Thank you! I feel I need to clarify two things. I mistyped, and should have put that I'm starting with Level 6 with this student. She has done all the previous levels...I'm the one who is new to this. Also, I am watching as many videos on Barton's site as I can, but I'm not watching the training videos for levels 1-5. I don't have access to them, or I would. The previous tutor owned those levels, but the parents have levels 6 and above. The previous tutor adjusted how the sight words are taught for this student, and I'm trying to merge what she's done (basically just one deck for reading and spelling), with the Barton way. Barton's separate word piles seems a bit tedious to manage, but that may be because I'm just not used to it yet. This girl has a lot of sight words! I will look into the games. Thank you!!

A friend's daughter was diagnosed with dyslexia within the past year. Her doctor recommended a tutor who used the Barton Reading and Spelling program, and she has had great success with it. She has completed the first four levels. That tutor is unable to continue working with her, and the family asked if I would pick up where she left off. Before becoming a stay at home mom, I taught title I and was a reading tutor, and I have some experience teaching Wilson fundamentals. This girl was actually one of my students. I watched the training DVDs for level 5 and started tutoring her in this program a few weeks ago. I feel everything is going great, although sometimes it takes me a few seconds to recall the unique name Barton has given the spelling rules, or figure out which bag of tiles I need. However, I recently saw a page on Barton's website that says no one, not even a person with a doctorate in reading education, could pick up at level five and be successful. I am now worried that my inexperience with the program will set her up for failure, even though it hasn't been an issue yet. At the same time, there is nobody else in our rural area who has experience with this program. Can someone who has worked through this program tell me more about how necessary it is to have experience teaching the earlier levels? Or offer some advice?