Reading programs to use with dyslecic ds.

[Sew happily ever after]

For 7yo ds.

Tried IEW PAL--not happening.

 

Considering:

Reading Made Easy

The reading Lesson

All About Reading --do I start at level 1 or 2? He is in level 2 of AAS.

 

Not remotely interested in:

Ordinary Parents Guide or

100 EZ lessons so please don't suggest those! :)

[FairProspects]

What is his reading level now? Something Orton-Gillingham based would be good - the heavy duty ones are Barton, Davis, and Wilson, I think. A less expensive option is Recipe for Reading, where you create your own O-G program but you have to break down the steps into lessons and create the materials yourself. If he is in AAS 2, does he have some reading fluency?

[FLDebbie]

We use Barton and it's done wonders for my dyslexic son.

[AngieW in Texas]

The first program to make a difference for my dd was Headsprout. They used to have a 30-day money-back guarantee. I don't know if they still do. After that, Funnix level 2 was a good fit. She used the I See Sam readers with Headsprout, but she got tired of the I See Sam books by the end of set 4. The first three sets were animal stories and she loved those. The 4th set was mostly people stories and she thought they were boring.

[Ellie]

Spalding. Spalding has documented success with children who have learning difficulties of all kinds.

[Sew happily ever after]

He is reading at beginning first grade level. Is starting to recognize some CBC words, has some sight words--mostly all K5 level and some first.

 

I'm hesitant to continue in AAS because it seems like its getting frustrating for him--we are on the early steps, not too far in the program.

 

Can I just have him start level 2 of AAR? Or must I go through level 1 first? That's the one I'm leaning toward an is OG based.

 

He still has lots of letter & number reversals and often writes entire words, sentences, and his name completely backward.

[MerryAtHope]

He is reading at beginning first grade level. Is starting to recognize some CBC words, has some sight words--mostly all K5 level and some first.

 

I'm hesitant to continue in AAS because it seems like its getting frustrating for him--we are on the early steps, not too far in the program.

 

Can I just have him start level 2 of AAR? Or must I go through level 1 first? That's the one I'm leaning toward an is OG based.

 

You want to look at his fluency to help you decide, but if he's just starting to recognize CVC words, that sounds like he's not fluent on Level 1 words yet. There is a complete list of all the words taught in Level 1 near the end of the online sample. Take a look at that first. If he's reading those words easily and fluently, then he's ready for level 2. If he's struggling with some of them, has to sound them out, or doesn't know some of them, then he would benefit from going through AAR 1 to lay a more solid foundation. Sometimes backing up and doing something that is a bit easy helps to build fluency and confidence too.

 

If you decide he needs AAR 1, I'd definitely take a break from AAS for now, until he gets through that. Even if you decide he's solidly ready for AAR 2, I think I'd either take a break, or maybe just review some previous concepts for now rather than continuing with new steps. Let him have time to really get used to the concepts for reading purposes, and then spelling can be a review that will reinforce those phonics concepts as well as help him with spelling.

 

When you do start back with AAS, make sure that you are doing plenty of review. Kids who struggle tend to need lots and lots of daily review to solidify concepts and help them retain long-term.

 

He still has lots of letter & number reversals and often writes entire words, sentences, and his name completely backward.

 

Is this ever done for fun? Does he realize that he does this or is it by accident?

 

There's a great description of air-writing and other helpful strategies for reversals in this article.

 

You might check into www.covd.org to see if he has vision processing issues as well.

 

Hang in there! Merry :-)

[boscopup]

Take a look at Dancing Bears from Sound Foundations. They have full text samples online so you can see how it works.

[FO4UR]

Take a look at Dancing Bears from Sound Foundations. They have full text samples online so you can see how it works.

 

 

:iagree:

 

 

http://www.prometheantrust.org/usshop.htm

 

 

The reversals and mirror-writing scream of visual issues. Dancing Bears is fantastic for these kids!

 

 

 

 

I appreciate Spalding and Orton-Gillingham methods. I know and use them as well, but both of these teach reading through learning to spell...assuming that the child will spontaneously read. Most kids do well with this. Kids with visual/dyslexic issues often do not! (My 9yo could spell fairly advanced words, but still couldn't read the simplest Bob Books in 1st grade. I used SWR with him for 2.5 years - no reading!) Dancing Bears taught my ds9 *no* new phonics, but reading unfolded for him as we progressed through the program b/c it trained his eye to SEE the phonics in the words and READ!

 

 

It's also really good for kids who cannot tolerate loooooong lessons b/c it is strongly directed that you spend only 10min per day in the book. Follow the directions for the cursor and "flashback technique" to a T and see how it goes.

[kentuckymom]

My seven year old dyslexic DS is going through Barton Reading and Spelling with a tutor, and it's made a huge difference! He's still behind grade level, but he's making progress, whereas he made no progress whatsoever with the methods used at his school.

 

From what I've seen on the website, AAR could be a good choice since it's also Orton Gillingham based. You're also probably already somewhat familiar with the method having used AAS. Whatever you use, I recommend starting at the beginning. Even if it's review, it will give you both a chance to get used to the program. Review might be good for your DS because it can give him a chance to have easy success in reading tasks. Plus, dyslexics need lots of review. My son's tutor is now having us go over the spelling of several lists of sight words that he supposedly "mastered" months ago. He can still read them without a problem, but he's completely forgotten the spelling. I think review is something that you just have to get used to with a dyslexic.

 

It hasn't been mentioned yet in this thread, but Phonics Road is also OG based. From my perusal of the website, it looks to me like it moves too fast for the average dyslexic, but it might be worth looking at if you haven't done so. Unlike Barton or AAR, it apparently uses writing as the tactile part of the multisensory approach, which might help with his letter reversals.

 

One more thought.... the whole program is probably too expensive, but I recommend checking out Letterland, which is a reading program from the UK (http://www.letterland.com). It's virtually unknown in the U.S., but it's documented as working well with kids at risk for reading disabilities. My son's tutoring center works in some Letterland with the Barton lessons with the younger kids. Each letter has a character, my son's familiarity with the characters has helped him with his difficulty writing and distinguishing b, d, and p. I just ask him if it looks like (in reading) or to make sure it looks like (in writing) Benjamin Bunny, Dippy Duck, or Peter Puppy.

 

Edited to add:

The program is probably too expensive for a homeschooler since it's designed to be used in a classroom, but just getting the basic letter introduction book has been really helpful for us.

 

One more tip, which I can hopefully explain without a visual. My son's tutor taught him some hand motions to distinguish b, d, and p. You hold up your "helping hand" (opposite hand from your writing hand). Since I'm right handed, I'll explain using my left hand. So I take my left hand, make a fist, and point my thumb up. It resembles a "b". I say, "Balloons go up." I then turn the whole hand so the thumb points down and it resembles a "p". I say "Pigs go down." I then (and this is the tricky one to both do an explain) move my arm so that the thumb points up but the first points away from me and it's resembles a "d". I say, "Dogs run away."

 

This has gone long and probably given you more of an answer than you were looking for, but I hope it helps. I'm kind of passionate about dyslexic kids :).

Edited September 26, 2012 by kentuckymom
add content

[kentuckymom]

:iagree:

 

 

http://www.prometheantrust.org/usshop.htm

 

 

The reversals and mirror-writing scream of visual issues. Dancing Bears is fantastic for these kids!

 

 

:iagree:

 

Even if you've had a dyslexia screening and an expert has said he has a language processing disorder, have him screened for visual issues, too. It's not uncommon for the two to come together.

[FO4UR]

 

One more thought.... the whole program is probably too expensive, but I recommend checking out Letterland, which is a reading program from the UK (www.letterland.com). It's virtually unknown in the U.S., but it's documented as working well with kids at risk for reading disabilities. My son's tutoring center works in some Letterland with the Barton lessons with the younger kids. Each letter has a character, my son's familiarity with the characters has helped him with his difficulty writing and distinguishing b, d, and p. I just ask him if it looks like (in reading) or to make sure it looks like (in writing) Benjamin Bunny, Dippy Duck, or Peter Puppy.

 

Edited to add:

The program is probably too expensive for a homeschooler since it's designed to be used in a classroom, but just getting the basic letter introduction book has been really helpful for us.

 

One more tip, which I can hopefully explain without a visual. My son's tutor taught him some hand motions to distinguish b, d, and p. You hold up your "helping hand" (opposite hand from your writing hand). Since I'm right handed, I'll explain using my left hand. So I take my left hand, make a fist, and point my thumb up. It resembles a "b". I say, "Balloons go up." I then turn the whole hand so the thumb points down and it resembles a "p". I say "Pigs go down." I then (and this is the tricky one to both do an explain) move my arm so that the thumb points up but the first points away from me and it's resembles a "d". I say, "Dogs run away."

 

This has gone long and probably given you more of an answer than you were looking for, but I hope it helps. I'm kind of passionate about dyslexic kids :).

 

 

I'll have to check out Letter Land. Dancing Bears is also a UK program. Hmmm...they seem to be doing good things for dyslexics across the pond.

 

 

 

My 9yo has been taught so many tricks for distinguishing b,p, d, and q. None of them work.:lol: He can TEACH someone else the tricks, and still reverses 1/2 the time. Cursive is the only cure for him...and even then he mirror writes entire words/sentences and does not realize it. It's just too bad that numbers cannot be cursive!:tongue_smilie: As long as he's reading, I think we can survive the writing reversals.

[Shellers]

Take a look at Dancing Bears from Sound Foundations. They have full text samples online so you can see how it works.

 

 

:iagree:

 

My severely dyslexic DS12 was in public school for six years with an IEP and could read only nine words! I pulled him from public school, figuring I couldn't do a worse job than they were doing. We are now 11 months into homeschooling and he's reading at a beginning 3rd grade level. I know if I had left him in school he would be illiterate.

 

Dancing Bears (in retrospect I should have put him in the industrial strength Bear Necessities) got my boy reading, which is something his public school couldn't do.

 

I highly recommend Dancing Bears and Bear necessities (for kids that need tons of practice).

[kentuckymom]

 

 

 

My 9yo has been taught so many tricks for distinguishing b,p, d, and q. None of them work.:lol: He can TEACH someone else the tricks, and still reverses 1/2 the time.

 

I know how you feel. My son knows the trick, but he forgets to use it half the time. I figured knowing another trick couldn't hurt, though :).