Tell me about Dancing Bears

[sweet2ndchance]

Ds is very likely dyslexic (a visual dyslexic most likely). He knows all his basic letter sounds and some phonograms beyond the basic alphabet. He can blend without problems at all as long as he is focused on the lesson. He struggles with high frequency words and fluency. For example, he still sounds out almost all CVC words even though he has seen many of them almost daily for over 2 years now. With my older 5 children that I've taught to read, fluency just happened as they practiced. This kid though seems to have some kind of mental block against fluency.

We've tried OPG, SWR/WRTR and LOE Foundations with ds. Barton is out of our reach financially. I could probably make AAR happen but it just seems to have so. many. moving. parts. I'm not sure I have the mental bandwidth to keep all of that going, not to mention it would be a stretch financially. I'd be willing to give OPG another go but I need to know how to get this child to achieve fluency when straight practice doesn't seem to do the trick...

So I'm considering Dancing Bears. I've studied the samples inside and out. I've searched and searched for what few reviews I can find on it. I tested some of the samples of Ds today. The cursor seemed to help. He loved the 10 minute lesson time limit.

Does it sound like Dancing Bears might help with a fluency challenged child?

 

[valleyhillfamily]

Hello! How old is your son? 

My son is 8 and is also dyslexic. We tried both LOE and AAR. After about two years of work, he was stuck just like your son was -- he knew all of the single phonograms as well as many blends and digraphs, but blending words and fluency remained a struggle.

After doing a lot of research, I came to the conclusion that Orton-Gillingham tutoring was the best method for him. I ended up getting certified as an Orton-Gillingham tutor. I now tutor my own son as well as a few other students online. This is a research-backed method of instruction that has been studied for decades. I really love it 🙂 

I looked at the Dancing Bears program, and there are a few things I like. The daily work with flashcards is important. You really do want students to automatically see the phonogram and say it's sound. The cursor could help kids when they struggle with visual clutter. There are other ways to deal with visual clutter, but this is a simple one that may be helpful. 

The one criticism I have about Dancing Bears (as well as All About Reading) is that spelling is not incorporated in the program. All About Reading has a separate spelling program (All About Spelling), but like you said -- it was too clunky to add with AAR -- too many moving pieces. You could easily add spelling by having your son spell the words he's reading that day -- or similar words. If he's reading fox, have him spell fox. Then box. 

Here is how I lay out my lessons for my son and students:

Rote words (words that don't follow phonetic rules and need to be memorized). They work on 2 or 3 at a time until they are memorized, and then slowly add new words in.

Visual drill (like your flashcards)

Auditory drill (I say a sound like /sh/ and the student writes the spelling. For the sound /e/, the student writes all the different spellings for /e/ - e, ee, y, and so on, as they learn them). We do about 8 sounds each session. During this time, I ask the student to explain the rules associated with the phonograms. For example, -tch is only found after 1 short vowel. 

Review of a recently learned sound or rule

New material

Blending - working on reading/sounding out a new rule

Reading - reading a short story with controlled text that the student can decode

Spelling - based on what the student is working on, including both single words and sentences

Overall, I think a program like Dancing Bears can help your son gain fluency in the sounds and phonograms he's already learned. I'm not sure how good of a job it would do at teaching new sounds/phonograms/rules, and I don't think it touches on spelling, but maybe I missed that portion.

I'd be glad to chat more on this topic! It's a major interest of mine.

 

[sweet2ndchance]

Sorry about that, I thought I put his age up there. He turned 8 in January of this year.

I went ahead and ordered Bear Necessities A1/A2 set. I've printed out the flashcards and we've started with them. The cursor really seems to be doing wonders for his ability to keep the sounds straight when he is sounding something out. He has even started self correcting with the cursor. We've used other types of cursors before without much luck but this time, it is really seeming to click with him. I've been making some of my own sheets based on the Dancing Bears/Bear Necessities samples while we wait for the books to arrive.

I'm very familiar with Orton-Gillingham style lessons. I went to a school that used Orton-Gillingham methods with all students. How did you become certified? Which certification company did you use? I've thought about becoming a tutor when my homeschooling days come to a close.

I actually have been working on spelling simultaneously in the way you describe. I had thought about dropping spelling for a little while and just focusing on his reading fluency. We would pick up spelling again when he shows some gains in fluency or at the end of the summer, which ever comes first. I have Sequential Spelling which is aimed at dyslexics and of course, WRTR/SWR. I also thought about All About Spelling. I've looked at the companion spelling program to Dancing Bears called Apples and Pears but I can't tell from the samples if it is for us or not. What are your thoughts on these spelling musings?

Thank you for including the layout of your lessons. That is really helpful. I may adjust our lessons to be more like yours and see what happens.

 

[valleyhillfamily]

I sent a PM with more info!