what next?

[AngieW in Texas]

I've used a lot of programs with my dyslexic dd that I've been happy with, but then she still needs more instruction and has finished that whole program.

 

She has done Headsprout, Funnix level 2, Phonics for Reading levels 2 and 3, and will finish Rewards Secondary at the end of this month. I've used 150wpm as her goal speed for the timed readings in Rewards.

 

She has done well with all the programs above, but she still needed more to continue to progress afterwards.

 

I'm just not sure where to go next. Will just reading be good enough or does she require more instruction still?

 

She is reading at grade level (5th grade). She is doing well with Sequential Spelling and will finish the 1st book tomorrow. Her spelling is actually pretty good, not as good as a typical 5th grader, but not bad at all for a dyslexic. Her writing is behind. It's more typical of what I'd expect from a 3rd grader at this point in the schoolyear. We didn't start working on writing until this schoolyear. I was much more concerned with getting her reading up to speed first and then her spelling.

 

Any suggestions for what to go to next?

[Mom0012]

Maybe some fluency readings? Six Minute Solutions is the recommended program to follow Rewards. Also, you might want to continue breaking down a couple of words the "Rewards" way each day. I regret that I didn't do that with my son because after all that work, it didn't wind up sticking.

 

Lisa

[Stacy in NJ]

How's her comprehension? If she reads silently to herself can she then narrate and answer questions? If she can, I'd now focus more on vocabulary development via the material she reads to herself with verbal leading to written narration. Pick a reader type program with a strong vocabulary component. I see that she's doing IEW. How's that going for her?

[ElizabethB]

I'd do a bit of Webster's Speller daily for review. Once she gets to the multi-syllable words and starts getting it, she may actually start reading above grade level! The arrangement of words by accent pattern is very powerful. After the syllabary, I would jump to the 2+ syllable words for a few weeks, then do a bit of the one syllable words and 2+ syllable words daily. Since you spent so much time and energy getting the information into the brain, you want to make sure you're reinforcing it so it doesn't jump out.

 

(That's the technical explanation, in case you were wondering! I "saw" a lot of math jump right out of my daughter's brain last summer. She needs extra work and review for math, most of my remedial reading students need extra work and review for reading. Without a bit of review, unless they're very young and just have a bit of dyslexia or just have symptoms of dyslexia caused by sight words, they are going to need review.)

[AngieW in Texas]

Her vocabulary is excellent. She actually hits the ceiling on the vocabulary section of the WISC-IV. She is very good at inferring meaning from context.

 

Her comprehension is also excellent. We redid her LD testing at the ps back in May. On the GORT test, her rate was 63rd percentile, accuracy was 50th percentile, and fluency was 63rd percentile, but her comprehension was 95th percentile. On the WJ-III, her letter word ID was 82nd percentile, word attack was 47th percentile, and reading fluency was 73rd percentile, but passage comprehension was 97th percentile.

 

The tester noted that she could completely butcher a passage, but then give an excellent summary of it.

[Stacy in NJ]

Ahhh, Well that's excellent. Comprehension is way more important than fluency. I agree with the other poster to do fluency practice. If her vocabulary and comprehension are high, I wouldn't fuss too much with the other stuff. A strong spelling program, fluency practice and a writing program seems like the way to go.

[wyomingowl]

My dd is a year older and has the same pattern. She ill butcher a passage but still has wonderful comprehension unless the passage is very short and every word counts. So she doesn't do well on short multiple choice questions. This may or mya not be your daughters problem. I do work on fluency with mine for short passages. I make sure she slows down, not easy, and reads every word.

[AngieW in Texas]

Short passages are her downfall. When she puts in a "not" or leaves it out, it changes the meaning of the whole thing. Math word problems are where I see this most often. Every word is important there. When she's reading a whole page, she can catch her errors on her own. When she's reading a three sentence word problem, she doesn't catch the error. I have to have her read them out loud to me to make sure that she reads them correctly.