Dyslexia in Children: Mobile Apps Make Reading Fun

A recent study claims that Mobile apps and daily visual activities can encourage children with dyslexia to participate in reading exercises, says Lenin Grajo Ed.M., instructor of occupational science and occupational therapy at Saint Louis University.

"Reading has always been looked at as a skill you should be able to master," Grajo said.

"My approach basically focuses on participation. I look at how much you like doing a task rather than how well you can do it."

Dyslexia is a learning disability, in which children have a neurological disorder that causes their brain to process and interpret information differently.

But with the help of educators and therapists, kids with dyslexia can develop and enjoy reading and writing activities, and build confidence.

Children with dyslexia usually dislike highly-structured reading tasks, and therefore avoid taking part in reading activities.

But with the latest technological innovations, kids with dyslexia have started using tablet and smartphone apps that make reading and writing more fun.

"This is the multisensory approach that makes books very interactive," said Grajo, who got his training in assessment of dyslexia and reading difficulties at Harvard University.

"If you ask a child with dyslexia to read a book, they will say they can't. But through these apps, children actually like doing these reading activities."

Some of these interactive books have a built-in camera and recorder that engage kids. These apps play a big role in developing a child's reading, writing, spelling, studying and organizing skills, which eventually increases their self-confidence in the classroom, Grajo says.

Grajo says that parents and teachers should also incorporate arts and crafts into routine activities as kids with dyslexia are often instantly attracted to them. Instead of asking a child to read a book, he suggests involving them in a playful activity that includes lots of visuals as well as some reading and writing.

For example, parents can create a treasure hunt for their children and ask them to read the clues to find the hidden items.

Another way to encourage children to read is to cook with them. Parents can read the recipes with the kids and make cooking a fun process.

"Through these exercises, the child is reading without realizing it. This is the occupational performance approach to dyslexia," Grajo said.

"When you realize you enjoy doing something, you participate in it more and become better with it."

The apps and routine activities form a strong foundation for dyslexic children, which enable them to develop their own strategies to read and write as they begin to like these activities.

"Once they are confident, they feel they can do these tasks without the help of a parent or teacher," said Grajo. "As therapists, we are empowering and enabling them to be able to do what they couldn't do earlier."

Learning through Play - The Canon Stomp

The Cannon Stomp: There is no other word but funky that describes this toy. Aim it then Fire it to see how far your ball can travel.

Cannon Stomp is great fun and can easily be played together with others.

When your child jumps or stomps on the silicone cannon a foam ball is dispensed with great speed, the harder you stomp the further & faster it travels.

You can make it extra fun by making and setting targets for the ball to hit!

Nintendo Wii™ game controllers help diagnose eye disorder (ocular torticollis)

Nintendo Wii remotes are not all about fun and games.

Scientists can use them to assess and diagnose children with an abnormal head position caused by (ocular torticollis) eye diseases.

As described in a recent Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science article, researchers developed a low-cost digital head posture measuring device with Nintendo Wiimotes to help diagnose this condition, medically called ocular torticollis.

"Torticollis occurs in about 1.3% of children," said author, Jeong-Min Hwang, MD, of Seoul National University College of Medicine.

"Accurate measurement of the angle of the abnormal head position is crucial for evaluating disease progression and determining treatment or surgical plans in parties with ocular torticollis."

Hwang and his colleagues point out that in clinical practice where it can be difficult to get reliable data from children whose heads move constantly, a digital head posture measuring systems using electronic devices such as the motion tracking capability offered by Wiimotes would be an ideal alternative.

Below is an old (2008) YouTube video which helps to demonstrate the Wii head tracking technique.

The researchers used two Wii controllers to develop an infrared optical head tracker (IOHT) that automatically measures and records the angle of the head in real-time.

The remotes were connected to a monitoring computer with an infrared camera and Bluetooth connectivity.

The IOHT was evaluated for accuracy, validity and reliability by comparing it with the 'Cervical Range of Motion Instrument' or CROM device, one of the most widely used head posture measuring devices in hospitals.

Results demonstrated that in measuring the head posture of normal adult subjects, the measurement of the one-dimensional and three-dimensional (3-D) positions of a human head with IOHT were very close to those of CROM.

There were slightly more deviations of measurements between IOHT and CROM than the researchers expected in 3-D movement of the head, which the researchers contribute to the structural nature of CROM rather than inaccurate measurement of IOHT.

In looking at the future, the research team hopes this new tool will play a key role in diagnosing ophthalmic patients. "Considering its high performance, ease of use and low cost, we believe IOHT has the potential to be widely used as a head posture measuring device in clinical practice."

Mrs. Books - Apples Gosh Golly - YouTube

A Children's Educational video. Sharing Fun with the whole Family! Counting Funny, Silly Apples from 1 to 10 with Mrs. Books. Wonderful Music to Sing and Dance Along with too!

Toddlers Learn Better When Having Fun, Joking and Imagining

Parents who joke and pretend with their children are giving them a head start in life, researchers at Stirling University have found.

The study suggested that both activities are important in building social and life skills children need.

It also showed that pretending and joking are two very different things and that children as young as two can tell them apart.

The research will be presented at an event in Stirling on Saturday.

The work was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and will form part of its annual Festival of Social Science.

Dr Elena Hoicka, of the university's Baby and Toddler Lab, said that children as young as 14 months can tell the difference between joking and pretending.

"Young children can pretend to learn how to do things later on"


Dr Elena Hoicka Baby and Toddler Lab

Dr Hoicka said that by reading facial and verbal cues they develops skills they will use into adulthood.

She said: "In later life with joking it's important for instance for attracting a mate, so women find funny men more attractive.

"It's important for making friends, so people who share the same sense of humour, they're going to have social bonds with each other.

"It's also important for coping with stress, so certain types of humour, seeing the funny things in life, that leads to people who can cope better, they are less depressed and so on.

"Pretending's a bit different, so early on it's suggested that young children can pretend to learn how to do things later on.

"So maybe they can pretend to cook then they learn how to cook, they can pretend to drive a car, that gives them skills to learn how to drive later."

Dogs helping children to read - Cesar Milan

I'm Listening!

Lately, there have been a number of programs springing up around the world where young children and older children with learning disabilities have been entered into programs where they have been reading to dogs. Dogs, you say?

While our canine brethren have been enthusiasts of running about wildly, chasing the Frisbee, swimming, and many other athletic pursuits, it’s been rare that they’ve been regarded by us humans as any meaningful participant in a literary salon.

The vast majority of pooches haven’t even read Old Yeller, The Call of the Wild, or even Marley and Me.

Yet, these four-legged critics are being enlisted to hear recitations of Dr. Seuss, Hans Christian Andersen, and J.K. Rowling in schools and libraries everywhere, where previously they might not even have been let through the door due to various hygiene considerations. So what’s going on?

Studies have begun to show that children who read to an audience perform much better when the audience is a dog as opposed to an adult human or a group of human peers.

The theory is that because the dog (usually a trained therapy dog) is attentive and nonjudgmental, the child feels more comfortable working through any difficulties sounding out the words or assembling the sentences conceptually knowing the dog won’t mock or laugh, but only support.

For children who are beginning to read, or are a little behind developmentally, or suffer from dyslexia, autism, or learning disabilities, an environment with a friendly companion like a professional therapy dog (or even a well-trained family pet) can create a safe atmosphere where they can work out their difficulties but not feel trivialised by classroom peers or fear disapproval of adult authority figures.

The use of dogs to provide encouragement to improve literacy can’t solve all problems associated with learning disabilities. Other educational techniques must be used in conjunction with reading to dogs to help overcome whatever challenges the reader faces, and it avoids the embarrassment of making mistakes in front of other people.

Dogs relieve the social pressure for the beginning reader to “get it right.” Dogs will enjoy the story even if the words are mispronounced or the delivery is halted. The dog won’t laugh and won’t make wisecracks if the reader makes mistakes and the dog’s attention and lack of judgment will hopefully help the reader keep moving forward and improving.

Recent studies have shown the improvements in the “dog readers” outshine the ones who don’t read to dogs.

A personal note from Cesar Milan: 'When my nephews were young and learning to read, a common holiday pastime was to ask them to come out and read a book to me. They were usually told for encouragement and aspiration that their uncle made his living reading and writing and he would be really excited to see how good they were (so, no pressure!). And my nephews, who had horsed around with me all day, giggled about everything, and been generally relaxed, sat down on the couch next to me, cracked open a storybook and began to read.'

'They would sit stiffly and read in trembling voices, with fearful glances at me to see if they had said the words correctly. It was painful, like watching a hostage read a prepared statement. I told them not to worry, that I thought they were awesome and you know, I still screwed up words, too and I think they kind of believed me. But still, I couldn’t say it like a dog could.'

Connect to Cesar's website here