Great Leaps

It is a good and motivating program to work on fluency. I use the phrases and stories sections (3rd-5th grade level). If a child needs help with decoding, they need something besides the phonics section of GL. So I do not use that part.

Janis

I use Great Leaps in the classroom with kids whose speed/accuracy is not where it needs to be. I have a teacher’s assistant that does the timed tests (after I select the level to begin) and records the data. I monitor progress by observation and do the charting. It has several levels and the stories fit the levels—and are graded.

One of the gentlemen that wrote the program checks in on this site; however, recent chastisement of folks selling products might have him a little shy about tooting his own horn too loudly. So, I’ll toot it for him: I’m pleased with the program, especially phrases and stories. I don’t use the phonics because I have other things for that.

I have gotten the feeling that these are very ethical and reliable folks who do their homework. They have gotten some very nice press in the literature of late, too.

There is a website: http://www.greatleaps.com

And in addition to the comments Susan made, I will have to say that Great Leaps is one of the more reasonably priced materials available for this purpose.

Janis

Thanks. I going to review the program and possibly use it with Phono-graphix.

Hi Pam,
If you are going to use the program, I have found that it works well when the kids are close to their reading level. I have always used PG with Read Naturally, a similar program, but I may have to go to Great Leaps due to the fact that my county may not have it. I have heard that GL is good also.

Shay, I have some students on both programs. They are not mutually exclusive. Great Leaps is strictly fluency and I really like the “Phrases” probes. It does not touch comprehension. Read Naturally, as you know, does and my students love the program. They really don’t LOVE Great Leaps, but that is not what they do the program for. I do use some of the “Phonics” probes and create my own as needed.

Students on these programs do tend to make progress overall when assessed for annual reviews. I do have two girls whose reading rates are not moving forward much, they are so extremely word x word and have such extensive problems with rapid automatic naming. Others have improved, not necessarily to grade level competence (over 100 wpm).

I have been using Great Leaps with my 8 year old son all summer. His reading tutor noted an improvement in his fluency. Its hard for me to see - I’m probably too close to it. He is still a slow reader - but I guess 3 months is too short to expect huge gains. He find the phrases more difficult than the stories, because I think he’s using his strong auditory memory to memorize the stories since they have meaning. Watching him read in this format has allowed me to better understand his reading issues.

From his perspective however, its an easy and fun “game” . Even when he’s tired and cranky he can always summon the energy for 3 minutes of work.

My conclusion is that its a lot of bang for the buck.

I have tried to be professional on this thread, sticking to the issues at hand. Having devised and written Great Leaps, I do not feel I am promoting the product to answer and comment upon questions I did not post. You may notice some program developers seem to write their own questions and endorsements. That is an improper use of this medium and must be censored.

In the beginning I like having children read at up to two grades below where they have been measured. Early success is more than critical.

The phrases section, though in my opinion we’ve just opened the door to potentials in remediation, remains unique - not in that phrases are used, but in that they are used to remediate sight words and have them generalize.

Prices just recently went up. I apologize but the move was essential.

Re: Comprehension. Though there is nothing explicitly measuring comprehension, I would strongly beg to differ with the very informed, knowledgable, helpful critic ANITYA - see I’m not picking a fight. There are no comprehension activities with the lower levels of Great Leaps (just wait a couple of months and see what’s on the burner- WHOOPS - faux pas - that’s a promotional. But LD Onliners have had a significant input in what is being developed.) Yet, when we look at comprehension, I see three significant areas upon which Great Leaps works:

(1) Reading speed with very low error rates. (Reading speed must approach conversation levels with a high percentage of correct words per minute.)

(2) Intonation must be natural and fit the passage. This is why direct instruction, modeling and one-to-one are so powerful in reading remediation.

(3) Prior experience. There’s no reading program which can quickly and efficiently give a child expressive vocabulary, etc.

Just because comprehension is not measured, nor are there explicit comprehension building strategies, does it mean comprehension is not being signficantly influenced.

ken

i looked at the order page on your site, which of the products do you recommend for fluency for middle school, there were two products listed, which one do i need for one-on-one tutoring,

thanks, liz

Ken, I apologize. I did not mean any negative. I don’t care that there are no comprehension questions. They are everywhere, I have no problem finding comprehension material. I want Great Leaps to do and be what it is: an easy to use, minimally time consuming program that targets specific areas that my students are weak with. I love the phrases because you incorporated all those little annoying words my students miscall and mix-up: what, that, there, where, who, how………my students MUST attend to these words and do improve. Any program that helps them to improve fluency, phrasing and accuracy will pay-off in comprehension.

I regret that I did not explain this in my above post. The beauty of the program has been the simplicity, the low cost (I paid for it out of pocket, my pathetic budget doesn’t come close to providing enough $$$$ to run a program that meets the huge diversity of needs I must teach each day) and the time factor (I teach too many students to have the time to utilize labor-instensive 1:1 programs except for the absolute lowest of the low who may not otherwise make progress).

(Group) I tried to forward this to her personal listing, like we could in the old days. This feels too much like conducting business on the site.

If you choose to sit across from the student and maintain your own notes - GP-2. If you only will have one or two students at middle school level and you’re comfortable sharing - GL-3.

Anitya,
I hope my “critique” included my respect for your posts. You have been very supportive. Privately e-mail me and I’ll send some new stories for your chance to critique back at me. I know what spending your own low income means and how unappreciated that often is. My Dad taught as well as myself. I spent tons on my kids - I figured it was cheaper than a psychiatrist.

Thanks, Ken, I’ll e-mail you next week when I am home.

Yes, you were quite respectful. I just wanted to clarify my position and let you know that the program is a huge help the way it stands w/o the inclusion of comprehension questions. That is not my specific focus with the students who spend the 5 or so minutes per day with the Great Leaps materials. It is a great program for the investment in time and money.

I agree. I use PhonoGraphix (and some other things) for decoding, Specific Skill Series (and will be getting V/V soon) for comprehension, and Great Leaps for fluency. I like Great Leaps as it is. We don’t need it to have a comprehension component.

Hey, Ken…wish you could have warned us in a non-advertising kind of way that the prices were going up…I wanted to order a personal copy since I have to share the one I have now! :-)

Janis

I as a parent understand that teachers sometimes wind up spending their own money on materials and it is greatly appreciatted. When I am able to I as a parent try to make my own donations. I have provided a copy of Reading Reflux, Rock-N-Phonics, and a complete set of GREAT LEAPS to my sons school. I do this because I realize that with busy as teachers get sometimes and with tight budgets it is hard for them to view new programs or even hear about them. I have used these programs with my son and they have been very beneficial so thought the school might want to review them. They jumped at the chance. My sons self contained teacher is going to use GREAT LEAPS with her students this year, if enough of a benefit is noted she plans on using her spending money to buy her own set and recommend it for the rest of the school. Ken I really love the ease of the use of your program on my son who falls on the Autism spectrum really liked the stories. Thanks for putting forth such a good product—keep up the good work!

Apparently his new teacher likes it too because she borrowed to look at since she does alot of fluency and is interested in reading programs.

My kid is very competative and loves to beat himself..

Thanks, Lisa - as a born teacher - such words as yours make the drudgery of business better. I honestly miss the classroom, but also take a thrill when something new I’ve done, helps countless kids. When my Dad, the best teacher who ever lived, died - he took all his tricks, tactics, etc. with him I searched in vain for his notes. I knew then, that what I’ve learned about motiviating kids to read, etc. had to be shared…..and, you know? God in Heaven has been more than kind in that regard.

Hi,
I have used Great Leaps for the past year as a tutor and have found it very effective with my students who had reading difficultities. I found that it successfully taught the student letter recognition, phonemic awareness, sight words, and short story reading to increase fluency, which will then increase the comprehension level. If the student did not like being timed with a audible timer I would suggest using your watch and keeping track of the results without making it so obvious. If you have any specific questions you can email me.
Sincerely,
Karen S. Wallace