Mind Alive Blog
Monday, August 8, 2011
More from A Chance to Grow
Last post parents talked about the improvement they saw in their children. This time a teacher shares his experiences. I'm not sure what some of the abbreviations mean though.
Bruce
Special Education Teacher
Marshall County Central Schools
New Folden, MN
November, 2005
We have used Audio Visual Entrainment for almost five years. My first experience with the effectiveness of this type of Neurotechnology goes back to a forth grade class, currently this years eighth grade class, in which 6 students we reading at the low first grade level. The gender makeup of these six students included four boys and two girls. I put all six students on SRA Corrective Reading and the two girls immediately showed significant improvement. The four boys only demonstrated minimal improvement. All four boys did demonstrate some ADD or ADHD behaviors and consequently, we decided to try AVE with all four boys. Within a couple of weeks, I noticed a significant increase in their reading ability. After one school year, they all appeared to read at or close to grade level and their scores on the Iowa Basic Achievement Test in reading verified this. All four boys achievement scores above the criteria score for Title I services. Another interesting phenomenon occurred in that two of the boys we retested with the WISC-III IQ test. One boy had a Verbal/Performance discrepancy of 21 points with a lower Performance score. The other boy also had a discrepancy of 17 points with the Verbal score lower. The boy with the lower Performance score showed an increase of 18 points on his Performance score and the other boy showed an increase 13 points on his Verbal score.
The fourth grade group from the last year has an interesting demographic profile in that at least 1/3 to 1/2 of the class functions below average academically. The class of 33 students has three students meeting criteria for DCD, one student borderline DCD, two other meeting criteria for SLD and one student meeting criteria for hearing impairment who also demonstrates severe autistic behavior and is unable to function without the assistance of a full time paraprofessional. A total of 17 students receive additional help through special education or Title I. One of the DCD students receives one-to-one instruction for a DCD teacher. The other DCD students receive special education instruction in Math and reading. Depending on the severity of the students, we utilize three different interventions for students experiencing difficulties in reading. Our first choice is SRA Corrective Reading, but in severe cases we try to supplement with Fast Forward for theses with obvious Auditory Processing Deficits and Audio Visual Entrainment.
We test students twice a year, fall and spring, with the NWEA assessment to determine individual student achievement growth. Last year we put five students from fourth grade on AVE. Two of those students also received FastForward and worked through the SRA Corrective Reading Program. Except for the students classified as severe DCD, all students presented gains from 9 to 21 points.
I initially began using AVE for behavior control but I have found that AVE is just as affective for academic achievement and improvement as for behavior control. I usually try to write my own programs relatives to the needs of the individual students. I look at IQ test scores, most specifically the Verbal and Performance scores, classroom behavior, checklists provided by A Chance To Grow, and most recently, in some instances when other indicators are not providing me with enough information, I will use 2D/4D digit ratio of the right hand to give me possible indicator as to which cerebral hemisphere may be dominant. But I only use the digit ratio as a last resort. And, when else fails, you can always fall back on the programs and trial and error.
I am totally sold on AVE and I truly believe that AVE has applications for focus, behavior, and improved academic improvement
S
Labels: ADD, ADHD, math, reading, school, students, teacher
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