View report page

With limited time the methods used needed to
be very positive if their usefulness was to be
judged in so short a time Most of the children
already received adequate language stimulation
either at home school or nursery therefore a
programme of stimulating play was not likely
to meet their needs Since they had not learnt
by experience in the normal way we would seek
to teach them to learn by a structured approach
using the following areas of training
1 Attention fixing or listening training
2 Language training
3 Motor co-ordination through physical
training
4 perception training
1 A marked feature with these children is their
lack of attention to verbal communication
and in fact generally poor concentration
Therefore a short period began each day
when they were encouraged to listen and
respond For example they stood in a ring
and caught a ball thrown to them when their
name was called
2 Although a specific time each day was de
devoted to language training the whole
morning gave training in verbal concepts and
uses However during this period the normal
pattern of speech development - nouns
followed by verbs conjunctions prepositions
etc -was followed teaching selected words
by association and repetition The nouns
that were taught first were chosen with care
so that they were single-syllabled and
contained only single consonants so as to
be within the ability of those with severe
articulation defects The children were
given every encouragement and individual
effort was rewarded with raisins During
the five week period some 12 nouns and 12
verbs were learnt in this way revised in
various contexts and then linked so that CAR
and DRIVE were linked in WE DRIVE THE
CAR and at the end of the school the
children were using these words accurately
in their spontaneous speech
3 Many of the children had poor co ordination
faulty body image and lacked visuo-motor
control Suitable physical training was
therefore a most necessary part of the
programme to ensure progress on all levels
The range of activities was suitably wide to
cover different aspects for example copying
movements made by a puppet walking on a
wide form for balance movements to facilitate
awareness of left and right skittles to
increase eye-motor ability and many more
activities. At first most of the children were
lacking in confidence and the staffing ratio
of one to one achieved with the help of
students proved very necessary both to support
a child until their confidence was gained and
to ensure that these children with their poor
verbal comprehension fully understood what
was wanted of them Such progress was made
that after the first two weeks the helpers could
gradually be withdrawn and the children began
to clamour for their turns
4 This part of the programme was controlled by
Dr Tyson and further details of her work will
appear in her own report- It is sufficient to
say here that under her the children learnt to
enjoy tasks of discrimination and awareness
in many fields (spatial, visual figure ground
etc ) that were initially beyond them They
were taken from simple colour discrimination
to tasks involving choice of size and shape
Further experience of body image was gained
by use of felt pieces to make a face and
manikin and cars of different colours were
driven along coloured roads It should be noted
although in all perception training the child s
powers of discrimination and co ordination
were being trained they were also given the
verbal instruction in the simplest terms thus
continuing the language association
At the end of each morning the children worked
individually on tasks selected from the morning s
activities but suited to their own level of ability
Some might thread coloured beads others do peg
board patterns or draw The training programme
using pencils and stencilled sheets designed by
Marianne Frostig was also used During this period
the children needed a great deal of help and again
the individual helpers were invaluable The class
may be seen to have run on the Master Teacher
principle one person taking the class as a group
with the helpers standing back only assisting a
child when necessary followed by individual work
with a helper or teacher to each child The use of
qualified staff plus students worked very well
As the summer school progressed the children s
spontaneous speech increased and was encouraged
47