Reading Specialists of Long Island - Cheryl Orlassino - Blast Off?

[BlsdMama]

Wondering if anyone has any reviews for this program?

 

We're doing Barton.  I like Barton well enough and it works.  

 

But, for a couple kiddos, there just isn't enough reptition.  I'd feel better with accompanying workbooks and taking it slower. 

These look like they could be what I'm looking for and I won't have to sell a child to buy them. :)

 

http://www.amazon.com/Can-Read-Book-Orton-Gillingham-Students/dp/098319968X/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1460378738&sr=8-3&keywords=orlassino

[BlsdMama]

No one?  Hmmm...

 

[PeterPan]

Have you been through the extra activities in the tutor section of Barton's website?  And have you put the words into Quizlet to drill them?  I've had good success with Quizlet.

 

Have you done any work with RAN/RAS or worked on visual memory to make sure those aren't the root of the problem?

 

Adding: Are you still working as a tutor at ???  Have you learned any tips for working memory you could try on them?  Working memory is the scratch pad of the brain, allowing things to go from short to long-term memory.  I'm just saying I wouldn't assume that this struggles are in isolation.  There might be some components you could support to make it go better.  You really can't go wrong working on working memory, RAN/RAS, visual memory, etc.  All that would make the process easier to let the brain devote more energy to the learning.

Edited April 11, 2016 by OhElizabeth

[OneStepAtATime]

I have not seen those so I can't comment about the books.  Hopefully someone else will.

 

I agree with OhE, though, have you utilized all the resources available to tutors?  And working on visual memory, RAN/RAS, working memory may help, too, depending on what is triggering your concerns.

 

Also, have you gotten the Spelling Success card games?  I found that and the fluency pages and the extra practice pages and the spelling lists paired really well for additional review...

[BlsdMama]

Have you been through the extra activities in the tutor section of Barton's website?  And have you put the words into Quizlet to drill them?  I've had good success with Quizlet.

 

Have you done any work with RAN/RAS or worked on visual memory to make sure those aren't the root of the problem?

 

Adding: Are you still working as a tutor at ???  Have you learned any tips for working memory you could try on them?  Working memory is the scratch pad of the brain, allowing things to go from short to long-term memory.  I'm just saying I wouldn't assume that this struggles are in isolation.  There might be some components you could support to make it go better.  You really can't go wrong working on working memory, RAN/RAS, visual memory, etc.  All that would make the process easier to let the brain devote more energy to the learning.

 

 

Hm.  So what I'd say I'm struggling with is mostly that he is a "let me work" kid?  Does that make sense?  He loves workbooks which are obviously not conducive to teaching someone to read.  I was hoping to find something that (after we thoroughly covered it) that he could continue to do to just lock it in solid?  We are NOT going fast.  I know of two friends that went through Barton lickety split that later had to repeat.  This would be tragically discouraging to this kiddo.

 

I am not tutoring there any longer.  I learned quite a lot though I wouldn't say it would be useful in this scenario.  I love the metronome but I don't think it would apply here.  I just want him to have more practice at the rules/actual application without turning him loose to just go write, etc.  Reinforcement, I think.  No, I've not been on the tutoring part.  I got approved and then forgot all about it.   I'll get my bottom over there - thank you!

[OneStepAtATime]

You might print out the extra practice pages on the Barton site, and put the spelling lists on there into quizzlet. You might even ask him to create a 3 sentence story with the site word and spelling words lists in front of him...

[OneStepAtATime]

I wish I knew more about the workbooks you linked...

[1shortmomto4]

I have the Blast off to Reading workbook (the black one) and thought I'd use it to practice but I didn't find it worth the effort.  My kiddo struggles with dysgraphia so more busywork writing things was just not something that was effective for him to do.  Since I've not used Barton I can't comment as to whether it would conflict in what you are teaching (as in correlating the workbook pages to a Barton lesson).  The workbook is pretty standard workbooky-type fill in the blank questions.  I can look at see if I still have as we didn't get too far.  I guess I've found that with my dyslexic I have to keep everything on the same topic - he's a mastery learner.  My intention using it was to just do a quick review throughout the year to be sure he retained and if I found any weaknesses to work on them.

[Kanin]

If your kid loves workbooks, my absolute favorites for reading and spelling are:

 

Explode the Code (single words / sentences at the most)

http://eps.schoolspecialty.com/products/literacy/phonics-word-study/explode-the-code/overview

 

and Starting Comprehension. Starting Comprehension has two versions- a visual one with lots of pictures, and a phonetic one with almost no pictures.

 

http://eps.schoolspecialty.com/products/literacy/comprehension/starting-comprehension/pricing/eps-starting-phonetically-2

 

All these books are EXCELLENT.  Your son could work independently, and you could check each page when he is done.  :laugh:

[ssavings]

Wondering if anyone has any reviews for this program?

 

We're doing Barton.  I like Barton well enough and it works.  

 

But, for a couple kiddos, there just isn't enough reptition.  I'd feel better with accompanying workbooks and taking it slower. 

These look like they could be what I'm looking for and I won't have to sell a child to buy them. :)

 

http://www.amazon.com/Can-Read-Book-Orton-Gillingham-Students/dp/098319968X/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1460378738&sr=8-3&keywords=orlassino

It looks interesting.. does the table to contents match Barton's Scope and Sequence (or close enough)? 

 

We're considering starting Barton. Also looking into SPIRE. 

 

The "not enough repetition" in Barton worries me, as my DD has a long-term memory deficit (it takes a lot for her to remember something, and requires a lot of review to keep it). 

[OneStepAtATime]

It looks interesting.. does the table to contents match Barton's Scope and Sequence (or close enough)? 

 

We're considering starting Barton. Also looking into SPIRE. 

 

The "not enough repetition" in Barton worries me, as my DD has a long-term memory deficit (it takes a lot for her to remember something, and requires a lot of review to keep it). 

DD needs a lot of review, too.  Once you get past Level 1, the lessons are in many parts (I think A-O in the levels 2 through 4).  What I did was break the lesson up into multiple days, with us doing through the first new thing, and some practice (Barton sets the lessons up so you can easily do this), then the next day reviewing that previous new thing then adding the second new thing (usually there are two related new things in each lesson) and reviewing, then the next day doing another section of the lesson reviewing both new things, then the next day finishing the lesson and the final day reviewing again with the additional material available on the website plus playing the Spelling Success card games.  

 

We moved slowly, did a lot of review each day, used the support material off the website, added in the Spelling Success cards, and the extra practice words and pages available.  It helped a lot.  Level 4 was different.  That one was rather a bear and we had to repeat the entire level before it clicked.  Still, when it did click it helped DD a TON.  Level 4 can be tricky but now that we are past it DD is moving through a lesson every 3 days, usually.

[BlsdMama]

If your kid loves workbooks, my absolute favorites for reading and spelling are:

 

Explode the Code (single words / sentences at the most)

http://eps.schoolspecialty.com/products/literacy/phonics-word-study/explode-the-code/overview

 

and Starting Comprehension. Starting Comprehension has two versions- a visual one with lots of pictures, and a phonetic one with almost no pictures.

 

http://eps.schoolspecialty.com/products/literacy/comprehension/starting-comprehension/pricing/eps-starting-phonetically-2

 

All these books are EXCELLENT.  Your son could work independently, and you could check each page when he is done.  :laugh:

 

 

We've done a ton of Explode the Code.  The kid loves them.  Yes, they are very short and easy and he gobbles them up.  ;)

[BlsdMama]

It looks interesting.. does the table to contents match Barton's Scope and Sequence (or close enough)? 

 

We're considering starting Barton. Also looking into SPIRE. 

 

The "not enough repetition" in Barton worries me, as my DD has a long-term memory deficit (it takes a lot for her to remember something, and requires a lot of review to keep it). 

 

So I have book A here with me right now.  They say ages 5-7 but I think that would REALLY depend on writing abilities.  A couple of my dyslexics are also dysgraphic.  (The 17yo is severely so and I suspect the 6yo.)  So it's a bit more writing - I wouldn't have tried it with a 5yo or 6yo.  It is similar to ETC in that there are pictures and you find the beginning sound, end sound, etc like in Barton, though Barton is done verbally.  

 

Lesson 1 ABCs

Lesson 2 - Consonants

Lesson 3 - Simple CVC

Lesson 4 - Vowels

Lesson 5 - Consonant blends

Lesson 6 - Floss words (this is definitely Barton, unless O-G also uses the term "floss" to talk about the rule of doubling F, L, S, Z at the end of single vowel words?)

Lesson 7 - High Frequency words - i.e, sight words

Lessons 8-11  - digraphs ch, sh, th, ck

Lesson 12 - 'ng' - this would correspond with tiles ang, ing, ong, ung

Lessons 10-13 - 'nk' - correspond with ank, ink, onk, unk

Lesson 14 - VCV - so, in my mind, here is where it diverges?  I am thinking e at the end of a word (tube) is in Level 4?

Lesson 15 - /oo/

Lesson 16 - /ou/

 

 

So I think Book A would most closely align with Levels 1-3.   I assume Book B would align with Book 4 and forward.  

I do not have the Blast Off accompanying book.  

 

I've used ETC pretty extensively because they are fun, dirt cheap, kids love 'em.  

I'd say the quality is a bit higher - full color sheets which adds interest and they are bigger - there are 204 pages in this one.  There are some accompanying stories (very few) but they do use non-introduced words.  Although those words are in orange, so it says you may want/need to read those.  But they are a bit more expensive than ETC at $20 each.  Not a big deal if you are only buying for 1-2 kiddos.  

 

I could see this working quite well assuming I am using them AFTER the lesson has been taught and not at the same time, rather as a way to spiral around to previously taught material.  

[PeterPan]

Ok, I'm not a very nice person and I'm hyper thorough.  To me, I don't understand this idea that your friend went through Barton and later regretted it.  I think you have to have very concrete goals and you work to achieve them.  Shh, but I skipped all the spelling.  Every drop.  But fluency, that was my hill to die on for my student for that time.  So I put every word, every phrase, every sentence from the Barton lessons into Quizlet.  Then I drilled them multiple times a day to fluency.  

 

I'm pretty b&w, but to me fluency is fluency, kwim?  I drilled them to fluency.  When the words were fluent, I drilled the phrases.  When the phrases were fluent, I drilled the sentences.  And during that, I did daily work on RAN/RAS using the dot pages I've shared.  I can't guarantee how that works for all kids, but it was a good formula for us.  RAN/RAS is DIRECTLY correlated to being a strong reader.  To me that means the 10 minutes daily you spend on RAN/RAS is at LEAST as valuable as Barton.  Nobody talks about it, but we KNOW our dyslexics have low RAN/RAS.  We know they're slogging through.  We know they're not retaining because by the time they finish sounding out the word they forget what they sounded out and thus can't retain the word.  So we HAVE to improve RAN/RAS and we have to build working memory.  And then the two converge as we practice for fluency.

 

So with the Barton lists I was meticulously, obsessively thorough like that.  Worked for us.  The only reason we stopped was he then was hyperlexic, unable to comprehend anything he was reading, lol.  We've been working on language processing and hopefully at some point we'll go back to Barton 4 where we were and move forward again.  

 

So to me, for someone who wants to be independent, hand him the Quizlet app and say have fun.  I was drilling my ds 4+ times a day.  Make it like a reader program with a log and rewards/incentivizers, kwim?  

 

I don't know, nobody else probably does it like me.  I guess think what you want.  If you want those words and skills fluent, you drill them.  If you want him to spell, you use something that involves him noticing spelling (tiles, workbooks, whatever).  I don't see how a workbook for phonics of any kind will improve his fluency.  I would just drill.  It doesn't take long, just 5-10 min a pop.