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Barton or Saxon intervention for dyslexia remediation


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My 10 year old son has just been diagnosed with dyslexia and I am overwhelmed with remediation choices. The Neropsychologist recommended Barton for my son but when she showed me the curriculum it closely resembled the Saxon phonics that I am familiar with. I was just wondering is Barton that much different than The Saxon Phonics Intervention? And is it worth the thousands of dollars? I have no problems spending the money but if there is another program that is comparable for less I would prefer to go that route. Also after reading " The Dyslexia Help Handbook for Parents", I know he is considered to have  Multi-dimensional dyslexia; meaning he is lacking phonemic awareness and has deficits in processing and in memory. Any suggestions would be great. Short and sweet replies would be wonderful seeing's that I am already overwhelmed with reading long and elaborate materials concerning this new diagnosis. Thank you so much for your time.

 

Shawna

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Orton Gillingham (OG) programs like Barton are really a different breed altogether. I can guarantee you there are components in Barton that will not be in Saxon. There are components in Barton that aren't even in other OG programs like AAS. OG is really effective for remediating dyslexia and a big part of that is multi-sensory techniques. I haven't used Saxon personally so I can't compare specifically, but is I can't see how it could possibly be as effective. I use AAS and I still think our time with Barton levels 1-3 was valuable because I have incorporated so many of the Barton techniques into how I teach AAS. We only switched away because I needed an OG program that moved at a little faster pace.

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 I'm impressed you have such a great neuropsych. If I were in your shoes, I would choose Barton, hands down. Materials are reported to resell easily, which should help with cost. There is a screening test before you begin, in case you need to remediate phonemic awareness first. The recommended program for that is called LIPS, I believe. Susan Barton is supposed to be very helpful. Good luck.

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Agree with FP. There are lots of great phonics based programs out there. Barton almost certainly incorporates what those programs do.

 

But Barton and Wilson and other OG based programs that are designed specifically for dyslexic students will go into greater depth, incorporate techniques and review that others just wont. The other programs we tried skipped too many steps, did not incorporate enough multisensory approaches or do enough review in different ways for anything to really click and stick.

 

All that being said, not every child with a dyslexia label needs something like Barton. Some do well with ElizabethB's program. She's great and posts on TWTM (she posted in your other thread) so yiu could ask questions of her.

 

Honestly some kids actually need a different approach altogether. Something like High Noon maybe. It really depends on the child. It will be hard to know until you try, unfortunately.

 

You might do the Barton pre screening to see if you and your son can actually do an OG based program without other remediation first (such as LiPS)...

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Also, if you can't afford Barton, with a little more work, Recipe for Reading is a good OG program that several folks on here have used successfully. I bought it to show to moms of my remedial students as a cheap OG option. I have seen Barton, but did not need it myself so did not buy. I have heard Saxon Intervention is a good program, but have not seen it. If it was not specifically designed for dyslexia, I would get Recipe for Reading as well and use some of the techniques in it. For $27 for a OG system, you cannot go wrong. Recipe for Reading is easier to accelerate than Barton, Barton more open and go.

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I can tell you I've tried to use Saxon 1st and second for 3 years with my dyslexic and it didn't help one lick. (Along with a million other programs, but I kept coming back to Saxon) Barton has made all the difference. And it really is a completely different program. For my child he needs the explicit instructions that Barton provides. Saxon expects them to made logical leaps that the dyslexic mind often doesn't see. My son can stare at cat and hat and not see a similarity, with just saxon, but with Bartons he can now break it down, and hear and see the difference. The little tricks in Barton the hand gestures, the reminders, and tips for in on and around, have made all the difference.

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You're going to be able to resell each level of Barton, so that your real cost is only about $50 a level, hardly worth going with a program that isn't meant for dyslexics (saxon), when you could have had phone support, clear, detailed instructions, video support for clear implementation, and methodology meant to catch a lot of dyslexics' weaknesses with reversals, language skills, comprehension, etc.  

 

I used SWR for years with my dd, and SWR is basically OG-lite.  Even I'm using Barton.  

 

As far as other things you could be doing, obviously you're going to do the Barton pretest and see what the results of that are.  It's always good to work on working memory and RAN/RAS.  I've given the links to my docs for the RAN/RAS dot pages, so you can search the boards here and find them.  To site search you go to your google bar and type in your terms plus site:welltrainedmind.  So for instance "ohelizabeth ran/ras dropbox site:welltrainedmind.com" will probably pull it up.  (I'm teaching you to fish.  :)  )

 

Welcome to the boards, btw.  :)  Did you mention fidgeting?  60% of kids with a dyslexia label will also get an ADHD label, so that's no shock.  Might as well employ the techniques, whether he got the label or not.  

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Not at all familiar with the Saxon program.

 

Barton well thought of by many for dyslexia.

 

We used www.highnoon.com Reading Intervention program successfully.  It is less expensive, but also simply different in approach and so might be a better fit, or not as good a fit, depending on your ds.

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Do the Barton screening for LiPS.

 

After my phonics lesson 6 is a link to a good website showing pictures and movies of each sound, my remedial students with underlying speech problems find that website helpful. Also, even if you use no other lessons, lesson 6 with consonant pairs is helpful for understanding a lot about the underlying sound/speech patterns of English.

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Thank you everyone for your input. Barton it is😊 I think it will be a great program for our family because all four of us have dyslexia, to some degree. We are so excited and relieved to have a diagnosis and the tools we need to overcome😊

:hurray:

 

Just please give the pre-screening to anyone who is thinking of tutoring with it and anyone who is going to be taught with it.  It really is important to do this and to consider doing something like LiPS first if the person being tutored does not pass.

 

Also, Barton is a great program, but as with anything it is not perfect.  Dyslexia is not something to be cured by just the right curriculum.  Dyslexia based reading/spelling/writing issues can be very challenging to remediate and different students will process through in different ways.  Please don't expect overnight miracles.  You are in this for the long haul.  There will be good days and bad days and really bad days and truly exceptional days and days where you just want to stop.  And that's o.k.

 

Best wishes.

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Just a small observation, but if you buy your levels directly from Barton you get instant access to the videos online.  If you buy the level used, you'll still get the dvds.  I've been buying from Barton directly because I decided I wanted that access instantly (I'm impatient!) and long-term.  That way if I forget something from a prior level or whatever I can bop back.  

 

Whatever, that's silly, just saying it's something if you're wanting to make a move.  Barton is fully scripted so it's the one you're most likely to have success with.  I don't have dyslexia myself to speak to that.  What you might do is also look into tutors.  They're crazy expensive, but if for any reason it's not working out (your own comfort, dynamic, whatever), it's good to have that handoff and not be bashful about it.  The only thing that matters is that it gets done, not who does it.

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