Is Barton hard to implement?

[MistyMountain]

Ds gets 30 tutoring sessions mostly covered by insurance. That makes tutoring affordable while he is covered. That only gets us 4 months though and maybe through level 3 they said. After that the cost becomes expensive and we could not afford the two sessions a week. I did not think I was up to it myself but maybe I could. It suddenly makes the program seem affordable.

 

How does implementing Barton compare to something like AAR? Are the videos all you need? Needing to watch something and figure it out is something that will be a bit of a struggle for me. I am not good at organizing. I also worried I will get discouraged pretty fast that it is not working when maybe it just is going to be a struggle.

[PeterPan]

Barton is easy peasy to implement.  Honest.  It's TOTALLY scripted, and it comes with videos online and in the box that show you EVERYTHING.  The real trouble is not the materials, sigh.  The real trouble is the kid and the way they handle challenges.  Like getting up and walking away or having meltdowns or screaming or whatever they do.  But maybe your kid is a saint, hehe.  My kid, he's a pistol.  I'm a pistol, so we just make it work.   :D

 

Really though, I rip teachers manuals up and down all the time, any publisher, and Barton I ADORE.  I think she has some samples on her website.  Her stuff is absolutely fabulously organized, easy to pick up and go. You don't even have to figure things out.  Literally just read what it says.  She has a full script in the main column and she has short notes in the sidebar for the people who have the gig down and who just want notes.  And she has the dvd lessons for you to watch where she teaches you every step, slowly and methodically.  As long as you will spend some time to watch and read, you should be fine!   :)

 

So what is your plan then?  You want to have them teach and then you take over when the funding runs out?  Have you thought about maybe doing *1* tutoring session a week but doing all the fluency work at home yourself?  That way you'd get *8* months of tutoring instead of 4 and the tutor would be supporting you as you learn to teach, rather than having you not learn the methodology and everyone frustrated.  And what's the gig with the insurance and 30 sessions?  Everyone knows a kid needs YEARS, multiple years, not 4 months.  

 

This is for your ds, so he's 6?  That's like my ds.  How is his attention?  Are those sessions going to be one hour each?  Have they told you what they'd be doing? See I can, at this point, get thorough most of what I want to do of a Barton lesson in 1 setting, basically 1 hour with my ds.  That means the entire rest of the week, we're working on fluency and fluency you could work on yourself at home.  Now part of a Barton lesson, starting in level 3, is spelling.  We skip the spelling, because frankly I don't think my ds is quite there mentally.  We do the spelling with tiles, but we aren't doing the spelling with writing.  We will later, but not now.  My ds also has SLD writing, so it doesn't make sense to me to push writing and frustrate him nor does it make sense to hold back his reading.  So that's why it's easy for me to get done a lesson in one setting and then spend the rest of the week on fluency.  The Barton lessons will have words, phrases, and sentences for them to read for fluency.  I load those onto Quizlet for him to practice on his kindle.  Then, starting in Barton 3, there are single page stories, 4 to a lesson.  So literally you can easily fill the rest of the week doing these things.  It seems to me if that tutor is going to be doing fluency, they might as well have you do that, space the sessions, give you more homework to do with him, and let you have that assistance longer.  

 

Also, not to be a little fretful, but it seems to me like it's going to be challenging to come in at level 4 and teach if you haven't been learning along with him in levels 1-3.  You'd much rather be working with the teacher, observing the sessions, carrying over the skills as homework, and pulling your weight all along.  I'd use those 30 sessions to help yourself learn (by sitting in on the sessions!), so that when you take over 8 months later you're ready to fly solo.  

 

To get through levels 1-3 that quickly is ambitious.  Be prepared to work a couple hours a day at it, with your prep, with his work, etc.  The more you work, the more you progress.  Does he have more factors that will affect his progress like a speech problem, APD, or anything?

 

And sorry, I was just totally assuming here, but you're saying the tutor would do Barton, right? 

 

 

 

[MistyMountain]

They originally suggested something like me doing the fluency work once insurance runs out but now that we have a tutor assigned that seems to have changed. They said they have to go by the program and there is nothing I can do with him.

 

My ds is not one who handles challenges well lol and yes he seems to have add or attention issues especially for stuff like reading lessons. He hates doing it. My ds's writing is even worse then his reading. He seems to be 2E but he hasn't had testing except through the tutoring place. We will be testing in the fall through the school but it is unlikely that he will get help. They are even making it seem like testing will be a waste.

 

Ds used to have articulation speech issues but they cleared up with a really good speech therapist. Ds has really good long term memory, has an amazing ability to narrate long chapters, a excellent vocabulary, likes and understand books like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh, The Mostly True Adventures of Homer Price etc. he is good at building things and Legos and k-nex. He built an engine the other day out of k-nex. It did not look amazing but he described how it worked and he understood how engine work and what parts they have. He is great at reasoning and putting information together from different sources. He watches adult science shows and lectures. He likes older kids.

 

His academics on the other hand he struggles with. He has basic phonemic awareness but he is not reading well. He stumbles through 1st grade books and this is with lots of support. He makes a lot of mistakes. He cannot finish his work on time. He never choses to write and cannot spell beyond a cvc word. He reverses constantly and is a very slow deliberate write who copies one letter at a time. He is 6.5.

[PeterPan]

Did they give him a CTOPP or other test of phonological processing?  and the Barton pretest results?

 

Does your state allow for diagnosis via discrepancy?  Discrepancy between IQ and achievement is written into our state definition of the disability, so the school has to use it.  If your state does NOT include discrepancy and his scores do not remain objectively low (below their cutoff), yeah it will make it hard to get it recognized.

 

Technically, legally, you're supposed to be able to request testing now and force their hand on getting it done even during the summer.  There's time enough, if you made the written request NOW, they could get it done before they go home for the school year in mid-June.  You might consider that.  If you haven't had a CTOPP and IQ, that would be really interesting to get done.  They could also get that ADHD diagnosed.  Might even go to dysgraphia and give you an OT eval.  And the more in-depth teaching would help you intervene better.  Right now you're sitting on these things but not really intervening in ways that would help.  You're not getting an OT eval, a diagnosis on the dysgraphia, work on midline issues, RAN/RAS, sensory or attention issues, nothing.  All that is stuff you could be working on this summer in addition to the Barton.  And seriously, I think if you make your written request they could get the evals done before they leave.  That's a full month, and when motivated schools get things done.  ;)

 

I'd be interested to hear the Barton pretest results.  

 

You're going to have to do what you think is best, and it will work out.  Did you ask if you can sit in on the sessions?  No matter what, sit in on the sessions.  I think that in general, for levels 1 and 2, you're going to make faster progress having them teach, teach, teach.  But in level 3 there's more fluency work.  If you sit in on the sessions, YOU are learning the methodology and going to be in a much better position to decide what you can help with at home and to feel ready to take over at the end of the tutoring sprint.  

 

On the plus side, the tutors will probably help with any behavioral issues, since kids act better and work harder (generally) for other people.  This is hard work.  But if you can be non-negotiable about sitting in the room to see the sessions, you might be really glad you did.  

[MistyMountain]

Ds has had an OT evaluation at 5. They did note a lot of issues like he did not have a dominant hand (still does not) he used a fist grip and he did not use his hand for stabilization. He did not color or write at all at the time. They could not help him because OT is an add on service. His teacher and the principal were aware of this before he started. I worked on a lot of pre writing with him in the year before and finally got him writing the summer before he started. A lot of the boys this year started the year struggling with writing but all got better and faster as the year went on. I used therapeutic putty daily based on his teacher's recommendation and it helped at first but he still could not finish stuff on time and if he tried it was so sloppy. At the conference his teacher told me he is brilliant but he would not be able to keep up with writing next year with the increase in writing and maybe he could get an IEP or RTI. She said he is up here and put her hand up high but his skills are down here. I knew this all along and was so thankful she saw him for who he was.

 

I got testing at the tutoring place after that and they did run a CTOPP. He scores were not too low but they did say he did exhibit a lot of signs of dyslexia and they did pick up some discrepancies that are common in other testing they did. He scored good in sound naming, average in most areas and had two low areas. We work a lot on phonograms. At his school they work on naming them fast. He was the last in 2 classes to get his phonogram speed test but had practice naming them fast. He tested as reading at .8 grade level which is grade level technically. He has been at this level for ages and progress has been slow though. He struggles with the books they send home with him but he must do better the second time around at school. I worked with him before school started with AAR and did daily phonogram practice once he started school.

 

I requested testing and they held a meeting about it. I knew that it was going to be a battle but this time his teacher was different even though his writing has not changed. They said they could test over the summer or the fall but if it was done in the summer they would not be the one to do the IEP and they could decide to reject it. If it is done in the fall they will be there for the IEP. Our school year ends next week so there is no time for another meeting and I do not want to go through that again right away. I really felt like everyone was against me even the one person I thought wad on his side. The principal would help but she goes with the tone of everyone else.

 

I believe we do have the discrepancy model but they said there needs to be an discrepancy and a need. He gives to a charter type school where the academics are advanced and they use the Spalding method for reading and spelling and learn to write through copy work dictation and correcting errors. The neighborhood school uses a site word heavy method and remediation is more of that and they tend to have more kids who are lower readers.

 

He had a sensory profile a long time ago and it did come back as having sensory issues but we lost insurance then so he could not get therapy. The school did not care about sensory issues and he does ok at school because it is not noisy and very structured plus it was only a short day.

 

I would sit in on sessions but I have two other kids and nowhere for them to go so I do not know that is feasible.

[Julie of KY]

The answer to your question is that YES, Barton is very easy to implement.

 

Level four is just as scripted as earlier levels and the dvd and Barton manual walks you through everything you need to know. However, I think it might hard for you as the teacher to start there because it is much harder for the student. If your child did levels 1-3 with a private tutor and then you started level 4 at home, you might be inclined to think it is "your fault" if all of a sudden Barton feels harder, when in reality it's that level 4 is much harder for everyone.

 

 

[OneStepAtATime]

Agree with above. The system is carefully laid out so a layman can implement it. However, if it were me I would much rather do level 1 and 2 on my own and have them do higher levels. I would recommend borrowing the TM, though, and keeping up with the levels on your own. This system builds on itself. You cannot really leap in midstream or skip stuff and expect to easily tutor as a teacher or learn as a student.

[PeterPan]

If you want, you can work on rapid naming with other things besides phonograms.  I posted a link a while back to free colored dot pages you can use for it.   

 

It doesn't sound like Spalding is giving him enough tools to bring it all together for him.  My ds is having less trouble reading.  Spalding, where it overlaps with Barton, is going to be the same.  The phonograms are the same, the rules, etc.  It's just that Barton brings so much MORE, with multi-sensory and being very, very explicit.  Spalding, Sanseri (SWR), all these leave a lot where the student has to infer it.  Barton won't leave anything to chance.  

 

Well it's good you get this opportunity to get some Barton and see if that will make things click!  :)

[MistyMountain]

He did score low in rapid color naming. Do you have the link for that? What level is your son in Barton OhE? I am hoping Barton will be helpful. I am just worried it will be but then we will not be able to continue. I will ask them for what I can due fluency wise and to sit in on some sessions.

[PeterPan]

Maybe there is someone from church or a social circle who would watch your kids for you?  I just think it would be a FABULOUS way for you to learn.  I sit in on all my ds' speech therapy sessions and I sat in on all my dd's OT.  I'd make free to be kind of pushy about it.  Our kids are used to having us around.  If kids go to ps, those kids might be nervous, but our kids are used to it.  I agree it's not practical to take your kids.  Maybe a teen in the church would watch them?  It's for the summer.  Hopefully you can work something out.

 

I think your apprehension is correct that if you aren't up to speed on Barton 1-3, you're in no position to pick up Barton 4 and keep going.  And it's to their (the tutoring company's) advantage for you not to learn the system.   ;)   Think about it.  You'd have to have a dc who needs NO modification to the system whatsoever, no reminders of prior concepts, NOTHING, for it to work for you not to know the content and methodology of B1-3 and just to jump in at B4.  That's unlikely.  You're not going to feel confident doing that.  

 

Our psych was very down on people teaching their own (dyslexic) kids.  There's this general sentiment that it's better left to a professional, that the social dynamic of it is bad, that moms just want to be moms, this is hard work, we won't get good results with our kids because we won't push them hard enough or break through walls, etc. etc.  That CAN be true, or it can be bunk.  You've got to decide what you want and see where you're at in that.  I know when our psych pulled that stunt (and in front of my husband!!), it really rattled me.  It took me quite a bit of soul-searching to restabilize and realize, you know, I CAN teach him, and I WANT to teach him, and I WILL teach him.  But I'm just saying that's the kind of mentality you're likely to run into, that experts are better.  

 

Here's a thread with info on the ran/ras dots.

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/534462-rapid-naming-and-the-king-devick-software-anybody-know-about-this/

 

To do a site search using google, you use your terms plus site:welltrainedmind.com  So, for instance, you could put in focus moves rapid naming ohelizabeth site:welltrainedmind.com

into your google bar and it would search for posts I made with those terms on WTM.  Love site searches.   :)

 

Here's a link to the files I made.  https://www.dropbox.com/sh/4rcl6f0uo70esmv/AAAaGAHw3_YTMEQZSw_WI-t_a?dl=0

 

Also, this has worked well for us  Focus Moves: Integrated Activities for Collaboration

 

You can find videos on youtube of people doing the activities, so you can see if they'd be appropriate and useful to your situation.  It's recommended by the OT at our SLP's practice, which is why I started it.  It pulls him in and makes it easier for him to focus, doing it just 10-15 minutes as a warm-up before beginning the academics.