How to teach the alphabet to a child with severe learning disabilities..hes 6?

Question

he has a slight autism, but is not stupid, but it seems he cant retain the letters very well..he has begun wqriting his name and recognizes some of the letters, but how do i get him to learn them

Answer 1

MY LITTLE COUSIN IS AUTISTIC. I AGREE THAT REPITITION IS KEY BUT YOU MAY WANT TO ALSO FIND OUT WHAT HE LIKES THE MOST. FOR INSTANCE MY COUSIN IS CRAZY ABOUT VEHICLES. TRY INCORPORATING THAT INTO YOUR TEACHING! GOOD LUCK!!!

Answer 2

There is a reading intervention called Incremental Rehearsal.  It can be used for the alphabet also.  You can Google-Develeoped by Dr. James (or Jim) Tucker- it but it is basically a flashcard method which is based on known words (letters) and one unknown word (letter).  If he knows any words or letters by sight it can be used.  Basically, u take the known letter(s) and add 1 unknown and go through the list- oh, never have more than 9 cards at a time.  After each run subtract 1 known and add 1 unknown.  

This method works wonderfully and is based on repetition.  it can be used for reading, alphabet, math, etc.

Answer 3

My son is 12, with undiagnosed special needs. He would recognize letters in his first name but that was about it for years. I always read to him, and he had one favorite story, "I Stink!", by Kate McMullan. Its the story of an NYC trash truck and part of the book goes through all of the things the truck "eats". It says A- apple cores, B-banana peels and so on and so on.

I got a peice of foam board and drew a trash truck on it with markers. Then I drew each letter of the alphabet in the back of the truck where all the trash goes. On each letter I put a small pc of velcro.

I copied each item from the story (I altered a couple) but I drew them out on poster board, cut them out, colored them and laminated each pc and added the other half of the velcro pcs. so he could stick each pc of trash to the letter it starts with.

My son LOVES feeding the trash truck the pcs of trash!

This game had such an amazing effect on my son, I made one for the spec. ed room at his school and they use it with the kids. I ended up making another for numbers and another board with a boy and a girl on it, and velcro outfits. It's a huge hit with the kids and I have to admit, I had alot of fun making it.

Answer 4

I have a son who is seven and has learning disability. I teach with videos and interaction games(vsmile and leapster by leapfrog). He picked up on it very quickly...I was very surprised!!

Answer 5

Try everything... try to zero in on what he likes:  MANIPULATION: like shaping letters with clay, or painting them with markers, or watercolors, or tracing in sand, brush painting on chalkboard with water, or use chalk  HEARING: There are lots of alphabet songs, does he like music? Sing them.  SIGHT: Stick labels on everything in the house, like T for table, B on the bathtub, etc.  TACTILE: Trace a letter on his hand and have him learn and guess later in a game.  I believe many children learn in spurts, and if you can catch them at just the right receptive time, they will stick with it for a long time... make a game of it then. Of course, lots of praise and avoid long frustrating attempts.

Answer 6

Hi, You could try picture association? Good Luck.

Answer 7

work with his sensories  like    get shaving cream and let him write the numbers in it... or sand... cut letters out of sand paper and let them trace it with their finger while you talk words it begins with and that letter sounds...  music, this was the easiest way for my son... visual take a light bright and build the letter on the screen  movies of a charecter that he is interesed in.. and word whammer from leapfrog is pretty good also...

Answer 8

You need to find something the child likes doing and find someway to mix up what the child likes to do and the alphabet, studies show that kids learn better if there having fun. So put some fun in it!

Answer 9

My twin son Thomas is nine and has severe autism he loves the alphabet songs Letterland are great and their books have taught Thomas most of what he knows, keep singing the song , get a big floor puzzle they are great for learning

Answer 10

repitition and practice every day. get hooked on phonics, it really helps