Spend money on O-G Training?

[Renee in NC]

I have an opportunity to get O-G training, specifically related to the Wilson Reading program in July for $600 (includes the Wilson Starter set.) It will also involve going to NC for 2 weeks and probably staying at a campground for most of that time with my children. (Dh will stay here in FL.) I will also have to find and pay for child care for that 2 weeks.

 

The more I think about this, the crazier it seems. I would *really* like to get the training, but I feel like I could do something more efficient with the money (probably $1500 all together or more.)

 

I could buy a whole bunch of Barton levels with that money and the training is included. Not only that, but I could get certified as a Barton tutor after taking 2 children through Levels 1-3. (My goal is to help my own children and be able to tutor others to help bring in more money.)

 

Or I could buy Wilson and the training DVDs for less.

 

Not only that, 2 weeks with 6 kids in a campground, plus getting them to child care, meals, etc. seems a little hard if I am training 7 hours a day as well. We could stay at my Dad's for a couple of days, but there is no way we could stay there 2 weeks (my stepmother has MS and they don't handle children well for more than a few hours at a time.)

 

Another option is O-G tutoring about 4 hours south of here in May. It's 5 days, so I would need a hotel and child care here at home for my dc while I am gone. Dh is *not* really excited about me being gone for a week and leaving the dc with him - he'd rather me go to NC in July and do that training. That training utilizes Recipe for Reading and other EPS products.

 

Can you help me think this through? Would the "real" training get me more or help me to be able to tutor others easier? Would it add enough benefit to be worth the cost and aggravation. I am usually a "give me the book and let me learn it myself" kind of person.

 

One benefit that I was given by someone is that if you train in O-G specifically, you can tailor the tutoring to the student easier than if you simply use a scripted program.

 

Any ideas or thoughts?

[prairiegirl]

Well, I don't know anything about Wilson, but I learned how to use Bartons just with their DVDs and we are doing fine, actually we are more than fine.

 

What I do to offset the cost is to loan my sets out to people to use on their own. I have my first two sets half paid for already.

 

You have alot on your plate as it is, you need to make things as easy on yourself as you can. I say put that money into buying the sets and learn to tutor as you go. It truly is not that difficult.

[Renee in NC]

Well, I don't know anything about Wilson, but I learned how to use Bartons just with their DVDs and we are doing fine, actually we are more than fine.

 

What I do to offset the cost is to loan my sets out to people to use on their own. I have my first two sets half paid for already.

 

You have alot on your plate as it is, you need to make things as easy on yourself as you can. I say put that money into buying the sets and learn to tutor as you go. It truly is not that difficult.

 

I don't think the tutoring children is difficult, rather I need to add income to my family as well as help my dc. I do not have any tutoring experience (outside my own family) and no education or certifications to add legitimacy. The experience could be beneficial in terms of tutoring outside the realm of one scripted programs as well.

[Paisley Hedgehog]

nm

[merry gardens]

I have an opportunity to get O-G training, specifically related to the Wilson Reading program in July for $600 (includes the Wilson Starter set.) It will also involve going to NC for 2 weeks and probably staying at a campground for most of that time with my children. (Dh will stay here in FL.) I will also have to find and pay for child care for that 2 weeks.

 

The more I think about this, the crazier it seems. I would *really* like to get the training, but I feel like I could do something more efficient with the money (probably $1500 all together or more.)

 

I could buy a whole bunch of Barton levels with that money and the training is included. Not only that, but I could get certified as a Barton tutor after taking 2 children through Levels 1-3. (My goal is to help my own children and be able to tutor others to help bring in more money.)

 

Or I could buy Wilson and the training DVDs for less.

 

Not only that, 2 weeks with 6 kids in a campground, plus getting them to child care, meals, etc. seems a little hard if I am training 7 hours a day as well. We could stay at my Dad's for a couple of days, but there is no way we could stay there 2 weeks (my stepmother has MS and they don't handle children well for more than a few hours at a time.)

 

Another option is O-G tutoring about 4 hours south of here in May. It's 5 days, so I would need a hotel and child care here at home for my dc while I am gone. Dh is *not* really excited about me being gone for a week and leaving the dc with him - he'd rather me go to NC in July and do that training. That training utilizes Recipe for Reading and other EPS products.

 

Can you help me think this through? Would the "real" training get me more or help me to be able to tutor others easier? Would it add enough benefit to be worth the cost and aggravation. I am usually a "give me the book and let me learn it myself" kind of person.

 

One benefit that I was given by someone is that if you train in O-G specifically, you can tailor the tutoring to the student easier than if you simply use a scripted program.

 

Any ideas or thoughts?

That training sounds very costly and difficult logistically.

 

I use Barton and have a real life friend who got different O-G training over the summer. When discussing our dyslexic sons and the programs we use, she mentioned she liked the idea of the Barton cd's giving just a little training at a time. She said she got so much information all at once that it was difficult for her to recall everything. She quit using her O-G methods after a year. Her child was mostly caught up to grade level and even though she thought he could benefit from more, she found the O-G methods she used were very time consuming and difficult for her to do with him.

 

I will openly confess I have a bias towards Barton. I also like Lindamood-Bell materials. I am not very familiar with Wilson. If your goal is tutoring people with dyslexia, being a Barton certified tutor might help you get started with your business. Once you're tutoring business is profitable, you could pay for further O-G training through your business, and you would probably remember the training better if you were already familiar with Barton. An experienced tutor might draw on various methods and possibly combine programs to best fit the individual student, but a proven scripted method can give great confidence to someone just learning how to tutor individuals with dyslexia. If I was looking to use a tutoring service, I would want the tutor to have both some type of certification and experience.

Edited March 22, 2010 by merry gardens

[Renee in NC]

I guess there are two ways to look at this. If you are spending the money as an investment, hoping to recoup the training fees with future earnings from being a certified tutor, that's one thing. If you are spending the money in order to train yourself to teach your own, that's something else.

 

If you want to earn money as a tutor, then I'd say the OG training might be worthwhile. A training certificate is always a plus to a prospective parent. However, I'm not sure how much you could earn this way. Public schooled students are probably getting special tutoring through the system (tongue firmly in cheek here!) and homeschool Moms are probably doing the teaching themselves.

 

If you are just looking to teach your own, I would probably not invest the time and money in going to a training. Rather, I'd buy the Barton system and learn their method. Heck, you could earn money just by 'renting' out those levels, since they are so expensive to buy! (If you do this, remember to buy extra tiles with your first purchase.)

 

Have you seen this?

http://intervention.schoolspecialty.com/pd/og.cfm

 

I guess it isn't much help, but *I* wouldn't get special training because, money aside, I don't have time or space to tutor other people's children. I don't always have enough time for my own! ;)

 

Best wishes

 

That's kind of depressing...okay really depressing. I thought that tutoring would be a good idea. I know that low-income kids get free tutoring through NCLB because of the low-performance of many of the schools in the area. I figured people who had money were paying others to do the tutoring for them. If I had money, I'd pay someone else to tutor mine!

[siloam]

There is a gal on one of my yahoo groups who is finishing Barton with her ds, who also became Barton Certified (to pay for the expensive materials ds needed, like Barton) and then later went to o/g training. I do believe she benefited from the o/g training, but it was on the easy side after Barton. She said they were particularity weak on schwas and so she brought in her Barton level 4 video for everyone (including the o/g teacher) to watch, and everyone benefited from it.

 

I am sure not all o/g training is the same, but I decided a while ago that I would rather buy the Barton Video's and turn around and sell them for the next level rather than deal with the mess of trying to do training.

 

Heather

[cathmom]

That's kind of depressing...okay really depressing. I thought that tutoring would be a good idea. I know that low-income kids get free tutoring through NCLB because of the low-performance of many of the schools in the area. I figured people who had money were paying others to do the tutoring for them. If I had money, I'd pay someone else to tutor mine!

 

I think there's a market for tutoring. Tutors that I contacted up here charged up to $50 an hour! They wouldn't charge that if they couldn't get work.

[Renee in NC]

There is a gal on one of my yahoo groups who is finishing Barton with her ds, who also became Barton Certified (to pay for the expensive materials ds needed, like Barton) and then later went to o/g training. I do believe she benefited from the o/g training, but it was on the easy side after Barton. She said they were particularity weak on schwas and so she brought in her Barton level 4 video for everyone (including the o/g teacher) to watch, and everyone benefited from it.

 

I am sure not all o/g training is the same, but I decided a while ago that I would rather buy the Barton Video's and turn around and sell them for the next level rather than deal with the mess of trying to do training.

 

Heather

 

That is a good possibility. My 9yo is ready for Barton Level 1 while my 7yo is not. Hopefully the 7yo will be receiving spesch/language therapy soon, so he can start Barton once he has the phonemic awareness skills he needs. My 12yo could use Barton as well - I have to give him the post-test from Levels 1-4 to see where he falls.

 

I think there's a market for tutoring. Tutors that I contacted up here charged up to $50 an hour! They wouldn't charge that if they couldn't get work.

 

That is true. I don't know how much tutors charge here, but the market would have to be with the higher income kids (who don't get free tutoring.)

[Oak Knoll Mom]

I wouldn't put that much money into training yet. That's just a lot of money to spend on a (as yet) non-existent business. I'd use ElizabethB's program and tutor a couple of kids at a discounted rate to establish yourself as a tutor and make sure you even enjoy tutoring. Once you're established, take some of the money you earn from tutoring and get more certifications if you feel it will help.

[Momofeat]

I am an OG trained tutor, and it is well worth the investment if you would like to tutor children other than your own. I charge $25 for an hour lesson, and have no trouble finding students. My fee is actually on the low side, but my young children are here when I tutor, so I do not feel that it would be fair to charge more than that. I will not see students less than twice a week, because they cannot remember when they come less frequently.

 

Now, the biggest issue I see is trying to camp with your dc while taking a course. I'm not sure how the Wilson training works, but when I was trained in the Orton approach, my classes were from 8:00-4:00, and I had homework. It is a Bachelor's level course crammed into a very short time span. I could not have completed my homework in a campground with my dc--no way! Of course, your family is not mine, and you are not me, so you may be fine. :lol: You may want to think about the homework factor, though.

[Jan in SC]

I think it would be difficult for you to get hired as a reading tutor where I live. I have a child being tutored in reading and I have several friends with children being tutored. We all pay an average of $45 an hour.

 

To tutor my child in reading, I would except someone to provide a service I cannot. If my teaching abilities aren't enough for a learning disability, then I would find someone with a masters and substantial experience. There are many O-G tutors here, both at the public level and private. (To be completely honest, there is an amazing private school for LD issues here!)

 

Isn't your background in math? Math tutors are always in demand. You could buy some of the SAT/PSAT prep books and put a 6-8 week math course together to improve scores. You could rent or use a room at the local library or rec center, and charge $150 per student. You could have a group setting, with extra help optional.(For a fee, of course)

[farmgirlinwv]

I've had my dd tutored. It was about $30/hour in a rural setting. Here in VA there are many tutoring centers and a LD school that tutors. (I would love to send dd there, but it's $10,000) Anyway, make sure there's a market before spending that kind of money. Also, make sure it will be do-able, ie, you'll have a nice, quiet place to do it. I'd also make sure you live in a good area as most parents who can afford tutoring will not take their child somewhere they are not comfortable. Good luck!

[cillakat]

I did Wilson with both of my kids and did nothing more than watch the training videos.

 

It's really not worth getting Wilson training in unless you're planning on tutoring other kids as a side business.....but that is something worth thinking about. O-G tutors here make $60-$90 an hour.....

 

:)

K

[cillakat]

That training sounds very costly and difficult logistically.

 

 

I will openly confess I have a bias towards Barton.

 

Wilson, like Barton is 'just' another Orton-Gillingham program. While Barton is totally 'open and go' making it ideal for parents with no training or interest in 'figuring it out, Wilson is dramatically less expensive, requires some prep (making word cards) and in my opinion, does a better job with encoding (spelling) than Barton does. They both do an equally good job with decoding. Wilson also does some work (not required) work with comprension....I'm not sure that Barton does that....

 

Best,

Katherine