Barton - spelling phrases & sentences

[susanfh]

So I have one more question about Barton.  I'm on lesson 2 of level 3 with my son, we're going VERY slowly, but he's getting it for the most part.

 

When we do spelling phrases and sentences, I have to repeat them over and over again.  Is this normal?  I always say the phrase or sentence in its entirety rather than telling him which word to say when.  But I feel like I am likely doing more guiding that Susan Barton recommends.  Of course my guy is not "just" a typical dyslexic.  

 

Thank you!

[Julie of KY]

Of course it's not "normal", that's why they require Barton. :closedeyes:

My daughter was able to remember the sentences and phrases more as expected. (She has slow processing speed).

My son has great difficulty remembering a string of words at all. (He is gifted with a very low working memory).

 

I have no idea how difficult it is for others.

[merry gardens]

Does he have documented memory issues? Mine did, and repeating phrases and sentences took a while like you describe. You could try working to improve his memory with other materials developed specifically for memory. Barton went a bit faster after we did some memory remediation. But I will also add that (at least in my opinion), Barton IS also memory work. My son's memory for those phrases and sentences improved the further we got through Barton.

 

Beyond memory, has his hearing and auditory processing been evaluated? Again, IMO Barton also provides some remediation for some pieces of those issues. Barton was developed reading program for dyslexia, but other things like memory and auditory processing affect reading, and they often occur along with severe dyslexia. As they are worked on through reading, in my experience those other areas can improve too.

 

I'll also add, that those sessions of Barton gave me insights as to how his brain and memory worked. At first, he could only hold a few words. As he progressed, he'd often substitute similar or related words. By later levels, he'd remember the whole sentence--unless he was coming down with a cold, (in which case the first signs of illness showed up while doing Barton.)

[susanfh]

Thanks for the responses.  His last eval didn't show memory issues.  His working memory was the poorest of his scores I believe.  I think he often is concentrating so much on how to spell the word, he forgets the sentence.  But he is getting better I think.  I tend to be so unsure of myself, doubting whether I am doing the right thing, but I think I will just push on repeating the sentence tons of times.

 

He is using the HearBuilder software as part of his speech therapy, so I think that should be helpful.  It works on processing auditory information and memory.  

 

He has had a CAPD eval and passed for the most part, but his arcticulation was really poor when he did that so he couldn't complete all the tests.  

[MerryAtHope]

I actually wouldn't just keep repeating the sentences a lot of times. That doesn't encourage him to strengthen his memory or increase his skills, but to rely on someone repeating over and over. When I started dictation with my daughter, she could only remember 4 words maximum, without starting to drop or change words. (Frankly, that shed a lot of light on why she had trouble with how I gave instructions to her! I adjusted a lot of my schooling and parenting strategies with her when I figured that out!) Over time (years), she was able to work up to remembering longer and longer sentences (10 words became easy, and she could often do 12-14 word sentences). Dictation is a great skill for helping a student improve working memory.

 

This post on How Can I Help My Child with Spelling Dictation talks about how to handle it when your child can't remember a complete dictation.

 

and this one also has some good tips on how to do dictation: Using Dictation to Improve Spelling.

 

HTH some!