Need phonics suggestions for my ds12

[A home for their hearts]

My ds12 has always struggled with reading. I believe he is dyslexic, however he has never been tested. He went through about 6 sessions of vision therapy a couple of years ago, we couple complete all 12 sessions because we lost our insurance. However I do believe the therapy he received helped. I noticed a big improvement in his reading afterwords. He can read Diary of a Wimpy Kid ok, which I think is on a fifth grade reading level. His main struggle is multi-syllable words. He still struggles with some simple words, he seems to be afraid to sound them out if he doesn't know it. So we may need to back up a little and cover some phonics missed before heading into multi-syllable words. His spelling is ok. He seems to be a visual learner, once he spells a words he pretty much has learned. He does seem to have trouble hearing all the sounds in words, and does transpose letter letters when he isn't sure how to spell a word. For example if he was wanting to spell crop, he migh spell it corp. So he has all the letters right just not in the right order.

 

I tried the first level of Barton with him over the summer, and I really struggled with teaching it. What we did get through he seemed to do well. so I don't think Barton would work for us. I was thinking of trying All About Reading 2 with him but I thought I would ask here to see if anyone has any other suggestions.

[Plink]

I'd call Susan and ask for help with teaching. If he is struggling with dyslexia, programs like AAS/AAR (which I adore and use for my son) are going to move too fast and frustrate him. It sounds like he could really benefit from the Barton finger spelling method.

 

For the record, Barton1 is very different from the other levels. Your son may actually not need to be that far back, and that could be the source of your struggle with the material. Did you do any of the placement tests with him? They are available on the website.

 

Another issue is that he has been struggling for so long (and therefore you have too) that any phonics instruction will be awful to teach. I took a break and hired a tutor for my dd while figuring out how best to teach her. It was one of the best things I ever did. I was able to come back refreshed and with a better understanding of how dyslexics learn. We are on Barton 3 (almost to 4!) now and I can honestly say that it is our favorite subject of the day. Yes, it requires an hour of undivided attention every.single.day, but we are seeing progress, and that is so very rewarding.

 

((Hugs)) It isn't an easy road to walk.

[Lecka]

Whether it not you use the program -- I think Abecedarian has a decent placement test. It has nonsense words, and lets you see if kids can sound them out or not. It also has some phonograms that you can see about.

 

Have you tried using the letter tiles and sliding method from AAS? Where you pull down letters as you segment a word to spell it, then check yourself by blending it? Maybe (it maybe not) it would help with the crop/corp type of errors. I think that is one hard for a lot of kids to hear, bc iirc "or" is its own tile.

 

AAS was also too hard for my son though and I agree with pp. I have used some things out of the AAS books I own though, and like them. But they are too hard and too fast.

 

Plus maybe you could target what he needs better. If he is solid with sounding out 1-syllable words I hear really good things about Rewards and would try it. If he is not solid -- maybe another choice first.

 

It is great his memory for spelling is so good!

 

Oh, since he is older you can look at High Noon. I liked their samples. They are specifically for a little older kids....

 

If you can figure out if you are more filling in holes, or more need to go back to build a foundation, I think that would be good to know, and help make a decision.

 

I have gotten a lot of advice here about rewards, dealing with avoidant behavior, how much to do at one time (I have ended up with many short lessons/reviews but never pushing much at one time), etc.

 

Also I know someone who had a college student who did Barton, and someone who had a teenager do it. Even without a tutor maybe you could find a teenager who might get a better attitude.

 

Personally I am not a fan of using programs designed for younger kids who do not have any problem. I am a fan of using something made for kids who need extra help. I know some people do well adapting a regular problem -- but it has not worked here when I have tried it. (Barton and High Noon are this way, and Abecedarian has a book for older kids, and Rewards is an intervention for his age with multi syllable words, and there are others.)

[MomatHWTK]

I like this program:

http://penningtonpub...le/sample_id/1/

 

I also got lots of good suggestions from the book Reading Rescue 1-2-3.

[A home for their hearts]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Is there a placement test for High Noon?

[Lecka]

http://www.highnoonbooks.com/pdfs/hnb_reading_TG.pdf

 

This doesn't have a placement test, but gives a lot if info.

 

http://www.highnoonbooks.com/detailHNB.tpl?action=search&cart=136528090512792618&eqskudatarq=S8271-8

 

This is another information page.

 

 

[placeofgrace]

I'm using this https://eps.schoolspecialty.com/products/details.cfm?seriesonly=3250AM with a dyslexic student who I tutor. You can buy the materials from Amazon or www.christianbook.com. "I think" it's easy to use. The lessons are scripted and give step by step instructions. Also, there are workbooks called Megawords that might work.