Aramazu and Dyslexia

Many children who are dyslexic or who have specific learning difficulties have difficulty in telling the time using an analogue clock. They have to remember the difference between two very similar hands, with very little contrast and use the numbers to sometimes tell them the hours and sometimes the minutes, whilst directional confusion exists in deciding whether a hand is pointing to or past the hour.

Aramazu is different and this is how it works for these children. Through three audio books or a Fast Track Book for older children, activities using ‘catch a second’ and ‘Build a minute’ primarily give the children the concept of duration, helping them to feel and sense time. In the audio book differing sounds are used for seconds, minutes and hours in the stories to make these bits of time more significant. These imaginative stories create a memory anchor, where children can see characters climbing up the mountains, up one side and down the other, showing the passage of time and direction around the clock, aided by yellow arrows. A finger is used to illustrate the short hand, it points to the hour time is on. making. Children adopt the habit acquisition approach and use their own fingers to practise pointing to the hour mountains. Through this they can already be successful with o’clock and half past, without even having to remember a number.

Leading on from this, the foot is introduced. The foot has been chosen because feet are good for climbing and following Time as it climbs up and down the Hour Mountains on two huge ladders. Initially these two ladders the TO and the PAST ladder are shown off the clock, so that children can get used to counting steps on the ladders as minutes. The two ladders are then squeezed onto the clock so that children can continue counting the steps up TO the top of the clock or down PAST the top of the clock. Practical activities involve children climbing up TO the top and then pretending to climb PAST the top. This stage needs much practise so that automaticity can be established in order to prevent confusion.
As the pieces are put together, children are given three clues to remember ‘Foot Foot Finger’ which means ‘Which minute, which ladder, which hour’ giving a powerful memory anchor for a child to order the statements involved in telling the time. Finally these children are allowed the success often denied them through traditional methods.