Break from Barton

[frogger]

We usually school through summer because my son regresses with things like reading but this year has been tough really tough and not just with my son but a lot of hospital stays for my parents, school, housing issues. I'm feeling we really really need a break but I don't want to end up starting over again. I'm thinking of having him read one chapter from a reader, write one review sentence, and his sight words (don't know if he'll ever know those anyway) three times a week and do a couple review practice sheets (from the ends of the lessons) and play a spelling success game that reviews rules once a week.

 

We probably won't finish this level until into June some time and I start the new school year in Aug. Am I crazy? If I have to redo level four I may cry or would he just go through it faster? It's sad it is so scary to simply take some time off.

[OneStepAtATime]

You are in Level 4?  What lesson?  DD did level 4 3 times (well, the first half to 3/4s three times).   It was the bane of our existence.  She struggled so much and I got really burned out.  However, by the third time through she was moving very quickly and it all gelled and made sense. 

 

I think your idea of taking a break, but continuing to review, sounds great.  Honestly, you might consider taking a break now, like completely, for a week or two, then give the Post test for Level 3 to make sure that is solid.  After that, maybe review Lessons 1-5 of Level 4 in small pieces, maybe a lesson a week, like you had laid out above.  Celebrate that you both made it through 1-5. Then move on to review lessons 6-11 (or wherever you stopped).  Celebrate that you made it through those lessons.  From there, go ahead and do the remaining lessons.  Celebrate again.  Something you can both look forward to.  Then if you think he is solid, give the post test.  If he passes the post test, have a really big party!   :)

 

I have found with Level 4 that DD needed time for the lessons to percolate in her head before she could successfully take in more.  I tried to keep pushing forward the first time we attempted Level 4.  We hit a wall and had to stop for a bit, then start completely from the beginning.  We made it to lesson 8 I think then again hit a wall so we took a break and started again.  

 

If I had to do it over, I would have stopped after lesson 5 and reviewed 1-5 carefully.  Then I would have taken a few days' break, then played games and done practice pages for 1-5 for a bit while it sank in, then I would have gone on to lessons 6-11, then reviewed those again, then taken a few days' break, then played games and done practice pages for those lessons.  After that I would have gone on to finish lessons 12-14, then reviewed those, played the games, done the practice pages then taken a couple of days' break before giving the post test.  

 

With regards to the site words, are you only doing three at a time, and following the suggestions in the TM?  I started at first just giving her several, not just three, and not following all the suggestions in the TM consistently when she would snag.  She wasn't retaining.  Once I moved to only doing three at a time, and following the TM, things smoothed out.  I also incorporated a lot more review of the site words even after they were retired, however.  For some, though, even following the TM doesn't help much.  Not sure what to suggest if the various options in the TM (including in the back) or the on-line suggestions don't help.

 

:grouphug:  :grouphug:  :grouphug:

 

Good luck and best wishes.

Edited May 13, 2016 by OneStepAtATime

[frogger]

What you are saying is be prepared to redo it regardless of whether I take a break or not. I know I must be prepared for that. It would probably be good to review it all anyway. 

 

I just don't waaannnnaaaa! ;)

 

We are ending lesson 12 today. He has it but I wanted to practice one more day. So I figure a week or so on 13 and  a week on 14 and then the test. It took a lot longer for the lessons in the middle of Barton but this is his third program and he has a lot of experience with ay at the end of the word etc from previous programs. So sometime in June I hope unless the final lessons are harder than the current one.

 

 

 We too had to stop after that first bit with schwas, accents, etc. We got lost had to review play spelling success games. I also noticed he was forgetting rules from level 3. I wish I would have bought the spelling rules game for that level also. It is a good idea to redo that test. I think I will tack that on before we quit.  I was definitely planning on doing a review of the rule practice sheets for that level also. 

 

He will start to be able to spell sight words until I give him new sight words and then we come back around to review them and he can't remember but when I look back at the ones from the beginning of three he really is getting them at some point. 

Edited May 13, 2016 by frogger

[OneStepAtATime]

Then based on the additional info, definitely your plan sounds like a good one.  Absolutely!  And no, you may not have to repeat at all if you do the review you plan and he seems to be retaining...

[lilmissc74]

Your plan to keep some sort of reviewing sounds good.  Level 4 is a beast and sometimes you both need a break.  Fingers crossed Level 5 is a little easier!  My son is almost done with Level 4 and he's been working on it since November.  His reading skills have improved SO much.  We have done all lessons at least twice, some 3-4 times.  He works one hour a day for 4 days a week and on Friday's we play the Spelling Success games.  I highly recommend the games, they give him a break and seem to really help in learning the rules.  Hang in there!  

[MisH]

I've done Level 4 with DS1 and am in the midst of it with DS2....it is just a massive amount of new and difficult stuff for kiddos with dyslexia!!! One thing that I found helpful.... In each lesson repeat it until it sticks  - so say, Lesson 5 - go through New Teaching and the the Read and Spell with Tiles - as many times as needed. Then, I move on to the Read words, Spell words, Read Phrases, Spell Phrases - and at this point, if needed (which, let's be honest, in this level it is usually needed!) I repeat the spell words and spell phrases again before moving on to Sentences. Then do Sentences and go back through the spell words, then phrases then sentences AGAIN if needed.

So, each Lesson takes a LONG time....but, I can feel pretty confident that it's "sticking" by this point!

 

Also, DS1 is going through Level 5 MUCH more easily that he did with Level 4 (I haven't had to repeat as above until this lesson - halfway through the book!)

[Julie of KY]

Take a break when you need to - in the middle of the book or at the end. Breaks keep us sane.

 

As others have said, Level 4 is a bear to get through. I'm in the process of repeating it as well and second time through is going much better - it seems to have gelled more, though neither my daughter nor my son have gotten all the spelling until later.

[borninthesouth]

If my daughter seems to be getting the teaching overall should I review the lessons in the level 4 just to be sure?  Is it so huge that I should review just to make sure?  

[OneStepAtATime]

If my daughter seems to be getting the teaching overall should I review the lessons in the level 4 just to be sure?  Is it so huge that I should review just to make sure?  

No, if she is doing fine then you shouldn't have to do additional review.  This is a really challenging level for most, but not all kids doing this level need a ton of review.  If she isn't struggling with anything then just keep moving forward at whatever pace keeps her successful.  Give the post test at the end.  If she passes the post test without issues, you shouldn't have to review.  If there are certain sections she doesn't pass it will indicate within the post test itself which lessons you do need to review so you wouldn't have to repeat the entire level.  

 

(I would strongly urge you not to take off too much time between Level 4 and Level 5, though, or you might end up having to repeat sections.  Use the practice pages on the website and some Barton based games to keep things current until you start the next level.)

 

What lesson are you on?

[Jenn in CA]

I don't know about you guys, but I'm doing Barton w/two young kids (7 & 8), neither of whom knew how to read when they started... I feel like it's so slow. They have no "hooks" to hang any of the information onto. Asking "Does that look right to you?" while learning the Floss rule is meaningless. And spelling seems very irrelevant at their young age. For ex., contractions.... ?!?!?! They still struggle to figure out the two original words of a contraction, let alone how to spell it.

 

So I'm not going for full mastery of spelling rules at this point. I want them to read. We also don't work on spelling the sight words (however they can read them). And i have resigned myself to one day having to go thru Barton again at an accelerated pace to re-hit all the spelling rules.

 

Maybe at that older age some of it will have been absorbed, by that many more years of print exposure. 

 

This summer we will focus on reading, reading, reading. Only light spelling to reinforce reading. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

PS Susan Barton says not to take more than 2-3 weeks off (IIRC) in the summer.

[OneStepAtATime]

I don't know about you guys, but I'm doing Barton w/two young kids (7 & 8), neither of whom knew how to read when they started... I feel like it's so slow. They have no "hooks" to hang any of the information onto. Asking "Does that look right to you?" while learning the Floss rule is meaningless. And spelling seems very irrelevant at their young age. For ex., contractions.... ?!?!?! They still struggle to figure out the two original words of a contraction, let alone how to spell it.

 

So I'm not going for full mastery of spelling rules at this point. I want them to read. We also don't work on spelling the sight words (however they can read them). And i have resigned myself to one day having to go thru Barton again at an accelerated pace to re-hit all the spelling rules.

 

Maybe at that older age some of it will have been absorbed, by that many more years of print exposure. 

 

This summer we will focus on reading, reading, reading. Only light spelling to reinforce reading. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

PS Susan Barton says not to take more than 2-3 weeks off (IIRC) in the summer.

I would love for you to update.  I think keeping an open dialogue among users could be helpful to many. :)

 

I am coming to the conclusion that for many younger students they might do better doing maybe level 1 and 2 by 7 or 8, possibly even the first half of Level 3, but maybe do the second half of  level 3 or at least start level 4 and beyond after more exposure to literature through audio books and read alouds and experiential learning and reading leveled readers. etc.   I could be wrong but the system was designed for adults and older students originally and I think because of that it sometimes makes it hard to implement with very young children, even with the modifications that were made to the program.

[Bookworm4]

I don't know about you guys, but I'm doing Barton w/two young kids (7 & 8), neither of whom knew how to read when they started... I feel like it's so slow. They have no "hooks" to hang any of the information onto. Asking "Does that look right to you?" while learning the Floss rule is meaningless. And spelling seems very irrelevant at their young age. For ex., contractions.... ?!?!?! They still struggle to figure out the two original words of a contraction, let alone how to spell it.

 

So I'm not going for full mastery of spelling rules at this point. I want them to read. We also don't work on spelling the sight words (however they can read them). And i have resigned myself to one day having to go thru Barton again at an accelerated pace to re-hit all the spelling rules.

 

Maybe at that older age some of it will have been absorbed, by that many more years of print exposure. 

 

This summer we will focus on reading, reading, reading. Only light spelling to reinforce reading. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

PS Susan Barton says not to take more than 2-3 weeks off (IIRC) in the summer.

 

I would also be interested for an update.  I am also going through it with an 8 year old and have wondered about separating the spelling and the reading to focus on reading first and then go back over the spelling for her as well.  Spelling is what tripped us up the most on our last lesson. 

 

[PeterPan]

I don't know about you guys, but I'm doing Barton w/two young kids (7 & 8), neither of whom knew how to read when they started... I feel like it's so slow. They have no "hooks" to hang any of the information onto. Asking "Does that look right to you?" while learning the Floss rule is meaningless. And spelling seems very irrelevant at their young age. For ex., contractions.... ?!?!?! They still struggle to figure out the two original words of a contraction, let alone how to spell it.

 

So I'm not going for full mastery of spelling rules at this point. I want them to read. We also don't work on spelling the sight words (however they can read them). And i have resigned myself to one day having to go thru Barton again at an accelerated pace to re-hit all the spelling rules.

 

Maybe at that older age some of it will have been absorbed, by that many more years of print exposure. 

 

This summer we will focus on reading, reading, reading. Only light spelling to reinforce reading. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

PS Susan Barton says not to take more than 2-3 weeks off (IIRC) in the summer.

 

Yes, this is how it is here too.  Ds had NO need to write, no connection to print text, no perceived usefulness.  For him, I'm perfectly content with relatively grade appropriate (but successful) spelling.  That's enough for him to slowly acquire the spelling.  I just don't see this need to hold back his reading OR his composition just because it's going to be too hard for him to keep them together.  The strain of that would be overwhelming for him right now.  

 

He struggles to write (dysgraphia), struggles to read (dyslexia), didn't even comprehend all the language (ASD), and struggles to read aloud with phrasing (apraxia). So yes, absolutely we've broken the lesson components apart, lol.  Once the lessons started saying spell on paper, we just skipped those.  So we do the spell with tiles, but we skip the spell with paper.  The pages that were to work on phrasing we also skipped.  So we read aloud the sentences (plugged into Quizlet to drill), but we skipped the actual work on phrasing and prosody.  And about mid-way through Barton 4 we finally gave up and stopped even the reading instruction because he couldn't understand the language of what he was reading.  We've spent months going through materials from Super Duper.  We recently retested, and his language skills are now at the mean for his age.  However I would say he decodes slightly above that, and his interest level (driven by IQ) is WAY above that.  His strong vocabulary allows him to read and guess above his actual ability to decode, but the language isn't there for him to understand have it come together.  Lots of work to do, lol!

 

So right now our ABA tutor has taken on some of the things that he was struggling to do with me.  He's had enough music therapy that he can get his voice up and down, so she does the phrasing/intonation lessons from Barton with him.  She has him writing on paper some, so she does the write on paper lessons from Barton. She does some of the language work.  I have the decoding/reading lessons from Barton and the rest of the language work.  Crazy, eh?  

 

Point is, you're not crazy.  The more complex the situation, the more you're going to have to customize and break these components apart.  That would be ABSURD for me to tie everything together with such a complex child.  HE wouldn't be happy with that.  He LIKES that he can access material above his ability to hand write, mercy.  So I'm moving him forward as quickly as I can, trying to bring the language along as well.  We hit a point of absurdity, like we're not going to work on decoding "democrat" if we can't understand the referent for a pronoun, kwim?  That's why we stopped, because it was that bad.  But we're moving forward again.  We'll get there.

 

I *think* what will probably happen is that spelling is going to be a multi-layered process.  What I anticipate is that it might take a few times through, say the spelling of level 4.  You expect that overlap and review with younger kids.  They aren't using the words so much, so they don't get the reinforcement the way an older child would.  So right now he's doing spelling and phrasing in Barton 2 but decoding/reading in Barton 4.  And we'll just plow forward like that.  

[OneStepAtATime]

On a side note, even with my DD, who was in middle school when we started Barton, there were times when there was a disconnect between the reading and the spelling side when we started Level 3 (Level 4 was another ball of wax which I have posted about before and won't get into here).  I had to customize some things for her, too.  I love Barton, but I also love that as scripted as it is, it can still be modified to fit the child in front of you.  I am not intuitive at this stuff.  I have no idea what I would have done if I had been trying to do this from scratch.  And I love all the posts here on the LC board.  It keeps expanding my knowledge of how to tweak and adjust.  My point, I guess, is that no program is going to work perfectly as scripted for every single child but it very much helps to have something as clearly laid out as Barton so when we do tweak, there is a usable framework to start from and it very much helps to confer with others using the same program.  Love it.  I wish all of you the very best in your tweaking endeavors.   :)

 

(FWIW, DD and I both love Level 5).

Edited May 22, 2016 by OneStepAtATime

[mamamoose]

Barton moves so slowly after level 3, and I am finding it frustrating as well. For instance, silent e is taught so late, and if your desire is learning to read, there aren't many options for books. The Barton books are not geared for young kids, and we are left wanting an awful lot. Susan Barton says BR&S should be the only reading and spelling instruction but I feel like ds is missing out on a lot! We started my youngest and honestly, we are taking. Major break with her. She's quite young, and she wants to read actual books. I feel a little lost as well.

[PeterPan]

Well you're allowed to go ahead and teach about final e.  :D  Many people do and it's not a big deal.  They've already had the vowels saying their long sounds at the end of an open syllable.  If you're reading a step 1 reader and it has the word needing it, just explain and move on, no biggee.  

 

My ds listens to audiobooks multiple hours a day.  They could make up your gap for your dc who wants to read actual books and is missing out.  

 

Audible has a sale going right now. If you're not signed up, you could go ahead and sign up and see.  It's $4.95 for a wide variety of sale books.  So far I've picked out for my ds Don Quixote, Mayflower (Philbrick, author of Into the Sea that ds liked), and What If?  Lots of good stuff in the sale this time!  There's absolutely NO NEED to miss out.  Get the audiobooks and let them ear read!  

[PeterPan]

Oh fun!  Audible has on sale a Great War poetry collection, some Jules Verne, all sorts of good stuff!  Ds is fascinated by the poetry in the Owls of Ga'hoole books, so maybe he'll like this poetry collection too!  You never know.  Also you can check because if you pick up the (often free) ebook version, it will often let you have the audio at a reduced rate.  So some o these books are 50 cents and $1!

[Jenn in CA]

Barton moves so slowly after level 3, and I am finding it frustrating as well. For instance, silent e is taught so late, and if your desire is learning to read, there aren't many options for books. The Barton books are not geared for young kids, and we are left wanting an awful lot. Susan Barton says BR&S should be the only reading and spelling instruction but I feel like ds is missing out on a lot! We started my youngest and honestly, we are taking. Major break with her. She's quite young, and she wants to read actual books. I feel a little lost as well.

That's exactly where we are. I am experimenting with using Webster's Speller and Blend Phonics which somewhat follows Barton's progression, starting now and for the summer. We just did silent E. Guess what? It was really really hard for dd. I was surprised. But I think after practicing on dozens of words, for days, she will get it.

 

One thing I got from Barton was to not be frustrated if it's hard for dd. Just practice a lot and she'll get it eventually.

 

And now that I know the drill of touch and say...now slowly blend... now fast like a word... that's helpful too.

 

The nice thing about using Blend Phonics is that it was written for first graders so the words are more familiar. ohE I totally get you about the vocab. Dd couldn't tell the difference between a real or nonsense word half the time because she doesn't have the higher level vocab. And I'm really tired of sentences about Kent and Clint and Mrs. Kingston. :) the vocab gets somewhat repetitive and right now looong lists of a variety of words are better.

 

PS thanks for the assurance I'm not crazy! That's another thing about Barton. It's really hard for me to not have the big picture which has made me afraid to tweak.

Edited May 22, 2016 by Jenn in CA

[PeterPan]

Ds has a really high vocab, like 99th percentile.  I assume it's all the audiobooks he listens to.  He repeats them until he memorizes them.  He does the same thing with tv shows.  He watches the episodes over and over till he recites with them.  I think it's his brain trying to figure out the language.

 

I put *all* the Barton words, phrases, and sentences into Quizlet and drilled them to fluency.  Also, have you done RAN/RAS work? It can help immensely with that blending fluency.  Assuming their working memory is up, I would work on RAN/RAS.  

 

This link should work  

 

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/4rcl6f0uo70esmv/AAAaGAHw3_YTMEQZSw_WI-t_a?dl=0

[PeterPan]

Yes, I taught my dd with SWR for years, so I'm pretty comfortable with where this is going.  Just so you know, with the strongman E (what we call it in SWR), I don't actively teach that or drill it at all.  The *only* thing I do is explain it if he comes across it in reading.  So I see it coming, I point it out, I might sing the ditty (What makes the A say A?) to the tune of What Makes the Red Man Red from the Disney Peter Pan.  Yes, that's terrible, lol.  

 

We spent a fair number of weeks working on RAN/RAS daily.  I really don't remember how many.  Two to three months maybe?  I printed all those pages and put them in page protectors.  Then I'd have him read the page one way, turn and read it another way.  So one page could give you lots of fresh readings.  Then, when that got easier, I started having him read the pages with a metronome and I think clapping.  That really cranked it up!  

 

RAN/RAS is DIRECTLY correlated to being a strong reader, so it's really something you CAN'T do too much of.  Remember, not only is my ds dyslexic, but I had to wrangle with ok can he even say the words, like is this even a fair task!  So we just started off REALLY SLOWLY and worked on it.  But when you do something consistently, you usually get some fruit.  Your methodology doesn't have to be perfect or the swankiest or whatever.  Just pick some interventions like that and do them 10 minutes a day.  Make it really fun!  When we did ours, he got a shiny sticker afterward to put on the cover of his notebook.  It takes SO LITTLE to make kids happy, kwim?  Now sometimes we earn dimes to buy apps.  You could do candy treats or a game time reward or anything.  RAN/RAS work isn't necessarily super fun or easy, but if you do it diligently I bet you get some improvement.  There's also software, etc., but these pages are free and were enough for us.

Edited May 22, 2016 by OhElizabeth

[PeterPan]

Ok, I'm looking at this Blend Phonics on amazon.  What is your logic here on why you would leave Barton for this?  Barton covers the Blend Phonics material from units 11 and 12 (what Barton calls units like ang, ank, etc.) in Barton 3, yes?  I forget.  You've lost your kinesthetic connection going over to BP for that.  Everything else you did in the earlier lessons/units of BP was already done in Barton.  Consonant blends are a nothing and needn't be taught that way.  Either they feel them or they don't.  (I'm very b&w.)  

 

So you're saying you're trying to do unit 14, final E, in BP?  Barton leaves it till 5, yes, but there was no crime in presenting it earlier as an aside.  You don't even have to drill.  You just explain and move on.  Treat it like circumcision. Some questions, you just answer and move on.  :)

 

Units 15 (i and o before two consonants is B4, yes?) and unit 16 (open syllables) is done BEAUTIFULLY by Barton, kinesthetically and beautifully, in B3, yes?  

 

I don't know, I get the allure of teaching the long E.  If you want the long E, do the long E.  I'm looking at some of the samples on amazon, and it's just SO not appropriate for a dyslexic.  My ds' head would spin!  In unit 30 and 31 he's teaching multiple sounds of oo.  Fine.  I already taught my ds those.  But what I teach my ds as SEEDS, planted in the soil of his brain, are the what I necessarily sit there watering and saying GROW NOW SEED, GROW!  

 

So I *taught* my ds all the sounds of all the phonograms, yes, because I know them, because I've taught through SWR, because it didn't confuse him to know them and is in fact interesting.  We did quite a bit of analysis and organizing in his brain while we were doing LIPS.  So now if we're reading aloud together and he comes across a word that needs that 2nd or third sound of "oo" or another multi-letter phonogram, yes we just pull it out.  It's information he's not responsible for, but he can be familiar enough with it to be comfortable when I say that's what is happening.  When I see a word with that coming, I just tell him ahead oh that's "ea" that has the three sounds E, e, A, and it's going to say it's 3rd sound here.  

 

So yes, I forget about my cheats like that.  Yes, that's why we're able to read aloud together, because I gave him that information ahead.  

 

I'll try to find that download of BP later and look at it.  I just think you might want to use the good of it and then go back to Barton.  Or does he have a list of the sounds?  SWR/WRTR/Riggs usually has a list of the sounds for all the phonograms somewhere if you google.  That might give you that bigger picture you're wanting.  Or get WRTR from the library.

[frogger]

Another simpler idea is to just read together and simply say the words he doesn't know. Don't sound them out, don't focus on them just move the story along for him. If the child isn't far along you could read to them and have them fill in words that you know they can handle. This would just breed the familiarity.

 

Really, Barton is made for older children and adults who have struggled to learn to read and it works great for my 11 year old. My non-dyslexic 8 year old it works for but I would say it needs more adaptation. I focus a lot on sounds and pronunciation with him because he was quickly becoming a sight word reader who couldn't read a lot because he couldn't pronounce anything. So yes, for even younger children I'm sure it needs a lot of adaptation.

 

Some readers we found were perfectly suited to younger children such as The Aesop's Fables, The Champ, and Fletch. I'm trying to remember where she had a list of the readers that were best for children. I will try to find it.

Edited May 22, 2016 by frogger

[Jenn in CA]

Ok, I'm looking at this Blend Phonics on amazon. What is your logic here on why you would leave Barton for this? Barton covers the Blend Phonics material from units 11 and 12 (what Barton calls units like ang, ank, etc.) in Barton 3, yes? I forget. You've lost your kinesthetic connection going over to BP for that. Everything else you did in the earlier lessons/units of BP was already done in Barton. Consonant blends are a nothing and needn't be taught that way. Either they feel them or they don't. (I'm very b&w.)

 

So you're saying you're trying to do unit 14, final E, in BP? Barton leaves it till 5, yes, but there was no crime in presenting it earlier as an aside. You don't even have to drill. You just explain and move on. Treat it like circumcision. Some questions, you just answer and move on. :)

 

Units 15 (i and o before two consonants is B4, yes?) and unit 16 (open syllables) is done BEAUTIFULLY by Barton, kinesthetically and beautifully, in B3, yes?

 

I don't know, I get the allure of teaching the long E. If you want the long E, do the long E. I'm looking at some of the samples on amazon, and it's just SO not appropriate for a dyslexic. My ds' head would spin! In unit 30 and 31 he's teaching multiple sounds of oo. Fine. I already taught my ds those. But what I teach my ds as SEEDS, planted in the soil of his brain, are the what I necessarily sit there watering and saying GROW NOW SEED, GROW!

 

So I *taught* my ds all the sounds of all the phonograms, yes, because I know them, because I've taught through SWR, because it didn't confuse him to know them and is in fact interesting. We did quite a bit of analysis and organizing in his brain while we were doing LIPS. So now if we're reading aloud together and he comes across a word that needs that 2nd or third sound of "oo" or another multi-letter phonogram, yes we just pull it out. It's information he's not responsible for, but he can be familiar enough with it to be comfortable when I say that's what is happening. When I see a word with that coming, I just tell him ahead oh that's "ea" that has the three sounds E, e, A, and it's going to say it's 3rd sound here.

 

So yes, I forget about my cheats like that. Yes, that's why we're able to read aloud together, because I gave him that information ahead.

 

I'll try to find that download of BP later and look at it. I just think you might want to use the good of it and then go back to Barton. Or does he have a list of the sounds? SWR/WRTR/Riggs usually has a list of the sounds for all the phonograms somewhere if you google. That might give you that bigger picture you're wanting. Or get WRTR from the library.

Yeah we will definitely go back to Barton, I'm thinking after the summer. We got thru level 3 (took a whole year!!!), just started level 4 and open syllables. I agree BP is not magic but we've gotten a really good firm foundation and I want to see if by doing only reading, ie decoding, we can cover more ground. We'll pull in the kinesthetic and other Barton tools as needed.

 

At Scottish Rite the way our SLP works on RAN/RAS is with a page of just words to read. So we are working in that, and I agree that has really helped. I also use this Barton fluency pages. Those were a real turning point; after several !months of them, I suddenly realized she wasn't sounding out each word any more! anyway I'm hoping the BP lists will act like the fluency pages if we read then over and over.

 

The Webster syllable work I think is going to be really helpful too. And again, we'll apply the Barton tools but to a new set of words.

[PeterPan]

Jenn, you can take this farther.  RAN/RAS is rapid naming of ANYTHING.  It's not the same as fluency work.  Did you look at the pages at my link?  I think I put pages there for colored dots and then a few for numbers.  You want to work on the rapidity of the naming, ie. getting the parts of the brain to connect, not so much the words and fluency.  School Moves/Focus Moves has pages of direction arrows (up/down/left/right) where the dc reads the arrow aloud and moves his arms to match.  Same gig.  You're connecting sides of the brains and working on the rapidity of the naming.  You could use pictures of objects.  The colors just happen to be easy.  It's about rapid naming, NOT reading words.

 

For the fluency drills (practicing words over and over till they're read fluently, without sounding out), yes that you're going to want to drill.  I loaded all my lists (all the words, all the phrases, all the sentences) from Barton into Quizlet, and I DRILL them to fluency.  Usually he has to go through the list 4 times.  So first time, really crunchy.  Next time a little better.  By the 4th time, he's pretty solid.  That's him and that's with LOTS of work on rapid naming.  The rapid naming work (not using words) builds the brain connects.  Then the brain can APPLY it with the fluency drills.

 

So yes, when we're working on fluency, I drill multiple times a day with the Quizlet app.  At our peak, we were doing it 4 times a day.  I'd encourage you to do something like that, because yes you HAVE to drill those words to fluency.  It's what you're wanting to have happen.  

 

The psych who diagnosed my ds said he didn't recommend parents teach their dyslexics, and it really flustered me for a while.  I talked with some ladies here back channel, and I finally realized WHY he was saying that.  Basically you have to be willing to do the HARD THINGS that we don't naturally want to do as mothers.  I'm preaching to myself here.  It's a HARD THING to choose to do fluency drills and ran/ras drills when you'd rather be in the pool.  Now my ds needs compliance work and ABA, and that's a hard thing to buckle down and say yes let's do this.  We're giving up a LOT to do this and it's hard, really hard.  But we have to do the HARD THINGS like ABA, like fluency drills.

 

If you put the drills on quizlet, you can whip them out and just go through them.  And get wild.  Tell her ok you earn a dime for every 10 words you do with me on quizlet.  Earn dimes and work toward apps. Or say a quarter for every list you drill.  Go wild.  I'm trying to reinforce how many dimes in a dollar, how many quarters in a dollar, so I bring it into my reinforcements, hehe.  Apps are really high value for my ds, so I let him earn them like that!  For him, to earn dimes and be able to buy a cool new simulator app, that's HUGE!  

 

You know I'm not telling you what to do.  You're free to do what you want.  I'll just tell you that you could improve how you're using Barton, get serious about it, do the drills, do more drills, get the fluency, and get moving through Barton.  Because Barton is better than BP and doing Barton diligently, with more drills and more work for fluency, will get you farther.  Right now you're dividing your efforts and energy.  Experienced teachers, experienced dog trainers, experienced tutors get more done because they're willing to work harder, faster, and get in more practice in less amounts of time.  So get that mentality and you'll get more done.  

[Bookworm4]

If you go to the tutor page on the Barton website, she has instruction on how to access her lists already entered into Quizlet if you're interested.  The fluency sheet words and phrases are in it, but not the letter sheets.  It's easy to access and set up with her instructions on the tutor page and saves me from having to type it all.  :)