SET: The Family Game of Visual Perception
BUILDS COGNITIVE SKILLS
BUILDS COGNITIVE SKILLSSET is a card game. The 81 cards have four attributes: color, symbol, shading, and number. It can be played solitaire, or with a small group. It has won a lot of awards, over 25 at last count. There’s a good reason. It’s both fun and profoundly effective at building cognitive skills. Those foundational learning skills include working memory, logic, and visual processing speed.
That’s not all. Because SET uses color (right brain) and logic (left brain) simultaneously, it increases the neural connections between brain hemispheres, improving the ability to recall learned material and do high-level problem-solving. It also improves access between parts of the brain that process the complex skill of reading.
SET IS GOOD FOR DYSLEXIC STUDENTS
A mistake I often see in dyslexic education is a single-minded focus on reading alone, often just on the phonetic part of reading. Focusing entirely on the weakest skill is demoralizing and frustrating for the student. All students flourish when their strengths are recognized and celebrated.
Dyslexic students exhibit outstanding strengths, such as pattern recognition. This strength allows them to excel at a game like SET, building confidence and a sense of mastery. In fact, my dyslexic students usually beat me as soon as they learn the game! At the same time, playing the game opens neural pathways between brain hemispheres, making learning to read easier.
SET ENHANCES MATHEMATICAL THINKING
The concept of finding sets, on which this game is built, is fundamental in math. The game encourages the ability to sort by various categories, in ever-changing ways. This translates into thinking about math at a deeper level than just memorizing facts.
Dyslexic students are often talented in math but think they aren’t. Because they stumble over the reading and writing parts of math, they may get bad grades. SET is one way to let them shine while encouraging exactly the kind of thinking that will benefit them in the future. They can start practicing sorting symbols (a huge part of both reading and math) using these colored cards with just four different symbols. It’s a great stepping stone to math and reading!
FIVE STARS; HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR DYSLEXIC STUDENTS:
Reviewed by Yvonna Graham, M.Ed.
@GrahamYvonna