Edmark Reading Program / Whole Language...

[hsmamainva]

I pulled my Kindergartener out of school last week -- long story! She was very frustrated and getting her to even go to school was a struggle.

 

Btw...she has autism and an expressive language disorder (she understands more than she can speak, in other words)

 

I'm now in the process of setting up her curriculum for next year and I have all of my bases covered except for reading.

 

My other three children all learned to read phonetically - my oldest with Abeka, my second child with AlphaPhonics, and my third child with Sing, Spell, Read & Write.

 

They were using the Edmark Reading Program with my daughter in Kindergarten and I was told that she was doing beautifully with it, so I'm trying to decide if I want to purchase Edmark and just continue to use that, since my daughter's familiar with it, or if I should use a phonics program, such as Sing, Spell, Read & Write with her and forget the whole language approach.

 

Any thoughts??

[Kathy in MD]

Edmark has/had several computer programs to teach reading. They used to have a phonics program in two levels that used speech recognition. Unfortunately our computer, many, many years ago, didn't have the power to take full advantage of the program. It seemed to be a good basic program. I don't think it stretched the sounds out to help children with sound dexcrimination problems. OTOH, it was fun and didn't require parent time to drill phonics. That might be a very fun supplement for your child if she's progressing well with speech.

 

I don't remember much about Bailey's book House on CD-ROM and when we had it, I didn't know much about phonics and de-codable readers. But I always liked the Edmark products(unfortunately ds only liked some), so I imagine it was fairly decodable.

[Ottakee]

For reading I REALLY like the I See Sam books http://www.iseesam.com or http://www.roadstoeverywhere.com/3RsPlusRead.html They can bring him up to a mid 3rd grade level. For reading drills and spelling I really like Apples and Pears Spelling and Dancing Bears reading http://www.soundfoundationsbooks.co.uk/

 

For other subjects, my girls with special needs are doing very well with ACE Paces http://www.aceministries.com There are 12 paces (little workbooks) per year per subject. They are very carefully sequenced and the child must master one concept before moving on. There are placement tests as well to make sure he is placed at the proper learning level.

[JFSinIL]

Please look into using Reading Reflex (see Amazon for more info) as if anything can help a kid to learn to read (phonics) it is this system. With Edmark/sight words she will have functional reading skills but not be a reader (if that makes sense.) The folks who sell RR also offer tons of $$$ materials,etc. - but you can get by with just the $15 book and the time to make your own notecards for the letter sounds, etc. At least read the first chapters in RR to help you figure out what to do.

[oceandaughter]

I like Teach a Child to read with Children's Books.

[Becki in IN]

We were told by the neuropsych to use a whole language/sight program for dd. At the time I looked at Edmark, but couldn't afford it. She did have a good phonetic base from the Basic Code in Reading Reflex, but could not go on. We used Pathway Readers which is published by the Amish for their schools. It is like what I learned with when a kid; the Tom, Dick and Jane books. I also made word cards for each of the new words in a story, and we constantly reviewed those. Many told us including people on this board that she would never read past 2nd Grade level using this approach. She is finishing 3rd Grade and just read all 15 books in the Warriors series in 11 weeks time. This child is in PS right now so she only reads in the evening. The Warriors series is a 5th or 6th grade reading level book. We just got her neuropsych test results and her reading is now where it should be. I hope that encourages you.