I have a 10 year old son (4th grade) who was diagnosed 2 years ago with ADD. His problems with reading comprehension surfaced in 3rd grade and the school did a complete evaluation. Testing showed that he had a receptive and expressive language-based learnind disability. I then had private audiology testing done which showed that he has an Auditory Processing Deficit (APD) specifically with short term auditory memory, auditory decoding and phonemic synthesis. He does have superior visual-spatial skills and mathmatical ability. He tested at a third grade instructional level in reading (QRI).
He receives speech and language services through the school and is in the Title 1 reading program (Houghton-Miflin Soar to Success). Here is my problem. NOONE involved in reading, speech and language or special ed thinks he needs anything more than Title 1 (I had to fight for that) because he has “no problem with decoding” because he can read fluently. They feel his comprehension problems are at a higher cognitive level. I agree that he does need the tutoring for inferencing, prediction, summarizing, main idea, etc. But I also think that while he recognizes letters amd can link them, he is not doing it automatically or quickly enough. This especially presents a problem because of his deficit in short term memory. Our school district although they claim to use the “balanced” approach, still leans towards the whole language philosophy
My key questions:
1. Can someone fluently decode words (visually) and still lack phonemic awareness?
2. What kind of testing can be done to figure out at what point his breakdown in comprehension is occurring? (They did not do Woodcock Johnson Achievement Tests).
3. What is the best reading program for him? The audiologist recommended Lindamood-Bell or Phonographix. A psychologist that he had seen previously recommended Orton-Gillingham or Wilson (he preferred Wilson).
I know that I will need to get any extra help for him without the school district support. But I need to make my first shot, the best one. He is an oppositional child who is resistant to doing ANYTHING outside of school. Homework, reading, anything with me is a constant battle. Thank you all for any input you may have. I have been reading here silently for months and am so impressed by the knowledge and commitment of the people who post. Sincerely, Eileen C.
Re: HELP!!Mom at an impasse-(long)
I’m at an impasse myself with work and renovations, but I’d like to talk to you about things you can do to figure out and work with him. Please email me over the Christmas holidays and we can talk.
Testing
There are several tests that will help you know if your son’s problems are really exclusive to the comprehension area or are also stemming from the P.A. side.
The WJ-III has one called “Sound Blending” for phonemic awareness. A subtest named “Reading Fluency” for is nice to test reading rate and accuracy. Now, on the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test—two subtests: Word Attack and Letter Word Identification combine to tell you good information on how he reads words in isolation. Finally, the Sound Awareness subtest can be combined with the “Sound Blending” and “Incomplete Words” to give a nice cluster piece of information on “sound processing” and PA.
There are several other tests. The GORT has a fluency component. There is also the Test of Phonemic Awareness (TOPA) that can be given to supplement the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test. If they don’t give it, they can get it…
Q & A
1. Can someone fluently decode words (visually) and still lack phonemic awareness?
Yes, it is possible. Not so probable, but possible.
2. What kind of testing can be done to figure out at what point his breakdown in comprehension is occurring? (They did not do Woodcock Johnson Achievement Tests).
See above
3. What is the best reading program for him? The audiologist recommended Lindamood-Bell or Phonographix. A psychologist that he had seen previously recommended Orton-Gillingham or Wilson (he preferred Wilson).
Unlike some folks who will begin right now tooting their various program horns, I’d rather wait and see where his problems are. I do not believe that one can develop appropriate instructional goals until the diagnostics are complete. If one uses more than one program, then one wouldn’t know which to use. Now, if you only use one program for everyone, then diagnostics don’t matter much do they?
If you went to the doctor and he said he was going to run some tests…then followed up with “but here’s this perscription in the meantime.” Would you go back to him? (Hypothetical)
Re: HELP!!Mom at an impasse-(long)
Has anyone done a miscue analysis with him when he reads? This will pinpoint how he uses graphophonics, syntax, and semantics to read. It will help determine how well he predicts as he reads,and whether or not he confirms his predictions, re-reads or self-corrects. If someone does this, it is imperative that they tape the reading and also ask him to retell the story. Only by listening to his retelling, can you see how well he comprehends what he reads, whether or not he appears to be using decoding correctly. I once watched a video of a girl reading a book at a painfully slow rate, with little intonation, no fluency, lots of decoding miscues etc. I thought, “no way does she have any idea what she read.” However, her retelling, without any prompting from the teacher, included all the important details, the names of the characters (which she had mispronounced while reading, but said correctly in the retelling), inferences etc. Just because a child doesn’t seem to decode accurately, doesn’t mean they aren’t self-correcting silently.
One good way to help with the sound symbol relationship is through writing. He can dictate to you, identifying the sounds as you slowly say the word, stretching out the sounds. (See the book GNYS AT WRK by Bissex).
Reading fun poetry with him is another way to help with his phonemic awareness/listening skills.
Lindamood-Bell visualising/verbalising is helpful, but you can probably do just as much by reading to him and having him describe the pictures he sees in his head. Some kids say they actually see a movie in their head when they read.
If you keep the focus on meaning-making, hopefully your son will read more and write more, thus incorporating the decoding and encoding skills as he goes.
Great analogy
It’s best to identify all the problems by the particular subtests b4 starting the program.
Thank you
I can’t thank everyone enough for your responses and input It makes sense to me to do further testing to pinpoint his areas of weakness and then remediate. It has been very frustrating because the “specialists” in the school district are very narrow- minded. I get the eyeball roll every time I open my mouth. The attitude is that I am not an educator, so I can’t possibly
know what is best for my child. Never mind that not only are they not open to other viewpoints, but they don’t even seem to know they exist. The speech and language therapist knew nothing about Fast Forward or Earobics for APD. The one reading specialist knew nothing about Orton-Gillingham based programs and I got a blank stare and glazed looks every time I mentioned a multi-sensory phonics based program.
I do have another question. Where is the best place to look for further testing?
The private psychologist we have used in the past does not administer the Woodcock Johnson Tests. Should I look for another psychologist or there is a Lindamood Bell center not too far from me? Is the testing done by LMB objective or just geared for their programs. It does seem that I need someone who is knowledgeable about reading problems.
Again, many thanks for your input. I am sorry that I do not live in the vicinity of some of the excellent and committed people who post here. I live in the suburbs of Philadelphia, if anyone is within travel distance.
Sincerely, Eileen C
Re: HELP!!Mom at an impasse-(long)
Victoria,
I tried to email you but it was returned. I would be interested in your thoughts as you certainly think very well.
Please try to contact me again
Please try the email again, and if it bounces again, please post at the top of the board with my name — I do want to keep in touch.
Can he segment? If you ask him to say the word frog without the r sound can he do it?
You can know the code and not be able to segment properly. My son developed segmenting skills with phonographix but we need to revisit the skill every once in awhile. It is just a very difficult skill for him.
I think that lindamood bell visualizing verbalizing workbook is very clear cut and easy to teach comprehension. I really agree with their philosophy of creating visual images to hold and gain an understanding of concepts. My son could already do this but I didn’t know it until I did the exercises in the book with him.