Reading specialist for LD kids

If she’s worked with “low readers” there will have been, I can guarantee ya, some LD kiddos in her bunch.
I’d want to talk to her… if she can say a whole lot about a certain *program* (say, one she is “certified” in) then she may not really understand the variety of comprehension issues different kids have. If, on the other hand, she’s “certified” ‘cause she’s had courses and experience, and she talks about different comprehension issues and strategies for teaching and understanding them, then she teaches kids, not programs.

This is teacher certification. Might be a FL thing but there is a certification for a reading specialist in addition to elementary education (which she also is certified in—taught fifth grade).

What kinds of questions should I ask her?

Beth

I think a one on one tutoring focused on his specific problems can only help. I dont know that certifications matter if she is capable of explaining and being patient with him

I hired a reading tutor because I was tired of being the teacher-I just wanted to be mom and have a good relationship with him. It did wonders for our relationship and my blood pressure. She used the methods often talked about here and his test results in tutoring(phonemic awareness stuff) showed tremendous gains. I have seen no evidence that any of this transferred into the classroom.

Im not complaining-I wanted her to do just what she did(the school had never provided this) and she did an excellent job. But he has to employ what he was taught when reading in school or at home WITHOUT someone standing over him constantly reminding him. And he chooses not to.

If its a good match, go for it! If its not comfortable, pull out

One of the disadvantages of using a very trained person, IMO, is they tend to make up their mind that “…….” is the issue because it was the issue for most the children they worked with. Its very hard for them to have an open mind if your child doesnt fit the profile

My sons tutor, after our last session, told me how truly puzzling she found him. She never quite figured him out-and this is a very experienced, multiply trained professional who I found to be quite brilliant.

Beth,

Have you considered going after the underlying cognitive skills? Visualization is one, but another is logic and reasoning.

I would ask the teacher if she knew how to address this specific deficit area. I think that very often our kids don’t learn to learn. I would want a teacher that was able to help him to think better, one who can truely loosen up his ability to problem solve and therefore understand what he is reading. He needs to become an active learner. I think with all the remediation we do these kids can get the message that it us up to everyone else to teach them. They can become passive in their learning style which is just awful for the higher level stuff.

I don’t see many who go after logic and reasoning as a specific skill, yet, it is so important for so much of learning.

I can understand you needing a break. And I think you can always give it a try and if it doesn’t work out quit. Another thing, you could find out if she’d be willing to use the materials you have already to teach him (like VV and anything else you might have).

Maybe talk with her about this, ask her what she uses and is familar with using. What has she seen the most progress with? Now that I think of it, there’s quite a few non-LD kids who have reading comprehension difficulties. I don’t think that’s so unusual.

Beth,

I just had to insert this after reading Linda and Laura’s posts.

http://www.epsbooks.com/catalogsite/code/epspgebld.cfm?product=3001M

It is a series called Reasoning and Reading by EPS and it is for reading comprehension. I think after you identify what she uses, then you can consider providing her with the materials you want used. I have spoken to our reading teacher at school and I honestly hate to say it, but I think I know more about reading than she does. EPS has several good comprehension series.

Janis

Janis,

You know way more than most! You are intelligent and open minded. I think many just know what they know. You strike me as a teacher who goes that extra mile to learn multiple perspectives.

Thanks for the information. I think, after reading these posts, I am going to call her back and talk some more. Clearly, reasoning is a difficulty for him but it sounds like some of this could directly be taught using reading comprehension materials.

Beth

Thank you so much, Linda! Reading disorders has become sort of a passion for me. I am still amazed that there are proven methods out there that can help children, but schools in general seem to not be interested in finding out what they are. Thank you again for your kind words.

Janis

Beth,

Another idea is to buy audiblox and ask the teacher to do it with him. I think audiblox goes after visualization and has an awesome logic exercise.

I also made up some logic questions to use with my son. One involves a circle and a square. I color the left half of the circle red and the right half blue. Then the second picture is a square with the same color pattern. Then I use a circle with the same colors but left is blue and right is red. Then I ask what would come next.

Of course it would be a a square with the left blue and the right red. This is one example I made others that were a little harder as well. I got this idea from reading information on the Fruerstein approach that was discussed here.

I would be curious if anyone had a book with more of these logic puzzles because I think it is a great way to exercise the brain but I have trouble coming up with new puzzles.

Janis,

Does the comprehension book you mentioned have specific logic exercises like these?

Linda,

The book I was speaking of is using language for the logic exercises since the focus is comprehension. Take a look at this page and you can click on the sampler to see the various exercises. It inclusdes other areas to strengthen comprehension besides logic, though.

http://www.epsbooks.com/catalogsite/code/epspgebld.cfm?product=3001M

Janis

By the way, I ordered Audiblox today.

Janis

Linda and Beth,

I am looking at the new EPS catalog, and I really recommend that you request one. It’s easier to compare materials than on the web-site. But once you identify something you like, you can go to the web-site to see sample pages. There are several other series under the categories of either reading comprehension and critical thinking.

Janis

I just ordered the book you recommended !! Oh, well. I will get the catalog too. I looked at the sample page for grade 3 and 4 and it seemed good.

Beth

Beth,

I do think Beginning Reasoning and Reading will be a good book for your son. Others are general comprehension and some have to do with analogies, etc. I think you chose a good one to begin with. I read something last night by Jeanne Chall that said that vocabulary is the number one influence on comprehension. So be sure you are working on vocabulary exrecises as well. I know Anna’s problems have to do with integration, but her vocabulary skills are a little low, too. I think it is important to be sure we cover all the bases within the comprehension area.

I think I am going to order several things from EPS, some to use at school and some for home. All of my students are 3rd grade and under at the moment, so I’ll mostly be getting lower level things.

I will also be attending a session on reading comprehension at our state IDA conference in mid-March. I hope to have some good info to share after that, too.

Janis

Janis,
That is great. My son’s preschool director wants me to inservice the staff on audiblox. I think she will incorporate it into the curriculum.

I ordered the catalog you mentioned. My brain hurts from trying to think up all of these logic exercises.

I thought of two more that some might find fun. I do these on our white board easel.

Draw a circle with the colors red blue and green. Colors start from the outside moving in. Then draw a square with the colors green blue red. Green is now on the outside.
Next line draw a circle with the colors orange yellow purple.
The answer is of course a square drawn purple yellow orange.

Another puzzle which is kind of fun. Draw the word red with a blue marker. Draw the word blue with a red marker.
Next line, draw the word green with a yellow marker.

The answer is of course draw the word yellow with a green marker.

My 9 year old son has alot of difficulty with these exercises. He tends to panic and not take the time to try and sort them out. My logical little 4 year old totally gets them but I have to read him the word one.

You’re right, Linda, it strains my brain to have to think up exercises like that! And not to mention that every child I teach is very different. So it is worth it to me to buy prepared materials in order to preserve time.

Janis

Certified as a reading teacher means only that she has gone through whatever program the schools in your state use. If your local schools use an ineffective program, then she has been drilled in using that ineffective program.
You need to find out if she has read up on the research and if she tries to find methods that are effective, rather than just doing more of the same as thed school does.