Reading Help for Struggling Gifted Visual-Spatial Learners: Wholes and Patterns (continued)

On the other hand, don't feel that the children should always be reading at an ever higher level. Reading fluency is greatly aided by reading and rereading easy, familiar books that are fun. Broader phrasing, anticipating what may come next-as good readers do-and using context are all aided by reading many easy-to-read books.

In closing, I want to acknowledge that many of these ideas about Whole Word learning came not only from the remarkable work of Sylvia Ashton-Warner but also from the tutelage of Blanche (Betty) Royce, major reading instructor of mine at the University of Vermont, as well as from her major professor, the well-known Dr. Lyman Hunt, Jr., a valiant battler of phonics-only reading instruction.

Visual-spatial learners learn best through teaching to their strengths, and Whole Word reading, with its use of visual memory, pattern recognition, valuing the emotional impact of words, and utilizing playfulness and humor, uses those strengths well. Whether or not the school teaches in this way, parents (and venturesome teachers) have the ability to build a bridge for children into the realm of successful reading by having fun and success with the Whole Word reading approach.

Betty Maxwell, M.A., is Associate Director of the Gifted Development Center in Denver, Colorado, and Editor of Advanced Development, a publication of the Institute for the Study of Advanced Development. Betty helps visual-spatial learners of all ages to employ their learning style effectively. She holds a Master's degree in gifted education, is certified as a psychosynthesis counselor and educator, has served as a reading teacher, and she currently offers a Dial-Log telephone consultation service (1-888-GIFTED1).

Reference

Ashton-Warner, S. (1963). Teacher. New York: Simon & Schuster.

From Maxwell, E. (2003) Wholes and patterns: Reading help for struggling visual-spatial learners, Gifted Education Communicator (Spring), 34 (1), 22-23.