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Anyone doing Wilson at home?


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I have 3 kiddos with a dx of dyslexia and a 4th who is struggling.  I am widely read and feel like I could implement Wilson at home, however I haven't gotten my hands on the program to flip through it.  

Barton I know is scripted and open-go, but Wilson has a better reputation among tutors and educators in my area.  I was advise to do Wilson if I had the option. 

How challenging is it to do Wilson at home?
Jennifer

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Eta: My DS used an awesome Wilson tutor for 5 years. I sat through an hour long tutoring session with DS and was overwhelmed by the intensity of the instruction. Son's tutor was Slingerland qualified and the mother of 2 kiddos identified as ADHD. She also taught Kindie in 1976. She was amazing. It seems like the moms on this board spend about 20-30 minutes per day on Barton, which is fine. Overall, I think teaching a dyslexic to read is just very difficult but not impossible. We also have moms that have taught multiple dyslexic children using Barton.

Edited by Heathermomster
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OK, I'm back home. I have never personally previewed or tried the Barton program, so I cannot truly compare them. I understand that Barton is fully planned and scripted, which of course would be easier to use, but...from my experience, if you are an experienced homeschool teacher who is committed to putting in the time and effort necessary to help your struggling reader, you can definitely do Wilson on your own.

 

The teacher's manual is very good at spelling out how to plan a lesson, the different parts of a lesson and how to conduct it, etc. I believe there is even an instructional DVD now that walks you through how to conduct a lesson.

 

It does require time to choose which words from the word bank you will use for reading, spelling, etc., I'd say about an hour every weekend, until you get the hang of it, then the planning will go much more quickly.

 

Although it requires more time and planning, it can be to your advantage that the lessons aren't pre-planned and pre-scripted, because you can continue to create more lessons on the same topic until your child is ready to move on, incorporate and repeat the use of certain words they have a hard time with, etc., so it is very customizable.

 

If money is no object, you have a bunch of other kids to teach, and you really need something open-and-go, then you probably want to go with Barton. If you have the time and inclination to learn the process and create your own lessons with the guidance of the teacher's manual, Wilson is an excellent, affordable choice.

 

Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk

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I think both Wilson and Barton are excellent programs.  Wilson is not as easy to implement for a layman but people have done it and done it successfully.  

 

FWIW, NO ONE in my area, I mean not one single person including the two "dyslexia" specialists I tried to hire, thought Barton was a good program.  Most had never heard of it, actually, but of those that had, they were very negative towards it.  I was really puzzled by that and it scared me off from using it for a long time (thankfully not forever).  

 

Turns out there are probably several things going on with that.  A professional tutor friend of mine who lives in another state says that 1. Barton was created for layman to use specifically.  That created a professional bias issue among a lot of tutors.  It threatened their livelihood.  They did not want to believe that a program implemented by a mom with no training could be just as effective as going through a professional tutor using a program designed to be used by a professional tutor.  2.  She said that because of that there was a bit of a smear campaign that went on in the professional community, at least in her area, to discredit the Barton program.  This came from people who had not actually used the program.  

 

She, on the other hand, has used both.  She finds that Wilson is better for certain things and Barton is better for others but Barton is MUCH easier to implement overall for someone who has had no OG training.  It also takes a lot less time to prep.  She likes using a blend of the two, along with some of the Linda-mood Bell material.  She has also had straight OG training.  But for a person just tutoring their own kids she recommends Barton for ease of use.  She feels it is just as good as the other programs overall. 

 

In your situation I don't see why you couldn't use Wilson.  Many do.  It is a good program.  [if you are curious, for the ones in your area that said don't use Barton, you might ask if they have actually used the program (and at least a significant portion of it, not just Level 1 & 2) or if they are basing their recommendation on hearsay.]

Edited by OneStepAtATime
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