Difference between Wilson and LIPS, PG and/or MTC?

This turned out longer and took way more time than I expected…

The Wilson Language program is based on Orton-Gillingham practices: Visual-Auditory-Tactile/Kinesthetic teaching methods.

Usually, the lesson begins with students given visual prompts of consonant, consonant blends, single vowels, vowel teams, and various word families (i.e. wa-, consonant-le endings, easy suffixes). About 11-12 are given in each lesson that support concepts being taught or reviewed.

Next, the student is given an auditory prompt of single sounds, blends, word parts, and whole words and writes them on paper. Word building activities are included with tiles, magnetic letters, or in written form.

Then, students read words, sentences, and passages that support the syllable pattern(s) or word family(ies) being taught and reviewed. Wilson reading materials are controlled-vocabulary so that only current and previously taught skills are included in the lesson.

The sequence of instruction moves from CVC (closed syllables) through silent-e, open, consonant-le endings, r-controlled vowels, and vowel teams. Easy affixes are introduced along the way along with non-phonemic sight words. Syllabication of multi-syllable words occurs after each syllable pattern is learned.

The lesson also includes writing—in response to trade books or on other subjects. I try to include some time to discuss a tradebook that the student is reading outside of class for me. Sometimes I have the student read orally from a trade book. (In public school setting, students are doing SSR during non-instructional classtime.)

The Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing program (LiPS) is one that begins by introducing 24 consonant sounds and 19 vowel sounds and feeling the sound production in the mouth. The student is usually connected to the written symbol right away.

The lesson includes segmenting and blending sounds using blocks instead of letters (called tracking). It includes omitting, adding, substituting, and shifting sounds.

Word building activities of read a pseudo-words are included in the LiPS lesson in a style similar to tracking, except using letter tiles. These tiles are also used to set up word reading activities.

The program does not include reading materials; it is up to the instructor to decide upon Seeing Stars, SPIRE, Wilson Language, or other phonics-based program for practice in word, sentence, and passage reading instruction.

Later, LiPS works with breaking down multi-syllable words and segmenting sounds in the accented syllable.

From my perspective as a teacher, I use the LiPS program to introduce and reinforce the production and movement of sounds in words (phonemic awareness) and Wilson Language Systems for *some* student groups—Grade 7+ and younger students with high ability/low achievement. I use SPIRE with younger students and lower ability groups. I do, though, pull from both programs independently.

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Wilson is more of a reading program than LiPS is. It teaches 12 syllable types. It begins with the basic cvc word at Step 1, and advances very slowly to Step 12, which may not be taught for another two years, depending upon the pace the student requires. Each lesson is divided into 9 parts. It can be taught three times a week, or you can split up the lesson if it is used for all five days. Here are the steps in an early lesson of the program.
Part 1: Sound drill on both consonants, digraphs, and short vowel sounds. Child needs to provide name of letter, sound, and key word for difficult consonants/digraphs and all short vowels.
Part 2: Teacher uses individual sound cards to form several cvc words. Student taps out individual sounds with thumb on fingers to help with sound blending and then reads words.
Part 3: Student reads cvc words from word cards.
Part 4: In reader, student practices a few words, and then must read 15/15 real words correctly. Then student needs to practice a few nonsense words, and must read 13/15 words correctly before advancing to the next substep.
Part 5: Student reads 10 decodeable sentences, practicing phrasing and fluency.
Part 6: Sound Drill in Reverse: Teacher gives sound, and student must find correct sound cards.
Part 7: Teacher says cvc word. Student taps out sounds in given word; finds the correct sound cards to form word, taps it again. Teacher takes away sound cards, and student taps word again, and then spells word from memory.
Part 8: Dictation: Teacher dictates 5 sounds, 5 real words, 5 nonsense words, 3 sight words, and 3 sentences with known decodeable words and sight words. Students write words. This is not a quiz. If there are errors, teacher will question student, so that student can correct his/her work on the spot.
Part 9: Passage Reading

The manual suggests doing Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 9 one day, and Parts 1, 2, 6-8 the following day. On Friday, they suggest having the teacher read a passage, and having students image and answer questions about passage. That’s Part 10. Since I do V/V from Lindamood-Bell , I never do that step. There are also Student Workbooks, which provide excellent practice. It is a very slow-moving program, but very necessary for some students. I use Wilson and like it very much, but for less severe students, I think a combination of LiPS and Seeing Stars is an excellent way to go, and probably faster moving. I hope this helps.

Marilyn

I will try to tell you the differences between Wilson and PG. No matter what the student needs help in, basic code, advanced code or MS words, you have to start at the beginning of the Wilson program. In Wilson there are rules and PG doesn’t have any, it has the different combinations of letters or symbols that represents the different sounds. Wilson takes at least 2-3 years (stated by a Wilson representative) and PG is usually faster for the older learner (dependent on the experience of the remediator). Wilson was made for the dyslexic when the definition included that the student have an IQ of 92+, PG can be used for those with lower IQs (I have used it for mentally challenged students successfully). Wilson is hard to present to a class of kids who are on different reading levels and PG can be taught to a class with students who are on different levels. Wilson takes a long time to teach decoding MS words and PG is faster. Wilson is very scripted and PG isn’t. Wilson has more supplies, what I call bells and whistles, and PG is a ‘no frills’ decoding/spelling strategies program. The two programs teach the advanced code differently. PG is more straight forward and Wilsons uses the phonics rules and exceptions. I have remediated many students with PG that had Wilsons for many years. They still, after Wilsons, couldn’t decode words with the advanced code or MS words fast enough to develop fluency because they had to think of the rules that govern those words. Remember everyone, the question was to compare the two programs and what I said is due to my experience with those students who still couldn’t read well on grade level after at least three years of Wilsons.
These are the main differences that I have experienced. Shay

I’ve been discussing Lindamood in a thread on the parenting board, and stumbled across this discussion. Your response prompts some questions for me as I consider Lindamood for my son. He’s been doing OG tutoring, and we’ve been looking at Lindamood for an intensive session this summer. You talk about the severity of the problem with your students as a guideline for which type of method works best and I am wondering how to tell if Lindamood is appropriate for my son… in theory he has good phonemic awareness, but putting has trouble putting it into practice. He can read, but way below grade level, and in a very erratic fashion. Any thoughts would be appreciated!

The best reading teachers know and use both phonemic awareness techniques, such as LiPS, and multi-sensory phonics, such as Orton-Gillingham (Wilson is an Orton-based program.) They are also trained in whole-word skills, fluency, and comprehension techniques.

Further, very skilled reading teachers are always looking for students to quickly generalize the skills being taught. There is no reason for a student with average ability to endure three years of 1:1 instruction without making profound advances. Diagnostic teaching requires that we test students to see if they are learning what we are teaching…If not, we must change what we do. Outcome is everything.

I do not and will not enter into the PA versus Orton bickering. I use what I use and am very successful both privately and in a public school setting. I’m not adverse to learning something new—I eagerly await RAVE-O, for example.

I’ve been on vacation and am just picking up old threads. This one seemed to cry for a response