From hopernch, About.com Guest
This About.com article shows a unique approach to using a child's obsessions for learning.
Learning Problem:
Developmental delays and ADHD
What I Do:
This was simple for me to come up with. My son ONLY cares about wheels ... pushing anything that rolls since 9 months old. I enjoyed watching him grow so strong physically doing this for years inside and out in the driveway. As a first grader, it became more worrisome, We needed him to expand his interests to letters and words. His teacher and I worked every day with him, but no way he was interested in books. I took his teacher's sight word list for the year, some index cards, cellophane tape and his beloved huge tote container of Hot Wheels vehicles to help him see the words in his world.
How I Do It:
Using lower case letters, I printed as neat as I could all the important words to learn during the first grade year, I then trimmed and taped the words to each vehicle. We had great fun running these morphed teaching cars and trucks all over the table, reading and repeating each one I touched. After he was more familiar with the beginning sounds, I would ask him to find the 'his' car or the 'as' car and make a train of words.
Lessons learned:
For as long as they lasted (next time I use glue), all the kids really enjoyed searching for the 'the' car or the 'so' fire truck. When I found one under my feet, I would get excited and say "Hey, what word is this?" It was a fun twist to a common toy. My son has made remarkable leaps of pre-reading steps and he likes to sound out words and phonetically write stories. I am so proud of his efforts.
from: www.About.com