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remedial curriculum for an 11yo


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I am after suggestions for a curriculum for an 11yo please. I have just offered to tutor my dd's best friend. She is currently still attending school, mid way through 5th grade, however homeschooling is on the cards and may happen anytime now.

She is reading at a late 1st grade level, maybe early second grade at best, her spelling is first grade level. Reading and spelling are the biggest concerns. Her math is about early 4th grade level so about a year behind there which is significantly better than the 4 years behind in reading and spelling. 

 

What reading and spelling curricula would you recommend for an 11yo at these levels? Obviously I need something that will start right from the beginning but not be too babyish. I have OPGRT and AAS so thought those might be suitable as they start at the beginning but are not little kidish but are there any better options? I also have all levels of explode the code and well, heaps of other stuff lol, I could practically start a used curriculum store. What would you use to tutor an 11yo who is a beginner reader?

 

Also and math suggestions most welcome. What is needed in math is not a full curriculum, apparently she is great in some areas but has significant holes in her understanding so what I really need is a good tool to work out what those major holes are easily so that we can focus on those areas specifically. Are there any good diagnostics that might help with working this out?

 

Finally, her mother is asking for suggestions for great online learning games, preferably free but willing to pay. I have suggested prodigy and literacy planet, any others we should consider?

 

Thanks heaps

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How nice of you to help out!

 

Did you mention if girl had been tested? Her reading sounds behind enough that school might, I mean should, have tested. Is the school doing any remediation? There are some programs that are designed for decoding. Many here use Barton. Lindamood Bell has some good decoding programs. We used a program for kids who could decode, but not comprehend.

 

IMO, understanding the child's specific needs come first. It could be a learning disability, or vision, or auditory issues. It would be sad if you used a great program and taught with dedication, but were not able to make the progress you had hoped for on account of undiagnosed, underlying issues.

 

If the mother is able to spend some $$, you could talk to her about testing. Or her mother could be a stronger advocate for her child at the school level, if this had not already been tried.

Edited by Alessandra
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How nice of you to help out!

 

Did you mention if girl had been tested? Her reading sounds behind enough that school might, I mean should, have tested. Is the school doing any remediation? There are some programs that are designed for decoding. Many here use Barton. Lindamood Bell has some good decoding programs. We used a program for kids who could decode, but not comprehend.

 

IMO, understanding the child's specific needs comes first. It could be a learning disability, or vision, or auditory issues. It would be sad if you used a great program and taught with dedication, but were not able to make the progress you had hoped for on account of undiagnosed, underlying issues.

 

If the mother is able to spend some $$, you could talk to her about testing. Or her mother could be a stronger advocate for her child at the school level, if this had not already been tried.

 

Mum has been at the school weekly asking for help, remediation, work they can do together at home, and asking what they are doing to help her catch up. Apparently she just gets strange looks like "why would we do anything to help catch her up" and they tell her there is nothing they can do as the school only offers remediation in K-2 and she is well past that age. Apparently she is finally making some progress with the reading after years of not getting anywhere so hopefully she was a late bloomer and is finally ready to take off.

It is decoding that is the problem with her reading so I will check out your suggestions this evening. As far as we know there are no underlying causes, she did get tested in school several years ago (while in the remediation program which clearly did not help) that that didn't show any specific learning disabilities but I will keep it in mind. Eyesight is fine and no vision problems. My eldest is dyslexic so I have some experience with dyslexia at least. Her mother also struggled to learn to read while at school, she has no learning disabilities and has also been tested, however left school at age 14 completely illiterate. She has since taught herself to read and gone on to complete some higher education yet failed to learn to read during 8 years of schooling.

 

I will talk to mum tomorrow about further testing, they are willing to spend whatever it takes to get this sorted so testing is not out of the question if we decide that would be beneficial. They are coming over tomorrow afternoon to look over some of my curricula to help in the to homeschool or not decision as mum is worried with her lack of education that she will not be able to do a good enough job, given the school is failing her daughter so miserably I don't think she could possibly do a worse job personally.

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I have just started using AAS this year with my 13 year old dyslexic. It is working really well. His spelling is improving. We started in book 2 but changed to book 3 within weeks.

 

I am impressed with AAR as well, I read somewhere it was originally designed for remedial reading.

 

Great, thanks :) I was thinking AAS might be a good place to start as her spelling is really poor, it hopefully will also help with phonics and decoding. We will need to start in book 1 but as I already own books 1-6 that won't be an issue.

I might check out AAR too and see if I think that will be beneficial, I have been considering it for my 5yo anyway so I am happy to buy if I think it will be a good fit.

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You can try asking your local children's or teen librarian about hi-lo books. They are "high interest" stories with a low vocabulary for struggling readers. Usually, these collections are found in city libraries, but if you don't live in a city, you may be able to get them on interloan.

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Mum has been at the school weekly asking for help, remediation, work they can do together at home, and asking what they are doing to help her catch up. Apparently she just gets strange looks like "why would we do anything to help catch her up" and they tell her there is nothing they can do as the school only offers remediation in K-2 and she is well past that age. Apparently she is finally making some progress with the reading after years of not getting anywhere so hopefully she was a late bloomer and is finally ready to take off.

It is decoding that is the problem with her reading so I will check out your suggestions this evening. As far as we know there are no underlying causes, she did get tested in school several years ago (while in the remediation program which clearly did not help) that that didn't show any specific learning disabilities but I will keep it in mind. Eyesight is fine and no vision problems. My eldest is dyslexic so I have some experience with dyslexia at least. Her mother also struggled to learn to read while at school, she has no learning disabilities and has also been tested, however left school at age 14 completely illiterate. She has since taught herself to read and gone on to complete some higher education yet failed to learn to read during 8 years of schooling.

 

I will talk to mum tomorrow about further testing, they are willing to spend whatever it takes to get this sorted so testing is not out of the question if we decide that would be beneficial. They are coming over tomorrow afternoon to look over some of my curricula to help in the to homeschool or not decision as mum is worried with her lack of education that she will not be able to do a good enough job, given the school is failing her daughter so miserably I don't think she could possibly do a worse job personally.

It sounds like a very problematic situation. You might want to consider posting on the special needs board here, as there are people who have been through this kind of thing -- getting action from the school, pursuing independent testing, supplementing at home, moving to homeschooling, etc.

 

This special needs board here is a great place to start -- an incredible encyclopedia of experience and excellent advice.

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It sounds like a very problematic situation. You might want to consider posting on the special needs board here, as there are people who have been through this kind of thing -- getting action from the school, pursuing independent testing, supplementing at home, moving to homeschooling, etc.

 

This special needs board here is a great place to start -- an incredible encyclopedia of experience and excellent advice.

 

Ooh that is a great idea, thanks, I will do that

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Um, everything you are saying absolutely raises red flags for an underlying learning issue.  Absolutely.  The child needs to be evaluated by someone who actually knows what they are doing.  Preferably a neuropsychologist if they can swing the cost but if not I would be seeking out other private avenues since the school seems utterly useless for this.  Is she attending a private school?  Or is this overseas?  If it is a public school in the U.S. they are required by law to evaluate if the parent sends in a written request and the child is over two years behind in specific skills.  Has she ever sent in a written request?  And you are saying that the mom left school at 14 completely illiterate.  I beg strongly to differ with the idea that there are no learning issues.  Lots of learning issues have a genetic component including dyslexia.  Since you have a dyslexic child maybe you can shed some light.  Why do you in particular feel this is not severe dyslexia?  And the people who did the evaluations for the child and the mom didn't do a very good job at all.  There is obviously SOMETHING causing a massive disconnect.  

 

Until it is determined what exactly is causing the difficulties it will be hard to know what to do to remediate this child.

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And I agree, post on the Learning Challenges board.  

 

FWIW, I was in her position once.  My 5th grade daughter was only barely reading at a 1st grade level.  No school eval caught any learning issues.  She was struggling mightily but the explanation was "lack of focus" or "maybe reading is just not her thing" or "spaceyness" or "maybe she just doesn't like school" or any one of a number of crap statements.  Eventually I got her privately evaluated.  Profound dyslexia but she was bright so her verbal responses indicated she understood a lot.  Teachers and evaluators assumed she just didn't like school.  They dropped the ball completely.  It has taken 4 years of Barton Reading and Spelling to really remediate her struggles but she started really taking off within a year of starting Barton.  If we had realized back in 1st grade what the underlying issue was it would have made a world of difference but at least we were able to start her on Barton when we did.  Night and day difference.  

 

 

As for math, I will mention that although we knew she was behind a little in math, her grades were pretty o.k. so we didn't realize until we started homeschooling for 6th that she was actually much further behind than one grade level.  

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Um, everything you are saying absolutely raises red flags for an underlying learning issue.  Absolutely.  The child needs to be evaluated by someone who actually knows what they are doing.  Preferably a neuropsychologist if they can swing the cost but if not I would be seeking out other private avenues since the school seems utterly useless for this.  Is she attending a private school?  Or is this overseas?  If it is a public school in the U.S. they are required by law to evaluate if the parent sends in a written request and the child is over two years behind in specific skills.  Has she ever sent in a written request?  And you are saying that the mom left school at 14 completely illiterate.  I beg strongly to differ with the idea that there are no learning issues.  Lots of learning issues have a genetic component including dyslexia.  Since you have a dyslexic child maybe you can shed some light.  Why do you in particular feel this is not severe dyslexia?  And the people who did the evaluations for the child and the mom didn't do a very good job at all.  There is obviously SOMETHING causing a massive disconnect.  

 

Until it is determined what exactly is causing the difficulties it will be hard to know what to do to remediate this child.

 

We are in australia. I am not sure if she has sent in a written request, I will ask, but all verbal requests to the school have failed to produce results. I am not sure what the protocol here is as my kids have never attended school but I am sure given the extent of her delays that there must be something they are required to do, at the very least an individual learning plan for her.  I have not sat down with her yet to figure out what the issue might be so I would not rule out dyslexia at this stage, I have heard her reading in other contexts however. We will sit down and I will see if I feel dyslexia might be the issue. Apparently dislexia has been mentioned before but they "ruled it out" during testing although clearly there is something going on.

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And I agree, post on the Learning Challenges board.  

 

FWIW, I was in her position once.  My 5th grade daughter was only barely reading at a 1st grade level.  No school eval caught any learning issues.  She was struggling mightily but the explanation was "lack of focus" or "maybe reading is just not her thing" or "spaceyness" or "maybe she just doesn't like school" or any one of a number of crap statements.  Eventually I got her privately evaluated.  Profound dyslexia but she was bright so her verbal responses indicated she understood a lot.  Teachers and evaluators assumed she just didn't like school.  They dropped the ball completely.  It has taken 4 years of Barton Reading and Spelling to really remediate her struggles but she started really taking off within a year of starting Barton.  If we had realized back in 1st grade what the underlying issue was it would have made a world of difference but at least we were able to start her on Barton when we did.  Night and day difference.  

 

 

As for math, I will mention that although we knew she was behind a little in math, her grades were pretty o.k. so we didn't realize until we started homeschooling for 6th that she was actually much further behind than one grade level.  

 

This sounds EXACTLY like what the mother has been told, "lack of focus", "reading is not her strength"  and so on. Apparently that was what they said about the mother too, lack of focus was the verdict there too :/ She is bright, she is actually "ahead" in some subjects according to her school, especially history, if you can consider a child who cannot read the text ahead, however when tested verbally in history the school places her well beyond grade level. I will certainly keep dyslexia in mind, despite the evaluations saying otherwise so far this seems to fit both mother and daughter. Sounds like Barton may be the way to go, I will check that out tomorrow, thank you.

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I wonder what testing they did that ruled dyslexia out?  Again, both of my children were evaluated by the school and dyslexia was ruled out.  They were wrong.  Dyslexia can have a lot of comorbid issues and strengths tied in with it, which can make each dyslexic student function very differently.  And definitely if a child is very bright then their strengths can mask the learning issues.

 

FWIW, my daughter struggled from the beginning and it was obvious SOMETHING was tripping her up.  If I had known more about dyslexia when she was little I would have recognized the signs and pushed harder for evaluations through the private sector.  DS presented vastly differently.  He had different strengths and comorbid issues.  I absolutely had no idea he was dyslexic.  He was phenomenal at learning everything verbally.  Worked fine until the students were supposed to get most of their information/instruction from reading.  He did start struggling in 2nd grade in ways we weren't expecting, and the school eval was useless.  Private eval showed he was also dyslexic, just presented very differently.  

 

While there are certain things that are commonly found in most dyslexic children, there is no one size fits all.  Different kids are going to present differently.  I'm not saying this child must have dyslexia, I'm just saying that while there are common things that most dyslexics seem to have, not all do.

 

Maybe consider giving the child the Barton Reading and Spelling student screening.  While it won't tell you if the child is dyslexic it WILL show if there is another underlying issue that might prevent a phonics based (OG based) program from working without remediation through a program like Lindamood-Bell's LiPS or the Foundations in Sound program first.

 

https://bartonreading.com/

 

The screening is free and pretty easy to administer.  Just make sure you do it in a quiet area, that you and the child will not be interrupted or have to rush through, and that she is rested.  Hearing the sounds and being able to focus will be important for getting an accurate read on this test.

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As for a math program that would show where the holes are so you can target those first, you might look at Math on the Level.  It has a master checklist of all skills expected to be learned from 4k-8th grade.  You go through testing the skills and which precursor skills need solidifying before moving on to more advanced skills, etc.  It is not babyish.  The checklist helps the teacher to determine where the holes are in each area.  Therefore if a student is moving very quickly in one area but is struggling in another, the lessons can be tailored to meet both of those needs and the skills in each area can be tracked.  There is a 5 a day review of concepts already mastered but that's all for review.  It keeps a student from getting overwhelmed with learning new material while still trying to keep up with old material.  There is a brilliantly done checklist for that, too, so previous concept review is easy for the tutor to keep up with.

 

https://www.mathonthelevel.com/

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It's already been stated that there is most definitely some kind of learning disability underlying this, so I'm not going to beat that horse.

 

But...and I don't even know if this is available in Australia, she should have her developmental vision assessed. Not her regular vision. Her developmental vision. With a trained developmental optometrist. I know you can find ones in the US at the covd.org website. Not sure if they have worldwide, but they could probably point you in the right direction.

 

If dyslexia screenings have come back negative, this is potentially a vision issue, even if her vision is 20/20. It's also probably still a dyslexia issue.

 

And, it's possible she's not dyslexic. It could be other issues. But I doubt it.

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Agree about vision testing. And probably other testing.

 

For math, one possibility is Activities for the AL Abacus from Rightstart. Though shipping is an issue. They might have it as an ebook, but you'd need the abacus. Check used, I know there are some in Australia who do use Rightstart, despite the shipping costs.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

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We are in australia. I am not sure if she has sent in a written request, I will ask, but all verbal requests to the school have failed to produce results. I am not sure what the protocol here is as my kids have never attended school but I am sure given the extent of her delays that there must be something they are required to do, at the very least an individual learning plan for her. I have not sat down with her yet to figure out what the issue might be so I would not rule out dyslexia at this stage, I have heard her reading in other contexts however. We will sit down and I will see if I feel dyslexia might be the issue. Apparently dislexia has been mentioned before but they "ruled it out" during testing although clearly there is something going on.

I am in Australia as well. I removed my oldest child at grade 5. He could not read beyond grade 1 level or write. The school told us that there was nothing they could do, that he wasn't he worst child there..... he just graduated with honours form Aerospace Engineering. He has dyslexia.

In the public school system in Australia you will not be able to get a diagnosis of Dyslexia. They refuse to use that terminology. They will always "rule it out" because it apparently "does not exist"

Edited by Melissa in Australia
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I am in Australia as well. I removed my oldest child at grade 5. He could not read beyond grade 1 level or wmrite. The school told us that there was nothing they could do, that he wasn't he worst child there..... he just graduated with honours form Aerospace Engineering. He has dyslexia.

In the public school system in Australia you will not be able to get a diagnosis of Dyslexia. They refuse to use that terminology. They will always "rule it out" because it apparently "does not exist"

I didn't like your post because I liked what you said, lol. How awful! But it explains a lot about how op's friends situation got so bad. Thx!

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I've seen AAR and AAS work for many students with dyslexia and also with a variety of other learning disabilities, so that's definitely a choice worth considering. The author's son had severe dyslexia (they were told he would never read) and that led to her creating the program. She's a member of the International Dyslexia Association and has tutored for over 20 years. Check out the Dyslexia Resources page too. Bless you for helping your friend's daughter!

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Dancing Bears works GREAT for certain kinds of reading problems. Only thing is you have to use it sparingly according to instructions. (I think it says no more than 15 min a day). Whatever the max is, definitely they are right about that. It's just an exercise, but it's a fantastic exercise!

 

Probably its a good idea not to let the child know its remedial. Just make it look like a normal exercise you do.

 

It requires you, but in the simplest way so I think you'll find it a nice 15 min. where you can feel you are doing something good and beneficial, while not really having to think or plan anything yourself.

 

I wish I used it more consistently with my son, who is now beyond it 

(in 8th) but still glossing over things in reading and writing.

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Thanks all, looking into everything and researching.

I am so upset it has gotten to this stage but on the other hand I have been telling her mother all year that I will help wherever possible but they have been trying to get the school to help but not looking outside of school, because she is so far behind the school just cannot cater to her so she is just getting left further behind all the time.

The daughter does know there is a serious issue here, all her school friends are reading proper novels and she is struggling to read Billy B brown etc (and apparently will get more than one word wrong in each sentence in billy b brown), her 7yo sister in 2nd grade, and about 6 months behind average grade level according to the same school, is reading better than she is. She is struggling to make friends at school as all the girls are talking about the books they are reading and she just has nothing to contribute to such a discussion. She knows, and is very excited, that I will be helping her try to catch up a little as it is impacting everything.

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Bless you for what you are doing to help and blessings for her mom, too, who wants better for her daughter than she had and (even "late") is following her intuition in knowing something is going wrong for her little girl and that the public school is not fixing it.  Please keep us posted regarding what you find out and how things are going for everybody.

 

 

Edited by chiefcookandbottlewasher
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But...and I don't even know if this is available in Australia, she should have her developmental vision assessed. Not her regular vision. Her developmental vision. With a trained developmental optometrist. I know you can find ones in the US at the covd.org website. Not sure if they have worldwide, but they could probably point you in the right direction.

 

In Australia you're after a "behavioural optometrist". Just an FYI for the OP.

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For math, one possibility is Activities for the AL Abacus from Rightstart. Though shipping is an issue. They might have it as an ebook, but you'd need the abacus. Check used, I know there are some in Australia who do use Rightstart, despite the shipping costs.

 

There's an ALAbacus app which is free. :)

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They have just left. We have signed both kids up to a couple of online learning sites that they will use at home, the kids are excited to finally be playing prodigy as they have been hearing about it for months from my girls. They are coming back in a few days and I will see what exactly she knows and what she does not know. We have looked through a few things on our shelves and have decided to at least use AAS but will probably use some other resources as well, I will check out my extensive collection and put together a pile of stuff that I own that I think will be suitable and we will see what works well and what both mum and daughter like the look of. She needs to start in level 1 of all about spelling, she does not yet know "th" or "ch", no wonder she can't read! I would have started at level 1 anyway just to be sure the basics were mastered but this level will be a challenge for her at this stage rather than review.

 

Homeschooling is being discussed seriously in their household for both girls, the 11yo due to her academic delays and the 7yo due to ASD related behavior challenges which result in her spending more time excluded from class each day than actually in class (the 11yo does not have ASD). The current plan is to see how she goes learning with me and learning at home for the next few months while also giving her mum time to research curricula and work out how homeschooling might work for them and they are expecting to pull both girls out of school some time in the next 6 months, for now they will all come here and I will teach the girls and teach the mum how to teach her girls at home. We could be in for an interesting few months but I know all the kids will love having more time together each week so everyone is looking forward to starting asap. I am still researching and checking out new curricula options so keep suggestions coming. For now I will not start math until she has finished the prodigy placement test, I might use that as a base for working out what level she is at and what her weaknesses might be and we will go from there. As I have many curricula options on my shelves and computer I am sure I will have a math option that will be suitable if it is needed. We already have an abacus but I might suggest the ALAbacus app to their mum. Thanks all

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I'd take the Prodigy placement with a grain of salt. It placed my then-6yo in 8th grade and told me he was struggling with Pythagoras. It wasn't particularly helpful, so I had to manually override it and select a grade level. Just mentioning this in case you need to do the same.

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Any chance Mom might be able to get some tutoring, too?

 

Yes, she wants me to help her so that she can go home and work with her daughter so yes I will have to tutor her too so that can happen.

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Mum has been at the school weekly asking for help, remediation, work they can do together at home, and asking what they are doing to help her catch up. Apparently she just gets strange looks like "why would we do anything to help catch her up" and they tell her there is nothing they can do as the school only offers remediation in K-2 and she is well past that age...

 

I will talk to mum tomorrow about further testing, they are willing to spend whatever it takes to get this sorted so testing is not out of the question if we decide that would be beneficial....

 

This doesn't really add up, sorry. There is federal law protecting her right to request evals. All she does is make a formal, written request, sign, date, hand it to them, and they are legally required to have a meeting to determine whether evals are warranted. 

 

So either the mom doesn't understand her legal rights and is letting the school bowl her around, OR she's not telling you the truth.

 

And if it's TRUE that the mom is willing to spend whatever it takes, then tell her the truth. The dc has a learning disability that is beyond the scope of what you own. She needs formal evals, a diagnosis that opens doors for accommodations and services (she she can go to college, so she can have accommodations on standardized testing, so she can have access to the NLS and other services that are FREE). She needs a high quality Orton-Gillingham based reading instruction program, and she needs it done 4-5 days a week intensively, without fail.

 

If there really is no budget limit, then I would get private evals immediately and buy Barton. Or get private evals and get a referral to a highly experienced OG tutor. Around here they're $60+ an hour. If this mom is really so committed, why hasn't she done this yet? Barton is fine, Barton is good. If you buy Barton, as soon as you place the order Susan will send you a link to the videos for the training. You can begin training and will be ready to teach as soon as the materials come.

 

The other perk of private evals is the psych will talk STRENGTHS. There's a really fabulous book Dyslexic Advantage that the mom needs to read. The dc needs that balance of being told the truth about the disability but also having her STRENGTHS worked to.

Edited by OhElizabeth
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Yes, she wants me to help her so that she can go home and work with her daughter so yes I will have to tutor her too so that can happen.

 

Tutors | Barton  Unfortunately, not everyone who *wants* to tutor their dyslexic child is going to be able to do it. Barton has a free tutor screening. Barton is fully scripted, so it would be your best bet for you or the mother to use, either alone or trading off, yes. But still you both need to do the tutor screening. Given that the mom has significant dyslexia herself, it's *possible* that she will not pass the tutor screening.

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This doesn't really add up, sorry. There is federal law protecting her right to request evals. All she does is make a formal, written request, sign, date, hand it to them, and they are legally required to have a meeting to determine whether evals are warranted. 

 

So either the mom doesn't understand her legal rights and is letting the school bowl her around, OR she's not telling you the truth.

 

And if it's TRUE that the mom is willing to spend whatever it takes, then tell her the truth. The dc has a learning disability that is beyond the scope of what you own. She needs formal evals, a diagnosis that opens doors for accommodations and services (she she can go to college, so she can have accommodations on standardized testing, so she can have access to the NLS and other services that are FREE). She needs a high quality Orton-Gillingham based reading instruction program, and she needs it done 4-5 days a week intensively, without fail.

 

If there really is no budget limit, then I would get private evals immediately and buy Barton. Or get private evals and get a referral to a highly experienced OG tutor. Around here they're $60+ an hour. If this mom is really so committed, why hasn't she done this yet? Barton is fine, Barton is good. If you buy Barton, as soon as you place the order Susan will send you a link to the videos for the training. You can begin training and will be ready to teach as soon as the materials come.

 

The other perk of private evals is the psych will talk STRENGTHS. There's a really fabulous book Dyslexic Advantage that the mom needs to read. The dc needs that balance of being told the truth about the disability but also having her STRENGTHS worked to.

This actually DOES add up because she is in Australia not the U.S.  They don't have the legal protections we do regarding evaluations and IEPs.  The school dropped the ball but there is no good infrastructure in place anyway.  The mom has no legal recourse to FORCE the school to do anything.  

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I have tutored hundreds of remedial students over the last 23 years.  Most of them have been at least 2 grades below grade level. I have developed materials targeted for older students and adults that work much faster than a normal phonics program.  

 

First, I would screen for a phonemic awareness problem, that would have to be fixed with something like LiPS first before phonics could work, here is a free test:

 

https://www.spelfabet.com.au/2013/02/free-phonological-awareness-test/

 

Even if there is not a phonemic awareness problem, it is good to understand the basics of how sounds blend, see the "Allophones and Approximations" section of my blending page, have her and her mom look at the lego block sound pictures with you so they understand what is going on with blending:

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/blendingwords.html

 

Next, some reading diagnostic tests and some grade level tests, along with the material I use with my remedial students, the average student gains 1.7 reading grade levels after completion, about 10 hours of work, all free to print, I would print and use with her:

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/syllablesspellsu.html

 

If there is a slowdown of more than 10% on the MWIA, you will want to do the nonsense words instead of regular words and also the optional nonsense word document.  Give the MWIA I, linked on Don Potter's page, not the MWIA 3, the MWIA 3 is for someone reading at the 2nd grade level or above.  She isn't reading well enough to do the silent reading speed test, so skip that.  You can try the NRRF test but she probably will score at grade level 0 on that.  You need to do the MWIA I and the 40L Quick Screen Reading Grade Level Test.

 

I would work daily on the phonograms on the 40L Vowel and Consonant chart, and have her review it at home daily once she learns how to use it.  Then, she can use it for reference when reading. You can watch how to use it by watching Don's Video about charts that are similar, also watch the other pre-reading videos for ideas in case there are problems in these areas that need to be covered:

 

 

She and her mom can watch through my online phonics lessons at home together:

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/Phonics%20Lsns/phonicslsnslinks.html

 

If she gains at least a half grade level in a few months after working through all that, just repeat the Syllables Spell Success program and my online phonics lessons and add more Webster 2+ syllable word tables and supplemental phonics resources.  If she gains less than that, there may be a vision problem or dyslexia, if there is dyslexia, the cheapest OG program to buy is just the manual for Recipe for Reading, although with shipping to Australia a more expensive program that offers an electronic option may be cheaper.  You can do the whole Recipe for Reading program from the manual with a white board or chalkboard.

 

For math, I would start with the online assessment from Letsgolearn, it also has a bit of free remediation from Khan academy, you will have to do more, but it is a start and also a good way to identify areas that need work.  You want the ADAM K-7, it is US $25.  I would do 20 minutes of the test a day and do not allow her to answer "I don't know," have her guess instead, it can cut off areas that you know if your sequence does not match and you say "I don't know."  Also, you want to sit and see where the errors are, the explanations on the report are thorough but not always totally understandable unless you watch the test.

 

https://www.letsgolearn.com/lglsite/ADAM_math/parents/

 

ETA:  It is a bit on the young side, but I like Read, Write, Type for learning phonics basics in a fun way, it also teaches typing, she can try the first few lessons for free and see if they want to purchase.  Most of the other online phonics programs promote guessing and sight words to some degree.

 

http://www.talkingfingers.com/read-write-type/

 

You can also make an extra copy of my phonics concentration game for her and her mom to play with my one page 40L Vowel and Consonant chart once they watch through my online lessons together and have the basics mastered, the extra practice will help with speed and fluency of reading.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by ElizabethB
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