Update on my LiPS student

[Kanin]

Hello everyone!  I know there are a few people on here doing LiPS with their kiddos, and I thought I'd write an update about my student's progress with the program.

 

I started working with this kiddo at school in September. He is 11. We work together for half an hour, four days a week. I also see him in some of his other classes so it's been great that I can incorporate our techniques there too!  In our half hours, though, it's strictly LiPS, at least so far - I'm thinking we can move on soon.

 

In September, he was pretty much a non-reader. He knew all his single consonant sounds, and *in theory* knew his vowel sounds, but not when faced with an actual word. He nearly always got CVC words wrong. It was extremely frustrating for him and his teachers. We started at the beginning with LiPS and we've also done some air-writing practice from Seeing Stars.

 

Well, now it's December. I haven't done a DRA test or anything, BUT - his reading is MUCH improved! He can read all CVC words and is doing pretty well with 2-letter blends in words. The best thing is... he's actually SOUNDING OUT words!  Accurately!  Most exciting to me is he's starting to read CVC words fluently. Not sounding them out, but just reading them, like oh hey, I'm reading, no big deal! He doesn't notice that it's a big deal, but I DO!

 

He's EXCELLENT at vowel sounds now. He can accurately get /i/ and /e/. We did /oo/ and /ee/, /ea/ which are his favorite. If he makes a mistake, a gentle prompt to "use your mouth!" does the trick. It's magical!

 

We've started putting endings on some words, -ed and -ing.  He's doing great with that. We are also doing "magic e," although LiPS does it differently than most other programs. That's harder but getting better!

 

Air-writing and visualizing was almost impossible for him in the beginning.  Now he can visualize 2-letter words, make substitutions with letters and read the new word, and add a third letter and read that word... in the air. Woo hoo!

 

I can hardly believe LiPS worked as well as it did.  I'm so grateful and happy! 

[PeterPan]

That's fabulous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I don't think LIPS goes into syllabication, does it?  As you're finding, it's a direct jump, once things click, from LIPS right on through most of Barton 1 and 2.  However syllabication needs to be taught carefully for our kids.  You're going to want something that gives you those rules and the tools and the next step.  

 

Awesome job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

:party:  :party:

[Kanin]

Thanks OhElizabeth! I'm so glad my experience with LiPS was similar to yours. I remember reading your thoughts about LiPS plus PROMPT, which he probably needs too but oh well. I'll look into good syllabication methods. I have a lot of Wilson materials, maybe some of them would suffice.

Thanks again!

[Kanin]

The other interesting thing is that he can rhyme now!  Never could rhyme before LiPS...?!

[PeterPan]

Yes, Barton has lessons on rhyming and they physically show it with tiles.  Obviously what you were doing made it visible to him so he could get the idea.  That's great!

[ElizabethB]

My struggling students have all been helped by the syllables in Webster and my syllable division rules, you could give that a try. Also, the schwa accent pattern arrangement of the words is helpful for someone who does not naturally figure out the right pronunciation, which includes many of my students with underlying speech or language problems.

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/WellTaughtPhonicsStudent.html

Edited December 15, 2015 by ElizabethB

[Kanin]

That's great, thank you!