Is AAR for me?

[3girls4me]

Hi,

I have a 4 year old that is starting to read and we are using the Reading Lesson. She's doing great.

I am thinking of using AAR next. I can't find good samples anywhere though. My 1st grader is using cle 1 reading and I'm not a fan at all of the crazy phonics markings and such. Is AAR like this too? Trying to decide if it's a good next step.

Thanks!

[hands-on-mama]

AAR does not use phonics marking. We have used them through level 2 and are about to start 3.

[OneStepAtATime]

Totally different programs.  Do a search of AAR/AAS and you can find many, many posts reviewing the pros and cons of this program.  It is very popular.

 

 

FWIW, a lot of people don't start CLE LA until 3rd grade so they can avoid the intense phonics markings part of the program.

 

 

 

[serendipitous journey]

AAR doesn't have phonics markings for the child to see (there are phonetic markings on the parent side of the cards, but you don't have to know how to read them -- sample words are given). 

 

I am using AAR with my second child because I'd like to use AAS with him, and also because he really didn't like the Phonics Pathways approach that suited his older brother.  It is working very well for us; we do use it flexibly, of course.

 

The most annoying thing about AAR1, IMHO and some others think too, is that the review sheets are just too much all at once -- we just break them up into little chunks and take our time going through them.  I also have N read each page of his reader 2x, one time is pretty slow and the second he moves more quickly; and I review his sight words and more-challenging phonemes every day or two, much more frequently than the program calls for.  If you like AAR you'll probably make similar adjustments, but given a neurotypical and not crazy-sensitive child it ought to be workable. 

 

[lexi]

AAR doesn't have phonics markings for the child to see (there are phonetic markings on the parent side of the cards, but you don't have to know how to read them -- sample words are given).

 

I am using AAR with my second child because I'd like to use AAS with him, and also because he really didn't like the Phonics Pathways approach that suited his older brother. It is working very well for us; we do use it flexibly, of course.

 

The most annoying thing about AAR1, IMHO and some others think too, is that the review sheets are just too much all at once -- we just break them up into little chunks and take our time going through them. I also have N read each page of his reader 2x, one time is pretty slow and the second he moves more quickly; and I review his sight words and more-challenging phonemes every day or two, much more frequently than the program calls for. If you like AAR you'll probably make similar adjustments, but given a neurotypical and not crazy-sensitive child it ought to be workable.

This is how we use it. I love it here!

[TheAttachedMama]

AAR actually has some pretty decent samples online.   Have you checked them out?   You can see several sample lessons from the teacher's manuals, take a look at the fluency sheets (inside the student activity book),  and view samples of the readers.   Looking at those should give you a pretty good idea of how the program works.

 

To answer your main question, AAR does not have phonics markings.  (Those phonics markings annoy me too!  I find them distracting and not helpful when I am reading.)   As for whether or not you will like AAR, that *really* depends on your child.  

 

We used AAR for about 2.5 years.   We did AAR Pre-Level 1, all of AAR Level 1, and then about half of AAR Level 2.   After doing *all* of that, I finally admitted to myself that AAR wasn't a great fit for my family.     It is very hard to find any negative reviews of AAR online.   Most people seem to love it.   However, I was not one of those people.  

 

Pro's of AAR:

 

1)  Helpful Staff-   Merry and the other AAR employees are truly wonderful, wonderful people.   I can't stress that enough.  Anytime I ever had a problem or a question they were always there with a word of encouragement and advice.  I really appreciated that type of customer support and attitude.  They really seem to care about their customers.  

 

2)   Excellent blending procedure-   AAR really does a good job of teaching kids to blend letter sounds into words.   (See the PDF on this site:  http://blog.allaboutlearningpress.com/break-the-word-guessing-habit/)   My kids all have an excellent phonetic awareness, and I attribute that to AAR.  I will probably always use the magnetic letter tiles and that procedure to teach basic blending in the future.

 

3)  Cute readers-   The readers look like REAL books (which many kids appreciate.)   The stories are cute and well illustrated.  

 

Potential Con's for some families:

 

1)  Fluency and "Automaticy" are expected to be mastered before new phonetic concepts are taught

 

--AND---

 

2)  Awkward / Non-Traditional introduction of phonograms

 

Con 1 & 2 were the biggest deal breakers for us personally.  

AAR will work best for the type of child who catches on to reading naturally and gains fluency easily and quickly.   If you have the type of child who will be able to zoom through all of the AAR levels by about the second grade, then you will probably LOVE AAR.   If you don't have that type of child, then.....you may find yourself frustrated with this reading program.  

 

The phonograms are introduced in a very 'non-traditional' order.   (You can see the order they are introduced by taking a look at the table of contents for all of the levels.)    What I mean by that is that very common/simple phonograms that are in most first grade / kindergarten level books are not introduced until you have made it through all 4 levels of the program.   That means that you shouldn't expect your child to be able to read a simple text like "Cat in the Hat" or "Frog and Toad" until they have made it through the entire program.   (NOW---to be fair---your child should also be able to decode high school level texts at that point, but they won't have been introduced to all of the phonograms until all 4 levels have been completed.) 

 

So--as I said, the phonograms are introduced VERY slowly and systematically in AAR.   HOWEVER, the amount of reading stamina and fluency expected from the child increases VERY quickly.   (Much, much more quickly than most reading programs!)   AAR is a mastery based program, so once a simple phonetic concept is introduced,  children are expected to have 'mastered' words containing that concept before moving on.   They define mastery when the child is able to recognize and read the words automatically and quickly without sounding it out. 

 

If you attempt to move on before true mastery is reached, you will quickly find yourself in trouble!   Once you get to about AAR 2, the stories start to get very long.   The sentence construction also grows in complexity.   If your child doesn't have true fluency, they are probably going to find these stories frustratingly difficult.  They also probably won't have any reading comprehension.  

 

Because of that, many children are forced to move through the phonetic concepts (and the AAR levels) very slowly simply because they aren't developing fluency and stamina at the same pace. 

 

BUT....like I said, some kids develop fluency and reading stamina naturally and quickly.  

My kids were not that way.   We worked on AAR for about 20-30 minutes per day 4-5 times per week.  And one level of AAR took us about one school year to complete.   We started AAR 1 in first grade, so it basically meant that my kids were going to be learning to read until about the 4th grade.   At first, that didn't seem like a big deal.  I was OK with doing things in a non-traditional way.  (I am a homeschooler for goodness sake!)  ;)

 

HOWEVER, as I continued on with my homeschooling journey, I started to realize that Susan Wise Bauer may have been right!   In her book, she advices getting children reading as quickly as humanly possible in those beginning years.      As your child grows older, nearly EVERY subjects requires some sort of reading proficiency.    And if your child is not reading, then everything becomes so much harder to teach.   You can't teach grammar easily until they are reading somewhat.  You can't really teach latin or foreign language easily until they are reading.  You can't work on outlining or writing until they can read somewhat.   You can't expect a child to spell if they can't read.  They can't read about history or science by themselves.   You can't even really work on math because they can't read the instructions or story problems.     etc. etc.    Reading just makes everything so much easier.  

 

After getting into 2nd grade, I realized that not being able to read a book like "Cat in the Hat" until they went into the 5th grade just wasn't going to work.  It was going to put us behind in nearly every subject area.   PLUS, my children started to compare themselves to their peers and feeling bad about their progress.  Their friends could pick up just about any beginning book and read it.  They could not---despite working dillengly in reading everyday.   That wasn't their fault, it was mainly because they hadn't been taught some very basic things yet. 

 

3)   Word cards 'mastery' seems to inadvertently encourage a guessing habit or sight reading:

As I mentioned before, fluency is taught through word card drill.   If a child has to 'sound out' a word on the card, the card goes behind the review divider.   Once the child can recognize and read the word automatically, it goes behind the 'mastered' divider.   My kids were highly motivated to get these word cards behind the 'mastered divider'.   They didn't want to keep reviewing the same cards every day.  

 

Anyways, the way the word card system is set up, kids seem almost encouraged to stop sounding out the words.   Most kids want to 'master' these cards which means not sounding out the word.   Which means that many kids start reading the words by sight.  (That is exactly what we don't want them to do!)  So when reading stories or texts, they start guessing the word instead of looking at every sound in the word.  They start confusing words that look aline (confussing stop with spot, etc.) 

 

I have noticed that a VERY high number of kids who have gone through AAR develop a really bad word-guessing habit.   I am NOT an expert.......... ;)  BUT, in hindsight, I think that drilling using cards inadvertently encourages kids to start reading by sight instead of sounding out the cards.   If I could go back in time, I would rather allow my child to sound out those words for AS LONG AS they want.  I would also NOT drill using flashcards when learning to read.  

 

4)  Not Fun

The fluency sheets are sort of like a 'black hole of fun' when it comes to learning to read.  Seriously.   They suck the fun right out of the process.   Reading pages and pages of random phases and words is not fun for any child.   We recently switched to the "I See Sam" books where fluency is taught through reading lots and lots actual stories.   This is so much more fun and natural.   I didn't realize how much I loathed those fluency sheets until we stopped using them.   The words cards are also not very fun.  

 

The authors of AAR have tried to make the fluency sheets and word cards more fun through the use of games.   However, my kids didn't not like these games at all.   They seemed very contrived and my kids thought of them as a waste of time.   An example of one of the games would be to practice the same word cards....but this time pretend they were apples you were picking on tree.   Then the next day you would practice the same words cards....but this time pretend they were eggs you were frying in a pan.   Then the next day you would practice the same word cards, but this time pretend they were bugs or something.   My kids LOVE games normally, but these types of games got old very quickly.   They saw through the games and asked to just skip straight to reading the words. 

 

(AAR Pre-level 1 is the one exception to the not fun rule.  My kids LOVED that and thought it was very fun.) 

 

5)  B and D reversals seem to be common with children using AAR

I know that b and d reversals are common in general.  But for whatever reason, it seems that many, many, many children using AAR develop a REALLY bad habit of b and d reversal problems.   I don't know why that is....but it is just a common issue that seems very ingrained in many kids using AAR.

 

6)  Expensive!

By the time you complete AAR, you are looking at a total cost of WELL OVER $400 for teaching your children to read.  I didn't blink and eye when I shelled out the money for the first several levels of AAR.   Everyone said it was the best and that it would 'prevent' all of these bad reading habits in my children.   I thought of the cost as an investment in a solid foundation in this important skill.

 

In hind sight, I realized that there are actually much less expensive ways to learn to read.   And in hind sight, I realized that AAR caused a lot of bad habits in my children as opposed to preventing them. 

---------------

ETA:  We use AAS still, and I highly recommend it! 

[serendipitous journey]

TheAttachedMama's review does an excellent job of pointing out the cons!  (and the pros).

 

After reading her review, I wanted to add that I am paralleling AAR (a bit) with other readers so we get practice with other words.  Right now we're doing some of the Free and Treadwell Primer; you could also do McGuffey's or the "I See Sam" mentioned above, or whatever suits.  With this reading practice, I just go over a page with him and read him whatever he can't read on his own, sometimes explaining the rule and sometimes not.  We add a page or two of the story each day of practice, reading from the beginning of the story to our new section.  I also did this with A, who learned to read with Phonics Pathways, and sometimes I'll do a Phonics Pathways page with N.  

 

We also do not require mastery -- as in perfect fluency -- before moving forward.  N sounds out many words in his AAR reader, which is why we do the pages 2x: for fluency practice.  We move forward when he is pretty good at the new rule.  Also, he only likes the games because I take a little cookie or candy and cut it into several pieces and stick them on each game card, and he gets to eat one each time he picks up a game card to read.  ;) 

 

I really agree that using the word cards as flashcards for fluency leads to guessing.  We only do 5 or so a day, and mix the new ones into the review pile as soon as N can sound them out fairly well.  Using the sheets for fluency practice oughtn't cause this issue, because there are so many more words that guessing isn't that practical, but they ARE dry and need to be broken up into little bits I think.  Phonics Pathways pages and games are a lot better for fluency practice, but N just didn't like that program very much at all. 

[Jess4879]

 

 

The phonograms are introduced in a very 'non-traditional' order. ... That means that you shouldn't expect your child to be able to read a simple text like "Cat in the Hat" or "Frog and Toad" until they have made it through the entire program. ..I realized that not being able to read a book like "Cat in the Hat" until they went into the 5th grade just wasn't going to work.

 

I don't agree with this at all.  My 8 year old has just finished Level 3 and she's been reading books like Puppy Place, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Rainbow Magic, etc for well over a year.  We have done AAR at a slower pace, but I don't think it's a fair statement to say they won't be reading "Cat in the Hat" until 5th grade. 

 

 

I have noticed that a VERY high number of kids who have gone through AAR develop a really bad word-guessing habit.  

 

The exact opposite of this has been true for us.  My oldest did not use AAR and she is a terrible guesser and we are trying to break this habit by using AAR now and so far it's going quite well.  My middle kiddo started with AAR and has never been a word guesser.   

 

 

The fluency sheets are sort of like a 'black hole of fun' when it comes to learning to read.  Seriously.   They suck the fun right out of the process.   Reading pages and pages of random phases and words is not fun for any child.  

 

The fluency sheets are kind of blah.  I agree.  But they are not pages and pages of meaningless words.  There are new word lists, review and then sentences that are broken up to encourage and train for fluency.  I find the fluency sheets very well done.  We added a chocolate chip at the end of each row and got through them.  They aren't the favorite thing to do, but they are so valuable, IMO.  They get shorter and much quicker by Level 3.

 

 

I know that b and d reversals are common in general.  But for whatever reason, it seems that many, many, many children using AAR develop a REALLY bad habit of b and d reversal problems.   I don't know why that is....but it is just a common issue that seems very ingrained in many kids using AAR.

 

Sorry, disagree here too.  No issues with reversals using AAR.

 

 

To each their own and I know that not every program will be a good fit for every family, but I don't feel like some of the cons are accurate.  If I had read this con list I never would have tried AAR and it would have been a huge loss for my family. 

 

[Syllieann]

Hmm, I disagree with a few of the things listed as cons and one of the pros too.

 

I actually thought the aar blending procedure was pretty lame. We started with level 1 though, so maybe there is something better in pre level. I prefer the blending in phonics pathways, but tbh, I think the way blending is taugh stinks in most phonics programs.

 

Regarding guessing, I found the opposite to be true. If the cursor is used as instructed, the child should not be able to guess on the readers or fluency sheets. The cards were a nice way for us to build fluency because they can be easily adapted to active types of learning, ie. Jump over the card, pick it up and race to the next one, etc. they are all the same color and font, so the child doesn't have visual clues except the phonograms themselves...no pictures to guess from, no colored outlines like sight readers, no other words on the card to give context clues. I think aar is one of the best available in terms of forcing the decoding and limiting the guessing. Some children may be prone to guessing, but I can't fathom how it would be a result of the aar methodology.

 

In terms of reading level, I did find it somewhat difficult to find appropriate reading material after level 1 due to the atypical sequence. By the end of level 2 enough of the phonograms had been taught that the few unknown bits were readily inferred. At that point we could do most library type grade 2 readers.

 

My older child didn't have much trouble with reversals. My middle child took a bit longer. Idk if aar has more than other programs, but if it does, it might be due to the fact that it lacks the writing component. However, that fact is also what makes it more accessible to younger learners.

 

The fluency sheets are not fun, I agree. If you search you can find plenty of suggestions for making them more enjoyable. Maybe in a future edition, the suggestions will be in the tm. Fwiw, both children I have used it with have really enjoyed the little games in the activity book.

 

I do not require automaticity before moving forward. As you move on, the fluency sheets and stories both contain previous words as well as new words. I would not move at a rate which required my child to sound out every single word, but there is definitely room to allow some play.

[fourisenough]

I just sold my AAR 1. I had it for a while before my DD5 was ready for it (I pushed a bit too much and she seemed overwhelmed, so I shelved it and gently used a few other things). When I pulled it out again, she had leapfrogged ahead in her reading so that she was beyond level 1. She did really enjoy many of the activities, and we both LOVED the readers. I think my timing was just bad. I think it is great for young ones who are ready to read. The fluency pages are much too much, as several previous posters have mentioned. I never use just one program in isolation so some of the 'cons' are easily remedied by pulling in other resources as needed. I also like Phonics Pathways, the LOE phonogram app, Explode the Code, and Bob Books. I'm a dabbler...

[sweetpea3829]

The above review of the pros and cons was pretty good.

 

I used AAR pre and 1 with middle DS, stuck to it even though we really didn't love it and weren't enjoying it, and he did learn to read with it.

 

But I was NOT going to spend the money for AAR2.  By that point, they really don't need an intensive phonics program, IMO.  They are beginning to read pretty fluently and its more or less a matter of introducing them to the rest of the phonograms.  Why spend tons of money for AAR when you can accomplish the same thing with Progressive Phonics, which you can print for free from their website?

 

This, combined with daily review through ETC and Spectrum Phonics (grade 2), along with AAS1 has been all that we need for middle DS.  He's pretty much hitting all of the phonics areas that he needs, and I can't see what AAR would add that he's not getting already for much less.  

 

With youngest DS, I faithfully pulled out AAR1, after completing AAR Pre with him.  We started off, but have pretty much shelved it.  Just like with middle DS, he finds the readers boring, difficult, and not very engaging.  The fluency sheets, as pointed out, were daunting to him, even when we did cover everything but the row he was working on.

 

Instead, he is working through HOP, which we had used with the oldest two kiddos.  When he's done with the basic phonograms in HOP, I'll move him to Progressive Phonics.  

 

Also, instead of working on "word families" with him (you know... -at, -ad, -en), I noticed that he could more fluently decode a word if he remembered the first two letters and only had to sound out the third/final letter.  So I'm working with him on memorizing, I guess you would call them "onsets"?  ba-, ca-, da-, and so on.  The tricky part of that is when we come to two-letter combinations that are also words, such as so, no, do, to, etc.  

 

But he seems to adjust pretty readily.  

 

Finally, I found that adding in some of the earlier ETC pages, has helped him with fluency quite a bit, as it generally includes a picture to match with the word and he is remembering them more readily because of it.  

[MerryAtHope]

Hi,

I have a 4 year old that is starting to read and we are using the Reading Lesson. She's doing great.

I am thinking of using AAR next. I can't find good samples anywhere though. My 1st grader is using cle 1 reading and I'm not a fan at all of the crazy phonics markings and such. Is AAR like this too? Trying to decide if it's a good next step.

Thanks!

 

You can see samples from any of the level pages, or go to this link that has samples for all levels on one page--just scroll down to the level you want to see, and you can view the Teacher's Manual, Activity Book, and/or readers. HTH! 

[3girls4me]

Thanks everyone! I've ordered it!

[Guest Robin E.]

My 4th child had a hard time learning to read before we started AAR, but he finished AAR 2 months before AAR 3 came out and was reading beginning chapter books by then so we didn't continue with it (I had him continue with AAS, however).

 

My 5th child is now in AAR 2, and she still isn't at the point of smooth, perfect fluency. But she is doing well with the concepts and there is a noticable improvement, and I know the smooth fluent reading will come slowly in time. The fluency sheets aren't her favorite, but they are important for practicing. We just never do all the fluency sheet reading in a single day. We work for about 20 minutes, including spending 3 or so minutes on the cards, and then stop for the day. I do break up what we do each day, however, doing some of the new words, some of the review words, some of the phrases, and some of the sentences.

[acsnmama]

I think the cons list is inaccurate. This program will help any child read before the 4th grade! Personally, I love AAR 1. I doubt I'll continue to any other level, but that's because my daughter learned to read and is now reading at a 3rd/4th grade level and she's 6 yrs old. She hated most of what we tried before AAR 1. It was just the thing to jumpstart her love for reading. I wish I had used it with my oldest when he was learning to read!

[rachelpants]

AAR actually has some pretty decent samples online. Have you checked them out? You can see several sample lessons from the teacher's manuals, take a look at the fluency sheets (inside the student activity book), and view samples of the readers. Looking at those should give you a pretty good idea of how the program works.

 

To answer your main question, AAR does not have phonics markings. (Those phonics markings annoy me too! I find them distracting and not helpful when I am reading.) As for whether or not you will like AAR, that *really* depends on your child.

 

We used AAR for about 2.5 years. We did AAR Pre-Level 1, all of AAR Level 1, and then about half of AAR Level 2. After doing *all* of that, I finally admitted to myself that AAR wasn't a great fit for my family. It is very hard to find any negative reviews of AAR online. Most people seem to love it. However, I was not one of those people.

 

Pro's of AAR:

 

1) Helpful Staff- Merry and the other AAR employees are truly wonderful, wonderful people. I can't stress that enough. Anytime I ever had a problem or a question they were always there with a word of encouragement and advice. I really appreciated that type of customer support and attitude. They really seem to care about their customers.

 

2) Excellent blending procedure- AAR really does a good job of teaching kids to blend letter sounds into words. (See the PDF on this site: http://blog.allaboutlearningpress.com/break-the-word-guessing-habit/) My kids all have an excellent phonetic awareness, and I attribute that to AAR. I will probably always use the magnetic letter tiles and that procedure to teach basic blending in the future.

 

3) Cute readers- The readers look like REAL books (which many kids appreciate.) The stories are cute and well illustrated.

 

Potential Con's for some families:

 

1) Fluency and "Automaticy" are expected to be mastered before new phonetic concepts are taught

 

--AND---

 

2) Awkward / Non-Traditional introduction of phonograms

 

Con 1 & 2 were the biggest deal breakers for us personally.

AAR will work best for the type of child who catches on to reading naturally and gains fluency easily and quickly. If you have the type of child who will be able to zoom through all of the AAR levels by about the second grade, then you will probably LOVE AAR. If you don't have that type of child, then.....you may find yourself frustrated with this reading program.

 

The phonograms are introduced in a very 'non-traditional' order. (You can see the order they are introduced by taking a look at the table of contents for all of the levels.) What I mean by that is that very common/simple phonograms that are in most first grade / kindergarten level books are not introduced until you have made it through all 4 levels of the program. That means that you shouldn't expect your child to be able to read a simple text like "Cat in the Hat" or "Frog and Toad" until they have made it through the entire program. (NOW---to be fair---your child should also be able to decode high school level texts at that point, but they won't have been introduced to all of the phonograms until all 4 levels have been completed.)

 

So--as I said, the phonograms are introduced VERY slowly and systematically in AAR. HOWEVER, the amount of reading stamina and fluency expected from the child increases VERY quickly. (Much, much more quickly than most reading programs!) AAR is a mastery based program, so once a simple phonetic concept is introduced, children are expected to have 'mastered' words containing that concept before moving on. They define mastery when the child is able to recognize and read the words automatically and quickly without sounding it out.

 

If you attempt to move on before true mastery is reached, you will quickly find yourself in trouble! Once you get to about AAR 2, the stories start to get very long. The sentence construction also grows in complexity. If your child doesn't have true fluency, they are probably going to find these stories frustratingly difficult. They also probably won't have any reading comprehension.

 

Because of that, many children are forced to move through the phonetic concepts (and the AAR levels) very slowly simply because they aren't developing fluency and stamina at the same pace.

 

BUT....like I said, some kids develop fluency and reading stamina naturally and quickly.

My kids were not that way. We worked on AAR for about 20-30 minutes per day 4-5 times per week. And one level of AAR took us about one school year to complete. We started AAR 1 in first grade, so it basically meant that my kids were going to be learning to read until about the 4th grade. At first, that didn't seem like a big deal. I was OK with doing things in a non-traditional way. (I am a homeschooler for goodness sake!) ;)

 

HOWEVER, as I continued on with my homeschooling journey, I started to realize that Susan Wise Bauer may have been right! In her book, she advices getting children reading as quickly as humanly possible in those beginning years. As your child grows older, nearly EVERY subjects requires some sort of reading proficiency. And if your child is not reading, then everything becomes so much harder to teach. You can't teach grammar easily until they are reading somewhat. You can't really teach latin or foreign language easily until they are reading. You can't work on outlining or writing until they can read somewhat. You can't expect a child to spell if they can't read. They can't read about history or science by themselves. You can't even really work on math because they can't read the instructions or story problems. etc. etc. Reading just makes everything so much easier.

 

After getting into 2nd grade, I realized that not being able to read a book like "Cat in the Hat" until they went into the 5th grade just wasn't going to work. It was going to put us behind in nearly every subject area. PLUS, my children started to compare themselves to their peers and feeling bad about their progress. Their friends could pick up just about any beginning book and read it. They could not---despite working dillengly in reading everyday. That wasn't their fault, it was mainly because they hadn't been taught some very basic things yet.

 

3) Word cards 'mastery' seems to inadvertently encourage a guessing habit or sight reading:

As I mentioned before, fluency is taught through word card drill. If a child has to 'sound out' a word on the card, the card goes behind the review divider. Once the child can recognize and read the word automatically, it goes behind the 'mastered' divider. My kids were highly motivated to get these word cards behind the 'mastered divider'. They didn't want to keep reviewing the same cards every day.

 

Anyways, the way the word card system is set up, kids seem almost encouraged to stop sounding out the words. Most kids want to 'master' these cards which means not sounding out the word. Which means that many kids start reading the words by sight. (That is exactly what we don't want them to do!) So when reading stories or texts, they start guessing the word instead of looking at every sound in the word. They start confusing words that look aline (confussing stop with spot, etc.)

 

I have noticed that a VERY high number of kids who have gone through AAR develop a really bad word-guessing habit. I am NOT an expert.......... ;) BUT, in hindsight, I think that drilling using cards inadvertently encourages kids to start reading by sight instead of sounding out the cards. If I could go back in time, I would rather allow my child to sound out those words for AS LONG AS they want. I would also NOT drill using flashcards when learning to read.

 

4) Not Fun

The fluency sheets are sort of like a 'black hole of fun' when it comes to learning to read. Seriously. They suck the fun right out of the process. Reading pages and pages of random phases and words is not fun for any child. We recently switched to the "I See Sam" books where fluency is taught through reading lots and lots actual stories. This is so much more fun and natural. I didn't realize how much I loathed those fluency sheets until we stopped using them. The words cards are also not very fun.

 

The authors of AAR have tried to make the fluency sheets and word cards more fun through the use of games. However, my kids didn't not like these games at all. They seemed very contrived and my kids thought of them as a waste of time. An example of one of the games would be to practice the same word cards....but this time pretend they were apples you were picking on tree. Then the next day you would practice the same words cards....but this time pretend they were eggs you were frying in a pan. Then the next day you would practice the same word cards, but this time pretend they were bugs or something. My kids LOVE games normally, but these types of games got old very quickly. They saw through the games and asked to just skip straight to reading the words.

 

(AAR Pre-level 1 is the one exception to the not fun rule. My kids LOVED that and thought it was very fun.)

 

5) B and D reversals seem to be common with children using AAR

I know that b and d reversals are common in general. But for whatever reason, it seems that many, many, many children using AAR develop a REALLY bad habit of b and d reversal problems. I don't know why that is....but it is just a common issue that seems very ingrained in many kids using AAR.

 

6) Expensive!

By the time you complete AAR, you are looking at a total cost of WELL OVER $400 for teaching your children to read. I didn't blink and eye when I shelled out the money for the first several levels of AAR. Everyone said it was the best and that it would 'prevent' all of these bad reading habits in my children. I thought of the cost as an investment in a solid foundation in this important skill.

 

In hind sight, I realized that there are actually much less expensive ways to learn to read. And in hind sight, I realized that AAR caused a lot of bad habits in my children as opposed to preventing them.

---------------

ETA: We use AAS still, and I highly recommend it!

This was the exact experience that we had with AAR. I woefully regret flashing the green word cards and trying to have them "mastered".

[ByGrace3]

This was the exact experience that we had with AAR. I woefully regret flashing the green word cards and trying to have them "mastered".

As much as I love AAR, when I recommend the program, I advise against using the word cards as flash cards. I encourage my kids to sound out fluently, not memorize words. Those words show up in fluency pages and readers enough for review for most kids.

[MelissaMinNC]

 

Potential Con's for some families:

 

1) Fluency and "Automaticy" are expected to be mastered before new phonetic concepts are taught

 

--AND---

 

2) Awkward / Non-Traditional introduction of phonograms

 

Con 1 & 2 were the biggest deal breakers for us personally.

AAR will work best for the type of child who catches on to reading naturally and gains fluency easily and quickly. If you have the type of child who will be able to zoom through all of the AAR levels by about the second grade, then you will probably LOVE AAR. If you don't have that type of child, then.....you may find yourself frustrated with this reading program.

 

 

Wow, this is really an interesting perspective. I use AAR with my 10 yo dyslexic ds. He just finished Level 3. I would say that fluency and automatically are anything but quick, easy or natural for him. Actually nothing about learning to read is easy or natural for him. But, it is working, and he is making great progress. He needs to read every word on every fluency sheet and warm-up sheet. He needs lots of review. He doesn't like the fluency sheets, but he NEEDS them. However, he's in 4th grade, he can handle the longer lessons (well, sometimes I provide *encouragement* in the form of chocolate chips or something 😉). I wonder sometimes how I might have used this program with my dd who didn't have any reading struggles, and I think...I just would've skipped the fluency sheets and warm-up sheets, and concentrated on practicing lots with the readers. Anyway, just a different perspective. I think I'm always so focused on "how does this work for dyslexia?" that I almost assumed the fluency sheets were optional for most kids, but necessary for my kid. I'm trying to post from my phone, and it keeps going wonky so I hope this is at least a little coherent. :)

[strawberryjam]

Wow, I couldn't disagree more with some of the con's some people have listed about AAR. It's not true at all that a child who does not take naturally to reading won't be fluent till after they have finished all 4 levels of the program. My son was a struggling reader and by the time he was close to finishing level 2 he was reading chapter books on his own. We are continuing till the end of the program anyways cause it's good reinforcement and he enjoys it. He hated the fluency sheets at first but we found a trick to make it fun - he gets to use different colors of highlighters as he reads the words, now it's a breeze and he actually enjoys it. I think it's an excellent program and frankly, it works! The activities are fun, it has the tactile thing going for it (which is HUGE for my very visual/kinesthetic kid), and basically "open and go" ~ can't ask for more then that! Only "con" I can think of is that I wish the teachers guides were spiral bound!

[SevenDaisies]

The review sheets are tough, but they do get easier as you progress. My son is finishing the last two lessons of level 2 and we fly through them now. When he started them he refused to do them. We skipped them for a while then came back and took several days to cover them and now we cover them in a single sitting.

 

I don't drill the flash cards until they are completely mastered - especially early on. Once they can sound them out pretty easily, I file them and move on. I found that as his fluency increased, his ability to quickly read the card increased. What used to take weeks, now takes a single reading to master.

 

He still very much enjoys the hands-on activities.

 

I do feel that AAR is slow to progress, but I am using it with a struggling reader and think that should be expected. My son's fluency has improved dramatically since about halfway through level two, but it was slow going until that point.

[pitterpatter]

I do wonder who AAR was designed for. If you watch the very nice video on All About Learning's Web site about how/why AAS/AAR got started, it was because the author's son was told by doctors that he would never learn to read.

 

That's been several years ago, though, as the video shows her son going off to college. Her son undoubtedly did not use AAR as it is now to learn to read. It wasn't yet designed. We are re-mediating with AAR 3 and 4 after using AAS 1 and 2 for spelling. (We originally used HOP for DD to learn to read.) DD is likely dyslexic in one fashion or another (no eval yet). As we progress through AAR 3, I often wonder what day-to-day procedure Marie Rippel used with her son. Was it more AAS-ish? Did she use flash cards, the extensive word lists, etc.

 

There was a real cute cartoon video on her site...can't find it now. Here's this one instead.

 

http://www.allaboutlearningpress.com/about

[Renai]

  

 

Also, instead of working on "word families" with him (you know... -at, -ad, -en), I noticed that he could more fluently decode a word if he remembered the first two letters and only had to sound out the third/final letter.  So I'm working with him on memorizing, I guess you would call them "onsets"?  ba-, ca-, da-, and so on.  The tricky part of that is when we come to two-letter combinations that are also words, such as so, no, do, to, etc.  

 

The onset is the first consonant(s) of the word. The rime is the last part (like the word families). The only potential downfall of teaching to sound out the words as ba-, ca- etc., is those are open syllables, and typically open syllables are pronounced with a long vowel as you get to longer words. Closed syllables (-at, -am,  etc.) are typically short vowel. 

[MerryAtHope]

I do wonder who AAR was designed for. If you watch the very nice video on All About Learning's Web site about how/why AAS/AAR got started, it was because the author's son was told by doctors that he would never learn to read.

 

That's been several years ago, though, as the video shows her son going off to college. Her son undoubtedly did not use AAR as it is now to learn to read. It wasn't yet designed. We are re-mediating with AAR 3 and 4 after using AAS 1 and 2 for spelling. (We originally used HOP for DD to learn to read.) DD is likely dyslexic in one fashion or another (no eval yet). As we progress through AAR 3, I often wonder what day-to-day procedure Marie Rippel used with her son. Was it more AAS-ish? Did she use flash cards, the extensive word lists, etc.

 

There was a real cute cartoon video on her site...can't find it now. Here's this one instead.

 

http://www.allaboutlearningpress.com/about

 

There are 2 cartoon videos--one for reading and one for spelling--is one of these what you remember? 

 

Marie was a tutor for 20 years, and is an Orton-Gillingham practitioner (she was also an instructor for the graduate level courses in Orton-Gillingham Literacy Training offered through Nicolet College in Rhinelander, Wisconsin for 3 years). 

 

The readers and cute games and everything didn't exist, but the methods of using flash cards (which should not be used to encourage sight-reading but to track fluency so you know which words your child can't read easily and still needs to sound out vs. which are mastered, and for practice with sounding-out), letter tiles, phonograms, multi-sensory methods, and fluency practice are all things she used with her son and as she tutored struggling readers. She took the things she learned over all those years to make programs that could work for both beginning readers/spellers, and those who struggle, with the idea that you can use as much or as little of the practice as your child needs. AAS came out first because it's a lot easier (and less of a financial risk for a beginning business) than producing illustrated readers, activities and so on. But the ideas and methods came out of years of research. 

 

HTH some!

[pitterpatter]

That's it...the reading one! Couldn't remember where I found it.

 

DD loves the little games. I can see why she included them...they break up monotony. I also like that she uses them to a little grammar, etc.

 

I like AAR, but often wonder whether I'm using it the most efficient way to fit DD's needs. (Admittedly, until we get her an neuropsych eval, it's difficult to tell 100 percent what those needs are.)

 

 

There are 2 cartoon videos--one for reading and one for spelling--is one of these what you remember? 

 

Marie was a tutor for 20 years, and is an Orton-Gillingham practitioner (she was also an instructor for the graduate level courses in Orton-Gillingham Literacy Training offered through Nicolet College in Rhinelander, Wisconsin for 3 years). 

 

The readers and cute games and everything didn't exist, but the methods of using flash cards (which should not be used to encourage sight-reading but to track fluency so you know which words your child can't read easily and still needs to sound out vs. which are mastered, and for practice with sounding-out), letter tiles, phonograms, multi-sensory methods, and fluency practice are all things she used with her son and as she tutored struggling readers. She took the things she learned over all those years to make programs that could work for both beginning readers/spellers, and those who struggle, with the idea that you can use as much or as little of the practice as your child needs. AAS came out first because it's a lot easier (and less of a financial risk for a beginning business) than producing illustrated readers, activities and so on. But the ideas and methods came out of years of research. 

 

HTH some!

 

[CAtoVA]

My DD is in 1st grade and we are almost done with AAR 2 having finished AAR 1 already. I also find the introduction of some phonograms are "untraditional" and not helpful—i.e. oo is not introduced until later levels. However, I just supplement and move where I need to go. I use K12 phonics alongside and will be introducing all the long vowel phonograms (i.e. ay, igh, oa, etc.) this year even though AAR doesn't do them until much later. I also use Explode the Code to reinforce concepts. It's inexpensive and effective. Finally I use the Core Knowledge free curriculum (www.engageny.org) and that is excellent for review/introduction and "seriously" interesting and engaging decodable readers.

 

DD usually reads all AAR stories at least twice and she likes to go back and read earlier books as well. We don't do all the fluency sheets as I have found that with all the rereading she is getting the words, phrases and sentences thoroughly anyway. We do about half the games mostly due to time reasons but she likes them in general. I review the flashcards about once a week and mix them all up. If they are in order by lesson number she is more inclined to memorize. I am happy with what AAR offers (the tiles and clear instruction mostly) and will continue on through at least AAR 3.

 

I have also been using AAS for a few years with DD and also older DS and LOVE that program!

[MerryAtHope]

 

I like AAR, but often wonder whether I'm using it the most efficient way to fit DD's needs. (Admittedly, until we get her an neuropsych eval, it's difficult to tell 100 percent what those needs are.)

 

Is there a part that doesn't seem to go well? Is she developing fluency or does she need more work but you aren't sure what to do? I'd be glad to help brainstorm ideas. 

[TheAttachedMama]

NOTE:  This is an older thread that was recently revived for some reason.    So I wanted to give an update to my previous review with a few more months of reading instruction under my belt.  

---------------------------------

 

SO---it is a few months later, and I am BACK to using AAR with my older struggling reader.   I wanted to share my new perspective.    

 

 

I **still** feel like the word cards are a bad idea in the program. 

 

I also still feel like there is way too much of a push to develop aromaticity in the program in the program in general.   Some students struggle in this area....so it causes them to move through the AAR level at a snails pace.   Which may potentially put them behind in other language based skills. 

 

I still think it is better to **encourage** a budding reader to sound through the entire word for as long as they possibly need to.   And the way that the word card system is set up doesn't encourage that.  What kid doesn't want to 'master' a card?     I feel like the word cards caused a lot of bad habits in my child (sight reading, guessing, etc.) and I would highly recommend that that part of the program be skipped.   (The word cards work MUCH better in AAS where the concept of mastery better applies.)

 

I also NOW can say that I feel like AAR works much better with an older student than it does a 'just beginning' student.     And I am not talking about lesson length or fluency sheet length, because you could always split that up for a younger child.   I'm just saying that the scope and sequence works better for an older student who is reading but struggling.   (For example, the fact that they introduce very long, multi-syllable words early on before even easier words are thoroughly learned.  This just works much better for an older student.)  

 

I also still have never liked the games in AAR.  (And we are game loving people!)    So we skip all of those.  

 

--------

We were using the I See Sam readers exclusively to teach reading for a few months.    These were HIGHLY effective for my son personally.    We did AAR for a year and a half and my son was still reading on a kindergarten level.   We switched over to I See Sam for a few months, and he went up several grade levels in a few short months.   So they seemed to give him **something** that AAR wasn't.

 

However, my son still had a few bad habits that were preventing him from moving forward.   He was still attempting to sight read, skipping words, guessing etc. etc.   SO---I brought back out the AAR letter tiles and we use those for 20 minutes in the morning to review/teach phonics.    I have him touch each letter tile as he says the sound.   This is finally preventing him from inserting sounds or skipping sounds when reading.   We also started working exclusively on the more difficult challenge words in the AAR fluency sheets.  These are words that are on the upper level of his working vocabulary, so he is less likely to 'guess' them....he has to read through the word.   Also, reading words in isolation is taking away the context clues....so once again, he has to rely on sounding through the words.  We spell a lot of them with the tiles so we can work on splitting them into syllables and touching each sound as we say it.   Reviewing the phonics with the AAR letter tiles seems to be giving him something that the "I See Sam" readers didn't!

 

 

SO----my point is, I have had to use bits and pieces of BOTH methods to help my son.    There is no perfect curriculum, and no one solution works for every child.  (My daughter is a much more 'typical' child and was doing just fine with either program.  My son just needed an extra boost in various areas.)

[MelissaMinNC]

Oops, sorry! I didn't even realize it was an old thread when I typed my reply!

[pitterpatter]

Thanks. I'm not sure it's something that can truly be helped with AAR. I have a thread over in the Learning Challenges board running, but essentially it's likely either a convergence vision issue and/or dyslexia shining through. (Still working on getting her tested.) We used AAS 1-2 for spelling and continued phonics instruction (will return to AAS 3 after AAR 4) and then jumped over to AAR 3 (and 4 when we get there) to remediate (and fill in gaps...we initially used HOP for learning to read). DD can read and her comprehension is very good. She skips/changes a lot of little words when she reads, though, and perhaps doesn't always read left-to-right, thus guessing at some words (or maybe doesn't see them correctly). She also lets sentences get away from her...reads words that are not there, but mean virtually the same thing. We have been using AAR 3 with a notched card and her accuracy is near perfect, unless she's not decoding something properly. I can tell a good deal of improvement in her decoding skills as well, which is part of what I was going for when I decided to remediate. We've been using AAR 3 in a slightly modified way for over month now. We don't use the readers, but everything else, including the flash cards and all word/phrase/sentences sheets. (DD first reads the flash cards with a notched card and then once more without the notched card the following day. Unless she totally missed a word, which is rare, the green cards go into the mastered piled so they don't turn into sight words. DD's memory is very good and we are working on getting her brain to only read left-to-right.) We don't use the readers to eliminate context clues and I can't imagine reading them with a notched card anyway. That would be way too frustrating for DD. (She can already read regular books.) DD generally completes one lesson per day, unless we combine lessons in one way or another. Anyway, I was optimistic with how well AAR was going, but I notice when she reads her grammar sentences or math word problems, she still skips/adds/replaces. :(

 

 

Is there a part that doesn't seem to go well? Is she developing fluency or does she need more work but you aren't sure what to do? I'd be glad to help brainstorm ideas. 

 

[MerryAtHope]

Thanks. I'm not sure it's something that can truly be helped with AAR. I have a thread over in the Learning Challenges board running, but essentially it's likely either a convergence vision issue and/or dyslexia shining through. (Still working on getting her tested.) We used AAS 1-2 for spelling and continued phonics instruction (will return to AAS 3 after AAR 4) and then jumped over to AAR 3 (and 4 when we get there) to remediate (and fill in gaps...we initially used HOP for learning to read). DD can read and her comprehension is very good. She skips/changes a lot of little words when she reads, though, and perhaps doesn't always read left-to-right, thus guessing at some words (or maybe doesn't see them correctly). She also lets sentences get away from her...reads words that are not there, but mean virtually the same thing. We have been using AAR 3 with a notched card and her accuracy is near perfect, unless she's not decoding something properly. I can tell a good deal of improvement in her decoding skills as well, which is part of what I was going for when I decided to remediate. We've been using AAR 3 in a slightly modified way for over month now. We don't use the readers, but everything else, including the flash cards and all word/phrase/sentences sheets. (DD first reads the flash cards with a notched card and then once more without the notched card the following day. Unless she totally missed a word, which is rare, the green cards go into the mastered piled so they don't turn into sight words. DD's memory is very good and we are working on getting her brain to only read left-to-right.) We don't use the readers to eliminate context clues and I can't imagine reading them with a notched card anyway. That would be way too frustrating for DD. (She can already read regular books.) DD generally completes one lesson per day, unless we combine lessons in one way or another. Anyway, I was optimistic with how well AAR was going, but I notice when she reads her grammar sentences or math word problems, she still skips/adds/replaces. :(

 

My oldest had vision processing issues, and was greatly helped by vision therapy. Will be interesting to see if you find that she does have a convergence issue. Sometimes these kids are really good at guessing based on context (which would also fit with her excellent comprehension), and they can find it easier to guess based on just a few letters than to look at all the letters (especially if the letters are moving on the page for them). In my son's case, the spaces between words would disappear, and also his eyes would dart out and in again. He could sustain convergence long enough to pass the regular eye doctor exam, but struggled with it when reading for more than a few minutes. Because of the way his eyes would dart, the ends of words would end up in the middle of words, or parts of other words would end up in a word, etc... Anyway, I imagine you've got an appointment to check things out with a COVD doc, to see what might be going on and whether she has some vision processing issues. 

 

I used to have both of my kids read their math etc... out loud to me for these types of issues. When she finishes a sentence, see if she realizes that it doesn't make sense and goes back to re-read. (Sometimes it's harder, especially with word problems, to "hear" a mistake though!). If she doesn't, point and have her re-read the word. The blending procedure can be helpful to use if she doesn't immediately see what the word should have been.

 

Another thing I found helpful with math was to have my kids underline what they were to do (and also number the steps, if instructions told them to do more than one thing). Sometimes the act of underlining as they read it helped them attend to the exact words and not change them. 

 

Anyway, it will be interesting to see if it does turn out that your dd has a convergence issue. 

[MerryAtHope]

SO----my point is, I have had to use bits and pieces of BOTH methods to help my son.    There is no perfect curriculum, and no one solution works for every child.  (My daughter is a much more 'typical' child and was doing just fine with either program.  My son just needed an extra boost in various areas.)

 

I'm glad you've found a mix of things that are helping your son progress! I totally agree that you want your child to sound out words as long as necessary--you want fast-decoding, not guessing. I think the author would totally agree and would not want word cards to encourage guessing but merely to be a way of providing additional practice on words in isolation, and for tracking when that fluency happens. I love that you thought through the problem and went back to the blending procedure and fluency pages to get him to stop guessing, and that you were able to pull things from various places to meet your son's needs. I hope he'll continue to grow more confident in his reading!