Reading is an important aspect of the whole learning process and not just a part of language development.

Reading is the basic foundation for learning. In this day and age when students are more adept at copy-pasting that they pass off as research, the fundamental reading (and writing) skills needed to create original research and documents seem to be rare traits in students.

We want our children to learn to read. We want our children to love to read. We want our children to have fun reading.

So how would we encourage them to do so?

They’d probably argue that reading does not just limit to holding a book and reading this. Sure, reading translates to many mediums like those troves of “comic book” treasures in the internet, e-books, magazines, newspaper articles and even instruction manuals of the latest gadget bought.

Technology has changed the way people read. I for one used to do an all-nighter, an I-can’t-put-a-good-book-down-until-I-finished-reading habit while tossing and turning on my body pillow. All these reading habits have changed because of technology. Yes, I’ve been into e-books several years before the tablets were invented because I read a lot of these in my old Palm Pilot and big Symbian phone. I’ve read almost all HP books (except 1,2 and Deathly Hallows) in e-book format.

In this blog, I’ve written posts about reading:

• children’s books to read like Chicka, Chicka Boom Boom, Grover, Grover, Come on Over, Franklin is Lost
• reading can take many forms like this rebus story
• some teaching techniques

On Friday, my youngest daughter will go to school “dressed” as a storybook character. We’ve been doing this storybook character for a long time when the teen-aged oldest child was still in preschool. Since we already have a costume worn by Kuya from last school year’s drama club presentation, we will just add details to it. No buying since we will adhere to the school’s “recycle and reuse” costumes rule.

Other school activities lined up till next week are: fashion show (for the storybook characters), speech choir, declamation pieces, English Night presentation, Drama Club presentation and exhibit of works related to reading and literature.

Reading is fun. Reading is great.

Now, off to prepare to face a student who asks: “Why can’t I read like my classmates?”

I’m sure children will get bored if they are not engaged in summer fun activities so reading, and not just clicking on those gadgets, will give them fun and excitement too. Now is the time we parents and teachers and parents lead the way and make them love reading.

I’m sure when they are adults they’d rather read fun stuff than read minute details of work-related literature like contracts, North Carolina health insurance, and manuals.

Here is a list of books for summer reading. Let’s hope the reading continues on till after summer vacation. I know *rolls eyes*, it’s 2009 but it’s still a list

Here is another reading list.

I’m not one who get books with popular animation characters because the children can watch these characters on TV so why bother have them in books? I’d rather children read books that will take them to different places, stir their imagination and make them want to read more. Or maybe be a children’s books author some day.

Fast forward to three years ago, I had a student who underwent a Tomatis Listening Program in Alabang. The parents were so happy with the results. They said that their child, my student, has greatly improved after she underwent a Tomatis Listening Program.

What is Tomatis Method?

The Tomatis Method was developed by Dr. Alfred A. Tomatis, a French Ear-Nose-Throat or ENT specialist. The study of auditory processing and language development was pioneered by him which led to a new multi-disciplinary science called Audio Psycho Phonology or APP.

It was the Tomatis Method which led to the discovery of ear and voice interrelationship: the voice can only reproduce what the ear hears. One of the causes of learning problems is the inability to listen.

The Tomatis Method allows children and adults alike to improve their listening skills for better and improved learning skills in a non-invasive and drug-free way. This can be coupled with occupation and/or speech-language therapy and/or special education services.

Listening and communication are the targeted learning modes wherein the auditory stimulation between the ear and the voice are given focused to stimulate the ear’s ability to listen and the brain’s ability to understand what is being heard.

The Tomatis Method makes use of the Music of Mozart because of these three elements: rhythm for human balance, harmony for reaching emotions and melody for the intellect.

The Tomatis Method also uses Gregorian Chant (which by the way, our nun teachers had us learn to sing via Latin songs) because of its proportional beat that is close to the respiratory rhythm. This beat has a succession of sequences of unequal length said to be found in ocean waves that come one after the other but not identical.

The Tomatis Method re-trains the listening system through:

• use of electronically modified music and language to improve auditory information processing
• enhances the ability to know the difference between frequencies which are all necessary for language development and auditory information processing
• use of Electronic Ear

Why is Listening an important factor in Learning?

For school children who learn through auditory means most of the time, listening is the key to learning the concepts and facts presented in class. We’ve heard it time and again, teachers complain that students “do not listen” or “Are not focusing and listening”. This is true to most students, specially those who have developmental and learning problems.

I wrote in a post about Study Skills that:

For me, study skills involve active listening, discussions, allowing the children to explore their surroundings, interactions between the teachers and the students and/or among students themselves.

Good Learners are Good Listeners.

The Tomatis Method is guided by the principle that “good learners are good listeners”. How so?

• Good learners are good listeners first because they focus on what they are listening to, as trained with the various frequencies the children undergoing the program listen to.
• Good learners are right ear dominant.
• Good listeners know which things they should listen to and can filter the not-so-relevant information.

Who can benefit from a Tomatis Listening Program?

Children and adults diagnosed with ADHD, Autism, Learning Disability, Sensory Processing Disorders can benefit from Tomatis Listening Program. Even those who were not diagnosed can benefit from the program because their listening skills will be more enhanced thus making them more productive and better learners.

What happens during a Tomatis Program?

• A listening assessment is first conducted to know a client’s auditory skills levels.
• An individual Tomatis Program is designed to meet each and every child’s needs and level.
• After every 15 hours of the program, progress is tracked through a listening test followed by a short interview or counseling session. This allows the team to see how much was achieved in terms of the areas where problems are pinpointed, and what feedback the child and the parents have of the program.
• Further changes will be done to suit the child’s present level.
• During sessions, children listen to personalized tracks playing in the headphones they wear. These tracks, usually consisting of Mozart music, Gregorian chants, the mother’s voice and some voice exercises and are tuned to the frequency needed by the child are put together by the Tomatis consultants pictured below: Ria Vecin, Joanne Pedrosa and Gem Manosa.

Individualized Listening Programs consist of 3 phases which last for 10 days. Each of these days have 2 hour sessions. A four – eight week break is given after each phase.

Read more about Tomatis Philippines, basic FAQs and about the Tomatis Listening Program in these links.

Like Tomatis Philippines on Facebook.

For those with teen-aged children, however, their choices are few regarding the right placement because only a handful offer college courses and these usually are two-year associate courses.

Others choose to go the practical educational programs by way of technical and skills-based courses like those with computer and culinary skills among others. These alternative career options are nothing to be ashamed of, if some parents feel their children are “degraded” without a four-year degree course.

Children diagnosed with special needs can show their best by developing skills through social enterprise. They not only learn practical social skills, they also learn to be independent.

In this article, children with autism learn social skills in a coffee shop while they earn money, it is heartening to read about children being independent learning money, people and social skills.

Isn’t this what parents want? After all, parents can’t be there at all times for their children.

What is rebus? According to Wikipedia, rebus is ”the use of a pictogram to represent a syllabic sound.” In teaching reading, words are substituted with pictures to break the monotony of seeing just text or words.

Here is an example of a rebus story:

Source of The Zoo Rebus Story here.

Then I wrote posts about my family and about being a parent under the parenting posts.

Through it all, it gives me immense joy when people I don’t know send emails, comments and thank-yous for helping them while they read about my experiences as a special education teacher.

I know I still have a lot to learn. I know I have my own shortcomings and that my students have adapted to my quirks I know too that I fall short of the expectations I set for myself.

And there were times when I ranted online when I shouldn’t have.

But in the end, when I see where my students are right now, I feel pride and joy that all the things we went through together are worth every second: teenage issues, challenges, expectations, bittersweet moments, future plans, discussed controversial topics where I have been privy to their journey through the turbulent teenage years.

The sleepless nights, the crossroads, the questions, the doubts now look like just little stumbling blocks that made their parents and I hope that we have shaped the path for a better future for them.

It was through this blog too that I took a fancy to taking photos and eventually had my own photo blog.

Through the years I’ve met a lot of mombloggers, virtually and in real-life, and have even forged a bond and a blog with some special friends who I know will be there through all wrinkle serum and hair-dyeing times.

I join photomemes and tagging memes too, to meet new friends.

One blog lead to others more out there and if only I have all the time in the world sans parenting responsibilities, real work, house chores and mundane things, I would probably have more blogs than I can handle but alas, I always go back to this blog and reserve my best thoughts here.

I hope I can still keep the “fire” and the passion in this blog alive even when my fingers are too shaky to touch the right keys on the keyboard and when my eyesight fails to read the fine print (thank God, there’s none of that yet, LOL).

It’s been a long journey (the blog’s template name) but the fun is just starting.

Like my photo blog, this is a long shot at winning but as I’ve said, it’s a close to being a winner in itself. Thank you to everyone I met virtually and in real life, for enriching my life more