Dyslexia/Dysgraphia and Writing

[mamamoose]

I have a second grader with a host of learning challenges--dyslexia and dysgraphia, along with adhd. School days are a challenge. We are tutoring with Barton 3 days a week for 20-30 minutes a day, depending on his stamina on any given day, and then we supplement with AAS and AAR but we are going really slow in that and basically only using it the 2 days a week he doesn't tutor and occasionally on tutoring days if he's having a good day.

 

Additionally, I have a gifted 4th grader who excels in reading/writing and a Kindergartner who is in AAR as well. I bought First Language Lessons and its moving really slow for the 2nd grader (he knows the basics of nouns and verbs, capital letters, and end punctuation. I am okay with the pace at this point, as I don't want to overwhelm him, but I was thinking of adding in WWE starting next year. He will be starting Barton level 4 about the same time. He loves to narrate story and will even occasionally write stories on his own, and I think they are generally ok...he uses a subject and a verb, and he capitalizes as well as can be expected of a kiddo with the issues he has. I don't want him to get behind, but don't want to overburden him either. I am almost thinking of dropping AAS entirely and doing more writing...as Barton is supposed to be the only program in general, for reading and spelling, but with tutoring only happening 1-1.5 hours per week, I don't want to give them both up entirely. (I am not tutoring him, we have a tutor).

 

 

[OneStepAtATime]

My thoughts on this are that you could get the extra practice pages, fluency pages and the site words he is currently working on from the tutor and work on those for the days he is not tutoring Barton officially.  Also, you could look at ordering the Spelling Success card games (linked below) designed specifically to use with Barton as well as the readers that tie in well with the Barton system.  There are other games, too.  You might look at imagine.more and her blog for additional ideas (linked below the Spelling Success link).  Supporting him in what he is learning with the tutor may be more effective than using AAR/AAS on the days he is not tutoring.   

 

http://www.spellingsuccess.com/

 

http://readingtherightway.blogspot.com/2016/02/marking-syllables-trick.html

 

 

 On a side note, Barton Level 4 is a bear.  See this thread and the thread linked on that thread:

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/587773-barton-level-4/?hl=%2Bbarton+%2Blevel&do=findComment&comment=6846724

 

Plan on needing a lot of time for Level 4 and some frustration beyond what you already have.  It is not an easy level and most people find it the hardest of all 10.  

[FO4UR]

Coordinate with his tutor to plan work that you can do with him on the days when he's not going to her for lessons.

 

Skim all written work down to Barton and what promotes and reinforces those lessons. Do daily copywork, but understand he may not be able to hack WWE.  Start with WWE 1, if you decide to use it.  But, if he cannot yet read the sentences, there is little point in copying them.  If that is the case, copy words and sentences that review the Barton lessons.

 

Grammar is fine if it's short and oral. Don't do full grammar lessons with diagramming and such until he's reading at a fairly fluent level. (5th-6th grade at least)

 

Get him drawing.  Art.

 

I highly recommend Read, Write, Type.  He needs to know how to type if he has dysgraphia.  RWT reinforces all of the phonics & reading skills he's learning in Barton.

 

Everything takes brain power.  Learning to read & write for a child with LD's is extremely taxing. Prioritize reading now, keep writing on the back burner, and let content subjects be fun read alouds and videos and audiobooks.  Once he's reading, writing can move to the front burner (with grammar), and he can begin to take more ownership of the content subjects.  But we might be talking about years of slow progress.  That's OK.  Don't push.

 

Keep math visual and oral too.  Miquon.  There is no need to get behind in math b/c it's difficult to navigate a worksheet.

 

It's a lot of work on mom, but so very worth it.

[mamamoose]

My thoughts on this are that you could get the extra practice pages, fluency pages and the site words he is currently working on from the tutor and work on those for the days he is not tutoring Barton officially.  Also, you could look at ordering the Spelling Success card games (linked below) designed specifically to use with Barton as well as the readers that tie in well with the Barton system.  There are other games, too.  You might look at imagine.more and her blog for additional ideas (linked below the Spelling Success link).  Supporting him in what he is learning with the tutor may be more effective than using AAR/AAS on the days he is not tutoring.   

 

http://www.spellingsuccess.com/

 

http://readingtherightway.blogspot.com/2016/02/marking-syllables-trick.html

 

 

 On a side note, Barton Level 4 is a bear.  See this thread and the thread linked on that thread:

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/587773-barton-level-4/?hl=%2Bbarton+%2Blevel&do=findComment&comment=6846724

 

Plan on needing a lot of time for Level 4 and some frustration beyond what you already have.  It is not an easy level and most people find it the hardest of all 10.  

 

Thank you for the links. I'm not really looking to change the reading/spelling direction we are going, as its working very well. Slow and steady is winning the race and we have seen great improvements. I am looking to make learning more fun, and wanting to possibly add in a little writing as he really enjoys story narration.

 

[mamamoose]

 

Get him drawing.  Art.

 

He hates art. All of it. Its akin to having your toenails pulled out one by one. :lol:

 

 

 

Everything takes brain power.  Learning to read & write for a child with LD's is extremely taxing. Prioritize reading now, keep writing on the back burner, and let content subjects be fun read alouds and videos and audiobooks.  Once he's reading, writing can move to the front burner (with grammar), and he can begin to take more ownership of the content subjects.  But we might be talking about years of slow progress.  That's OK.  Don't push.

 

He actually enjoys narration and writing, but maybe WWE will be too advanced? Even at the most basic level? He understands nouns, verbs, and beginning and ending punctuation. His handwriting has also greatly improved in the last months (leaps and bounds, love HWT).

[Heathermomster]

I guess I don't understand what you want to hear.  

 

If you want to try WWE, SWB has very generous online samples that you can download and use with your student prior to purchasing.   Here is the teacher edition sample of WWE1.

 

Dr. Charles Haynes gave a webinar about writing that may benefit you as you work with your child.  Maybe watch that.  

 

 

 

Edited March 12, 2016 by Heathermomster

[mamamoose]

I guess I'm just wondering if it would be worth while at this point or if I should wait.

[FairProspects]

7 y.o.? My vote is not worth it and it should wait.

[Pen]

I would just let him continue to narrate stories if he is enjoying that. If you cannot take down dictation due to being busy with other dc, he could speak into a tape or digital recorder and you could help him to get them onto paper when you are able to. He may even be able to use a computer dictation program, though at that age my son did not speak clearly to be understood by the computer software.

 

I did not find WWE to be a good fit for my dyslexic child, even though I think it looks good as a general matter. At the point that a level would be of interest to him it was too hard, but by the time he could do a level the content was no longer appropriate. When he was 10 and his reading had been remediated he successfully used Brave Writer. If you use the WWE ideas and choose your own materials that would work for your son, maybe it would work, but it would be a lot more work for you. And he really probably does not need any of that until after his reading is remediated. So my vote also is to wait.

[Heathermomster]

IDK, it seems like dictation would need to be short phrases using spelling words that he has already mastered in AAR.

 

My 2e dyslexic/dysgraphic would never have been able to manage WWE as written in 2nd/3rd grade.  The copy work and dictation would have been torture for the both of us.  He would have been able to orate his narrations into a recorder or have me scribe.  My DD has mild motor issues and performs copy work and 4-5 dictation sentences using her spelling words.  She has started to orally narrate fables into her IPod and save them to the EverNote app.  Later, we review together, edit, and I print up a copy work sheet with one sentence.  DD selects the sentence that she wants to copy.  She writes on paper or uses the LOE whiteboard.  We take pictures of her whiteboard work using the IPod and saves the work to EverNote.

 

While working with both of my kiddos, I have had to use a lot of trial and error.  When DS was in the 7th and 8th grades, he took IEW writing classes with an O-G/IEW certified instructor.  I scribed all of the writing for DS, and then he later typed his work.  These kiddos have compromised wm and processing speed.  For DS, the dysgraphia affects the sequencing of written output.  

 

Try to honor the way that your child learns.  Continue with what you are doing, and maybe allow him to orally narrate to you and scribe for him.  Ask him Socratic questions as he reads and listens to story.  Help him to recognize the main idea and details of story.  Copy work for my DS was not beneficial.  When DS takes dictation, he types it.

Edited March 14, 2016 by Heathermomster

[Heathermomster]

I forgot to mention this, DS enjoyed hands-on reading activities to explore story detail and reading comprehension.  He completed projects from a booklet similar to this.

 

As always, you can try a WWE sample with DS and see how things work out.  Looking at the stories used, my DD has covered several of them without WWE and had no difficulty comprehending them.  You know your student, so only you can determine whether WWE is worth the trouble.

Edited March 13, 2016 by Heathermomster