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Product Review May 2011 |
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from Carson-Dellosa Publishing, Suggested Retail Price $15.99 
The more senses a child uses in learning something, the more likely the material will stick. This is especially true for hands-on (tactile-kinesthetic)
and visual learners. It is harder for these types of learners to grasp a concept merely by doing worksheet activities. There just isn't enough "involvement"
with the material.
These cards are a great multi-sensory tool for teaching early arithmetic and phonics skills. Each box comes with 26 to 30 cards made of durable, laminated stock that measure 4.5 x 5.5 inches – just right for small hands. The numbers, letters, or words are printed on each card in raised relief, with a beaded texture, and in color. The child can easily touch and feel it, and then follow the formation of it. A green dot indicates where to begin tracing and a red dot indicates where to stop. Directional arrows keep the child on the right track, teaching the correct formation. For an added sense, have the child say the letter, numeral, or word as it is being touched. Learning the formation of the numerals and letters requires training the fine motor muscles to automatically form the letters. To create the necessary muscle memory, children must practice over and over, making the learning seem like busy drill work. Since most children don’t like tedious drill, the practice has to be varied and include as many senses as possible. That’s where these cards can help. Children see it, say it, feel it, and trace it. By involving the child more in the learning task, the less it seems like drill. The multi-sensory experience moves the formations from active working memory to long-term memory quicker. A good way to test to see if the individual card has been mastered is to have the child write the letter or numeral in the air ("sky-writing") with an outstretched arm making the correct formations. The multi-sensory technique is also applied to sight words. Sight words are words that appear frequently in children’s books but do not follow the basic phonics rules taught in the early stages. Examples are put, me, some, and the. Since the only way to learn sight words is through memorization, using the see-say-touch-trace method helps cement learning. The Textured Touch & Trace series includes numerals, uppercase letters, lowercase letters, three sets of sight words, and survival sight words.
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