Anyone familiar with the "Institute for Reading Development" classes?

[Matryoshka]

I've signed my kids up for a session of these. The higher level classes claim to be focused on study skills like taking notes, outlining, studying for tests, as well as increasing reading speed and comprehension, and vocabulary building. They apparently offer these classes nationwide, so I thought someone might have experience with these.

 

I'm mostly interested in the study skills aspect, but I wouldn't complain if they upped their reading speed (which is fine, but I'll be giving them a lot to read next year). They'll be in 8th next year, and I'm thinking of sending them to the local ps for high school, and I thought this might be good for them.

 

The classes aren't cheap - if anyone has taken these, were they worthwhile?

[Julie in MN]

I wonder if these are the classes I had my dd take. Do they offer the lifetime repeat privileges? I probably shouldn't say anything unless I know for sure, but I don't know where I'd dig to find out the name of her courses. Maybe her school notebooks...

 

I'll just say that the courses my dd took were expensive, gave me many billing headaches, and simply used worksheets in a large classroom setting (and as homework, although that may have been because my dd was slow & didn't finish). The teacher seemed annoyed by my slow reading dd which didn't make any sense to me since that's why she was there. So I'd suggest visiting a session before signing up, even if the site lists stellar recommendations.

 

I hope someone else had a better experience (and knows the company they used by name!). If no one else chimes in, then maybe I can dig out our exact company name tomorrow.

 

Julie

[Matryoshka]

I wonder if these are the classes I had my dd take. Do they offer the lifetime repeat privileges? I probably shouldn't say anything unless I know for sure, but I don't know where I'd dig to find out the name of her courses. Maybe her school notebooks...

 

I'll just say that the courses my dd took were expensive, gave me many billing headaches, and simply used worksheets in a large classroom setting (and as homework, although that may have been because my dd was slow & didn't finish). The teacher seemed annoyed by my slow reading dd which didn't make any sense to me since that's why she was there. So I'd suggest visiting a session before signing up, even if the site lists stellar recommendations.

 

I hope someone else had a better experience (and knows the company they used by name!). If no one else chimes in, then maybe I can dig out our exact company name tomorrow.

 

Julie

 

I'm not sure this is the same company... the name of the company is Institute of Reading Development; they offer the classes in conjunction with local universities. I don't think they offer lifetime repeats, as from the website the people giving reviews mention coming back another year because they liked it so much (and I'm assuming paying for another year).

 

It does look like they'll use a vocabulary workbook, but they will also be reading a novel. They supposedly will also be using non-fiction sources (including textbooks) for the note-taking and such. There are five 2.5-hour long classes. They are very up-front that there will be homework, which include reading from the novel, watching a dvd (not sure what that is), timed readings, narrations (they call them tellbacks), short writing assignments, and the vocab book.

[Julie in MN]

Well, I tried to look because I hate to give false information. The only thing I found in my dd's school things so far, interestingly, was a group of bills stapled together that follow my billing problem with them. The charges are to "Institute of Reading D., Novato CA" and the note from the social worker who helped set up this class says, "MN Inst. Reading 1800-964-2030."

 

Now to be fair, the billing issue was complicated on our end (but they did not cooperate at all with fixing it).

 

And to be fair again, my dd was a hard egg to crack and the public schools gave up on her and we almost gave up on her :)

 

But again I just suggest you actually attend a class first. Even a ps teacher can write a summary of their coursework that looks AWEsome and know they truly won't accomplish all that in the real world. If I find any actual info from the course, I'll post again. But I felt it was worth posting the caution of attending a class before signing up.

 

I do hope someone else chimes in.

Julie

[Matryoshka]

Well, I tried to look because I hate to give false information. The only thing I found in my dd's school things so far, interestingly, was a group of bills stapled together that follow my billing problem with them. The charges are to "Institute of Reading D., Novato CA" and the note from the social worker who helped set up this class says, "MN Inst. Reading 1800-964-2030."

 

Now to be fair, the billing issue was complicated on our end (but they did not cooperate at all with fixing it).

 

And to be fair again, my dd was a hard egg to crack and the public schools gave up on her and we almost gave up on her :)

 

But again I just suggest you actually attend a class first. Even a ps teacher can write a summary of their coursework that looks AWEsome and know they truly won't accomplish all that in the real world. If I find any actual info from the course, I'll post again. But I felt it was worth posting the caution of attending a class before signing up.

 

I do hope someone else chimes in.

Julie

 

Hmmm. I'm not so worried about the billing thing - I just paid with a credit card, and they say you can cancel up to 10 days before start of the program, and if I cancel and they give me a hard time, I'll just have my credit card company deal with it - their policy is in writing numerous places.

 

It does sound like the same company, though. How old was your dd when she took it? They have a levels from pre-K to adult, and obviously the focus is different in the different levels. I don't think I would have felt any need at all for the lower levels - my older kids have always been strong readers with excellent decoding skills. In fact, most of my reservations are coming from looking at the website (which they didn't give me the addy to till after I signed up :confused:) - most of the testimonials are from kids who "never liked reading before" - well, mine already like to read - I'm really looking for the study skills and non-fiction/textbook reading strategies. This is an area they are not as strong in. After looking at the website, I actually upped them a level - now they're enrolled in the entering 9th-11th grade level, where the books seemed more their speed. They'll be reading The Fellowship of the Rings (which they'd be reading in the fall for LLfLOTR anyway).

 

Anyway, the class isn't till August, so I have almost a month to make up my mind. They do have local classes starting in June, though, so your suggestion of trying to visit a class is a very good one! I'll ask and see how they respond...

 

I do hope some others chime in, hopefully someone with experience with the upper level classes...

 

 

PS. Wonder what happened to the lifetime repeat privileges - don't see that mentioned anywhere, in fact, the video testimonials give the distinct impression that some kids take it again (and pay) for multiple years because they just love it so much (yeah, I'm having a hard time swallowing that one... :001_rolleyes: )

Edited June 18, 2011 by matroyshka

[Julie in MN]

Hmmm. I'm not so worried about the billing thing - I just paid with a credit card, and they say you can cancel up to 10 days before start of the program, and if I cancel and they give me a hard time, I'll just have my credit card company deal with it - their policy is in writing numerous places.

 

It does sound like the same company, though. How old was your dd when she took it?

 

Yes, my cc company got the refund.

 

My dd was older, like 11th or 12th grade. There were some adults in the class.

 

Julie

[Matryoshka]

My dd was older, like 11th or 12th grade. There were some adults in the class.

If she took the class for 12th graders and adults, they don't read a novel - looks like they do "professional reading" (snore), and selections from fiction and other reading. But still...

 

They also don't do a vocab book, but honestly, vocab is something I've got covered at home. The earlier levels also get some kind of DVD that somehow relates to the reading, but again, I'm not sure what's on there. I called and they said it was "assignments". But those differences could explain it being mostly worksheets for your dd.

 

They didn't want me to sit in a class, as it could be "disruptive" to the teacher... :glare:

 

 

:lurk5: Anyone else?

Edited June 20, 2011 by matroyshka

[Matryoshka]

:lurk5: POP

[burleygirl]

My daughter, 13 now, took a reading class when she was in the 4th or 5th grade. They read two novels, Henry Huggins and The Cricket in Times Square. The class focused on "tell backs" and giving the students strategies for pronouncing multisyllable words. I usually sat in on the class as did other parents. She was given a two workbooks - one for answering questions about the books and a workbook with the multisyllable words. The class was somewhat helpful. At the time, I didn't know she was dyslexic. She did fine with Henry Huggins but struggled quite a bit with the other book. She also struggled with the tell backs. All in all I did think the class was helpful for her.