Hi Shay ~ I haven’t posted here in a number of months, but I was just scrolling through some old posts, and something you said in one caught my eye. In one of the discussions on the Wilson program you said that you had investigated it initially because you were looking for a reading program for students with lower IQ’s who also had language difficulties (I don’t have your exact wording in front of me; I think that was it!). Did you end up using phonographix or another program? I have several students who fit that profile exactly, and I’ve frankly run out of programs to use, short of asking my sped. director to spend a couple thousand ordering something new!! The student who has me most concerned has an IQ in the 80’s, can read the majority of the Dolch/Fry list at any given time, but is extremely inconsistent from one day to the next; her spelling is awful (we’ve focused on the Dolch/Fry list), even for words she learned years ago, and is reading in a mid-second grade basal at the moment, but can’t read Cam Jansen or Magic Tree House books (1.8-2.1 reading level). Her auditory processing is extremely low, so a straight phonics approach has been unsuccessful. She also has extreme attention problems, which exacerbate her reading/comprehension issues. I’m going to try one of SRA’s direct instruction writing programs with her this fall, and see how that goes. Do you think phonographix would work, or have you found another program that you would recommend? Thanks for any suggestions you would have!
Re: Question for Shay
Hi Jenn
Just returned to reading posts on the board, too busy tutoring. Yes I use exclusively, PG. I have remediated successfully students with IQs as low as 65. Comprehension is another issue with kids with low IQs but at least they can decode. There are so many pieces to comprehension, mostly being able to decode, but vocabulary and visualization are also necessary as well. I first teach them PG and then go from there. PG is wonderful for low IQ kids because it doesn’t have a lot of abstract reasoning involved and no rules and exceptions. I don’t think that 80 is a low IQ. Remember the Matthews effect, the longer a child can’t read, they can loose up to 50 IQ points. As a matter of fact, most of my LD students have IQs in the 80s. If you need help in the future, if you decide to use PG, email me directly.
Re: Question for Shay
Thank you for your help, and Janis too! I have the Reading Reflex book, and I’ll start reading it so I have a feel for it by the time school starts. August 28 is coming waaaayyy too quickly! If I have any questions I’ll let you know! Thanks!
Jenn,
I hope Shay will see this soon and reply, but I will tell you that she has told me she has used PG successfully with EMH students. I believe in my PG training they also reported good results with kids with below average IQ’s. Good luck with your student!
Janis