Syllable division in Barton 4 (or any other program)

[Timberly]

My DS is 12 and has dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia, and is gifted and has ADD. He struggles with Rapid Auto Naming and I can't tell you how awful directionality has been for him. When he was first tested, at age 9 years and 2 months, his processing speed and working memory were in the single digit percentiles. He's been tested twice since then and his processing speed bumped one single digit percentile, but his working memory has increased from 9th percentile to 34th percentile. I credit Barton with increasing his working memory.

 

Regarding typing, when DS12 was 7, I had him sit on my lap while he searched the keyboard for the letter "j" (it has a nub on it). It took him a long time to master that, but once he did, I had him find both "j" and "f" because those are the keys with nubs. This fun, silly activity was included on his school day checklist. About 18 months later, he started using typing software. He WANTED to learn to type, so instead of doing the ten minutes per school day that I asked for, he did 30-40 minutes a day. By 11.5 years of age, he could type 25 words per minute IF there was no distraction, he wasn't rushed, he was rested...

 

He began typing his Barton words and phrases once he reached a 25 words per minute typing speed.

 

Before he began typing his Barton words, phrases, and sentences at age 11.5, I kept Barton sessions to ten minutes, cheered him on when he wrote Barton words, phrases, and sentences on a huge dry erase board, and then rewarded his Barton writing with extra screen time and sweets. I kept the rest of his day as pleasant as I could because Barton was hard work for him. For the first two years, he did two hours of Barton each school day, but in ten, sometimes twenty-minute sessions. For the last 1.5 years he does one hour of Barton each school day, but in 20-30 minute sessions. Yes, I've gone overboard on Barton, but I come from a long line of severely dyslexic family members who cannot read or write. So, I've been hell bent on doing everything I can to help DS12 read and write to the best of his ability.

 

His Rapid Auto Naming struggles were helped by putting colored index cards under plexi glass on my dining room table. Then instead of asking him to decide if a syllable is open or closed, I have him put a teddy bear counter on the index card that applies to that syllable type. Instead of asking which spelling rule applies to a word, I'll ask him to put teddy on either Rule XYZ's index card or Rule ABC's card.

 

 

But before I asked which rule, I have my finger pointing to the two index cards so that he can quickly go from the Barton iPad app to the index card on the table.. Once he hit Barton Level 4, it took him about 3 months to internalize each new rule. Once he masters a new rule, I add it to my typed notes of rules. I list them in order of introduction, in page protector sleeves, in a 3-ring binder.

 

But once he had it, he had it solid and didn't need to use index cards or the 3-ring binder for old rules. So only two or three rules are kept under plexi glass at one time.

 

Because of his struggles with directionality, for the first four levels of Barton, I avoiding words like "beginning", "first", "after", "above"... and instead pointed with my finger. We've been doing Barton for 3.5 years and he's matured enough that he is now comfortable with directionally terms within the context of Barton, and even overall in life, he's doing dramatically better with them.

 

Shortly before he turned twelve, he began reading Sonlight readers for an hour straight!!!!!!!!!!!! This is the kid that started off at age newly 11 reading comic books for ten minutes at a time because that was how long he lasted before getting woozy and exhausted. He fell in love with Peanuts comic books so I got him every single one of the peanuts comic books and he read nothing but that for a year. Now he's read all of the 4th grade Sonlight readers and is working through the 5th grade Sonlight readers. His school schedules says "Read for one hour per day, every day of the year", but he now reads for much longer each day just because he wants to. I don't use Sonlight curriculum but I found an eBay seller that sells "remainder" Sonlight readers, at a steep discount, so I blew my homeschool budget on 200+ Sonlight readers.

 

Yes, Barton has been painfully hard for him. Yes, his neuro-psych and public school ed-pysch said his test scores are so low he probably can't learn OG. But yes, he has mastered Barton Level 1 through Barton Level 6, lesson 4. For him, Barton Level One was just as hard as Level Four. I plan to continue doing an hour of Barton each school day. After 3.5 years of Barton, it's now easy for him to syllabically divide and apply his Barton spelling rules. He's thrilled with his progress.

 

Three weeks ago he tried his first ADD medication, and GLORY HALLELUJAH, Concerta is a miracle drug for him. 45 minutes after his first tablet, he did more math in an hour than he had during the previous 4 weeks. Somehow Concerta lets him work at his adjusted, gifted IQ level instead of at his learning challenges level. With Concerta he writes his math on a dry erase board all by himself. That never happened before Concerta. So far, no adverse side effect and he loves Concerta - this from a kid that DID NOT want to try pharmaceuticals But he changed his mind after just one Concerta tablet and now wishes he could be on it 24/7.

 

Sorry for the rambling post. Once DS12 was tested and we found curriculum that worked for him, I pretty much quit coming to TWTM forums. I only have a few minutes to type this, but wanted to say that I credit this board for my son getting his first neuro-pysch evaluation, my finding the Barton Program, and my son's academic progress. Hang in there moms! Keep searching, encourage your kid(s), think positive thoughts, and take good care of yourself.

Edited November 10, 2016 by Timberly

[Code Lyoko]

My DS is 12 and has dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia, and is gifted. He struggles with Rapid Auto Naming and I can't tell you how awful directionality has been for him.  When he was first tested his processing speed and working memory were in the single digit percentiles.  He's been tested twice since then and his processing speed bumped one single digit percentile, but his working memory has increased from 9th percentile to 34th percentile.  I credit Barton with increasing his working memory.  

 

Regarding typing, when DS12 was 7, I had him sit on my lap while he searched the keyboard for the letter "k" (it has a nub on it).   It took him a long time to master that, but once he did, I had him find both "k" and "f" because those are the keys with nubs. This fun, silly activity was included on his school day checklist.  About 18 months later, he started using typing software. He WANTED to learn to type, so instead of doing the ten minutes per school day that I asked for, he did 30-40 minutes a day. By 11.5 years of age, he could type 25 words per minute IF there were no distraction, he wasn't rushed, he was rested...

 

He began typing his Barton words and phrases once he reached a 25 words per minute typing speed.

 

Before he began typing his Barton words and phrases at age 11.5, I kept Barton sessions to ten minutes, cheered him on when he wrote Barton words and phrases on a huge dry erase board, and then rewarded his Barton writing with extra screen time and sweets.  I kept the rest of his day as pleasant as I could because just realizing that written output was the problem helped soothe us both.  For the first two years, he did two hours of Barton each school day, but in ten minute sessions.  For the last 1.5 years he does one hour of Barton each school day, but in 20-30 minute sessions.  Yes, I've gone overboard on Barton, but I come from a long line of severely dyslexic family members who cannot read or write.  So, I've been hell bent on doing everything I can to help DS12 read and write to the best of his ability.  

 

His Rapid Auto Naming struggles were helped by putting colored index cards under plexi glass on my dining room table.  Then instead of asking him to decide if a syllable is open or closed, I have him put a teddy bear counter on the index card that applies to that syllable type.  Instead of asking which spelling rule applies to a word, I'll ask him to put teddy on either Rule XYZ's index card or Rule ABC's card.  

 

 

But before I asked which rule, I have my finger pointing to the two index cards so that he can quickly go from the Barton iPad app to the index card on the table..  Once he hit Barton Level 4, it took him about 3 months to internalize each new rule.  Once he masters a new rule, I add it to my typed notes of rules.  I list them in order of introduction, in page protector sleeves, in a 3-ring binder.  

 

But once he had it, he had it solid and didn't need to use index cards or the 3-ring binder for old rules.  So only two or three rules are kept under plexi glass at one time.

 

Because of his struggles with directionality, for the first four levels of Barton, I avoiding words like "beginning", "first", "after", "above"...  and instead pointed with my finger. We've been doing Barton for 3.5 years and he's matured enough that he is now comfortable with directionally terms within the context of Barton, and even overall in life, he's doing dramatically better with them.  

 

Shortly before he turned twelve, he began reading Sonlight readers for an hour straight!!!!!!!!!!!!  This is the kid that started off at age 11 reading comic books for ten minutes at a time because that was how long he lasted before getting woozy and exhausted.  He fell in love with Peanuts comic books so I got him every single one of the peanuts comic books and he read nothing but that for a year.   Now he's read all of the 4th grade Sonlight readers and is working through the 5th grade Sonlight readers. His school schedules says "Read for one hour per day, every day of the year", but he now reads for much longer each day just because he wants to. I don't use Sonlight curriculum but I found an eBay seller that sells "remainder" Sonlight readers, for a steep discount, so I blew my homeschool budget on 200+ Sonlight readers.

 

Yes, Barton has been painfully hard for him.  Yes his neuro-psych and public school ed-pysch said his test scores are so low he probably can't learn OG.  But yes, he has mastered Barton Level 1 through Barton Level 6, lesson 4.  For him, Barton Level One was was as hard as Level Four.  I plan to continue doing an hour of Barton each school day.  Yes, after 3.5 years of Barton, it's now easy for him syllabically divide, apply his Barton spelling rules.  Yep, he's thrilled with his progress.

 

And yep, three weeks ago I he tried his first ADD medication, and GLORY HALLELUJAH, Concerta is a miracle drug for him.  45 minutes after his first tablet he did more math in an hour than he had in the last month.  So far, no adverse side effect and he loves Concerta - this from a kid and that DID NOT want to try pharmaceuticals  But he changed his mind after just one Concerta tablet and now wishes he could be on it 24/7.  

 

Sorry for the rambling post.  Once DS12 was tested and we found curriculum that worked for him, I pretty much quit coming to TWTM forums.  I only have a few minutes to type this, but wanted to say that I credit this board for my son getting his first neuro-pysch evaluation, my finding the Barton Program, and my son progressing so far in academics.  Hang in there moms!  Keep searching, encourage your kid(s), think positive thoughts, and take good care of yourself.  

:hurray:  :hurray:  :hurray:  :hurray:

[Lecka]

Awesome!!!!!!!!!!

[PeterPan]

Definitely I would wait until he is at least fairly proficient at typing before combining typing with Barton. What are you using for typing?

 

He likes Talking Fingers.  It has been a little bumpy (behaviors, etc.), so we were trying to have his ABA tutor do it with him.  For whatever reason, they seem to be flopping.  She says the internet connection peters out, which doesn't make sense, but because the idiot program is ONLY available online, that happens.  Then he's all frustrated and having to start over and having behaviors.  I'm kind of frustrated about that actually.  I wish I could just download the stupid thing.  It has small enough steps that he can do it, and it's adorable.  

[PeterPan]

Timberly, thank you for sharing all that.  It was extremely helpful!  And congrats on your progress!!  :)

[Bics]

My situation is nowhere near as severe as yours with my daughter, but this thread caught my eye because my 3rd grader is also struggling to make her way through 3+syllable words.  Just last week I put away her full curriculum to make space in our day for hard-core multi-syllabic work.  

I started her in Webster's Syllabary, so she knows open/closed syllables.  For 2nd grade I used Elizabeth Brown's phonics lessons on the computer, which taught some syllabication.  However, something you said about the sliding syllables I wanted to address.  The ABCs and All Their Tricks addresses the reason behind this.  The author says those words are often from Latin, not old English, so the rules really are different.  She goes on.  It might be a useful reference book for you.  I was looking for a way to use it for my 3rd grader.  This week, for example, she is working on -aste pattern.  Her dictation is "Haste makes Waste." Then she has spelling words picked from the tables in ABCs & All Their Tricks--hasty, tasty, distasteful, baste, basting, hasten, etc.  (After an exhaustive hunt, I found Delightful Dictation with Spelling which has dictation maxims keyed to the ABCs book!)

 

Mon/Wed we are working through 3-syllable tables in Webster's Speller.  The syllables are already separated, and the stressed syllable is marked, but it is still hard enough.  

Tu/Thurs we work through an old syllable worksheet book by called Prefixes Suffixes and Syllabication by Sherril Brooksby.  A previous owner laminated all the pages, so she uses a wet-erase marker.  She thinks they are so fun!

 

I know those aren't very kinesthetic, but I thought you might be looking for other ideas for morpheme and syllable work.  

 

I have been doubting myself, feeling guilty for taking her out of the full curriculum, but it has been so helpful to read this thread and see that other mothers focus on syllabication, and that others see 3rd graders tanking and stop--she's about the only dyslexic homeschooler in our circle, and it can be hard for me to stay true to what intuition is telling me to do for her.  Thanks for all the info on the other resources, and really, the ABCs book has been very helpful to explain the history of the language and why those syllables slide.

HTH,