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VIDBE - Q Volume 62 Issue 4
boom !" I used the same terminology when instructing Alice in writing her sight words. I
also introduce a "dot" system to pair with the terminology used in school (see figure 5). In
this system, I drew a dot for each key stop of a le tter and directed Alice verbally to connect
the dots. I used minimal hand - over - hand instruction when introducing the skill, keeping a
most - to - least prompting hierarchy in mind. Alice really liked this and would often ask,
" Dots please! " when I asked her to write a sight word. We worked on writing the following
sight words, "CAN", "MOM", "Alice", CAT, DAD, HAT, and one day she wrote "Emily" the
name of her babysitter because she wanted to show her, "I'm learning."
Figure 6. Writing two sight words with ve rbal guidance and "connect the dot" strategy.
Overall
I saw a lot of progress in one summer session - a total of 8 weeks. Alice learned
more letters, more words, more sounds and from what her mother says, her curiosity and
love for reading has grown as well. Her mother shared with me everyday how excited
Alic e was to go to "reading school" and Alice used my name in conversation, instead of
"teacher". When working with Alice I had to be flexible but structured, she would want to
go off task or "play" but allowing her some flexibility helped the rapport between us. There
were lots of hugs and high - fives and although Alice accomplished more than some people
