by 5s, we start with 0 and our arms stretch downward, then with 5 our arms stretch up, 10 our arms come down, 15 our arms come up, etc. The pattern is easy to FEEL—arms down with the 0s and arms up with the 5s. We spell this way, too. We sometimes stand on our heads, play catch, shoot hoops. I say let your child move. I still rock when I am writing/typing. Just to let you know what this type of learner can do in the future—well, I became a commercial jet pilot, a college instructor, and a published fiction writer.

Also, I think it is very important to have your son say his math facts not just the answer. Let him do it outloud. We also write them down. He doesn’t just write the answer on a worksheet but writes out the whole problem and says the number as he goes. Every time pencil comes to paper, he says what he writes—words or numbers. We also use large arm movements—air writing for spelling and math. It’s a great kinesthetic way to learn. Orton-Gillingham method utilizes this in reading/spelling. I use the Orton-Gillingham approach with reading as well as math. Check out Victoria’s post on techniques for learning math facts. Do a search for Victoria’s posts on 01-26-02, 01-22-02, and 01-20-02 (memorizing and visualizing math facts).

Val

Val,

Wow you have accomplished a great deal. Do you home school your child also? Thank you for the information. I will definitely try the movements with my son. I will also check out the posts you suggest. I suppose my son is kinesthetic/tactile as well. He is always touching things and seems to have to be fiddling with something when just talking to me. I used to think he was a visual learner because he is amazing with traveling directions — much better than my 17-year-old son and me. However, I assumed he was auditory since he does need to repeat his math facts orally to get the answer, and since his oral comprehension seems exceptional. — He remembers history events and dates, stories, vocabulary, recites stories he has read, and would listen to books on tape all day if I let him. Also, he has always struggled with right and left. We have been working on this a lot in vision therapy so he is much better now.

He has been so extremely frustrated with school the past five years. His self esteem has really suffered due to his struggles with reading and writing (has always been unable to finish his work and homework took hours). He does have some incredible abilities that his 17 year old brother doesn’t have (fixing things around the house, figuring out electrical equipment like VCR’s and video cameras, building and working with tools and his general understanding of how things work — Sounds like he is kinesthetic/tactile. He doesn’t work a pencil well though! He has improved quite a bit with writing and reading since vision therapy. History Channel, Discovery Channel, Biography he soaks up like a sponge or books on tape or things I read to him so maybe he is an auditory / kinesthetic/tactile learner. Not really sure.

This is my first year home schooling him. And I have been researching a lot to try to figure out the best way to teach him so I really appreciate your input. Thank you!

Gina

Hi Gina. Yes, I homeschool my son. This is our first year. I no longer work—homeschooling takes up a great deal of my time. Your boy sounds a lot like mine. My son is a little inventor. He loves to take things apart and fix things. He watches the History Channel and Discovery Channel for fun. He is not an auditory learner. He struggles with auditory processing difficulties; however, with the intensive work we are doing in this area, he is improving considerably. Feel free to e-mail me and talk some more. Val

Thanks for the nice words about my math posts.

I believe you are doing the right thing with steady and consistent correction of the substitutions. I also point with a pen or pencil and stop and re-point at the missed word, letter, ending, etc. The student learns that this is a helpful clue and becomes more accurate gradually. Patience is a virtue!

I do worry about the substituted words because if you accept them, the student’s reading gets farther and farther from what is on the page and there comes a point where there is a meltdown, usually between Grades 3 and 6. The meltdown occurs when the vocabulary gets too large to hold in visual memory banks and when there are too many fine points and details. Many kids go from A’s to F’s in school very quickly when this happens, or they suddenly get a disastrous standardized test score and get placed in the low track, and it is very frustrating and difficult for all concerned. Keep on as you are going, stressing accuracy but not making a big fuss about it, and you will head this problem off at the pass.

Gosh Val. I wish I could “tell you more”. But, I’m stuck on where next to look. I wish that there was something to help with rapid naming but the only thing I know of is NeuroNet which we did for about 9 week. This program helped but my son; after doing Fast Forward, vision therapy, PACE, MTC, and NeuroNet; just had enough and needed a break. So, we haven’t done anything for about 2 months. NeuroNet addresses this issues of rapid naming and retrieval of words but like anything, it takes time.

We did vision therapy with first the regular exercises (which really helped) and then with the computer program “Computerized Perceptual Therapy”. My son had problems seeing visual cues quickly. One program used a tachistocope to flash up numbers or letters quickly on the screen. The child is then required to type in the numbers or the letters that he saw. A lot of times, my son would say “Mom, I justed didn’t see them all”. So not only does he visually see things slower, he also processes the information slower, and then retrieves the wrong information at times. Reading is so much more complicated than I ever thought that it was.

Let me know if you find out anything. I’m always ready to learn more.

Donna in MO