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LMB Screening - Seeing Stars?


MomOfABunch
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I took DD tonight for her screening at Linda Mood Bell. The screening was do find out if she was able to do their full evaluation. DD worked with the center director, who turned out to be a psychologist. She was GREAT with DD! I have to admit, I was surprised. I wasn't expecting her to know how to work with DD, but she was ready with tokens and a toy chest! DD came out smiling.

 

After the screening (45ish minutes), the director talked with me. She hit on DDs obvious weaknesses but also said that she would probably start her in the Seeing Stars program, pending the results of their full evaluation.

 

I was anticipating a flop, but it turned out to be a great experience.

 

Can anyone tell me about Seeing Stars? Can I do it myself?

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You can search for Seeing Stars on the forum, to see if people have used it.  I am not sure, I think people have used it, though.  LMB products are available at Gander Publishing (I have looked into Lips more).    

 

You could ask if it could be used at her school.  That is an option and I would try for it, it never hurts to ask, or to make a case for why it would be a good program for her (you might find they are doing similar things with her at school already, or that they are not but would be willing to).  

 

Regardless of what you decide -- congratulations on your daughter doing well at the screening!  Way to go!   

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I use LMB Visualizing & Verbalizing. The program is much more than the books, so teacher guide is an absolute must. LMB has various training programs too.

 

A friend of mine took her ds out of school every afternoon for about half a year to do Seeing Stars. He went from not reading to being fluent and on or above level. Mother was thrilled. Thank goodness she had the funds, as the program is $$$.

 

There is one WTM member who posted a few years ago about working for LMB. I think she taught Seeing Stars. She said that most of the people who worked in her center had minimal training and minimal pay. She was not impressed. I googled and found similar complaints, but this was a few years ago and probably varies by location. That and the high cost of the program made me do V&V on my own.

 

A number of posters here who have considered SS have ended up with Barton, so that might be another avenue to pursue.

 

I do actually know of some school districts who got a teacher trained in SS for one student's IEP, and then implemented the program more widely. It is expensive because it is not for larger groups.

 

This is for your dad 12, right? What is she using now?

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You can search for Seeing Stars on the forum, to see if people have used it. I am not sure, I think people have used it, though. LMB products are available at Gander Publishing (I have looked into Lips more).

 

You could ask if it could be used at her school. That is an option and I would try for it, it never hurts to ask, or to make a case for why it would be a good program for her (you might find they are doing similar things with her at school already, or that they are not but would be willing to).

 

Regardless of what you decide -- congratulations on your daughter doing well at the screening! Way to go!

Thank you! Her IEP is next week. I'll see if they will. I doubt it, but it's worth a try!
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I use LMB Visualizing & Verbalizing. The program is much more than the books, so teacher guide is an absolute must. LMB has various training programs too.

 

A friend of mine took her ds out of school every afternoon for about half a year to do Seeing Stars. He went from not reading to being fluent and on or above level. Mother was thrilled. Thank goodness she had the funds, as the program is $$$.

 

There is one WTM member who posted a few years ago about working for LMB. I think she taught Seeing Stars. She said that most of the people who worked in her center had minimal training and minimal pay. She was not impressed. I googled and found similar complaints, but this was a few years ago and probably varies by location. That and the high cost of the program made me do V&V on my own.

 

A number of posters here who have considered SS have ended up with Barton, so that might be another avenue to pursue.

 

I do actually know of some school districts who got a teacher trained in SS for one student's IEP, and then implemented the program more widely. It is expensive because it is not for larger groups.

 

This is for your dad 12, right? What is she using now?

I've been looking at the kit, that may be the best option. I would love to sign her up to work with the center director - she was great. That would be worth the $115 an hour. I was not impressed with the rest of the staff. I saw exactly what you described above. They're paid $15 an hour - they're advertising on craigslist. It crossed my mind to apply and go to the 2 week training and then quit! Is that terrible? Lol. I guess that won't work now that I've met them!!

 

DD failed the Barton placement test. That's why I thought to try LIPS in the first place.

 

Right now she's using reading mastery - it's based on how to teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons. It's going miserably.

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Thank you! These were very helpful and, I think, answered my question!

 

I've used portions of Seeing Stars and am familiar with the program, although it's been a while.  I'll be happy to answer your questions if I can. 

 

As to the question if you can do it yourself, many parents can--but I don't know you or your particular skill sets. Since dyslexia and reading problems can run in families, and some parents face other challenges, (such as English being a second language, spoken with a thick accent) I can't say for sure if you can or not.  ;)  Another program that I use more is Barton, (it was Barton that referred me to LMB and their LiPS program). There is a tutor screening on the Barton website at bartonreading.com , just to make sure that the potential tutor can hear the sounds.  That would be helpful to do before trying to do a program like Seeing Stars on your own.

 

I like Lindamood-Bell products. Lindamood-Bell sells their Seeing Stars product line through Gander Publishing, but you might also check out ebay for used versions.  I started with the Lindamood-Bell manuals, and then order additional materials from Gander Publishing.  Lindamood-Bell does offer training, but I've never had their formal training aside from a dvd and viewing some online videos. (Somewhere on the internet in the past I found Nanci Bell giving presentations on her programs at education conferences.) The training manual is a good resource, and after looking over the manual, you might have a better idea about if you can do it yourself or not. 

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I've been looking at the kit, that may be the best option. I would love to sign her up to work with the center director - she was great. That would be worth the $115 an hour. I was not impressed with the rest of the staff. I saw exactly what you described above. They're paid $15 an hour - they're advertising on craigslist. It crossed my mind to apply and go to the 2 week training and then quit! Is that terrible? Lol. I guess that won't work now that I've met them!!

 

DD failed the Barton placement test. That's why I thought to try LIPS in the first place.

 

Right now she's using reading mastery - it's based on how to teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons. It's going miserably.

 

I should have read the rest of the thread before replying :o.

 

Okay, I had a similar experience of not being impressed with the LMB center staff, although I love LMB's products.  I didn't even take my son to the clinic because over the phone the clinic director tried directing me away from LiPS and towards Seeing Stars.  I wanted LiPS as my ds had failed a section of the Barton screen as well. (It was far away and costly anyway--and I was very pregnant at the time.)

 

Are you interested in Seeing Stars because the director was steering you towards it, or do you think that your child doesn't need LiPS?  Have you tried calling Susan Barton for advice based on what section of the prescreening your dd failed?  If she recommended LiPS, look for LiPS.  I could tell you more about that.  I prefer LiPS over Seeing Stars as LiPS is highly unique among reading programs. It requires more training and is therefore probably more costly and less profitable for the centers, which is why I think the direct at a LMB clinic tried telling me that "hardly any children need LiPS".  Or maybe many children don't need LiPS, but it's what my son needed.  Susan Barton didn't recommend my trying LiPS at home, but I didn't have a lot of options at that time, being 9 months pregnant and far away from anyone who could or would do LiPS with him. 

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DD failed the Barton placement test. That's why I thought to try LIPS in the first place.

 

I have to agree with Merry about doing whatever Barton says for the sections she failed on the pre-test.  Did you look back through?  It depends on whether they failed sections A and B or only section C.  If only section C, she has totally different suggestions.  http://www.bartonreading.com/students_long.html#screen

 

How is your IEP meeting going?  Are you expecting to receive any services as a result?  

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I should have read the rest of the thread before replying :o.

 

Okay, I had a similar experience of not being impressed with the LMB center staff, although I love LMB's products. I didn't even take my son to the clinic because over the phone the clinic director tried directing me away from LiPS and towards Seeing Stars. I wanted LiPS as my ds had failed a section of the Barton screen as well. (It was far away and costly anyway--and I was very pregnant at the time.)

 

Are you interested in Seeing Stars because the director was steering you towards it, or do you think that your child doesn't need LiPS? Have you tried calling Susan Barton for advice based on what section of the prescreening your dd failed? If she recommended LiPS, look for LiPS. I could tell you more about that. I prefer LiPS over Seeing Stars as LiPS is highly unique among reading programs. It requires more training and is therefore probably more costly and less profitable for the centers, which is why I think the direct at a LMB clinic tried telling me that "hardly any children need LiPS". Or maybe many children don't need LiPS, but it's what my son needed. Susan Barton didn't recommend my trying LiPS at home, but I didn't have a lot of options at that time, being 9 months pregnant and far away from anyone who could or would do LiPS with him.

Hmmm. The center director recommended LiPS when I spoke with her on the phone before the screening. After working with DD, she said she would probably start with Seeing Stars and use a little LiPS if necessary, as the programs essentially addressed the same problem. However, her assistant was giving me a tour while DD had her screening. I asked 1,001 questions, of course! In a nutshell, very few of the staff at the site had been trained in LiPS, and those who had spent like 1 day on it, max. And hadn't been using it, since they had no kids using it. When I asked to look at the manual, he had to go look for it...and found it sometime later. In a storage closet. It was a little rediculious.

So now that I've had some time to reflect, I don't think taking her there for service is what needs to happen at this point, for any program. I'm more inclined to try LiPS, I think at this point. There is a huge speech component to her reading deficits.

 

New question: if my goal is to bring her skills up enough to do Barton, what LiPS materials do I need? Do I need the whole kit? What pieces were the most needed or helpful?

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I have to agree with Merry about doing whatever Barton says for the sections she failed on the pre-test. Did you look back through? It depends on whether they failed sections A and B or only section C. If only section C, she has totally different suggestions. http://www.bartonreading.com/students_long.html#screen

 

How is your IEP meeting going? Are you expecting to receive any services as a result?

Dd gets a lot of services. She's in a private day placement, an ABA based private school. She's fully self contained and gets a lot of related service hours.

Her IEP was this morning. It mostly went well, though this year I'm really having to be the squeaky wheel :/. My major focus today was not letting them take her 1:1. I succeed in that at least! We discussed reading at length. They can do Wilson with her, unofficially as no one is officially trained but they have the materials. Not sure how I feel about that. If she had the same teacher she had last year, I would be fine with it. But she doesn't. I'm supposed to let them know. We have to meet again to finish her IEP. I've been playing phone tag with the reading specialist, hoping to talk to her soon. I looked up Wilson and it's an O-G program. DD failed sec C of Barton, and she says that if they fail sec C, they're not ready for any O-G program? Ugggggg........

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...

 

New question: if my goal is to bring her skills up enough to do Barton, what LiPS materials do I need? Do I need the whole kit? What pieces were the most needed or helpful?

 

I started with a used LiPS manual off the internet.  LMB has since then updated the manual.  I haven't seen the newer one. After I looked it over the old manual, I ordered several things from Gander, including a LIPS training video on vowels as vowels were a big area of concern. Besides reading the manual, that was the only training I had. I also got their felts for the vowel circle, some pictures of lips and a few other things.  The pictures of lips are definitely needed, but many of the materials (such as the felts) can be created or pulled together at home by someone who is inclined to do that sort of thing. With the newer manual they developed an electronic file for printing off to work with. They offer a variety of materials, many of which basically repeat the other materials, which offers greater variety but is not needed.

 

If you plan to switch over to Barton, you do not need the full kit.  LiPS has some scripting, but not nearly as much as Barton, so I was relieved to move onto Barton with its script as soon as my son was ready.

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I started with a used LiPS manual off the internet. LMB has since then updated the manual. I haven't seen the newer one. After I looked it over the old manual, I ordered several things from Gander, including a LIPS training video on vowels as vowels were a big area of concern. Besides reading the manual, that was the only training I had. I also got their felts for the vowel circle, some pictures of lips and a few other things. The pictures of lips are definitely needed, but many of the materials (such as the felts) can be created or pulled together at home by someone who is inclined to do that sort of thing. With the newer manual they developed an electronic file for printing off to work with. They offer a variety of materials, many of which basically repeat the other materials, which offers greater variety but is not needed.

 

If you plan to switch over to Barton, you do not need the full kit. LiPS has some scripting, but not nearly as much as Barton, so I was relieved to move onto Barton with its script as soon as my son was ready.

Thank you. I'm going to spend some time shopping today!

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My son is doing some Reading Mastery, too.  I think it is going good with him, just extremely slow.  He is still very early in the very first book.  But, he understands the cueing system!  It is a win!  He is doing it one-on-one instead of in a small group.  He is also doing Lexia.  He is not doing Edmark.  He is also doing regular classroom activities and he is able to do some of them. 

 

 

But anyway ----- does your daughter have speech therapy in school?  Will the speech therapist be at the IEP?  Can you call the speech therapist and ask her to look at the Barton screening (or tell her the information) and ASK her if she is seeing these things with your daughter.  Does your daughter have goals related to these skills.

 

B/c these MAY be speech therapy things. 

 

LIPS is also used by qualified speech therapists, or they may do equivalent things without using the exact curriculum. Or maybe they don't.

 

But -- a trained, experienced speech therapist would be awesome for Lips.  Someone with 2 weeks of training -- I would not expect to be as good as a speech therapist.  But, they also might be able to do very well if they are supervised by someone who is good and experienced. 

 

But bottom line ----- ask about this at the IEP.  Ask the speech therapist.  Ask why progress is not being made in Reading Mastery.  Ask if it is b/c of the issues from the Barton screening.  Ask if those are foundational areas for Reading Mastery. 

 

But -- I would try to e-mail or schedule a quick meeting BEFORE the IEP. 

 

If you are thinking of purchasing Lips anyway -- you could ask the speech therapist or whoever is doing Reading Mastery with her, if they would use Lips with her, maybe they would.  I would ask separately to see if either of them would say yes.  Print off some info about why you think it will be helpful, or ask what they are doing to target the areas. 

 

But in the nicest and most respectful way possible, etc.  But, I think it is a good case, to say it would help her to do the same thing at home and school, and you think it would help her progress, and maybe she can go back to Reading Mastery after she has made progress in Lips (if this is a consideration), etc.   

 

I would also ask about how Reading Mastery is being implemented, how the groupings are done, how often it is done, her participation, her performance, etc. etc.  B/c -- I do think Reading Mastery is a solid program.  I think if they are going to use it at school anyway (if this is what the vibe is) then maybe there is a reason in how it is implemented that is the reason it is not going well. 

 

It is your daughter's reading, though.  Whatever you can do to try to find out answers for why she is not making progress, it is worth trying to find out.  But I would think of two angles.  Angle #1 -- some foundational skill needs to be addressed, by lips or speech therapy, as seen by the Barton screening and maybe another speech therapy eval (or there may be another kind of eval that goes along with the Barton screening -- that would eval for the things the Barton pre-screen is screening for).  Then angle #2 -- Reading Mastery is a good program for her, but it is not being implemented in a good way.  Then ask for changes there.  Like -- more time, smaller group, better reinforcement (if she did good with a treasure box at the LMB center, then can she have a treasure box for Reading Mastery, or something similar that is motivating to her?), more supervision from the resource teacher if it is an aide implementing the program, etc. etc. etc.

 

Or possibly angle #3 is Reading Mastery is just not the right program for her.  But it is supposed to be a good program for a very beginning student with autism (this is my son).  But maybe it is being used generically and it is not the right fit for her. 

 

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My son is doing some Reading Mastery, too.  I think it is going good with him, just extremely slow.  He is still very early in the very first book.  But, he understands the cueing system!  It is a win!  He is doing it one-on-one instead of in a small group.  He is also doing Lexia.  He is not doing Edmark.  He is also doing regular classroom activities and he is able to do some of them.  This sounds a lot like my daughter.

 

 

But anyway ----- does your daughter have speech therapy in school?  Will the speech therapist be at the IEP?  Can you call the speech therapist and ask her to look at the Barton screening (or tell her the information) and ASK her if she is seeing these things with your daughter.  Does your daughter have goals related to these skills.  Yes, she gets 6 hours a month - 4 individual and 2 in a group.  This is a good idea that I hadn't thought of. 

 

B/c these MAY be speech therapy things. I definitely think so.

 

LIPS is also used by qualified speech therapists, or they may do equivalent things without using the exact curriculum. Or maybe they don't.

 

But -- a trained, experienced speech therapist would be awesome for Lips.  Someone with 2 weeks of training -- I would not expect to be as good as a speech therapist.  But, they also might be able to do very well if they are supervised by someone who is good and experienced.  

 

But bottom line ----- ask about this at the IEP.  Ask the speech therapist.  Ask why progress is not being made in Reading Mastery.  Ask if it is b/c of the issues from the Barton screening.  Ask if those are foundational areas for Reading Mastery.  Hmm.  I think they probably are related.

 

But -- I would try to e-mail or schedule a quick meeting BEFORE the IEP. 

 

If you are thinking of purchasing Lips anyway -- you could ask the speech therapist or whoever is doing Reading Mastery with her, if they would use Lips with her, maybe they would.  I would ask separately to see if either of them would say yes.  Print off some info about why you think it will be helpful, or ask what they are doing to target the areas. 

 

But in the nicest and most respectful way possible, etc.  But, I think it is a good case, to say it would help her to do the same thing at home and school, and you think it would help her progress, and maybe she can go back to Reading Mastery after she has made progress in Lips (if this is a consideration), etc.   

 

I would also ask about how Reading Mastery is being implemented, how the groupings are done, how often it is done, her participation, her performance, etc. etc.  B/c -- I do think Reading Mastery is a solid program.  I think if they are going to use it at school anyway (if this is what the vibe is) then maybe there is a reason in how it is implemented that is the reason it is not going well.  I am doing Reading Mastery with her, not the school (I'm a licensed SpEd teacher and have used this with my students for years).  She's been getting it almost daily since the summer, 1:1.  The issue with the school is this: up until very, very recently, her behavior has been the sole focus of everything.  She's placed  at this school because they specialize in severe behavioral challenges.   And after a year and a half, DD has completely come full circle.  This is the first year (ever?) that we have been able to even have a serious conversation about academic skills!  The feeling I came away with from IEP meeting #1 is that they are willing to try a variety of things until we find something that works for DD.   They're not sure which direction to go in, and frankly I haven't been either.  At the end of the day,  I don't really care which program she uses, only that she uses some kind of sequenced/comprehensive program that addresses her deficits and that she makes some progress, no matter how small the steps are!

 

It is your daughter's reading, though.  Whatever you can do to try to find out answers for why she is not making progress, it is worth trying to find out.  But I would think of two angles.  Angle #1 -- some foundational skill needs to be addressed, by lips or speech therapy, as seen by the Barton screening and maybe another speech therapy eval (or there may be another kind of eval that goes along with the Barton screening -- that would eval for the things the Barton pre-screen is screening for).  Then angle #2 -- Reading Mastery is a good program for her, but it is not being implemented in a good way.  Then ask for changes there.  Like -- more time, smaller group, better reinforcement (if she did good with a treasure box at the LMB center, then can she have a treasure box for Reading Mastery, or something similar that is motivating to her?), more supervision from the resource teacher if it is an aide implementing the program, etc. etc. etc.   #2 is not relevant because I'm implementing the RM, but you nailed it with #1. I need to get on the phone with the speech therapist.

 

Or possibly angle #3 is Reading Mastery is just not the right program for her.  But it is supposed to be a good program for a very beginning student with autism (this is my son).  But maybe it is being used generically and it is not the right fit for her.  

 

Thank you for your response!  It is tremendously helpful to talk about this with people who get it!

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The advantage of doing the LIPS yourself will be getting the pace/frequency up.  It's more challenging for you to figure out though, so it's trade-offs.  If *you* are going to be tutoring her in Barton then you might as well do the LIPS as well.  That way you learn the methodology and can carry it over into Barton.  I'm finding it's not hard to combine the two thought processes (LIPS and Barton 1), so that basically we'll finish B1 and LIPS at the same time.  I getting ready to order B2.  My suspicion is that we've been covering B2 skills with LIPS as well.  

 

LIPS has been a powerful tool to connect my ds' speech therapy (PROMPT) with what he sees, feels, and then turn it into something he can manipulate with colored tiles and then translate into letters.  It's actually working, so it's amazing.  But there's a sense in which you won't know how far to take LIPS without seeing Barton 1.  Those cryptic instructions of hers (track a cvc syllable, chaint 10 cvc nonsense words) mean a lot more when you actually get B1 and see what she does with them.  That's what made it click for me, when I pulled out my B1 and really read the tm.

 

And frankly, I don't think my ds could handle stopping at cvc with the LIPS magnets.  It's not like he gets those and it all clicks.  I'm taking him through ALL THE STEPS in B1 each week using the LIPS mouths to track.  So you track with the mouths, track with colored squares, and eventually transfer that to letters.  But that's after 20 sessions (4 times a day for a week) that he can go from feeling the new sounds to tracking them.  And because his dyslexia connects to his apraxia (he's not feeling it right, hearing it right, motor planning it right), it's not ENOUGH just to have the mouth pictures for cvc.  Do that same sound with ccv or vcc and he's thrown all over again!!!  So my goal is to build up to doing every sound, every position with the *mouths* and working that to the next level of abstraction and the next.  Because of the apraxia, it's actually easier to merge LIPS and B1, doing the skills for the B1 lesson first with the LIPS manipulatives, then bridging to tracking squares.  

 

At least that's what I'm finding.  And my disclaimer is I taught SWR for 8+ years, did a lot with linguistics where we studied sound production, and have sat in on almost all his ST sessions.  Barton says it's intimidating to pick up LIPS cold, and I can well imagine it.  But that mix does work, at least for us.

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Here, I'm being too cryptic.  I haven't even written down what I've been doing each week, but I'll try.  LIPS has two paths, horizontal and vertical.  With the horizontal path you teach everything upfront and apply, working through the skills (mouths, tiles, letters).  With the vertical path, you start with a very limited field of sounds/mouths, go through all the skills, then CYCLE BACK and start again, adding in more sounds.  Your dd is 12, so I don't know where she should begin.  You would use your judgment.  My ds also needs to connect writing to the sounds and mouths, so I spend a lot of time doing that.  He's a kinesthetic learner, so I try to take advantage of the tactile sensory options.

 

So typical week so far, blending LIPS and B1. 

 

Day 1

session1-new mouths, new sandpaper letters, writing formation, making brother pairs, matching mouths and sandpaper pairs

session 2-write letters in the sand as find brother pairs, match to mouths, form cvc words

session 3-same, though change bribe food

session 4-same, change bribe food

 

Day 2

session 1-writing formation of brother pairs, match to mouths

session 2-pairs to mouths, chain cvc words

session 3-same as 2

session 4-pairs to mouths, chain cvc words, attempt break/replace

 

Day 3

session 1-writing formation, match to mouths

session 2-pairs to mouths, chain cvc, attempt break/replace/remove

session 3-same as 2

session 4-pairs to mouths, chain cvc, attempt identify changes

 

Day 4

session 1-writing formation, match to mouths

session 2-pairs to mouths, changes, break/replace/remove

session 3-if going well, attempt to add squares below mouths

session 4-continue with mouths and squares, attempt ccv/vcc

 

Day 5

session 1-writing formation, match to mouths

session 2-pairs to mouths, mouths and squares with cvc, ccv, vcc

session 3-same but with only squares

session 4-attempt with letters

 

That has been a typical week for us, blending LIPS and B1, and for my ds with apraxia it's AWESOME.  All those things make sense if you have the Barton manual in front of you.  He could NEVER do Barton 1 in isolation because he really needs the support the LIPS process brings.  They just pair really well!  So we're doing that process each week, starting back at the beginning with the simplest skills, because each week he's adding more sounds.  I'm *hoping* (fingers crossed!) we can get through the rest of the sounds in another 2 weeks.  Then we'll spend one more week finishing out the final skills in B1.  

 

So blending them works really well, because it's like we do the skill in LIPS and then do it Barton's way, then go back and add more sounds all over again, doing the skills with LIPS and then with Barton.  Yes, that's a succinct way of putting it.  

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

I'm a former LMB tutor. I got 2 weeks of full-time training, and was thrown into 8 hours a day of tutoring with kids. I felt like the training was as thorough as it could be, but I still didn't feel confident until I'd taught there for a long time! The parents in my area were paying $90/hour, and I was getting paid $13. I have a Master's degree, but other tutors were college students on summer break, and some were regular teachers on their summer break. I didn't feel like the kids were getting $90/hour worth of tutoring, even from me, and I did my very best.  Our two center directors were fabulous, and if I was a parent, I'd insist on my child being taught by them, and only them - and if that wasn't possible, then I'd take my business elsewhere.

 

I would be very hesitant to skip LIPS. A kid I knew over the summer did a full three months of Seeing Stars, and LMB claimed his reading level went from 2nd to 4th grade. Uh.. no way! Two years later he was tested again by a SLP and bam, back at 2nd grade level. The SLP found that he wasn't distinguishing between vowel sounds. Once she began LIPS, he improved very quickly. I am very angry that LMB skipped LIPS. This kid also has ADHD and hardly paid any attention during his sessions - and LMB never told the parents that he wasn't paying attention. I feel the LMB center directors were dishonest.

 

On the other hand, I know a different kid who was also pretty rambuctious, and a summer at LMB changed his life. He's now a fluent reader who says "I LOVE BOOKS!" and carries a book everywhere he goes.

 

Anyway, LMB can be great for some kids and not great for others. If you enroll your daughter, I think you should be very, very informed with who is teaching her, and how she's paying attention. I think you could do the LMB programs on your own - I'm pretty sure you can buy the books on Amazon.

 

Good luck!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm a former LMB tutor. I got 2 weeks of full-time training, and was thrown into 8 hours a day of tutoring with kids. I felt like the training was as thorough as it could be, but I still didn't feel confident until I'd taught there for a long time! The parents in my area were paying $90/hour, and I was getting paid $13. I have a Master's degree, but other tutors were college students on summer break, and some were regular teachers on their summer break. I didn't feel like the kids were getting $90/hour worth of tutoring, even from me, and I did my very best. Our two center directors were fabulous, and if I was a parent, I'd insist on my child being taught by them, and only them - and if that wasn't possible, then I'd take my business elsewhere.

 

I would be very hesitant to skip LIPS. A kid I knew over the summer did a full three months of Seeing Stars, and LMB claimed his reading level went from 2nd to 4th grade. Uh.. no way! Two years later he was tested again by a SLP and bam, back at 2nd grade level. The SLP found that he wasn't distinguishing between vowel sounds. Once she began LIPS, he improved very quickly. I am very angry that LMB skipped LIPS. This kid also has ADHD and hardly paid any attention during his sessions - and LMB never told the parents that he wasn't paying attention. I feel the LMB center directors were dishonest.

 

On the other hand, I know a different kid who was also pretty rambuctious, and a summer at LMB changed his life. He's now a fluent reader who says "I LOVE BOOKS!" and carries a book everywhere he goes.

 

Anyway, LMB can be great for some kids and not great for others. If you enroll your daughter, I think you should be very, very informed with who is teaching her, and how she's paying attention. I think you could do the LMB programs on your own - I'm pretty sure you can buy the books on Amazon.

 

Good luck!

Thank you for sharing your experience!

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