The Audiblox Diary of Kori Mitchell

March 2002

Posted by Michelle Potter on March 1, 2002, 5:22 am

Today Kori finally managed 24 blocks on the sequencing with only seconds left!

She also managed 7 correct on the Auditory Pattern

Still no new words on the reading though.

Just a little update since there were additional progress.

Thank you for the latest update! Kori, congratulations with your third place in the science fair, as well as your ribbon for art! What a great achievement! The best news, however, was the news on your reading. It is amazing that you are already becoming so confident that you are willing to read in front of others AND that these people are starting to see progress as well! This is fantastic! Michelle and Kori, thank you for your commitment and hard work!

Concerning the Sequencing exercise, at last she managed to do 24 blocks! Please change the practice target as indicated in my personal e-mail message to you. She is doing well with Pattern exercise 2, but I want to give it another week before changing the practice target.

No change to the Arrows exercise yet. After a while the learners all memorise the initial arrows chart, which is why I asked you to draw a new chart according to the given descriptions. The fact that she is making mistakes on left and right again, shows that this skill has not been automatized yet. Please inform me as soon as she is able to do it 100% correctly, so that I can make some changes to this exercise again.

Managing 7 blocks with the Auditory exercise is an excellent achievement! When starting with this exercise, start with 7 blocks now and work up to 8 or 9 blocks. Do not do combinations with less than 7 blocks any more.

Concerning the Reading exercise, for the coming week, do not add any new words. Drill the current 39 words and try to increase the reading speed of these words as much as possible. The fact that she is already showing progress in general reading proves that this exercise works. Once again, note that it is not the number of words that is important, but the speed at which the words are drilled!

That is it for now I will speak to you again shortly.
Enjoy the weekend!

Hi! Here's the update. We are going through a flu thing AGAIN! My 2yo has been so sick. But we've managed to keep plugging away.

Sequencing exercise 3 - 20 blocks correct two days in a row.
Pattern exercise 2 - 20 blocks correct
Auditory Pattern 3a - 7 correct
Reading still the same. She struggles with the 3 at a time still but is getting a bit quicker.
Spatial - Very rarely misses any here.
Arrows - She is doing much better with the new arrows but she still isn't doing as well as before.
Counting - 41 to 70 doing good.
Bean bags still not getting close to ten catches.
She has been a bit tired this week because us all getting sick.

Dear Michelle and Kori,

Sorry to hear that you are not feeling too well. Down here in South Africa it will be winter in a month or two from now and then it will be our turn for the flu. Michelle, how is the little one doing?

Michelle, I am not going to make any changes to Kori's program today, for two reasons:
1. Due to the problem you had with your computer, you haven't spent enough time yet on the last changes from my e-mail, dated 1st of March 2002.
2. Secondly, as Kori is not feeling too chipper, I will rather wait a few days until she is better, before increasing the pressure again. Kori, thanks for still trying your best, even though you are not feeling well. I am proud of you!

I will speak to you again in a few days.
Enjoy the weekend!

Hi! We are all much better now. My son was the worst. He has alway had a hard time with illnesses. So here's the latest.

Sequencing, last Thursday she got 29 correct! But Friday and today(Monday) she got 23.
Arrows, I thought she'd have this down by now but she is still having a few errors now and then.

Pattern 2, Between 20 and 24 correct.
Spatial is still going well, no errors.
Reading, much better but we still haven't been able to add any more.
Counting 41 to 70, just about to move up on this one.

Bean bags, She has started doing great. She catches them between 10 and 20 times without dropping them. She is throwing alittle wild as she seems to concentrate on catching instead of throwing! She is getting that back in order though.

Auditory 3a, she gets 8 correct

Logical thinking, we are working at J, I've been doing a little review each day. Should I be pushing forward faster or not? She hasn't had to much trouble once she realized that they weren't all sequence patterns. Once she realized that the patterns are all logical but different she kind of took off. Oh, I hope this is clear! Hard to explain! Maybe I ought to do this one!

Well, that's all!
Thanks again Benetta!
Michelle

Dear Michelle and Kori,

Glad to hear that you are all better now. Thank you once again for your persistence and hard work!

Michelle, I am curious to see how much progress Kori has made in reading. Even though you have managed to drill only a few of the yellow words, the fact that you mentioned that other people are starting to see progress and that she is really starting to do very well with the exercises, makes me feel that we should try a little experiment. I suggest that you find a book with short stories, each followed by a comprehension test that she must complete once she has read the story. She must read the story and complete the comprehension test all on her own - you may not offer any help at all! Leave her on her own at the dining table, or in her room, and she may only bring the book with the completed answers once she has finished. To measure her progress, time how long she takes to complete the comprehension test. Also mark her answers to the questions and give her a percentage for the test. She must do a comprehension test once a week. Do a new test every week - do not repeat the same test week after week, or else she will memorise the story and it will loose its value as a measuring tool. Although the degree of difficulty should usually be suitable for the learner's current grade level, in Kori's case, I suggest that you select stories suitable for a grade three level. Please keep me posted on her progress on this as well!

Concerning the Sequencing and Pattern exercises, Kori, you are really doing a superb job with both of these! Michelle, please change the practice targets as indicated in my personal e-mail to you. You should also advance to Bean bags exercise 3 - see video and "The Right to Read."

Kori, concerning the Auditory exercise, I am impressed with this exercise, especially if we think back how you battled with it at the beginning. When starting with this exercise, start with 8 blocks now and work up to 9 or 10 blocks. Do not do combinations with less than 8 blocks any more.

Michelle, concerning the Logical thinking exercise 1, the way that you are doing it is perfect. Just remember to regularly revise some of the groups that you have already done. Since Kori is doing so well, please note that I have included a new Logical thinking exercise in my personal e-mail, that you should follow as part of the program for day 2.

Michelle and Kori, I hope to hear from you soon again!

Well here's the update for Kori's new program.

Sequencing - she has worked up to 24 correct.
Arrows - She almost has them down. I rotate the chart now and then and hope that it will become automatic soon but she still makes a few errors each time.
Pattern 2 - 20 blocks correct
Spatial - She had a few errors this week. She's always done fine with this so I'll have to make sure she's still trying.

Reading - I split the cards and on our first stack we have added 6 and the second we added 9. She is speeding up wonderfully all of a sudden. She also seems to be getting less tired by the end of the 15 minutes.

Counting exercise shes's on 61 - 90 and doing good.

Logical thinking - we are work group L now and she is really starting to verbally explain the logic better. She has no problem getting the correct blocks but I've had to push a little to get her to explain why in an understandable way.

Auditory exercise - We are still working on getting eight correct. She comes close but eight is deffinately a challenge for her.

I ordered a reading comprhension workbook for her. It should be here within a week. It has short stories (about a page) with questions. The website had a sample lesson from the book and I had Kori sit and read it and answer the questions. I was surprised she even finished it. She has never been able to read anything at 3rd grade level before. It did take her about 45 minutes to read it and answer the questions but she answered most right. She also didn't have a problem with it. No complaints, watery eyes, tears, no wiggling in her chair. She just sat and worked till she was done. She was painfully slow to watch but seemed totally content with her progress! It seems that her endurance continually gets better and better. I will report her percentages each week after we get the book.

Oh! I did record her on her reading journal again. It was actually a couple weeks ago. She did a bit better than the first one. I am trying to remember to do that at lest once a month.
Well, I think thats all for now.

Michelle

Dear Michelle and Kori,

Hi to you! My apologies for responding a bit later than usual, but I had a few hectic days here in Blox-land. Michelle, thanks for the latest update! Kori, you are doing so well, it looks as if a little light has been switched on in your mind!

Michelle, I was especially impressed with how well she did the sample comprehension test. This is wonderful news and I think it is a great and very tangible reward for all your hard work. Please inform me once you have done the first comprehension test from the book. Gradually, we shall also incorporate a time limit, so that she learns to complete the test faster.

Concerning Kori's program, please note that we made quite a few big changes last time. This time, it will therefore be better if we go a little slower on the changes. I advise that you continue with the program as given in my e-mail dated 2002-03-13, with the small change given below.

Concerning the Reading exercise, continue using only one of the 2 piles per session. I want us to make a change to one of the piles. Choose the pile with the words that she knows best. When doing this pile, throw the words down 4-4 at a time, covering the fourth word with your hand and she must then read all 4 words. Encourage her to start reading the first word immediately as you throw it out. When doing the second pile, however, continue throwing them down 3-3.

Michelle and Kori, these are all the changes for now. I shall speak to you again soon.

Hi! I don't really have anything new to update with audiblox directly BUT am very excited to share that Kori just read 4 verses from my New King James Bible. Matthew 21:1-4. When she struggled with some words and I started to jump in she politely asked me not to help her unless she asked because she wanted to do it by herself. I'm truely jumping for joy! Just the fact that she wanted to read it is enough to get me excited but also that she did fairly well is more than I expected. The only words she had trouble with are Jerusalem, Bethphage, Olives, immediately and opposite.

This is absolutely great! Kori, I am very excited that you are becoming so confident when reading that you do not even want mom to help you! Michelle, the words that she had trouble with are difficult words and Kori has really made remarkable progress in such a short time.

In my last update I forgot about the Logical 3 exercise. Sorry! She is now working on the group G. This is the first group that she struggled with.

Wow! Kori, you are really working like a superstar! Michelle, please change the practice target of the Sequencing exercise as indicated in my personal e-mail message to you.

Michelle, the examples from the Logical Thinking exercise are not easy, but, as with everything else, do not give up! Continue revising those from Groups A-G, until she is able to manage examples from Group G with greater ease, before advancing to Group H, etc.

Well, have a good weekend!

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