Claire-help-I need quick reprise of info you posted on

[Catherine]

old boards-about how to start with a nearly 12 yo boy who cannot read fluently. My nephew-goes to ps. I think you recommended Rewards first, then if no improvement, vision therapy? And your daughter also was helped by cognitive skills training? What program did you use? How did you get testing done? Thank you so much!!

[Claire]

I'll try, but it would help to have more specifics. Did you post as Catherine on the old boards? I could probably look up your original post to refresh my memory.

 

If I suggested Rewards, then the boy must be able to read at a basic level. Rewards is good for students who can sound out one-syllable words (including nonsense words!) fairly fluently. This usually means at least an ending 3rd grade or beginning 4th grade reading level before starting Rewards.

 

Rewards Intermediate was designed for upper elementary students and I would use this if his oral vocabulary is at the elementary level.

 

If his oral vocabulary is very good, I would use Rewards Secondary. I used Rewards Secondary with my dd and a neighbor boy when they were 10yo and 11yo, and it worked very well for them. I just used the higher level words as oral vocabulary lessons, explained the meanings, had them use them in a sentence, etc.

 

I personally prefer the layout of Rewards Secondary because *everything* in each lesson is scripted for you. The format changed a little with Rewards Intermediate, which came out later -- still scripted, but to me a more confusing layout because they added options classroom teachers wanted. For either program, you need to purchase the Teacher's Guide (all of the scripting is in there!) and a student workbook. Total cost with shipping is about $100. Buy two workbooks if you want to resell the set on the swap board. These are popular programs and resell at about $45 ppd for a set.

 

Rewards Secondary has 20 lessons that can be completed in about 25 hours of one-on-one. Both RS and RI are *very* efficient at teaching multi-syllable word attack skills. About halfway through each program, lessons start incorporating repeated readings to work on fluency.

 

If the 12yo can't do Rewards at all, he probably needs to work on basic decoding skills (segmenting, blending). If he gets through Rewards but remains disfluent, that would be a red flag to get his vision tested. See this Children's Vision Website for information about vision problems not evaluated in regular eye exams.

 

My dd needed vision therapy for multiple severe visual efficiency problems that her regular opthalmologist never caught. VT was able to correct her visual efficiency problems, but her reading remained disfluent. (She also had severe phonemic awareness delays.) Cognitive skills training developed both visual *processing* skills (next level of development after visual efficiency) and phonemic awareness skills (automaticity of segmenting and blending skills) very efficiently. The program we did was PACE . The company has since launched a franchised program called LearningRx . They used to have a home program, but that is no longer available. I can't say enough good things about PACE. At the beginning of the program, my dd was a very disfluent reader of Berenstain Bear books. By the end of that program (with no other reading instruction), she was reading the first Harry Potter book out loud fluently. She was 10yo at the time.

[Catherine]

This is very much what I needed. Thank you so much for spending the time to type it all out. I have a better idea now of how to search the old style boards. Thank you again!