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How does THRASS link to (help) children who can’t hear or say
sounds? |
THRASS is a multisensory programme that is based
on developing VAK (Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic see page 26 etc.) skills in
learners. No assumption is made that children can hear or say the phonemes.
Rather, children are progressively taught to become more discerning. The stages
move from listening to and discussing whole words, related to 'concrete'
pictures on the picturecharts and in books (e.g. on page 26 it states "in other
resources, such as picture books, magazines and newspapers, and to 'locate and
name', touch [where appropriate!] and experience the real thing in the
environment"), through to listening to and pronouncing the phonemes, blending
them to make words and then segmenting them to analyse words. And all of this,
with pictures, colour cards, miming, story-telling, drama, colouring-in,
speaking, listening, handwriting, spoken word soundtracks, tapes and
a CD, singing, dancing, magnetic graphemes, worksheets, big books, guided
readers, Echo CDs, segmented Hotwords (including with colour graphemes),
segmented Phoneme-Grapheme cards, whole-word recognition and a software
programme (that can be used independently)!
There are many hundreds of speech therapists, worldwide, that think very highly
of THRASS and use such things as Jane Passey's Cued Articulation with the THRASS
charts (to help children and adults with the place and/or manner of
articulation).
Finally, on 15-16 March 2005, at Fulton School for the Deaf, Gillitts, Durban,
Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa, there is to be an international conference on the
use of THRASS in the education of the deaf. THRASS is already widely used
internationally to help hearing children learn the complexities of English
orthography. As stated by the school, "After using THRASS for a year, we have
noticed that our children are more interested in English as a language and that
they have become more aware of the properties of English words, phrases, and
sentences in many of their lessons".
I can assure you that seeing children
demonstrate Keyword Recall (T8b) by signing is a very humbling experience.
Ask Alan |
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