Sight Words Barton Style

[zarabellesmom]

This just isn't going to work. I get that whole multi-sensory thing and we've been doing it just as written, but no... It seems like a fancy way to practice flashcards. Rote memory does NOT work here. And even if we get to the part where the card has three check marks and it's"mastered" ... It's not. A week later it's gone again. I feel like I'm just waiting my time. I'm really ripping my hair on this one. Surely there is some better way to do this. Anyone? This is my child who worked for months just to remember the seasons of the year and still can't tell them to you in order. Can't name the months of the year in order. Took forever to remember the number of sides on different shapes.

[TheReader]

Reading them, or spelling them?

 

I understand completely the "mastered, then gone again" bit. It took my son two years to learn the sound of the letter f. He learned it, and unlearned it, and learned it, and unlearned it.....ugh. It's what prompted us to get his evaluation in the first place. And time....we have "mastered" time telling several times now. And forgotten. It is so hard....I know it is.

 

For the sight words, if it's reading them, I'd keep practicing. Maybe add them on the read these words pages, besides practicing them each day at the start, and maybe if writing isn't a huge chore, add in copying them or even try the ball trick for memorizing where you and your kiddo pass a ball back and forth and say/spell the word out loud with each pass. So, "said, s, a, i, d, said" as you pass it. (Do this while looking at it, so the visual and oral is all going together).

 

Also someone mentioned before about maybe splitting the sight word work into a separate session from the regular Barton work. I plan to do that once we run into trouble (we just started this part).

 

If it's spelling, I might even just shelve it for a while, especially if your kiddo can read them/recognize them reliably. Revisit the spelling later on, when he or she might be more ready for it.

 

Most of all, hugs. I get it. It's so hard with these kiddos that don't retain stuff.

[Lecka]

If you know it takes more than 3 check marks, then adjust to 5 check marks (or more -- adjust to what ends up working). Review "mastered" more often.

 

For my son we have to study fewer items at a time and know it takes longer for him to master.

 

Not apples to apples but this is the principle we go by. It is for more things than sight words but that is the principle -- do fewer things at a time, review the mastered materials more often for retention, and have higher criteria before considering things mastered.

 

It takes longer and it takes more work.

 

We do see progress, even if it is slow and taking a lot of work.

Edited January 25, 2017 by Lecka

[OneStepAtATime]

Rote memory doesn't work here, either.  At all.   :grouphug: 

 

With the site words for Barton, spelling frequently took longer than reading, especially with DS.  I'm not sure if you are referring to reading or spelling or both.  For spelling, we worked off of the script in the TM but I also sometimes incorporated more large muscle work and games with the words.  We wrote the words in water on the fence, we played a kind of Barton based scrabble, I made really large letters and we hopped onto the correct letter or moved them around with our feet, etc. We sometimes sang the words.  And we did what Lecka suggests, we didn't do three checks for DS, we did 5-10, depending on the word.  He has been moving very slowly through the spelling/reading site word lists.  Way slower than DD.  She is a full level ahead in site words of where she is in Barton for regular lessons.  He is a level behind.  He just needs a lot more time with each word.

 

I agree, maybe plan on a lot more practice per word and possibly in a separate session.  If it is spelling only, though, and you feel like even with additional practice and different ways of approaching each word it won't net much, you might just shelve it for a while.  Keep the lists in a separate notebook so they are easy to access as you move through the program (I have all the lists in sheet protectors, along with the kids' checklists in a separate 3 hole notebook).  Pull out the lists again when you are further down the road and try again, maybe using some of the suggestions in this thread.

[Jenn in CA]

My dyslexic dd does great memorizing things with context. But anything else, without meaning to her, it's instantly forgotten. I don't see the point of studying sight words as lists right now (she's 9). However, she can read them so that's comforting to me. We do use Barton, we just skip the sight word spelling section. (save a lot of time!)

 

We work really hard to memorize things such as Bible verses, or other things, with hand motions, mnemonics, whatever it takes, as long as she's engaged and motivated it works. It takes a long time, but it will stick. I imagine we'll have to do something similar w/sight words.

 

My dd also has very poor visual memory. I think that's why sight words, even w/Barton's method, don't stick. I really like Lindamood-Bell's Seeing Stars, and we'll probably do something like that for sight words. One day......

Edited January 25, 2017 by Jenn in CA

[imagine.more]

Maybe try to incorporate Simultaneous Oral Spelling, if you google it you should find stuff. Lots of Orton Gillingham tutors incorporate that for sight words.

 

Also, some sight words you later learn the rules for. Such as "The" if you pronounce it with a long-e that's essentially just an open syllable. Others like "for" also make sense once you cover r-controlled vowels. So you could re-teach some sight words later when you discover the rule it follows. Then you're teaching it phonetically.

[frogger]

I'm not sure if it is the reading or the spelling that is the problem. If it is the spelling I would continue on with the program and just spell the words for your student. You will find that many of the words can be spelled phonetically later in the program. Also, if your son is an auditory learner we just say the word funny (how it's spelled) etc. I don't mean I say it when I'm dictating but I teach him to say it to himself. So he hears me pronounce Wednesday regularly but he pronounces it to himself "Wed-nes-day". He may have a semi poor memory for poems or other audible things but his visual memory doesn't seem to exist at all. I know there must be some ability there but it doesn't feel like it.

 

 

My son had the hardest time with sight words and Barton's method didn't last long. He has very poor recall but loses attention if not actively engaged. Yes, technically having them picture the word is "actively engaged" but explain that to an energetic quick thinking young boy. He would sometimes manage the letters but almost never with the correct order for spelling and usually ended up thinking about something else after word one or 1/2 way through word one. Obviously if the letters are all out of order he wasn't visualizing much. Forgive me if I'm remembering the process wrong. We didn't do it long before moving to more suitable (for him) methods.

 

 

 

Sight Word mountain is fun if you have stairs and he is young. A teen would find it offensive though. :) Put flash cards on stairs (one per step) he would read the cards until he got one wrong which would cause him to roll/slide down which he loved of course. The goal was to get to the top of the stairs of course before quitting. I strategically placed the harder or newer cards near the bottom so even after he got them he often got another chance and another and another. ;) Plus, he got to use his energy up mid-reading. You may want to do this last if your child gets wound up though.

 

For someone older you can do the one minute reads. You would have to make your own sheet. I would type randomly the words he is working on; repeating them multiple times and then just cut and paste large sections so you don't have to type so much. So you have a whole sheet of the same words repeated. Then see how many he can read correctly in one minute. This worked well for my son. They were super repetitive and he had to be corrected right when he said the word wrong and look at and repeat it which of course took up his time. It was over and over but more fast paced and it felt more fun and didn't give him the impression that he was stupid because he kept getting a few little flash cards wrong over and over.

[AimeeM]

While we do use flashcards, it's "Dancing Bears' Style" - and I have no clue how that compares to Barton Style, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

 

Flashback technique. DS7 still can't read anything beyond basic CVC with any real fluency and rote memory for letters (and words) just isn't easy for him... but he makes progress with the flashback technique. We started it with the basic letter sounds (as prescribed in Dancing Bears A), but we've since included sight words.

 

So, this week, we have "are," "by," "live," "give," "have," "no," "not," "cannot." I wrote each in thick black marker on square white flashcards (the same size as the DB flashcards, for ease of use). If he falters at all on the word, I give him the word (tell him the word, while making sure he's looking at the word, and not looking at me), and put it directly behind the next, so that he "flashes back" immediately to the word that he was having difficulty with. After a round of that, I place all of the sight word cards on the ground and tap while he says (or he taps, when I say the word), again - when he struggles with a word, I tell him the word, and we move to the next - and then immediately move back to the word he struggled with. Then we typically move to me calling out a word and him picking it up to give it to me. 

We've done a variety of multi-sensory or whole-body activities with the words. Yesterday he was allowed a quick look at each word before he was asked to go to the blackboard and write the word. His favorite is when I place all the words in a straight line and he jumps on each as he reads them. 

 

Flashback is always our go-to, though. Regarding the "mastered and gone" -- well, as tedious as it sounds, we do not shelve the words, even when they seem mastered. He has a stack of sight words to practice daily, on top of his DB flashcards, and he goes through not only the new words and the not-yet-mastered words, but also ALL previously "mastered" words. Every single day. It actually doesn't take a ton of time, because he knows most of them quickly and without hesitation (and that's our goal, so...).

Edited January 28, 2017 by AimeeM

[nothingisworthmore]

Hi -  First post on these forums :)

 

Not sure about Barton - when I looked into it, it seemed premature for my DS based on a short video I watched on their site. Instead we started AAR and so far it is working better than anything else we've tried. Memory is terrible and he never "masters" anything, but we are still making progress (although slow).

 

There is much I like about AAR,  tho in regards to "sight words" - I like that they call them "rule breakers" instead. This eliminates some "sight words" that are phonetic and takes away some confusion for my 9yo DS. I also like that sight words are introduced slowly while the majority of words introduced (systematically) are phonetic. 

 

 

Edited February 2, 2017 by nothingisworthmore