Stirsmommy Posted February 15, 2008 Share Posted February 15, 2008 Ok I am still vacillating between which on I should use. I did find a lot of stuff to go with the reading reflex online today at their website. From reading it RR looks like I could pull it off with not much trouble. Now what I can't tell is what the difference is between this and abecedarian. It seems RR has more games which ds is all for since when things are a game he doesn't know we are working. But does it also have more manipulatives? I am trying to make this seem fun for him as he is sensitive to the fact he can't read. He thinks the arrows on the posterboard and jumping around for learning left and right was PE. Ok I can go with that! So tell me what y'all think. Is there benefit to doing both? TIA Melissa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claire Posted February 15, 2008 Share Posted February 15, 2008 There is no need to do both, as they are very similar. By all means start with RR if you think it is going to work for you. That's what we used, and it was great! I recommend ABeCeDarian these days because (1) the parent materials are more developed, (2) it includes a variety of drills and benchmarks which RR does not, and (3) the Yahoo! support group is very, very helpful if you run into a problem or need some hand-holding getting started. What I would recommend is to start out with RR and see how it goes for you. If you start to have difficulty, get on the ABeCeDarian group and ask if you should switch. (Both the developer of ABCD, Michael Bend, and the major support person on that list, Janis, were trained in Phono-Graphix. Michael Bend decided to take the methodology further by expanding on the parent support materials, plus he added quite a few specific drills and fluency benchmarks. (RR takes fluency development for granted, but some children benefit greatly from automaticity drills to develop fluency.) I don't think ABCD uses as many manipulatives as RR, but I haven't used ABCD myself so I'm not sure about that. Janis on the list would be able to tell you. My dd had tested as reading at a pre-K level when we started RR. After 20 hours of one-on-one with it, both she and I could see very significant improvement. If you stick with RR, just before you start on advanced code I *highly* recommend that you get on the website and order their "Parent Support Guide for Older Students" -- about $35, I think. Switch from the book to that guide for your spine. It will make working through advanced code in a systematic manner *much* easier for you. If you post around the time you start working in the guide, I can give you some worthwhile tips for making it very efficient for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stirsmommy Posted February 15, 2008 Author Share Posted February 15, 2008 I will try RR first I think. How did you break up your twenty hours. I don't want to push too hard but he is really anxious to start learning. By Monday I should be ready to go. Thank you so much with all of this. Melissa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claire Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 I will try RR first I think. How did you break up your twenty hours. I don't want to push too hard but he is really anxious to start learning. By Monday I should be ready to go. Thank you so much with all of this.Melissa I was a nervous wreck when we started RR. Dd was in a private elementary school and I had never tried to teach, so I had zero confidence. I just knew I had to try because she was so miserable at school. (She was 8yo.) Anyway, because I was so nervous, I kept all the beginning lessons pretty short. I think our first lesson was 20 minutes. :) RR stresses adjusting the lesson to the child, so I did that. If dd seemed to be losing focus, I would move into the close of the lesson pretty fast (always close a lesson with reading text out loud, even if it is a really simple book). Also, if I was stressed that day or didn't know what to do next, I would close out the lesson early. After a certain number of lessons we hit a day when both dd and I were in the swing of things, and I think we went almost an hour that day. I would say our average lesson was in the 20 to 40 minute range. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexandra Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 If you want to try RR go for it and just use the ABCD as "plan B" if you (like me) find yourself suffering from RRR (Reading Reflex Rage) which is caused by finding the material in RR too confusing and poorly planned. ABCDarian was just the cure for me (and this was AFTER I had taken the 35 blasted hours of RR also known as Phono-graphix training). Good Luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claire Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 If you want to try RR go for it and just use the ABCD as "plan B" if you (like me) find yourself suffering from RRR (Reading Reflex Rage) which is caused by finding the material in RR too confusing and poorly planned. ABCDarian was just the cure for me (and this was AFTER I had taken the 35 blasted hours of RR also known as Phono-graphix training).Good Luck! I think this is good advice. I was able to use RR without a problem until we hit advanced code (at which point I strongly advise switching to the company's "Parent Support Guide for Older Students" as a spine). If you run into problems using RR, though, the materials and support for ABCD are excellent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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