Kennedy method

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Kennedy Method is also called the Crealern Method . It is a therapy for the treatment of partial performance disorders and is based on the findings of the Stuttgart neurologist and child psychiatrist Fritz Held . Held assumes that the weaknesses in reading and writing and arithmetic are mainly biological causes. The method tries a playful approach to convey the basic elements of reading-writing and arithmetic. The starting point of curative education therapy is the intensive daily imprinting of letters and numbers or quantities.

Biological principle

Held's approach is based on the knowledge that the individual letters and the numbers or quantities are stored in different areas of the brain. Letter and number do not belong to the same perception area and are processed separately from one another. Held assumes that the brain can only solve a variety of tasks by specializing certain areas of the brain for certain functions, since only division of tasks enables maximum performance.

The functions of reading-writing are independent and have nothing to do with the function of speaking. According to Held, people with dyslexia often have a large vocabulary and are good at expressing themselves. The read-write center is located with the language center in one half of the brain, with a right-handed person in the left half and with a left-handed person in the right. The left-hand read-write center forms a functional unit with the right hand and the right-hand read-write center forms a functional unit with the left. In the case of left-handers who have been forced to write with their right hand, this circuit is significantly blocked and thus the read-write center is hindered in its function in the sense of dyslexia. The biological immaturity of the areas responsible for reading, writing and arithmetic can lead to functional disorders.

Causes of a maturation delay according to Fritz Held

A maturation delay can arise in the context of a general psychological development disorder in so-called late developers. For them, other functions have also developed with a delay, e.g. B. Motor skills (learned to walk late, poor gymnasts, hobbyists or draftsmen), speaking (learned to speak late, stammering remnants, poor sentence formation) and social maturity (prolonged rock-tip phase, delayed defiance phase, lack of community ability, insufficient school readiness).

  • In these children, dyslexia is found embedded in a general immaturity. This includes children who develop dyslexia because they started school early or were not psychologically ready for school when they started school, despite their size, age and intelligence. This risk exists especially with children born in April, May, June and July, who are often not psychologically ready for school when they start school in September. This is often not recognized in the usual school-leaving exams because these tests measure not so much maturity as intelligence. Intelligent children pass this test even if they are not yet ready for school.
  • However, a delay in maturation of the read-write center can also arise in isolation with otherwise normal psychological maturity. In these children it is an isolated delay in maturity of just one area of ​​the brain.
  • However, there are also children in whom the delay in maturation affects neither the whole brain nor the individual brain area, but rather one hemisphere. In these dyslexics, a history of developmental delay in speaking is often found (since the reading-writing center and the language center are in the same hemisphere) as well as a temporary left-handedness, which, however, is not inherited here, but an expression of a delay in the so-called change of dominance of the two hemispheres. Usually the right hemisphere dominates first, until the left hemisphere becomes dominant with the development of speech. Children with delayed change of dominance often remain partially left-handed for years.

What these three causes of dyslexia have in common is that they can all be inherited or acquired. We also find dyslexia in the parents or in the siblings with the genetic developmental delays in the read-write center. In the case of the acquired developmental delays in the reading-writing center, we find in the prehistory temporary retardation of maturation that appeared in early childhood. These then either affected the whole brain or only one hemisphere or only the area of ​​a brain center, but without destroying brain cells and leaving behind an intelligence damage. Possible brakes on maturity: premature birth , birth defects, nutritional disorders in infancy, serious illnesses.

Whole word method and dyslexia

The basic principle of order and sequence is the starting point of the Crealern method. This means that the end functions of reading, writing and arithmetic must not be at the beginning, but that at the beginning the children have to be fed intensively with the elementary basic information so that it can be linked, saved and memorized. These are the individual letters when reading and writing . Words can only be recognized and written after these basic elements have been saved. In arithmetic, this is the elementary series of digits that must be coded using the link with the corresponding quantities. Only then can differentiated computing work.

The alphabet plays the same elementary role in reading and writing as the series of digits does in arithmetic. According to Held, if the whole-word method is used in the first lesson instead of single letters, it can lead to a malfunction.

Only the optimally mature and functional read-write center can correct a program-contrary feeding with whole words by recording and saving the individual letters from the whole words from the outset. The read-write center, which has been impaired in its maturity and functionality for the reasons mentioned, is not capable of this special service: the whole word is misunderstood as an individual element.

This is the reason why for dyslexics only the “outline” of the word is decisive when writing and reading, but not with which and with how many letters it is written in detail.

However, if the dyslexic reading-writing center is fed according to the letter method from the start, this is already the therapy of dyslexia. This programming-appropriate feeding of the read-write center is often sufficient to prevent incorrect programming of the read-write center and to achieve its maturation until it is fully functional. That is the basic principle of the Crealern Method.

Therapy of the dysfunctional read-write center

The Crealern Method is based on Held's therapeutic educational therapy. Here, the developmentally delayed (retarded) and dysfunctional brain center is made functional again from the periphery through targeted training of its function, which at the same time mobilizes its subsequent maturation.

Since dyslexia is a disruption of the elementary basic functions of the reading-writing center, the resulting spelling and / or reading errors occur regardless of age and do not look any different in 14-year-old high school students than in 8-year-old elementary school students. This makes it understandable that the training of these disturbed basic functions must always be the same regardless of age.

In the treatment of dyslexia according to Held, the principle of every training applies: the simple basic exercises, which are necessary to build up a differentiated performance, must be repeated over a long period of time with absolute regularity without too long intervals (biologically effective rhythm) but also without exaggeration. Excessive demands should be avoided.

The starting point of the Crealern method is to feed the read-write center with letters via various access routes. This happens through the eyes , ears , sense of touch and the motor skills of the writing hand. According to Held's statements and the application of the Crealern method, it has been shown that the feeding and thus the training effect is all the more intense if as many of these access routes as possible are used at the same time. And finally it turned out that with this method of training the basic functions not only spelling but also reading is trained.

Methods

The dyslexia therapy developed by Held is based on the storage principle shown and aims to feed in incorrectly or inadequately stored elementary data (letters) for reading-writing.

An important part of the therapy is the typewriter or computer exercise, which is suitable for daily individual treatment at home. This is an audio-visual-motor method in which the read-write center is fed with individual letters while using as many access routes as possible (eye, ear, motor skills, sense of touch) at the same time. In contrast to pedagogical treatment methods, reading and writing are not trained as end functions, but the elementary basic information for reading-writing is programmed and stored. Since this storage process is a molecular biological process, the time factor and the principle of constant repetition (biological learning principle) play an important role.

Held's dyslexia therapy is not a training based on educational aspects, but rather a treatment based on brain and sensory physiology. This therapy is not about a step-by-step training that builds up to the next level when the previous level is mastered, but about a constant repetition of the same elementary information until it literally becomes flesh and blood. H. can be stored molecularly biologically.

The Crealern method mainly includes therapeutic play therapy. The children memorize the basic elements of reading-writing and arithmetic in a playful way with letters, numbers and quantities. This happens through the various sense organs. Letters (made of wood, cardboard or foam rubber) must e.g. B. can be felt and guessed and quantities are counted with the fingers. These exercises must be done consistently for at least 20 minutes each day.

Dyslexia and school

Dyslexics need constant verbal encouragement and reducing anxiety, especially school-related, is an important part of therapy. There are a number of ways that teachers can do this.

  • Voluntary repetition of grades is beneficial for dyslexics for various reasons: it can compensate for the lack of maturity; this can lead to a sense of achievement that gives a boost; repetition can save time and energy that can be used to overcome dyslexia; and finally, by repeating e.g. For example, in the 4th grade the encounter with the first foreign language as a risk factor was postponed by a year, with the prospect of having sufficiently overcome the dyslexia by then with intensive treatment.
  • If the overall grade in German is broken down into partial grades for reading, essay and language teaching, even in the higher elementary school grades of dyslexics, the overall grade in German is spared the disheartening trauma of a poor German grade. Often, his performance in the sub-areas is much better than in spelling. The spelling assessment should be replaced by the comment "Dyslexia, which is currently being treated."
  • Another constant trauma for dyslexics is the poor grades in untrained dictations . He can also be spared this in various ways: dispensing with grading the number of errors; for the dyslexics in the class, instead of dictation, special tasks in the form of preprinted fill- in- the-blank fillings in which only letters or syllables are to be inserted; or in the form of texts in which different letters have to be searched for and painted (with different colors). This not only saves dyslexics the experience of failure , but also has a much greater practice value for them than conventional dictation.
  • An important part of the therapy is that with dyslexics every improvement tendency is taken as an occasion for encouragement, however relative. If someone with dyslexia made more than 20 mistakes in the dictation earlier and now only makes 10 mistakes, then that is a significant step forward in the course of treatment for dyslexia, but which is reversed with a purely formal grading if he has the same number of errors for both error numbers Gets grade 6. This leads to discouragement and resignation .
  • The measure of suitability for a secondary school should not be the average grade for dyslexics, which is significantly depressed by the poor performance in German and gives a wrong picture. Either the average grade, excluding the German grade, or the level of intelligence determined by the test psychology (here all factors that could inhibit intelligence - retardation, fear, depression , defense, etc. - must be excluded) should be used as the benchmark.
  • The so-called trial half year in secondary schools should be extended to a full year for dyslexics in view of their dyslexia-related impairments in the other school subjects as well. The subject teachers in secondary schools should also be informed about dyslexia and its effects.

Course of treatment

Experience with the Crealern method has shown that - if it is consistently implemented - dyslexics need at least 1 year to overcome their dyslexia.

Early detection , normal intelligence and an intact family environment continue to accelerate and promote the course of treatment . A late manifestation of dyslexia, its late treatment and its extension to foreign languages ​​delay the course of treatment.

Dyslexia that has already been overcome in German can reappear with the first foreign language and can then either be limited to this language or be retrospectively transferred back to the German spelling.

criticism

There is no systematic review or methodically correct proof of the effectiveness of this method.

literature

  • Fritz Held: Brain physiological aspects of the read-write function . In: The pediatrician 5/1978
  • Fritz Held: Dyslexia Primer for Doctors. Development, recognition and treatment of the reading and writing difficulties of the child . Stuttgart 1975
  • Fritz Held: dyslexia and arithmetic weaknesses . In: Ärztliche Praxis , 30/1974

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Fritz Held, Institute for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry: Dyslexia Primer for Doctors: Development, Recognition and Treatment of Reading and Spelling Difficulties in Children . Stuttgart 1975 ( worldcat.org [accessed March 28, 2020]).