Advanced or remedial phonics

[FindingMyWay]

My youngest son has been a late reader. We've used a variety of phonics-based resources in an effort to help him learn to read, but it wasn't until last year (3rd grade/9yo) that he really progress beyond CVC words. Between the end of last school year and the beginning of this year, he made enormous progress - I think his brain rested and made all kinds of connections over the summer break maybe. He's reading much more fluently now, but larger words still trip him up and the book we used last year (Reading Reflex) never really got into some of the phonics ideas that he's stumbling over (-tion, ss as sh, etc). He's reading a level 2 Pathway reader pretty easily right now, but he's just itching to read books that are more appropriate for his age and interests. He's struggling with the harder, multi-syllable words, though, and my gut feeling is he needs a little more work with phonics. What options are there out there that would meet him where he's at? I have no problem tweaking something, but I really don't want to make him do a full phonics course. Thank you for any help!

[MerryAtHope]

Maybe look for something that would let him place according to his current reading ability? He could do that with All About Reading--he could use the placement tests to start at his reading level and learn the multisyllable word-attack skills as he goes. He'd probably be in level 2 or 3 (the levels aren't grade levels, just sequential. Level 2 has 2-3 syllable words and starts the instruction on syllable types. Level 3 has 2-5 syllable words, teaches suffixes, and continues instruction on syllable types).

I hope you find the right program for him!

[FindingMyWay]

Thank you! I'll have to look at that again. AAS was not a hit here, and between that and the price I've been hesitant to go that route. I think I'll go take another look, though.

[acresoft]

Child1st has a nice phonics and spelling kit, with phonics cards for learning the sounds. Child1st also has readers.

https://leveledreader.com/

Victory Drill Book is great for getting up to speed in reading, with timed drills. You can also learn the sounds this way.

[Ellie]

6 hours ago, FindingMyWay said:

My youngest son has been a late reader. We've used a variety of phonics-based resources in an effort to help him learn to read, but it wasn't until last year (3rd grade/9yo) that he really progress beyond CVC words. Between the end of last school year and the beginning of this year, he made enormous progress - I think his brain rested and made all kinds of connections over the summer break maybe. He's reading much more fluently now, but larger words still trip him up and the book we used last year (Reading Reflex) never really got into some of the phonics ideas that he's stumbling over (-tion, ss as sh, etc). He's reading a level 2 Pathway reader pretty easily right now, but he's just itching to read books that are more appropriate for his age and interests. He's struggling with the harder, multi-syllable words, though, and my gut feeling is he needs a little more work with phonics. What options are there out there that would meet him where he's at? I have no problem tweaking something, but I really don't want to make him do a full phonics course. Thank you for any help!

I'm always going to recommend Spalding. 🙂 You can move as quickly as he is able.

[Tanaqui]

Nine isn't extremely late, but it's late enough (assuming you started around 5 or 6) that I feel like asking if dyslexia could be a compounding factor.

[ElizabethB]

My syllables spell success lessons, it is a 10 lesson review of phonics with an emphasis on syllable division and multi-syllabic words, it goes up to a 12th grade level and ends with 7 syllable words.  Free to print and watch, but if you have done a lot of phonics, I would just teach it from the transcript instead of the videos, unless you would rather do laundry, in which case, just have him watch the videos, then you do the exercises with him.  At that age, I would just watch the entire lesson, then do all the exercises and readings, the watch a bit, do a bit is for a younger child or to keep a group of kids active and not getting into trouble...

You could also start with the overview one page lesson if he is really motivated to learn everything quickly, but then I would do all the lessons, there is a lot in there.

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On Reading/syllablesspellsu.html

The 2nd page of this PDF shows an example of the type of words taught in each lesson.

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On Reading/Resources/SyllablesSpellSuccessOverview.pdf

 

Edited December 19, 2018 by ElizabethB

[alisoncooks]

My oldest DD followed a similar timeline. (She was midway through 3rd grade before progressing beyond Frog & Toad type books.) My younger was closer to 5th. 

Without a doubt, what has been the BEST for multisyllable words for my kids: REWARDS Intermediate by Sopris West. It's 25 lessons long (but we split many lessons into 2 days). I saw such an improvement in my girls reading ability and word attack skills. (Actually, my oldest did half the lessons and took off! Youngest went through all the lessons.) 

The older version is readily available used on Amazon (I even have a set for sale). Personally, I prefer the newer edition workbook (but the teacher guide is wayyy overpriced). I used the old guide to teach the new workbook -- do-able if you're confident with the content. 

Edited December 19, 2018 by alisoncooks

[FindingMyWay]

9 hours ago, Tanaqui said:

Nine isn't extremely late, but it's late enough (assuming you started around 5 or 6) that I feel like asking if dyslexia could be a compounding factor.

I've looked at that, and I really don't think so. That's not a professional opinion, of course, but when I look at lists/tests, he doesn't fit those symptoms. I have been concerned at his lack of progress, and I had him evaluated at the beginning of last year. (It was just a reading evaluation by a teacher.) The results of that were that if he didn't make significant progress by the end of the school year, they would refer me for services. He made huge jumps though, so she wasn't worried at the end of the year.

[FindingMyWay]

Thank you all for your suggestions. I'll be looking into these today.

[Guest]

You also may want to look at Apples and Pears and see where he places, since AAR wasn’t a hit, 

[ElizabethB]

4 hours ago, alisoncooks said:

My oldest DD followed a similar timeline. (She was midway through 3rd grade before progressing beyond Frog & Toad type books.) My younger was closer to 5th. 

Without a doubt, what has been the BEST for multisyllable words for my kids: REWARDS Intermediate by Sopris West. It's 25 lessons long (but we split many lessons into 2 days). I saw such an improvement in my girls reading ability and word attack skills. (Actually, my oldest did half the lessons and took off! Youngest went through all the lessons.) 

The older version is readily available used on Amazon (I even have a set for sale). Personally, I prefer the newer edition workbook (but the teacher guide is wayyy overpriced). I used the old guide to teach the new workbook -- do-able if you're confident with the content. 

They have extensive samples, and REWARDS looks good. I'll add it to my list of programs people I know have used with success, it is multi-syllabic for sure, which of the following elements does it also contain?

1. Multi-syllabic: Older students can easily work with multi-syllable words if shown how to divide them or given words already divided into syllables. By combining work with basic phonics with multi-syllable words, you can progress both faster and to a higher reading grade level.

2. Word Lists: A focus on lists of words instead of sentences or stories helps the student work through the phonics they are missing much quicker and also decreases guessing because there is no context to guess from.

3. Spelling: A focus on spelling helps prevent guessing and also makes the letters easier to remember than when just reading them. I find that my students learn more from spelling a few words than reading a dozen.

4. Elimination of Sight Words: Ed Miller developed a technique he called “SWE” or sight word eliminator, where all the common sight words are removed from a reading passage. He theorized that the sight words were a trigger for the guessing habit. 

5. Nonsense Words: Since nonsense words cannot be guessed, (they theoretically could be guessed, but the statistical probability of guessing a correct nonsense word is quite low) they help decrease the guessing habit because they must be sounded out to be read correctly.

6. Tiles or tapping: Some programs use tiles or a tapping technique to help students focus on sounding out one sound at a time. This also helps decrease guessing habits.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/building-good-reading-habits-liz-brown/ 

Edited December 19, 2018 by ElizabethB

[TheAttachedMama]

My kids were also in this same boat.  However, they have dyslexia.  (It is not severe, but they were more than just late bloomers.) 

 I've tried just about every phonics program known to mankind, so I am a good person to talk to.  hahaha   Dancing bears and Apples and Pears did not work well for my kids.   (Some kids LOVE it.) I did learn a lot about using their "cursor method" with a notched business card to force the child to make each sound in each letter.    AAR did not work well for my kids either.  The word cards basically taught them to sight read, and then I had to spend a bunch of time remediating that.  And the fluency sheets were very tedious and did NOT actually improve their fluency even though we did each one about 10 times.   However, AAR was my first introduction to multi-sensory OG-esque type teaching, so I am still thankful for it.   

I ended up using the I See Sam readers with some OG phonics teaching methods to FINALLY get them reading.  The I See Sam readers go very slowly and really repeat a lot---but still feel fun because they are stories.  So they helped get their reading speed up and made them more fluent.  I would say that got my kids up to about a 4th-grade reading level.  (We moved to two-a-day reading lessons for a while in an attempt to help them.)

Next, we did Elizabeth B's phonics stuff over the summer with lots of nonsense words and syllable division work.   (The nonsense word stuff was good for decoding.)     Meanwhile, we were doing LOTS and LOTS of WWE/Charlotte Mason type oral narration to work on comprehension (both listening and reading).   After that, we did the REWARDS program.  I found it used, and I really like that for getting their reading level up. 

Then, outside of teaching them to read, I had to find ways to facilitate LOTS and LOTS of practice.   I have them read aloud to me every day from fiction and non-fiction so we can discuss and I can assess reading comprehension.  I can also help them use their REWARDS strategies on the fly. I also try to make my house as boring as possible so they get desperate enough to pick up a book.  (I am half kidding.)  And then at night, I tell them they can go straight to bed or read from a book.   We use audiobooks and read aloud a lot too to allow them to fall in love with books/stories.   Often I can get them hooked on a series if I read the first couple aloud.  

(Typing blind without my reading glasses on, so hopefully, there are not a million errors in my post.)

Edited December 19, 2018 by TheAttachedMama

[MistyMountain]

This is the stage my youngest is in right now so this post is helpful to me too. I tried a lot and it took a lot of practice to get dd reading. What has really helped is the I See Sam readers mentioned above. We are now finishing set 5 out of 8. We do other phonics practice but that is what had her progress the most with fluency. She finally made a lot of progress recently and no longer only reads cvc but she still needs to work on bigger multisyllabic words. The first thing I will run through because it is nice and quick is Reading Pathways. They have multisyllabic pyramids. I know she will need more practice though so I might try either Websters or ElizabethB's lessons. I also might considering trying AbeCeDarian, REWARDS or Wise Owl Polysyllables. I am just going to finish the easier levels of ABeCeDarian and I see Sam first. 

[FindingMyWay]

9 hours ago, MistyMountain said:

This is the stage my youngest is in right now so this post is helpful to me too. I tried a lot and it took a lot of practice to get dd reading. What has really helped is the I See Sam readers mentioned above. We are now finishing set 5 out of 8. We do other phonics practice but that is what had her progress the most with fluency. She finally made a lot of progress recently and no longer only reads cvc but she still needs to work on bigger multisyllabic words. The first thing I will run through because it is nice and quick is Reading Pathways. They have multisyllabic pyramids. I know she will need more practice though so I might try either Websters or ElizabethB's lessons. I also might considering trying AbeCeDarian, REWARDS or Wise Owl Polysyllables. I am just going to finish the easier levels of ABeCeDarian and I see Sam first. 

 

I'm glad it's been helpful to you, too. We have Reading Pathways and he *hates* their pyramids for some reason, although he'll happily do them if I write them out on the whiteboard. I love all the syllable work suggestions - thank you!