MEANING PHRASE PHILOSOPHY Phrase learning is not new to you. You have been learning this way since infancy. Audio or print meaning phrases trigger your memories. Your mind instantly searches it's data banks to understand new input. The mind reformats the information in ways it can understand. The student making a tell-back is making reformatting choices 1000's of times each sentence.

Meaning Phrase Design

Many phrases are followed by a phrase that explains the first phrase. Some phrase lists group several alternative ways to say the same thing. This makes language acquisition easier for the ESL person. Many of the phrases are followed by a thought continuation phrase. Other phrases are definition phrases or parallel meaning phrases.

Is the quest for meaning
still a driving force after
stroke or injury?

Yes.

Problem:

Injured minds demand
quick answers as soon
as questioning abilities
are re-awakened.

They need quick answers
before they get discouraged
with slow or limited answers.

Injured patients are more responsive
to meaningful phrases
than letters or words.

SOLUTION:

Meaning Phrases and Accelerated Thinking
have been effective
in our classrooms
since 1989.

Both programs change
the balance of success or failure
and create a diversion
from daily concerns.

Both programs instruct with fast input.

Our materials and procedures
rapidly create new memories
for non-injured persons.

It is time to use the programs
with the head injured
and share data on the results.
------------------------

PHRASE DEFINITION

A phrase is a combination
of 2 to 5 words
that instruct or convey meaning.

Phrases are the building blocks
of speaking and writing.

This is true for infants
and adults alike.

Infants hear and respond to phrases
long before they learn letters
and words.

Examples:

Mommy loves you.

Come here.

Smile for daddy.

Body language and sets
of hand signals
are a form of phrases.
-----------------------------

EARLY SPEECH WITH
BODY LANGUAGE PHRASES

Infants quickly learn to use
intelligent body language phrases.

The combination of an eye movement
with an arm motion and a smile
or frown becomes very meaningful.

Add a cry or gurgle
and the infant becomes
a sophisticated communicator.

This happens many months
before the child can speak well.

Many experts say
the average child is capable
of quality speech sounds
at 2.2 years.
------------


DEMAND FOR MEANING

Infant curiosity
is a driving force.

ESL students demand
meaning explanations.

Teachers and parents
question students to see
if they understand the meaning.

Is the quest for meaning
still a driving force after
stroke or injury?

Yes.

Injured minds demand
quick answers as soon
as questioning abilities
are re-awakened.

They need quick answers
before they get discouraged
with slow or limited answers.
--------------------------------

We have seven
phrase-based programs

Peterson Meaning Phrases
Peterson Reading
Study Skills 555
Meaning Searches in freebooks.cc
and subject CDs
Accelerated Thinking 555
Handwriting555
Literacy Free

555 is a very fast study method
that helps you organize,
speak, write and remember
more facts and details.

Note
We can create the search
CDs for your previous
professional areas.

We can have text reader software
read the CDs and Free Books.
------------


MORE DESCRIPTIONS

Meaning Searches and Study Skills 555
are fast ways
to get answers.

The computer can thumb
through thousands
of pages in seconds.

It will find your question
surrounded by context.

It can make another search
every 15 seconds
to get another opinion or context.

5 minutes of searching
finds 20 two-word phrases.

The phrases can be tied together
on a memory pattern.

This gives the student
enough information
to do an oral tell-back to anyone
or a tape recorder.

The quick tell-back
forces the mind to organize
the phrases.

The tell-back is a rehearsal
for the fast write that follows.
-----------------


RETRAINING MINDS

Retraining should be as similar
to original infant training
as possible.

How is this done?

We chorus or copy high-speed
meaning phrase models
with self-correction
rather than teacher correction.

We present many repetitive examples
before correction or criticism.

QUESTIONS

What other kinds of retraining work?

What is getting the best results?

Should other procedures replace 555?

Can more be done?

Is our logic fuzzy?

Is there any downside
other than another possible failure?
-------------


INCLUSION

Are the results better
with a model student/teacher?

Yes.

Inclusion in any group activity
is important.

Can parents or teenagers
be the model teacher?

Yes.

Can a therapist be the model?

Yes.
--------------------

LEARNING PERSPECTIVE

A commentary
about non-criticized
infant and injured learning.

Infant caregivers
don't ask for correct responses.

They simply repeat the sounds.

They pick up the ball
and hand it to the child.

They wipe up spills
repetitively.

If the caregiver wants
to talk to someone
they will probably talk
to the infant.

The talking model is very important
for building pronunciation skills.

Infants benefit from
a period of reduced expectancy.

Any improvement
by the child is accepted
with limited expectancy
and few impatience signals.

The infant is allowed to copy
a graduated learning model.

The best models emphasize
auditory input,
repetitive input
and non-judgmental input.

After a few months the caregiver
starts to send a higher percentage
of impatience
or exasperation signals.

This can slow progress.

A similar situation exists
with brain injury repair.

After a brief period
of very non-critical care
patients and caregivers
can become impatient.

Slow progress is discouraging
for all involved.

Some patients quit trying properly.
-----------


INSTRUCT DON'T CRITICIZE

Forget the following phrases:

That's not the way you do it.

Let me do it for you.

Wrong answer.

Caregivers should make
a major investment of time
as model students for the injured.

Start non-criticized oral input
as soon as possible.

Maximize input in the early stages.

A consensus of experts agree
it is the most effective time .
-------------


NEW OPINIONS
ABOUT BRAIN CELLS

In the past we were told
that brain cells die
and are not replaced.

Now recent research claims that
the brain adds 300 billion
new brain cells per day.

How fast should we train
the newly added cells?

Can the training hook up
new cells with some
of the remaining cells?

Perhaps new cells can be trained
and possibly be hooked up
with old memories?
----------------

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Q.
ARE OLDER MINDS BETTER?

A.
I think so because
of the total accumulation
of input material.

Q.
Are older minds more productive?

A.
Yes, if usage is frequent.

No, if usage is infrequent.

Q.
Are older minds less distracted?

A.
Not distracted by
hormones,
puberty,
financial concerns of youth.

Q.
Are older minds more bored?

A.
Perhaps they are more willing
to spend time on a problem.

A.
Perhaps they are
financially independent
and can concentrate
on the solutions.
------------

HANDWRITING

Go to homework phrases,
choose topic.

Use view to select
larger text size if needed.

Select print.

Trace phrases until legible
then copy phrases.

Listen to tapes while tracing or copying.
-------------

VERBAL INPUT
TEACHES LANGUAGE

Talk and actions
by caregivers
make a big difference.

Recorded meaning phrases
can be run 24 hours per day.
------------------------

INFANT TRAINING

Parental consistency quickly
teaches children when
to expect feedings and diaper changes.

Children quickly learn
to send noisy signals
if the timing is disrupted.

This crying and gurgle talk
is interpreted by parents.

Pronunciation remains mostly unintelligible
until the re-configuration
of the larynx.

Most observers agree
this takes place in the first
four months after the 2nd year.

In the meantime the
child and caregivers rely
on 1000's of body language
signals to supplement
verbal signals.
-------------------------------

HARDWIRING OR ENVIRONMENT?

The extent to which
our actions derive from hard wiring
or cultural environment
will not be possible to prove.

We do know by observation
that an abandoned baby quickly dies.

The degree of attention and physical contact
and verbal enrichment after birth
makes a big difference
in intellectual progress
and school test scores.

It is not a mystery.

Professional and parental observations
allow a cause and effect conclusion.

A learning environment assessment
is more than enough
to explain most
bright and dull children.
-------------------

READING AND THINKING

Your brain and reading.

No one has been inside the brain.

No one knows for sure
what is actually happening.

There seems to be some consensus
among persons that speculate
about what is happening in the brain.

I will also speculate
about the brain and reading
in the following chapters.
------------------------

WHAT IS THE READING PROCESS?

Visual differences in the arrangement
of the letters are matched
with oral and visual experiences
in the brain.

A rapid search
compares the sounds and meanings
of different prefixes or endings.

Sounds of the phrases are compared
to previously identified
sounds and meanings

The mind has a fantastically fast ability
to turn collections of words
into mental pictures or scenarios.

Within milliseconds the mind sorts
through the relevant information
and recalls the scenarios
that seem to fit.
------------------

Teaching meaningful phrases
is much easier than teaching
meaningless letters and words.

Meaning phrases deliver phonetic sounds
at familiar speaking speeds
rather than the slow speeds
of traditional phonics.

Slow phonics may be as hard to learn
as trying to decipher another language.

Slow responses are not as good
as you might think.

Memory is short
and becomes less accurate
after 1 second.

Words and letters are hard
to memorize because they
must be paired
with other words or gestures
to have meaning.

Longer intervals between words
allows time for self criticism
and body language criticism
from the teacher or parent.

CONCLUSION
Avoid teaching letters or words
until the infant or injured
has had months of success
with meaning phrases.
-----------------------------

BACKGROUND QUESTIONS

Were you an early reader?

Were you taught to read with phrase phonics?

Probably.

You learned meaning phrases long before
you went to school.
or even thought about reading.

Endless phrase repetitions during infancy
turn into the complex vocabulary
of a three-year-old.

Then meaningful phrases turn into
the very correct grammar
of the three- and four-year-old child.
----------------------

We learn fast phrase phonics as infants.

This is years before we attempt to match
letter and word symbols on a printed page.

FAILURE TO READ

Approximately one third of children
fail to make the transition from
spoken meaning phrases
to meaningless letters and words.

These student are branded
as poor readers for life.
-------------------------

555 QUESTIONS

How many oral or inner speech restatements
happen during one fifteen minute 555?

Three, three dozen, three million,
three billion?

No one really knows
but the quality of our mind's
selection and processing
seems to be very impressive.

We can increase the memory and usefulness
of the information
by scheduling 555's
for multiple reprocessing
of the material.

These planned 555 sequences
happen very quickly
compared with the leisurely pace
that most people use when they try to study.
--------------------

First 5 minutes -- Input

5 minutes of listening
to an oral reading or recorded input.

Multiple subvocalizations
while writing words and phrases
on the memory pattern.

Active processing and re-processing
of the relevant ideas and supporting details
during note taking.

Quick capture of details
that would have otherwise been overwritten
by following sentences and paragraphs.

This improves memory
and usage of the material.

Input stimulates and allows time for notes
and inner speech reprocessing
of the material.

Result:
Improved memory
and ability to use the material
in a spoken then written form.
-----------------------

Second 5 minutes -- Tellback

Restatements during the tellbacks.

Inner-speech restatements
as you select from the memory pattern
and millions or billions
of information chunks stored in your brain.

This extraordinary selection
and re-selection process
happens in milliseconds.
--------------------

Third 5 minutes -- Fast-write

Inner speech or subvocalization of words
as you construct
your written sentences.

Subvocalizations as you choose
the phrases or chunks of words.
that will make up your sentences.
-------------------------

REWARD MANAGEMENT

Short-term rewards work
to train a new behavior.

Long-term rewards don't actually work
to control behavior.

When only long-term rewards are available
we tend to defer or procrastinate
the necessary effort.

When component parts
of reading and study are painful to us
we tend to avoid the process.

We fear stumbling over pronunciation
or being unable to get the main idea.

When study and reading
cut us off from social contact
we tend to avoid the process.

The rewards for studying
are too far in the future.

The short-term rewards
for social visiting are more valuable.
--------------------

RESTACK REWARDS

Change the rewards of reading
to short term rather than long term.

Accelerated Thinking provides
valuable short-term rewards
every few seconds and minutes.

Benefits:

1.
Hear and enjoy
the words of the writer.

2.
Comprehend new subjects
as we organize them
on the memory pattern.

3.
Limit pronunciation fears.

4.
Limit pronunciation embarrassment
and constructive criticism.

5.
Get to talk to acquaintances
during the tell-back
(a big social reward).

6.
Have predictable opportunities
for someone to listen to you.

(Receiving exclusive attention
while you talk can be very valuable.)

This is one of our few opportunities
to feel accepted by a person
we know and respect.
-----------------------------------

LISTENING ADVANTAGES

We have listened
to the opinions and concerns
of the great writers.

Some of those ideas
help us make up our minds
about our daily lives.

We learn that we
are not alone in facing problems.

Others have had this
or similar problems before.

We learn that many have had
much harder problems to face.
--------------------

Comment

Children will stop what they are doing
to listen to a story.

The same child will procrastinate
about silent reading in quantity.

The reading habits have been cut short
by a long-term reward system.
-----------------

SILENT READING LIMITATIONS

More problems with silent reading:

We have difficulty
comprehending and remembering
when we read orally.

How about the lesser
but similar diversion
of our mind's concentration efforts
while reading silently?

The mind is diverted by:

Trying to subvocalize
unfamiliar words.

Trying to avoid confusing
regressions.

The mind is also discouraged
by overwriting previous material.

Definition:

Overwriting - The immediate loss
of previous information.

Information is replaced
by the next idea to be discussed.

We can make memory patterns
that reduce overwriting
of important concepts.

The pattern will allow us
to tie isolated thoughts
into an organized and logical tell-back.
-----------------

PROBLEM

Having to go back
and try to connect
the old information with the new.

Solution:

Listening to recording allows
auditory interaction with the story.

The mind quickly formulates
the scenarios needed for recall.

We avoid some
of the time-consuming problems
of saying the words
to ourselves as we read.
----------------------------

Disclaimer

This site discusses programs
that may be helpful for persons
with closed head injuries or stroke.

They have been very helpful
for non-brain-injured students.

The materials and procedures
are very successful
with gifted and remedial students.

Some may have had
undiagnosed closed head injuries.

Both programs can be used
with any other therapies.