Marcus "in the Classroom"

[MarcusCAG]

So in a post somewhere I believe I mentioned recently that I wanted to start exposing Marcus and Beaker (but especially Marcus) to the concept of the alphabet beyond the familiar ABC Song. My husband and I both read a lot, and I sometimes get the impression that Marcus in particular wonders why we're just staring at these books and not paying him all the attention he might feel entitled to. So I'll tell him "Mommy's reading" or some such, but I want him to have an idea--if possible--of what I'm actually doing when I tell him that.

 

Of course, the past success of one particularly famous African Grey and his vocal identification of visual representations of various phonemes that make up words (goodness, let me just call it reading!!) makes me even more curious about this endeavor. Not that I am expecting or not expecting anything with Marcus--I'm just curious what he'll do with all this.

 

To begin with, he just seems to love the letters themselves. I won't let him hold them or touch them; they're the Melissa & Doug variety but I still wonder if they might not be so good for him to chew on (and who wants mangled letters?). Anyway, I also got a little magnetized easel kind of thing so that I could be kind of like Vanna White or something while I'm spelling out the words, haha. Marcus said "OooOOOooohhh!" a lot in the beginning but he's quickly seeming to get the idea, in his own little way, that this is a fun game and maybe, maybe, maybe he's understanding that what I'm showing him might relate in some other way to other things in his life.

 

For instance, last night I decided to have an impromptu lesson with the boys. I've spelled out their names for them a couple of times and made a big deal out of the individual sounds the letters represent, but I thought maybe they'd want to see something else spelled out. Yet while I was opening the box with the alphabet letters in it, from his spot perching on his open cage door, Marcus mumbled something and then said quietly, "Letters."

 

"That's right," I told him, "these are your alphabet letters."

 

He watched me for another moment or two, and then Marcus mumbled again and added softly, "Reading words."

 

"That's right!" Oh, I was delighted! "We're going to be reading some words!"

 

And today, during another impromptu lesson, I spelled out words I thought might be of more interest to the boys than some others: 'book' and 'chicken', for instance (Beaker in particular loves chicken!). After that, I asked the boys what word they wanted me to spell next--again, just to see if I might get a reply at all, because Marcus isn't always chatty when I necessarily want him to be. But Marcus said, "Okay!" so I ended up spelling out the word 'okay', haha. Following that, I realized that I might be even losing Marcus' interest, so I asked the boys if they wanted me to spell out some more words for them, or if they wanted me to stop for the time being.

 

"Whatever," Marcus said.

 

So I put the alphabet letters aside for the moment and told them I would resume their lesson later. And for whatever it's worth, I think it's nice time spent with the two of them, but I honestly think Marcus is very intrigued by those pretty, colorful wooden letters. When my husband (yay!) actually took my suggestion and played with the letters with them after I did last night--I don't want the boys to think only I can spell things out--he spelled out 'wings' and 'food', and he made the "ffffff" sound of the "F" when he held it up for Marcus to see. Marcus was on the floor at that point, and he made a little "ffffff" sound too. I kind of think that was just a coincidence, but my husband was just tickled and thought he was trying to imitate him. So, we'll see. But I wanted to let everyone know how it's going so far, I will admit I have this little daydream that Marcus will be able to identify the letters and their respective sounds after a while, but what does it matter even if he doesn't? We're having a lot of fun right now, and that's what's important.

[Eshana]

What an amazing story! To be honest, I completely believe that a Grey could learn to read, being that their intelligence level is potentially that of a five year old.

[danmcq]

Wonderful story of your endeavor and Marcus's response with the letters!

 

I look forward to plenty of updates on the progress with this.

[Shelly Yokum]

This is great, I believe he might just be able to read, I have know of some identifying letters and numbers, and some can do simple math. So why not? Who knows Marcus may become famous to others more than just here on the forum.

[MarcusCAG]

So I've been "working" with Marcus and Beaker a bit more with the magnetized alphabet letters. Marcus still is very interested in this new game and usually lets me get thorough about four or five words before his interest seems to start drifting.

 

He particularly likes the letter 'S'. I will hold it up and he will mimic the sound: "Ssssss!" Last time I held up a letter 'T' next and he made the "Ssssss!" sound again, so I told him it was tuh, tuh instead. He still kind of wanted to make the 'S' sound so I tried to call my hubby in for a little M/R, but he didn't hear me, so I just dropped the issue and spelled out some other things for them.

 

Yesterday I was holding a book that had big print on one of the pages, and since Marcus seemed curious about what I was doing with it, I told him I was "reading words" out of the book, like he does with the alphabet letters. I pointed out some letters we've covered a few times, like the letter 'B' (he may remember that from the name "Beaker"), and Marcus was staring at the page intently... so maybe. Maybe something's clicking. I don't know.

 

It is a fun little 'game' I can play with him though, he loves those letters, and even if Beaker isn't picking them up like Marcus may be, he still acts interested sometimes too--just for the attention I think, haha. But it's nice for all of us, it's fun.

[Morana]

Wow, great endeavor! I think I'll be spelling out to my Zak too:-)

[Birdnut]

This is really great work you're doing with Marcus. I can't wait to hear more about his progress. Who knows what these guys are capable of.

[MarcusCAG]

Nothing groundbreaking, sorry. Most letters seem to be either the sound "Ssssss!" or "Shhhh!" to Marcus, regardless of how I enunciate puh or guh or whatever the letter of the moment is. I will say that we have not done any M/R with Marcus in terms of the alphabet letters and their corresponding sounds, I have yet to snag my husband and coerce him into being the much-needed model/rival for such an endeavor. I'm thinking that might make a difference in helping pinpoint Marcus' accuracy (and helping motivate him to pronounce other sounds).

 

One nice thing, though, was the other afternoon when I took them out, I pretended to ask Beaker first, ignoring Marcus, so almost automatically I had Marcus' full attention. I also kept the session very short, maybe two or three minutes long, and as I announced that I was "putting the letters away in their box now", Marcus made his little sigh of regret with an accompanying lowering of his head. I asked him something to the effect of, "What, do you want to keep reading words?" And Marcus said, "I like it." So, there you have it, folks! At least he's enjoying this little 'game' of ours and hopefully with time I will be able to fine-tune our interactions regarding the alphabet letters a bit better.

[Eshana]

I've been bragging about this to my family, who are incredibly interested in your progress. Do you feel like he is able to recognize other letters besides 'S' and just chooses not to?

[MarcusCAG]

I've been bragging about this to my family, who are incredibly interested in your progress. Do you feel like he is able to recognize other letters besides 'S' and just chooses not to?

 

Hee-hee! You're so sweet.

 

But yes, actually, I am quite convinced he can recognize the alphabet letters as being different from one another. Marcus understands that I want him to respond when I hold up a letter, and that seems to be 'the important thing' to him--so much so that sometimes he won't even wait for me to hold one up for him to see completely, like I'll still be pulling it out of the box and flipping it around in my hand, and he'll make his hissing little "Sssss!" sound. (Obviously his favorite, for whatever reason!)

 

It's kind of like with food with him: everything's a "french fry" (ugh! evil former owners!) but if I start listing familiar food and treats to him, apple, birdie cookie, almond, cranberry... he'll get all excited, he knows what I'm talking about. But if I hand him a piece of banana, it's a french fry; if I give him a carrot, it's a french fry. I don't think he sees the necessity to differentiate vocally between these various things. I get that feeling from him at this point, too, with the alphabet letters. Which is why, again, I think some real M/R training would work very well in helping him understand why he might bother to separate these concepts, vocally. So I just have to grab my hubby in a rare free moment or two for some M/R and we'll see what happens, in time...

[Eshana]

Well, regardless I still would love to read more once you get your husband to work with you!

[munch]

Hey!

 

I teach special education and I was wondering if to aid teaching Marcus to read you should add meaning and context. Sure, sounds are fun but they have no meaning. Reading is communication; if you teach Marcus to communicate via words then letters would have value and importance to him rather than "SSSSSSS" is a fun sound. Btw, the "SSSSSSssss" sound is always one of the first that children get. That sound and a couple others. "bbBB" is another favorite. Marcus is starting out reading just like majority of students with the "SSsssss' and "Bbbbbbbb" sounds. When students have serious impairments they often say "ssssssS" and "bbbbbbbb' for every letter!

[Eshana]

Hey!

 

I teach special education and I was wondering if to aid teaching Marcus to read you should add meaning and context. Sure, sounds are fun but they have no meaning. Reading is communication; if you teach Marcus to communicate via words then letters would have value and importance to him rather than "SSSSSSS" is a fun sound. Btw, the "SSSSSSssss" sound is always one of the first that children get. That sound and a couple others. "bbBB" is another favorite. Marcus is starting out reading just like majority of students with the "SSsssss' and "Bbbbbbbb" sounds. When students have serious impairments they often say "ssssssS" and "bbbbbbbb' for every letter!

 

That's so interesting! Often I read people comparing the way greys act to that of a functioning autistic child. I myself have a large interest in autistic and asperger education. Perhaps if you picked up a book on early childhood education for autistic children, you can apply those methods to your "classroom" teachings!

[MarcusCAG]

Thank you so much for the input, munch and Eshana!

 

Yes, I do read to Marcus occasionally from children's picture books, but they don't seem to capture his attention like the alphabet letters do. Maybe I should get some with pictures of parrots, haha! (He does like paging through the Drs. Foster & Smith catalog that comes in the mail sometimes--he giggles whenever he sees a Grey!) When I spell out words, and I'm not just trying to teach him the sounds of the letters particularly, I'll spell out things that he knows and is familiar with, like "book" and "toy" and such (as opposed to "zebra" or "rocket" or something). So I hope that some concept of the context is being imparted to him that way. By no means do I think I'm an expert with this or that I'm doing everything 100% correctly! I am trying, though, and I appreciate everyone's advice with this. But what I really want is for Marcus to just continue being interested in this process, to continue to see it being fun like a 'game', and hopefully with enough time he'll really start making connections in his little head, especially if I can get some M/R thrown into the mix, too.

[MarcusCAG]

I almost forgot to post about this, haha, bad me! Last night we actually got to do a little M/R with Marcus and the alphabet letters. My husband's been very busy with work lately and hasn't been able to spend much time at all with the boys, so last night he plunked himself in their room after dinner and just started hanging out with all of them. I went in later, and since Marcus was on the floor already with him I just pulled out his alphabet letters. He loves the "S" so we did that one, and he got it right; we did a few other letters too, and most of the time my husband was the 'perfect' model/rival, he got them all right. I kind of glared at him once, like, Will you get one wrong for once? And so he did, so I got to correct him, and then I asked Marcus what the letter was. I honestly can't remember exactly now, but I'm pretty sure I had picked up an "M" (like, for 'Marcus'). The thing is, even though no sound came out in spite of our cheering him on ("You can do it, you're a good boy!"--that works so often with so many other things, it's like Marcus needs the reassurance) Marcus definitely was working his beak differently. I got the impression he was feeling kind of shy, and that's why he didn't actually try and say the letter out loud... but the movement was there. He was thinking something in his head but he just didn't follow through completely. He did this another time too. About then my husband told me we'd done enough for the night, and I should put his alphabet letters away.

 

So... it's a bit frustrating, it's kind of stop and go, I show Marcus the letters by myself and spell out words, but apparently the fastest route to anything tangible will be through the regular practice of M/R. Hm. Can I teleport anyone over here to help me with this endeavor?

[Vumes]

This is my first time reading this thread, and this is very fascinating to me. I can't wait to keep reading more updates to this continuing story. Thanks for posting!

[chezron]

Keep us posted with more stories. Really exciting!