多 抄 寫 繪 畫 能 治 閱 讀 障 礙

Adayeung

港 大 蕭 慧 婷 博 士 （ 右 ） 及 譚 力 海 博 士 （ 中 ） 講 解 治 療 兒 童 閱 讀 障 礙 新 方 案 。  

(星島日報報道)香港大學研究人員發現，由於中西文字結構有別，西方傳統運用語音訓練治療閱讀障礙，在華人身上效用不大。港大研究結果顯示，多抄寫及多繪畫能有效治療華人兒童的閱讀障礙問題。相反，兒童若太早學習電腦中文輸入法，減少用手寫中文字機會，或會對閱讀中文構成不良影響。

　　港大語言學系助理研究教授蕭慧婷博士與研究隊，較早前對一百三十一名年齡介乎七至十歲的北京學童，進行華人兒童中文閱讀與書寫能力關係測試。華人兒童學習中文時，閱讀能力與漢字書寫技巧有直接關係﹔兒童學習中文、英文等不同語言時，所運用的腦部區域亦有所不同。

　　蕭慧婷指不少西方名人，如愛因斯坦、湯告魯士、和路迪士尼等，都是閱讀障礙的患者，過去西方傳統運用語音訓練治療閱讀障礙，成效顯著。但由於中西文字結構有別，純粹運用語音訓練，未必適用於華人社會。她說﹕「西方文字能見字知音，漢字則屬表意文字，且有不少同音異字。」

　　蕭博士在研究中發現，練習寫字技巧對華人兒童學習中文有極大幫助，繪圖亦很有關連。她強調寫字有助於兒童對漢字字形結構的分析，而重複練寫的手部活動，亦能加強兒童對漢字的動作記憶，從而提升閱讀能力。

　　她相信抄寫及繪圖是治療中文閱讀的最有效策略。相反，兒童若太早學習電腦中文輸入法，減少用手寫中文字機會，或會對閱讀中文構成不良影響。


2005/6/8

Adayeung

多抄寫可提升學童閱讀能力

　【明報專訊】不少研究均指學童聆聽得愈多，閱讀能力愈高，然而港大語言學系發現抄寫才能更有效提高學童的閱讀能力。該系助理研究教授蕭慧婷指出，漢語有很多同音但意思不同的字，令人容易混淆，要提升兒童的閱讀能力就要「多寫」而非「多聽」。

　蕭慧婷又指出，學童不宜太早學習電腦打字，特別是拼音輸入法，學童反而要多「執筆」抄寫。

　分3範疇 測試北京學童

　港大語言學系去年中進行一項研究，測試131名介乎7至10歲的北京學童，測試主要分為3個範疇，分別為閱讀（由研究人員給予文章，再讀出單字）、書寫（寫出研究人員讀出的單字）及測試語音敏感度（由研究人員讀出單字，再由學童在數個讀音相近的答案中，圈出正確答案）。

　結果發現，學童在書寫部分做得最好，他們在學習中文時，寫字技巧對閱讀能力有極大幫助，然而聆聽技巧對學童的閱讀能力發展則幫助不大。蕭慧婷表示，寫字促進學童對漢字字形結構的分析力，而重複練寫的手部活動，亦有助兒童建立順

teddybear97

Dr.T

最近我在寫一本讀寫障礙的書 在回顧有關中文讀寫障礙的研究時發現這些在受控制環境下的測試結果通常在"類化"方面有困難...

換句話說,是經不起現實的考驗...試想想在短時間內要求一班小朋友抄寫多一些去証明抄得多有用當然無問題,但要已經有讀寫障礙的孩子在功課以外還要做這類練習...我相信大部分的讀障家長都能夠告訴你是"攞苦黎辛"!

熙媽媽

Adayeung,

多謝你post呢篇文章ar，我之前睇<蘋果>就無0甘清楚，而家睇呢篇報導就好好多la。

睇完報導就有d問題：
1. 「港大語言學系去年中進行一項研究，測試131名介乎7至10歲的北京學童……」，人數會唔會少0甘d ar？

2. 「測試主要分為3個範疇」
2.1 「分別為閱讀（由研究人員給予文章，再讀出單字）」，有上文下理幫助，我覺得相對應該易d ga wor。

2.2 「書寫（寫出研究人員讀出的單字）」，普通話(因為係北京小朋友，我估應該用普通話la)得4個音，同音字較多，所以先有兒化、輕聲或者配詞去幫助判別，而家剩係讀單字，真係幾難wor，唔係0甘識真係可以理解wor。

2.3 「測試語音敏感度（由研究人員讀出單字，再由學童在數個讀音相近的答案中，圈出正確答案）」，又係從讀音去搵單字，真係幾難wor。所謂「讀音相近的答案」如果係聲母 / 韻母唔同都好d，漢語拼音一樣但聲調唔同就仲死。事實上由聽一個字音-->睇題目提供ge答案-->將每個答案係腦裡面「讀讀」個音，去到呢步，haha，我已經唔記得0左「聽」個0個音la(即係研究員讀0個個音)，呢part如無意外，我一定會唔合格。

話時話，好多人都講過人通過視覺吸收ge資訊係最多ge，聽覺其次，嗅覺仲差，0甘通過視覺學習自然比較容易都係可以理解ga wor。

Vernique2005

我可以反對用抄寫來治 閱 讀 障 礙嗎﹖  不停的寫根本幫助不大﹐ 可能寫多了對字的認識會加深﹐ 但閱 讀 障 礙的根本問題是什麼﹐ 這個方法就沒有考慮到。

外國治療閱 讀 障 礙不一定是考拼音﹐ 很多是心理上的 和 cognitive 的。  重點是要改善孩子對orientation 的觀念。
有閱 讀 障 礙的人同時也可以是天才﹐ 但長大後如何就要看當事人怎樣克服這個問題。

Drawing 可以﹐ 但寫字一定失敗.  要小孩子不停去做一件本來就做不來的事﹐ 要他們的自信往哪裡擺﹖
試試 jigsaw puzzles 罷 (切記不要3D 的)。 讓孩子看看不同的線條是如何合在一起﹐ 對他們有很大的幫助。

Dr.T

當然可以,臨床經驗令我相信這個所謂方法是沒有效的,打個比喻就像要求一個不喜愛吃蔬菜的小朋友不繼餵他吃,希望他的味覺發展出對蔬菜的好感...想落也荒謬

估計在負責這個研究的人員中是沒有前線教育工作人員的...

但當然另一個可能性是報章斷章取義,只找一些其中吸引的課題作炒作

Vernique2005 寫道:
我可以反對用抄寫來治 閱 讀 障 礙嗎﹖

ALAL

Vernique

'試試 jigsaw puzzles 罷 (切記不要3D 的)。 讓孩子看看不同的線條是如何合在一起﹐ 對他們有很大的幫助。'

why not 3-D?

Vernique2005

有閱 讀 障 礙的人很容易把字立體化 (我男友稱為 "三眼仔" 現象)﹐ 用jigsaw puzzles 就是要reduce 這個cognitive process.  If you use 3-D puzzles, it may be fun, but the problem would not be solved.

By the way, I suggested jigsaw puzzles because it worked very well on me.  I am not sure if it's clinically proven.  My hypothesis is that both the frame of the jigsaw puzzles and the 2D quality of them force the player to think in 2-D mode and identify a "proper" way of viewing objects. (我中文不太好﹐ sorry.  如果我explain 的不好的話﹐ 請告訴我﹐ 我可以再來一遍)

您認識人有閱 讀 障 礙嗎﹖

ALAL

My son is six and don't like reading. I guess he has some reading problem, but have to wait unitil the assessment of psychologist end of this year.

What is the Chinese name of jigsaw puzzles? And how to play jigsaw puzzles. My son like playing lego. But would playing 3-D puzzles makes reading more difficult?

Thanks.

Vernique2005

Jigsaw puzzles is called 拼圖 in Chinese.  If your son likes lego, you may also try 積木.  積木is also very good because it helps you son's development of coordination.


3-D puzzles wouldn't make reading more difficult. It's just that if you're dyslexic, 2-D puzzles may help correcting the symptoms.

您的孩子是有閱讀問題﹐ 還是只是他不想讀﹖ 這有很大差別的。

ALAL

thank Vernique for your response.

My son is a delayed child, now seem catch up in verbal IQ. But last Oct when he has his IQ test the result for the following non-verbal IQ colomn lags behind:

Alertness to visual details, visual concentration –score 9

A jigsaw task requiring the ability to put together cut-up parts to form a Meaningfuly whole - score 9

When he is copying difficult Chinese charater,esp for the first few times he would miss some parts.

If you ask him to find some alphabet or number fom a table of alphabet or number he do it very slow.

If you ask him to find some words, like, swallow... in a table of alphabet he cannot find it out. (These words are listed on the paper)

It is difficult for him to spell English words.
(My son is 700 far-sighted and 300 'dispersed sight')

grateful for your advice?

And how to play the 積木 and jigsaw puzzles?

thanks.

Vernique2005

There are two ways to play with wooden building blocks.  First, you ask him to lay the blocks on a table.  This way, he should learn how to assemble pieces together to get a shape/pattern.  Then, you may ask him to build the same thing horizontally as if it is a real building.  This would train his hand-eyes coordination because the blocks would collapse easily if he does not focus.

For jigsaw puzzles, there are two kinds.  The easiest kind would be the one that has already given you the frame (they are able the size of a drawing paper).  Usually, this kind of puzzles give you some hints by telling you exactly where to locate the piece.  The next one would be the normal kind where you have to do the outline because assembling the middle sections.

Is you son's eyesight ok?  What does your doctor suggest you to do about it?  I know a young child who also has eyesight problems, and his doctor suggests him to learn the violin. (NOT the piano because there are too many lines to look at).  It helps him read notations and signs more quickly and accurately.  He also learns to memorize music very quickly because it helps him to relax his eyes.  You may want to talk to your doctor about this.  

Since your son is still very young, there are many ways to help him out. If he's interested in Lego, it means he is willing to think and create things on his own.  This is a very good sign.  You may really wish to increase the variety of his toys and inspire him more.   

sschiu

Vernique2005,

Hello! My son is 4.5 yrs now. He has NEVER been interested in puzzles of any kind! Jigsaws, wooden blocks, legos.....he refused to play with them all along. According to your experience, do you think he may be having some kinds of problems?

He was required to do similar tasks at school (may be during class activities which he has no choice), he now manages to play simple puzzles but I think he is still far behind from younger kids.

For recognizing words, he forgets very quickly after learning the characters, even though he had copied them many times......

Please please please advise?      

Vernique2005

Dear sschiu:

First of all, is your son interested in other toys? If so, what kinds of toys are they? Sometimes, some kids would prefer toys that produce sounds or encourage them to move (drums/balls/big train sets, etc).  Do you think your son belongs to this group?  Usually, those are the first group of toys that very young children are interested in, and they will eventually move on to lego/jigsaws, etc when they feel like it.  Many of the children I know tend to begin accepting jigsaws at 3-4, so your son may not be that slow.

If he is not interested in lego/jigsaws/wooden blocks, it might be because his visualization skills/coordination are weak.  That could also be the reason why he can't learn characters by heart.  At this stage, you may not want to force him to copy characters because he would hate learning when pressed too much.  Do you want to try clay first? Clay should be easier then jigsaw/lego, yet it still encourages children to create.  Once he is comfortable with clay, you can move on to puzzles.  I recently bought a set of puzzles in US that has 30 puzzles with geometrical shapes.  It's arranged in the order of difficulty.  You may want to see if there are similar toys in HK.  If the puzzles are arranged nicely, your child would feel less offended when playing them.

Finally, one concept that you may want to keep in mind is that your son can also gain knowledge in other areas while his writing skills are weak.  Try exploring math/science with him.  If he can't read a story, read to him so that he knows it is enjoyable to read.  Show him how to plant a seed/bring him to the science world/go fishing with him.  Many people fail to see that language is just ONE of the tools to gain knowledge.  There are many other ways to receive knowledge.  If language is not the one, your son still needs to be inspired in other ways.

I also recommended a math book in other sections of this forum (under "primary school talk" and "special education").  If you think you need more information about it, feel free to PM me.

Hope to hear from you shortly.   

ALAL

thank you very much for your detailed explanation.

I have  question. When playing blocks, should I assemble some pattern first and ask him to use block to make the same pattern, or just let him assemble the pattern by himself?

His left and right hand coordination is not very good. I think he would have difficulty playing muscial instrument. He don't like piano. Some one suggest drums. I am in fact exploring what instrument he could play. If I can't find it and will let him sing first. Any advice?

When playing lego, he create by himself but recently I bought lego with 3-D step to teach to assemble planes, cars .... Heard from you that this won't help improve writing. Anyway he like it.

Vernique2005

ALAL:

It'd be nice for you to create a pattern and ask him to model you.  This way, he gets to observe different patterns.  However, you may want to take turns with him and ask him to create patterns for you to copy sometimes.  This would take away the sense that you are challenging him or forcing him to finish a task.  You may also ask him to check if you get it right.  Encourage him to speak to you and let him express it out when he finds something difficult.  If you observe carefully, you should be able to learn your son more.

I don't teach the violin, but I know that it's very hard to begin learning.  If you son does not like piano, drums would be an easy start.  The only disadvantage might be that the drum does not produce as many sounds as violins and pianos do.  Maybe your option is to begin with drums first and switch to other instruments later on.

What is your son's reasons for disliking the piano? It may also be due to his problems with coordination because the piano requires the player to:
1) look at the music book and the keyboard at the same time
2) move LH and RH in different rhythms (times) and different directions
3) use ears to check the sounds produced by fingers
4) move more than 2 fingers in one hand at a time.

For some people, the above 4 steps may be very hard to achieve at the beginning.  If that's the case, I'd definitely suggest drums first and then switch to the violin/piano later on.  In fact, there are piano teachers in England who are beginning to 治 閱 讀 障 礙  by teaching the piano.  Unfortunately, this is still a very new field, so I am not sure if there are such piano teachers in HK.

BTW, I just got a math book that teaches people math activities for 閱 讀 障 礙.  Are you interested? If you are, PM me your e-mail and I will scan some pages for you. (They have puzzles games and IQ games, too)

ALAL

thank for your rely.

I join TOM Lee music appreciation class and end about half a year ago because my boy don't like it. It require some very simple piano playing. He is difficult to do step 4) and 2). He can't do step 1). And memory is any problem. If the rythm is drmfs, he may just remember the first two and forget the rest. If the rythmn is sfm he can't recognise the s on the first hand but has to count from d.

I plan to let him play drum and maybe piano one to one in Heep Hong, when he is older. Seems he like doing exercise and playing lego and sing much more than instrument playing.

Some people say learning piano by color ie use sticker to stick on the piano book, finger and piano to teacher. Some of instrument course to special children is said to be arranged in Arts Centre. And I know a centre teaching piano by listening tape or so for special children but is expensive. No time to explore as there are so many areas need to train and improve as my son is going to p1 this Sept.

You are in US? Where are you working in HK? pl check pm for my email for the book extract. thanks.

sschiu

Vernique2005,

Thanks for your reply! My son has been consistently (since age of 1+) a loyal fan of trains, and also other transportation toys!! Whenever he is at home, he is just pushing the trains around. He is very observant on the details of every toy. At one stage he loves THOMAS & Friends, but now he loves the railways in HK. Last time we took him to Japan and he loved the Japanese trains. As I said, he can recognize and remember every detail of every train type. Now when we take him a ride on KCR or MTR, he goes around the platforms to see every angle of the trains coming in......

To ride on that we tried to teach him to construct blue TOMY plastic rails (just like puzzle). He was able to construct simple shapes, such as circles.

You are right that language is just one channel to learn. Through the train observations he has learnt a lot, like the places we go through, names of the stations, logos of co.

At the age of about 3, he managed to recognize and remember many brands and model names of private cars, volvo, honda, benz...he was never wrong!

In conclusion, he is extremely good at observing and remembering visual details of objects, but not words.

Yes, we'll try clay! What a coincidence, I have just enrolled him in a clay art class for summer. Let's see.

I'll see if I can find such puzzles, but I doubt if he will be willing to try. Last time I bought a train puzzle in Japan, he was more interested but that was very easy.

Can you please recommend the math book again? Thanks very much.

For logical reasoning, my son is weak too, we tried to explain simple scientific phenomenoms, but he just tried to remember and not really understood. Actually, he is more interested in understand what other people are doing, reasons of their behaviour, and he observes people very closely. Emotionally, he is very sensitive to other people's mood.

Thanks for reading my message. Look forward to hearing from you again!   :wink:

Vernique2005

Dear ALAL:

If your son can't do step 1, it means he may need to be very concentrated when he does his work (ie. homework/writing).  Does he ever complain to you that he's sleepy after/when he does his homework? I know a girl who has to sleep for 1 hours (at least) each time after a piano lesson.  She likes piano, but she needs to concentrate a lot to get the sounds she wants.

Do you think you can try getting him a toy like a mini-typewriter? (The one that asks him to type in the words which appear on a screen?)  Try to train him with this kind of toys.  This way, he still learns to look at two areas at the same time, except that the distance between the 2 areas is much shorter. (Also, the difficulty for step 2 & 4 would be eliminated because it doesn't matter how fast/slow he types. Plus, he doesn't have to move 2 fingers at the same time).  It would definitely benefit him if his coordination skills improve.  If he complains that he is tired, let him rest, but you may want him to practice with this toy consistently (spending some time of it everyday for at least one week).  I think the effect would come after 2 weeks. Our purpose is to make the boy feels more comfortable moving his head/eyes around when working.  You may also want to make sure that his neck/wrists are not too stiff.  (these are signs of anxiety!)

I heard about using colours for music teaching and listening and playing.  I am not too sure about the case in HK, but these are supposed to be used in regular music classrooms in Canada as well.  Teachers would use tapes/stickers/colour pencils together, but we tend not to use just one method.  Are you sure that the class ONLY teaches why listening to tapes?  In my opinion, this may enhance the ears a lot, but may not help in sight reading/notation reading, which are also important learning skills that you obtain through learning the piano.

Just for curiosity: how much do those special music class charge for one lesson? thanks

I will send you a PM as soon as I got yours.