Bannatyne Reading Program -- GLOSSARY A THROUGH B

Bannatyne Reading, Writing, Spelling and Language Program

Third Edition

GLOSSARY -- A through B

ABILITY GROUPING

(See: grouping students academically)

ADD-- ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER

Students (or others) who find it difficult to keep their attention focused on the task in hand are diagnosed as ADD. Many Specific Learning Disability students (LD or SLD) have this behavioral symptom called ADD. ADD has become a vague catch-all categorization which is so broad and which has come to include so many "objects of our attention" that the term has little diagnostic meaning. It is also almost universally treated with amphetamine medications and little is done educationally except, perhaps, to place the student in a Resource Class for more instruction using the same old traditional reading programs that failed him or her in the first place. To see if the ADD diagnosis is valid give the student a task he or she likes doing and see if that student's attention and interest is sustained for more than half-an-hour. Many students (and adults) who have much more right hemisphere spatial ability can stay on task for long periods when doing a spatial task they enjoy, but when they have to do verbal tasks for which they have little aptitude they become "ADD" for that task. Please read the disability entry below. (See: ADHD, Specific Learning Disorder, minimal neurological dysfunction, disability, also STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS)

ADHD--ATTENTION DEFICIT HYPERACTIVE DISORDER

The same broad inability to focus on task, but with the added symptom of hyperactivity. Hyperactivity is also a behavioral symptom which includes a kind of restless nervousness which can range from restless leg syndrome to continuous, edgy agitation especially of a physical nature. Please read the disability entry below. (See: hyperactivity, minimal neurological dysfunction, disability, also STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS)

ALPHABET

The alphabet consists of the names of the letters A through Z plus the symbols for them. Teaching the names of the letters to beginning readers or Learning Disabilities students who are learning to read, write and spell is confusing and handicapping because another set of more important sounds (phonemes) also have to be learned. Never recite the alphabet or use alphabet letter names in the Bannatyne Program and they should not be taught if the student does not know them. However, it is no impediment to using the Bannatyne Program if a student has already been taught the letter names--just do not use them while you are teaching the Program. (For a fuller discussion on this topic see: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS: Question: Why is the alphabet not used in the Bannatyne Program?)

ANOVA--ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE (between groups)

This is a complicated statistical calculation which determines whether or not different groups of people differ from one another significantly (i.e., far better than chance) in the characteristic which has been measured--usually by some kind of test of a particular characteristic. For my dissertation I did ANOVAs to determine if a group of schizophrenics, a group of anxiety states, a group of compulsive obsessives, a group of hysterics (all in psychiatric hospitals), and a group of "normal" people significantly differed from one another in terms of their specific scores (objectively measured) on a series of specific psychological tests. ANOVAS could be used to more accurately define and sort out different specific characteristics of different groups of specific learning disability students. For example Spatial Ability as measured by the Spatial Ability subtests on the Bannatyne Recategorization of the WISC. (See: statistics, WISC below, and also RECATEGORIZATION OF WISC)

APRAXIA

Normal individuals are able to perceive, organize, construct or assemble objects out of parts in a correct manner in either two or three dimensions. Putting on one's clothes, building an erector set bridge, and even drawing objects or designs, are complex activities all of which are heavily dependent on visual-motor skills. Disabilities in this area of complex muscular functioning are referred to as apraxia. Apraxia does NOT include paralysis or damage to normal motor functions such as walking or breathing. Some neurologically impaired learning disability students suffer from mild apraxia. The graduated size of the letter shapes (graphemes/optemes) in the Bannatyne Program allow apraxic students to master the complex motor/kinesthetic skills involved in handwriting. (See: optemes, graphemes, minimal neurological dysfunction, and STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS -- MND Section)

ARTICULEME, ARTICULEMIC, ARTICULATE

An articuleme is the spoken or vocal (articulated) single equivalent of a phoneme (which is heard) or a grapheme (which is a printed or written letter-shape). When someone speaks, their spoken words are composed of articulemes which you hear as phonemes. Most people use the term phoneme to indicate the separate sounds in both heard and vocalized words, but it is preferable to use the term articuleme (in technical discussions) for the latter group. Thus people deaf from birth may not hear phonemes but some of them may be able to articulate articulemes to some degree. In the Bannatyne Program specific articulemes or phonemes, and spoken or heard words, are indicated by using slash marks, e.g., /a/ as in /azure/. The correct articulation of articulemes and word pronunciations is carefully taught in the Bannatyne Program. When working in the Bannatyne Program, students should be asked to "articulate" a specific phoneme or word because we do not use the actual word articuleme while teaching the Bannatyne Program. When you purchase the Bannatyne Program, the Grapheme Book (on pages 20-28) contains actual AUDIO examples of articulemes/ phonemes that you can listen to on your computer. (See: grapheme, phoneme, opteme)

ASSOCIATION

When two or more items are linked together in memory they are said to be associated. This linkage or association can be temporary or permanent, and our objective in reading, writing and spelling is to make all the tens of thousands of learned associations not only permanent in memory but automatic in their operation. Examples of such permanent associations-in-memory are: phonemes-to-optemes/graphemes, words-to-meanings, sentences-to-syntax, phoneme-to-opteme/grapheme chunks. In the Bannatyne Program associations are permanently learned and overlearned so they can operate at high speeds for fluent reading, spelling and writing. (See: memory, links, chunks, fluency, speed reading. Also: BANNATYNE PSYCHOLINGUISTICS)

ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER

(See: ADD and ADHD)

AUDITORY CLOSURE

Auditory Closure is the ability to match and recognize incoming heard words against their equivalent inner vocabulary even when the incoming words are slightly distorted in any one of a variety of possible ways, such as mispronunciations, unusual accents, background noise interference, or incorrectly blended pronunciations when reading unfamiliar coded words in print. For example one might hear (or blend and "read") /aw-tom-a-tic/ and then, through correctly matching it internally, one realizes that the correct word was /automatic/. While reading, a student may decode a printed word and incorrectly blend it as /com-putt-er/ at which point inner auditory closure matching skills may click in so that the student realizes the correct word is /computer/. Note that the correct word must already be in the student's inner auditory-vocal language for efficient auditory closure to occur. Correct auditory closure skills are carefully taught throughout the Bannatyne Program. (See: closure)

AUDITORY DISCRIMINATION

The ability to discriminate between (distinguish between or tell apart) the sounds (phonemes) in words. For example, can a student discriminate "etch/edge," "pond/pound," "pin/pen." Poor auditory discrimination is a handicap to learning to read, write, spell and cope with language efficiently. Auditory discrimination is carefully taught in the Bannatyne Program. Note that once students are taught a clear, precise articulation of all the phonemes and articulemes in English they acquire excellent auditory discrimination (See: visual discrimination)

BACK-STROKE

(See: Return stroke)

BELL-CURVE

(See: Statistics)

BLENDING

Immediately after the individual phonemes (sounds) composing a word have been sounded out by the reader they have to be blended by running them together to form the actual spoken (and read) word. In words of more than one syllable, usually each syllable is successively blended in rapid succession. Note that blending involves seeing (optemes), hearing (phonemes) and articulating (articulemes). Blending is thoroughly taught in the Bannatyne Program. When you purchase the Bannatyne Program, the Grapheme Book (on pages 20-28) contains actual AUDIO examples of articulemes/ phonemes, blending and splitting that you can listen to on your computer. (See: splitting)

BLENDS

This term is usually reserved to identify two or more articulemes/phonemes which are "run together" when "sounding out" or reading a printed word. Examples of blends are as follows: /bl/ and /nk/ in blank, /lth/ in health and /spl/ in split. Do not confuse blends with digraphs and trigraphs; the latter symbolize only one phoneme. Blends are carefully taught throughout the Bannatyne Program and their introduction is systematically controlled. When blends are first introduced they are almost always accompanied by a tiny curved line underneath them to distinguish them from digraphs and trigraphs. When you purchase the Bannatyne Program, the Grapheme Book (on pages 20-28) contains actual AUDIO examples of articulemes/ phonemes, blending and splitting that you can listen to on your computer. (See: blending, splitting, digraphs)

BODY CONCEPT

This is a much wider "constant" than the body image (see below). The body concept develops from life-space experiences and includes such self-attitudes as weak/strong, passive/active, no-stamina/lots-of- stamina, unhealthy/healthy, uncoordinated/ coordinated, etc. The body concept can influence the body image. Note too that the body concept may be attitudinal fantasy unrelated to the true or actual nature of the body itself, as occurs in psychosomatic "diseases." (See: body image)

BODY IMAGE

A psychological awareness of the parts of the body, their spatial positions, their motor kinesthetic coordination as a whole physical functioning bodily "self." Ballet dancers have a wonderful sense of their body image. (See: body concept)

The Bannatyne Reading Program uses over eighty-eight techniques and is based on the results of studies and research findings. The Bannatyne Reading Program is unlike any other reading programs currently available. This means you will find many features which are only in the Bannatyne Reading Program. In some Commonwealth countries the program may be referred to as: Bannatyne Programme, or Bannatyne Reading Programme.