comprehension Pulling out of ps before High School

[dalynnrmc]

I have a friend who is running out of options to help her step-brother (whom she is adopting) in school and will likely pull him out after the school year is complete (must wait on the adoption to finalize). He's an 8th grader now, high school age for the fall, but in most subjects is only performing on a 5th grade level; his reading comprehension isn't up to par for a 2nd grader.

 

She is working on getting some better diagnoses for him, but in the meantime is ready to start looking at homeschooling options and is most concerned about Language Arts. Thinking his main problem revolves around comprehension and vocabulary. Suggestions?

 

Re: My friend isn't super comfortable in thinking she can handle homeschooling. I assured her we could find something she'd be comfortable using.

 

Re: Personally, after talking to her today, I'm thinking something with a lot of repetition is going to work best. He doesn't seem to have a very good working memory, and takes several days to think about things and then comes back to them to ask questions.

[specialmama]

I would look into Gander Publishing kits. They're expensive, but cheaper than one-on-one at a Lindamood-Bell speech centre. Mind you, if she has the funds, she may well want to look into the centres because they can dabble in all avenues and accurately assess what the challenges are. We're doing their VV program to work on comprehension and creating an image gestalt in order to increase recall, but Talkies might work better for him as an intro to VV if he struggles with responses. These programs have great results and research to back them, with most kids improving 5-6 grade levels after intensive work (4 hours daily, 5 days a week, for four weeks.)

 

Hope that helps a bit! I hope she knows she's giving him a wonderful gift out of love that will benefit him for the rest of his life.

[ladyinthegarden]

I suggest letting him listen to audio books regularly, and study word roots. For the comprehension and reading she might try using a reader like McGuffey, or Elson Readers, to gradually increase his level. He may also benefit the most from spiraling curriculum since he needs regular review.

[dalynnrmc]

Maybe I should clarify a bit - I personally have been homeschooling for 7 years and can give her all the basic helps she needs, guiding family, deschooling, etc. What I'm looking for help with is curriculum choices to address some of the specific needs they have that my family hasn't dealt with.

 

(Posted not because of answers I'm getting here necessarily, but from the general consensus of answers I'm getting from the dozen or so places I asked all over the web. LOL)

 

Thanks!

 

Ah... maybe I should add... yes, finances are an issue. She's a single mom with three other kids who was the only relative able to take the step-brother and prevent him from being placed into the system. Free would be great, cheap is needed, and I'll help her find things used in all cases. :)

[dalynnrmc]

I suggest letting him listen to audio books regularly, and study word roots. For the comprehension and reading she might try using a reader like McGuffey, or Elson Readers, to gradually increase his level. He may also benefit the most from spiraling curriculum since he needs regular review.

 

 

When you say to study root words, is that what would normally be covered in a "vocabulary" curriculum (such as Wordly Wise) or are you speaking of something different and specific? Can you name a few curricula which would fit that definition?

 

Thanks! Our family studies Greek and Latin roots - is that what you are meaning? I worry that his memory issues might prevent that from being of much help....

[LaughingCat]

You say his reading comprehension is at 2nd grade level - but what about the rest of his reading ability? If it is also 2nd grade (or much lower than age), I would be looking at something like Abecedarian or Dancing Bears or High Noon. If it's 4th grade or so, then possibly Rewards instead or the later Abecdarian books. Barton is the commonly recommended choice but much more expensive as well. All of these work with roots/prefixes and suffixes in a manner aimed toward a struggling reader. IMO Wordly Wise type programs are not a good choice for someone struggling with reading itself.

 

If it's just comprehension, I would look for struggling reader type comprehension programs not vocab. I think High Noon has one for example. I haven't really looked at these so can't give a recommendation.

[Greta Lea]

I recommend All About Spelling. My son was in 5th grade reading on a 2nd grade level when I began using AAS with him. It helped with reading and spelling.

 

Also, I did repeated readings with him about 3x a week for about 2 years (5th and 6th). I used passages from Abeka's Read and Think skills workbook for the repeated readings. This helps with cmprehension.

 

Listening to audio books has been very helpful to my son. He eventually got to the point where I had him not only listen but also read along. Oral narration in COMPLETE sentences aleays followed this. At first, I would write his narration as he told it to me, then have him copy it (or I'd dictate it to him).

 

HTH,

Greta:)

[kerenlynne]

Reading, reading and more reading. Comic books and graphic novels are something that helps my kids practice without them feeling so frustrated by reading something they don't understand or something for babies. My oldest has done some of the Barton levels thanks to help from the school and a sister-in-law who owns the whole set. I think All about spelling is pretty similar but more affordable and is worth a look. They have a reading program with it and are very helpful if you have questions on what might be appropriate. Both sons listen to audible books rather than read if they can. It can be expensive, but if you have access to a good library, you could probably get around that. Writing at grade level is probably a problem as well. Do some alternative assessments to get around the written part of any Language Arts curriculum for the start. I agree with Laughing Cat and I wouldn't spend money on Wordly Wise. We have used it with limited success and my son is reading at grade level. (It mainly just discourages me about his chances of getting a decent score on the SAT) For a 9th grader the Freshman English can be kind of a basic class so I would just work on the reading and writing skills. She will see those deficits affect every area of study-understanding the texts that are not a story can be a bit frustrating and even reading questions on tests will be an issue. Read the tests and assignments to the student. Sorry if I am rambling......and Good Luck!

[Pen]

I have a friend who is running out of options to help her step-brother (whom she is adopting) in school and will likely pull him out after the school year is complete (must wait on the adoption to finalize). He's an 8th grader now, high school age for the fall, but in most subjects is only performing on a 5th grade level; his reading comprehension isn't up to par for a 2nd grader.

 

She is working on getting some better diagnoses for him, but in the meantime is ready to start looking at homeschooling options and is most concerned about Language Arts. Thinking his main problem revolves around comprehension and vocabulary. Suggestions?

 

Re: My friend isn't super comfortable in thinking she can handle homeschooling. I assured her we could find something she'd be comfortable using.

 

Re: Personally, after talking to her today, I'm thinking something with a lot of repetition is going to work best. He doesn't seem to have a very good working memory, and takes several days to think about things and then comes back to them to ask questions.

 

 

A lot of stuff could be going on, and there is too little information here. Is there an LD or was there chaos in previous circumstances or so forth leading to the problem, for example. The comment about taking days to think and then come back, could just as easily fit someone who is a deep, slow thinker as someone with poor working memory. In fact, it is a very interesting comment, as compared to someone where things seem to go in one ear and out the other. Possibly this is a 2e person who needs things that will interest him at a deeper level.

 

Some comprehension issues can be helped by things that directly address that as at least one pp has already mentioned. Sometimes discussing things read, movies, audio books, etc. can help both with comprehension and vocabulary. Can he read fluently other than comprehension issue?

 

He also may qualify for adoption assistance financial help given his age, possible adverse background (?), and possible learning disabilities. If so that could help with the cost of programs for him. It may be better to start by trying to work on the diagnosis side and then once the problems are clearer (and possibly thus also some financial help), to find what curricula will help.

 

But in the meantime, lots of input, books, audio, movies, and lots of discussion is what I would be doing, even while still in school.

[Pen]

PS: Another oddity is having most subjects at 5th grade level while reading comprehension is not even at 2nd grade level. What is this assessment based on? It is hard for me to understand how subjects other than math could be extremely far ahead of reading comprehension unless he is already being given audio materials or some way to learn that does not involve reading. ?????

[Heathermomster]

Depending upon the diagnosis by a reputable NP, I'd likely hire an experienced O-G professional for 3 hours per week. She can also look at Barton and Verticy. If there is a local Scottish Rite Learning Center nearby, they may loan out free videos for reading instruction. She'll need to call and discover whether that is an option.

 

For grammar, I suggest she look at Winston Basic with Daily Grams Grade 2. For plain vocab practice, I suggest your friend look at freerice.com and have him practice 40 minutes per week minimum, She needs to look at Learningally.org. I believe they have a scholarship or reduced pricing for audio books. Librovox has free audio books. He should probably start learning to type. She can google free typing programs that are found on-line.

 

MEP math is free. AGS publishing sells high school science text books written at a lower reading and comprehension level.

[ElizabethB]

I would have him take the reading grade level tests and reading diagnostic tests on my website. If there is an underlying reading problem, work on that first, that makes vocabulary easier later on.

 

For building up vocabulary cheaply, I like the 1979 McGuffey readers, they have difficult words defined and are free online from Gutenberg press. You can also get them as reprints through most libraries. From the 4th reader on, they have comprehension questions. The 4th reader has some pretty challenging vocabulary words, you will have to figure out the best level to start with.

 

The MWIA link on my testing page is not working, I need to fix it, but here is the correct link (takes a while to fix and we are still recovering from a recent move.)

 

http://www.donpotter.net/pdf/mwia.pdf