Can a narrow focus for too long in reading skills development stagnate a natural ability to change?

One of the problems I hear in schools is that the children cannot generate meaning from the words they have learned to read, the patterns they are sounding on the line of information in front of them. The term is fluency. A child can build fluency and yet not understand, or ‘ create meaning’ from the text. They cannot place the word into a living context and make sense of the words. This means that they really do not know their words. They are simply at a stage of development. A sequence of development. Often, we give up at the moment where the whole and the parts begin to come together. Or, as in the perfect practice makes perfect model, the ‘ volume’ as the speed and movement used in the learning process has in itself become entrenched. The point of building momentum is lost to a habit of a movement. Then one has to have an extra effort to move out of an embedded meter. If this in space and time is not realized, this ‘ quantum seeing’ of the parts interchanging, then the child can get stuck and become labeled as having a slow processing speed.  And, though appearing fluent, will need a boost to move out of the means that lead to that fluency.

Because we are so absorbent, if we practice something again and again, incorrectly, we become that mis-measure in time and meter, in expression. That measure is is not a good or a bad, it is simply a point in the learning process. In other words, it is hard to sometimes see through the ‘ good.’  Our natural capacity to learn and remember as what we absorb as a measure can become our behavior, and that behavior can become something that is not what is best for us. In the context of the process of developing word processing skills, as what reading is, if we practice speaking words, decoding words, again and again, for fluency, over a long period of time, without any real momentum in placing the words into a context that makes sense, we become that measure of decoding only. This behavior in tandem with our foundational experience/measure, can create a memory/experience ‘map’  that would take more time to correct than to have done this correctly in the first place! 

This means over all that everything that absorbent ability in the child is exposed to, must be carefully guided, and that this ability is a natural learning ability and it is by nature, an ability to change! It means to expose the child and allow the child to understand because it is natural for the child to understand. And, it means that the ability to narrow one’s focus and self monitor, is cool, yet a narrow focus in measure can also create a lack. Learning is and must be a dynamic process, it must always have a movement into the whole, or the good one is doing can become a limitation.

This is also why a solid vocabulary is so important. It is important that the children know the  words so well they do not have to think about them, the children must effectively know their words. This allows the child to spend more time on the meaning of the word, to discover the measure the word implies in real living time and space, meaning the child must also practice ‘ playing the instrument that is them!  Within this, showing a child a picture only, in relationship to a word, memorizes a picture and not a living common sense action or thing.  

Words impart information, they are not the actual movement or thing in themselves. Because humans use language to communicate, words are very important. And because we use language we can use that language as a means to order ourselves and our actions. Language in itself is always changing, it is dynamic. Thus language taught in segmented ways, appears good, and lacks real development through a default of practical application. The instrument, as the child, must generate a momentum in real time application to live the meaning. That segment of building fluency can become a measure that stagnates, it has to maintain a momentum in order for the child to realize the patterns and apply the word recognition in practical terms.

If we understand how absorbent a child is by nature, and we understand how words are very important, we can build a child who is very capable of becoming their real potential in this world. It is what is best for each of us, because that child is unique in their expression, and that message they bring, ultimately benefits all of us. Our job is to make sure that that child reaches their goal.

ADHD and ADD : Is the within not equal to the without?

Children that grow up in stable homes tend to have a greater ability to communicate with ease. Children that grow up in homes with more economic pressures tend to have more difficulty in processing language and mathematical computation. This can vary by degree on a spectrum, where it is known that those with a broad vocabulary and exposure to mathematical measure of space and time will become bored in school and end up rejecting participation in school because it simply is moving like molasses to them, and is really a confinement of their expression. Children who have not had any structure given, or very little, become so overwhelmed that they freeze up and want to hide. This second type of child are unbearable to watch, their eyes are often down cast, they stand behind the group, they cannot even sing, they are so completely unable to move themselves it is really criminal and must come to an end. 

No one wants to be this. Following the golden rule in our schools, that we give as we would like to receive, must be practiced in fact, because that child is a part of the fabric of life here, and thus that child is us. If we want the fabric of life to be whole then there is no other option than to ensure that our children are functioning as the ability they are inherently born with in full development, their natural learning ability. As well, those children that have had the opportunity to develop more structural understanding of here, as the words they know, enabling them to process the information, the formation of the world around them and not be lost in fears - not feel inferior to here - must reach their full potential as they are just as much a part of the fabric of here as life as that child in lack. All the children that have various levels of ability in processing information, the formation of here,  that exist between these extremes, must also reach their innate ability to understand here as is their natural learning ability to structure here. Remember that learning to crawl and walk and talk, is a multi-dimensional spatial processing ability, there is no reason as to why this is not developed in all children.

So, why is the within not equal to the without? Are the behaviors of our children showing the separation from a balance of this within being equal to the without? And by this I mean the child being equal in structural understanding of the outer world in common sense?

I was working with this ADHD child. She was reading a text and suddenly the words she was speaking were not on the page, and she was reading away as though she was on track. I just sat there and looked at her. Wow, I mean this was a verbal child, but this did not matter because she was speaking all these words and there was some sense to them, but they were not what was on the page. So, I had her use her hands to stay with the words, and to breath and to sit up straight. She immediately slowed  down and began to struggle. But with practice and constant redirection, refocus, and with a technological tool to direct her to being here, she eventually began to read, and it did not take very much time. She had begun to equalize herself to being here. After about 14 days, she finally stood and read  a passage in a book with such joy, like a whole understanding that the words on the page were able to be seen and she was able to process them and that , yes she could do this, ( so simple )  brought out a child that was a normal interacting-with-here person. She had become normal, instead of all the behaviors of slouching, and becoming frustrated, wanting to go and be involved in what someone else was doing, ( she had this behavior of constantly looking around the room) and speaking out made-up stories instead of the actual words on the page. The self directive ability she realized she was capable of with the words on the page opened her self direction. So, it was like, “ I am here and I can direct myself!” Her within had become equal to her without. This is how our children should be, this is their capacity, this is normal, this is behavior that supports the fabric of life, and thus each of us.

Next post: What inhibits/clutters the within causing a lack of focus here?