tabrizia Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 Okay so ORGTR is not working for us. I dislike it and DS is strongly opposed to it. So I was looking at AAR. DS can already read a lot of basic CVC words when he pays attention and he knows the basic sounds of all his letters. So tell me the good and the bad in AAR. I like the concept, but it costs enough that I don't want to spend the money on it unless it seems like a good choice. If I get it I would get AAR level 1 for DS. How do people who have used it like it? Does it work for you? DS is currently recovering from a traumatic brain injury, which has left him more impulsive and hyper then he was before and he was never a calm child to begin with. He is always moving, sitting and concentrating is not his strong suit. He attention span is low right now, I can normally get about 5 to 10 minutes of sitting out of him before he is done and moving again. He does want to learn to read, but he is semi resistant to the sitting down and concentrating part of that equation. He also is likely dysgraphic, so minimal writing is preferred. I am open to suggestions other then AAR as well. DS really wants to learn to read, but OPGTR is not working for him at all right now and I am really trying to figure out something that will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katydid Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 Well, we are only on lesson 3, but so far we love it! :001_smile: My eyes were glazing over trying to do OPGTR and DD was starting to hate it, too. She is slow going so far, but it's been easy to break up the lessons into manageable chunks for her. I like that everything I need to do is spelled out for me in the teacher's book and I like the different activities to reinforce learning. So far, there is nothing I don't like about it. The materials are all wonderful quality and worth the money, IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josie6504 Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 We love it so far! We have gone through AAR Pre-1 and now 1. They both have been perfect. Reading has become one of my son's favorite subjects. He used to hate it. We are only in lesson four, but he is doing extremely well! I love that it is open and go. I also love that everything is laid out for me. We break the lessons up into a few days. It takes us a couple days to get through the fluency sheets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tabrizia Posted July 24, 2012 Author Share Posted July 24, 2012 Thanks, so far all the responses I am getting love AAR, which makes me feel much more comfortable buying it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisoncooks Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 I'm not sure how I feel about AAR; I'm actually thinking about returning it... DD thinks the activities/games/tiles are fun, and I like the concept.... and yet, we don't seem to progress with it. Each lesson has a lot of components and usually takes us several days to work through (DD has a short attention span and is very impulsive/active). Then by the time we finish that lesson/step...she's almost forgotten what we did during it. :confused: I'm sure *I* am the reason it's not working because so many have had great experiences with it. Or maybe it just doesn't fit DD. All the reviewing (letters, words, fluency passages) in each step overwhelms DD and I'm having a hard time figuring out how to make it flow better for *us*. Anyway, just throwing in my 2 cents... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justLisa Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 I would just start reading books. Like early readers, and read them together often. Once I covered vowel/consonant blends we just started reading. It helped to cover prefix/suffix/endings/plurals so they could break up words, but we just spend more time reading than learning to read. I read with DD and if she gets stuck on a word I just cover part to help her sound it out. ETA: I just re read your post.....so this suggestion may be a bit premature. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tabrizia Posted July 24, 2012 Author Share Posted July 24, 2012 I would just start reading books. Like early readers, and read them together often. Once I covered vowel/consonant blends we just started reading. It helped to cover prefix/suffix/endings/plurals so they could break up words, but we just spend more time reading than learning to read. I read with DD and if she gets stuck on a word I just cover part to help her sound it out. ETA: I just re read your post.....so this suggestion may be a bit premature. We do this a lot as well, but he is very resistant to reading something he doesn't know the words too, and will just guess instead of focusing on the words on the page. He does much better when there is only a sentence or so on the page, that he can sound out and read. And he hates Bob books even though he can read the words on them, it needs to be real and interesting to keep him attentive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justLisa Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 You could also do OPGTR on the white board. One thing I did with DD when we were in the early stages of the book, was type out the little story on paper, and have her draw a picture of it. She really liked doing that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syllieann Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 We just started recently and my son really loves it. I have some issues with clutter and it really bugs me when things are asymmetrical so AAR and all its pieces is a bit of a sacrifice in my own sanity but I'm getting used to it. It is certainly more engaging and enjoyable for my son than plain 'ol phonics pathways and other such things where you just go over the sounds and then practice. I also feel strongly that I want the phonics introduced before he starts guessing at things in a "blended literacy" fashion so many other options were off the table for me. The readers in aar are really nice which accounts for some of the high price. This works to offset how much the tiles disturb my inner peace because a cheap program with make your own readers sitting all over would probably make me even crazier.:blink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twilight Woods Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 We moved to AAR level 1 from OPGTR. We just finished lesson 7. My DD LOVES it and actually asks to do reading. We are going through it slowly since level 2 is not yet out. Last night she picked up Go Dog Go to read and after reading it she says "mommy I love to read". Before this she hated anything to do with reading. Im not sure if it is the program or her or a little of both. I typically only work with her 10-15mins a day and then have her try reading something another part of the day. She loves the activity book and the readers. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tabrizia Posted July 24, 2012 Author Share Posted July 24, 2012 Thanks for the thoughts and suggestions everyone. I think that I will go ahead and order it and hope it works. It has a great return policy so if it ends up just not working there is always that. So far though it sounds like it should be a good choice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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