All About Spelling

[tmulcahy]

Anyone have experience with All About Spelling and a kiddo with mild dyslexia? We are having to switch gears and "relearn" phonics, spelling and math.

 

Thanks,

Therese

[ReneeK]

My daughter doesn't have dsylexia, but I have heard that alot of moms that have used it with the kiddo's with dsylexia have been very pleased. My daughter has alot of neurological issues and it has been suggested that I use some of the same approach that kids with dyslexia have. It also teaches phonics. It has made a big difference in my dd in learning. AAS has a forum called the Chatter Bee that you can ask some more questions from the other moms who deal with dyslexia.

If you don't have a math program yet. We use Math U See and it has been wonderful. My daughter we had to teach math over last year and we used MUS. It is a multi-sensory program like All About Spelling. Both programs have been such a blessing to our family.

[lisabees]

Thanks Renae for sharing your experience. I have a dyslexic 13 year old and am just starting to homeschool.

 

To the OP, my son is going to be tutored in Barton, starting next week. I have no experience with AAS, but I've heard some good things.

 

Check out these links, if you haven't already. Susan Barton has some great info...

 

http://www.dys-add.com/

 

http://www.bartonreading.com/

[ReneeK]

Thanks for the links.:)

[MerryAtHope]

Anyone have experience with All About Spelling and a kiddo with mild dyslexia? We are having to switch gears and "relearn" phonics, spelling and math.

 

Thanks,

Therese

 

My kids have not been officially diagnosed, but they both show many of the signs for dyslexia. All About Spelling has been hugely helpful for us. Particularly:

 

The review is customizable (and kids with dyslexia need lots and lots of review--don't skimp on this if you do AAS, it's worth the time).

 

The focus on segmenting (if my kids leave out a sound or put sounds in the wrong order, I have them sound out what they wrote. If they can't see what's wrong, I'll say, "well, you wrote form, and what you want is from." (my son used to miss that word consistently, and now he rarely does because of this focus on saying the sounds).

 

The syllable work--helping kids to know how to both read and spell. (Both of my kids' test scores in reading and LA jumped 2-3 grade levels this year, we really got caught up--and now my 4th grader won't stop reading, LOL! It's no longer "work" for her).

 

I wrote more on my blog if you're interested. I hope you find what will work for you and for your son, I know it's hard when you want to find a good fit and there's so much out there. Merry :-)

[Corraleno]

In a discussion on another forum, several parents of dyslexic kids highly recommended AAS, even as an alternative to the Barton program. One parent switched to AAS after Barton level 4, and both she and her son preferred it. It is less intensive, and much less expensive, than Barton. I don't know if it would work as well in cases of severe phonological impairment, but I think for mild dyslexia it is definitely worth a try.

 

My son is dyslexic but his phonemic awareness is not that bad -- his spelling however is terrible, and he could also use help with "chunking" words, so even though I bought several levels of Barton, I'm probably going to switch to AAS. We're about to start level 1 and I'll see how it goes.

 

Jackie

[lisabees]

In a discussion on another forum, several parents of dyslexic kids highly recommended AAS, even as an alternative to the Barton program. One parent switched to AAS after Barton level 4, and both she and her son preferred it. It is less intensive, and much less expensive, than Barton. I don't know if it would work as well in cases of severe phonological impairment, but I think for mild dyslexia it is definitely worth a try.

 

My son is dyslexic but his phonemic awareness is not that bad -- his spelling however is terrible, and he could also use help with "chunking" words, so even though I bought several levels of Barton, I'm probably going to switch to AAS. We're about to start level 1 and I'll see how it goes.

 

Jackie

 

Jackie, did you use Barton yet? Just wondering what your experience has been with it.

 

A Barton tutor is lined up to begin next week. We'll see how it goes. My son also has fairly good phonemic awareness (thanks to PhonoGraphix), so I will certainly consider AAS if Barton is too intense. We're doing twice a week sessions throughout the summer. In comparison to PhonoGraphix, I like that Barton has fluency/comprehension built in to each lesson. They are my son's weakest points.

[tmulcahy]

Renee,

Thanks for the Chatter Bee forum link. I am encouraged by the "positives" written about AAS.

We are using MUS (started March 09). My girls want to move faster than MUS allows them.:auto: It moves much slower that the Abeka program we were using. They were not mastering concepts with Abeka though. I don't think they really understood what they were doing most of the time---kind of just pushing through...and testing proved that!!

 

Thanks Again,

Therese Mulcahy

[tmulcahy]

Merry,

Very encouraging. Great ideas. I am looking foward to using the program and "not skimping" on the review. How did you know I was type A?;)

Question....when you have your kids sound out the mispelled word and it just happens to phonetically make sense...what do you say? Like thred for thread, beed for bead, etc.... Just curious:)

 

Thanks,

Therese

[Corraleno]

Jackie, did you use Barton yet? Just wondering what your experience has been with it.

 

We did Barton levels 1 & 2, but there was really nothing in there that he didn't already know. I've heard it gets harder around Level 4, which is when they start introducing a lot of spelling rules. There are 10 levels in all, and I think it takes about 3 years working 2-3 days/week to get through all 10 levels.

 

I bought Barton after researching that it was an excellent program for dyslexics, but then I had my son formally tested and was told that although he has dyslexia, his phonological awareness was not really the problem. So I'm thinking that AAS may be all he really needs to help him with word "chunking" (which is his main reading issue) and remembering spelling rules and sight words, which are his main spelling problems (his spelling is wrong but phoneticly reasonable -- e.g. oshun for ocean, wethur for weather, etc).

 

If you find that Barton works well for your son, you might consider buying the levels starting with Level 2 or 3 and tutoring him yourself. Each level is $300 new or about $250 used, but you can resell it for most of what you paid and it ends up being MUCH cheaper than using a tutor. A friend had her son tutored with a very similar O-G program 2 hrs/week for 2 years and the total cost was $8000 ($50/hr twice per week X 40 weeks/year X 2 years). And for $8000, he only progressed about 2 grade levels. If she had tutored him herself with Barton, selling each level as she finished it, her out-of-pocket costs would have been around $250-500 total. It's very easy to use, it's completely scripted and each level includes DVDs showing exactly how to do it. And you can call or email Susan Barton any time if you have questions.

 

Jackie

[lisabees]

Thanks Jackie. I have been hesitant about Barton, because of the time and intensity involved. I really don't think he needs that much. His main problems are the fluency and comprehension, but he definitely shares your son's problems, as far as chunking, spelling etc.

 

Does All About Spelling work on fluency and comprehension?

[Corraleno]

Thanks Jackie. I have been hesitant about Barton, because of the time and intensity involved. I really don't think he needs that much. His main problems are the fluency and comprehension, but he definitely shares your son's problems, as far as chunking, spelling etc.

 

Does All About Spelling work on fluency and comprehension?

 

I've been told (by the educational specialist who tested my son) and have read in many books on dyslexia/reading LDs that the best ways to increase speed, fluency, and comprehension are (1) repeated reading of the same passage, (2) reading aloud (slows kids down and prevents them from skipping/guessing words), and (3) listening to an audiobook (or a parent reading aloud from the same book) while following along in the written text.

 

Choose books that are at or just below his level, since the goal is to make reading fluid and automatic, not challenge him with new vocabulary.What I do with my son is have him follow along in a book while I read a chapter aloud (over his shoulder -- he hates that, but he won't listen to audiobooks, so that's his only option). Then he reads it himself silently, then he reads it aloud to me while I time him. If it's slow, I have him read it again the next day until its fluid. Then we do the next chapter, etc.

 

BTW, this is totally separate from "pleasure reading," which he is supposed to do for 30-60 minutes a day, in any book of his choosing. He just finished the Percy Jackson series, which was the first thing he's read where he happily read more than an hour a day. I don't want to spoil his "fun" reading with repetition, so I choose simple, funny books for the fluency practice. (The last book we did was Night at the Museum.)

 

HTH,

Jackie

[siloam]

Anyone have experience with All About Spelling and a kiddo with mild dyslexia? We are having to switch gears and "relearn" phonics, spelling and math.

 

Thanks,

Therese

 

Therese,

 

All my kids have different dyslexic issues, and AAS is working for us.

 

I have looked at using Barton too, but came to the conclusion that my children don't need phonics help (well except maybe the youngest, but he is still doing speech therapy). They do need spelling help (AAS) and I am looking in Great Leaps to build fluency.

 

Heather

[Mom-ninja.]

My ds loves AAS. I've found it is helping his reading as well. During other subjects if he doesn't know how to spell a word, he will go to the board, spell the word with the tiles, and then go write it on his paper.

 

 

 

BTW, this is totally separate from "pleasure reading," which he is supposed to do for 30-60 minutes a day, in any book of his choosing. He just finished the Percy Jackson series, which was the first thing he's read where he happily read more than an hour a day. I don't want to spoil his "fun" reading with repetition, so I choose simple, funny books for the fluency practice. (The last book we did was Night at the Museum.)

 

HTH,

Jackie

 

For his fun reading does he read those out loud or quietly?

 

 

 

Therese,

 

All my kids have different dyslexic issues, and AAS is working for us.

 

I have looked at using Barton too, but came to the conclusion that my children don't need phonics help (well except maybe the youngest, but he is still doing speech therapy). They do need spelling help (AAS) and I am looking in Great Leaps to build fluency.

 

Heather

 

 

What is Great Leaps? Are you doing the speech therapy yourself?

[MerryAtHope]

Merry,

Very encouraging. Great ideas. I am looking foward to using the program and "not skimping" on the review. How did you know I was type A?;)

Question....when you have your kids sound out the mispelled word and it just happens to phonetically make sense...what do you say? Like thred for thread, beed for bead, etc.... Just curious:)

 

Thanks,

Therese

 

Well, I have them sound out when the word is not spelled in a phonetically sensible way. Spelling is both auditory and visual, so we work on both strategies. Auditory processing issues are very common with dyslexics, and they tend to need a LOT of work in that area. That's certainly true with my kids.

 

Now, for the mistake examples you posted, they would need to know these words visually. One thing AAS does is have the kids read a "word bank" of words--when they studied the "ee" phonogram, they read the "ee" word bank several days (and I add extra days to help cement that visual memory). AAS doesn't introduce another similar sound (such as ea) for 1/2 to a whole level, so that the child has a long time to internalize one spelling and one set of words before being introduced to another.

 

Then after they've learned several ways to spell a sound, they do word-sorting exercises. You dictate words and they try it first on scratch paper until they pick the correct spelling, then they transfer that to a paper that has columns for each of several spellings. They first do this with c, k, and ck, then s and z, and then later on various vowel team combos (we've done word sorting for long a sounds--a, ai, ay, a_e, and then long e--e, ee, e_e, ea, combos for long O etc... in Level 3).

 

Anyway, I've found that the combo of working on the visual memory through reading the word bank, having them do the "scratch pad" strategy, the consistent review, and then the word-sorting exercises, has helped them cement some of these spellings. When my kids are doing dictation and get stumped on a word, I have them write it and go on (so they don't get bogged down & forget the rest of the sentence), then come back afterwards, try a couple of spellings, choose one & use that in the sentence. They are increasingly choosing the right spellings.

 

HTH! Merry :-)

[Corraleno]

For his fun reading does he read those out loud or quietly?

 

Silently, usually curled up in the big chair by the window with the dog draped over his lap. But sometimes he likes to "hole up" in his top bunk or in his tree house or somewhere like that, where he can really "disappear" into the book. I love it when that happens!

 

Jackie

[siloam]

What is Great Leaps? Are you doing the speech therapy yourself?

 

Great Leaps is a fluency/reading program. My oldest three read fine, but the middle two are slow on their oral reading and comprehension. Not alarmingly so, but the last time I gave them a test they were at the beginning of their grade instead of at the end. I am hoping Great Leaps will help build fluency and help with some of the word skipping issues.

 

Yes I am doing speech therapy with LiPS, which is not a cheap program, but it is working. He is one of those kids who had a lot of ear infections as a child, and while his hearing is fine now his speech was affected, because he didn't hear correctly.

 

Heather

 

[Mom-ninja.]

Great Leaps is a fluency/reading program. My oldest three read fine, but the middle two are slow on their oral reading and comprehension. Not alarmingly so, but the last time I gave them a test they were at the beginning of their grade instead of at the end. I am hoping Great Leaps will help build fluency and help with some of the word skipping issues.

 

Yes I am doing speech therapy with LiPS, which is not a cheap program, but it is working. He is one of those kids who had a lot of ear infections as a child, and while his hearing is fine now his speech was affected, because he didn't hear correctly.

 

Heather

 

 

 

Thanks for the links. I'm using ABeCeDarian for my struggling 8 yr old, and it is working great so far.

 

My 5 yr old has speech issues. I've been told from weak muscle tone. I ask how one can have weak oral muscle tone after nursing for years. :confused: Anyway, I've found that doing phonics with him has helped.

 

 

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