remediation of phonemic awareness - how long to continue???

I tend to work with each student on a case-by-case basis. Just for motivation, I would not stop completely and go entirely back to the beginning; also, he needs to keep up his practice on what he has succeeded in learning so as not to backslide. I usually use a good phonics program that has consistent frequent review woven into the book so that you are always doing a new page at a steadily increasing complexity level, but every now and then you cycle back and practice some basic skills. What I think would be a good general plan is to continue reading at the level he has already achieved and to continue working up on reading; while reading, make sure he is pronouncing correctly and sounding out new words. The in addition review the PA ten minutes or so per day, but make it more complex and more mature by using higher-level vocabulary as he is now meeting in his reading.

For someone like your son, I wouldn’t take him back through the LIPS program but work more on fluency combined with phonics programs. I like Great Leaps for fluency because it also constantly reinforces the phonics. Once kids have gone through LIPS, I like to work with them using some sort of phonics workbook. Vowel Power is one that I’ve used.

I think that once they’ve learned the strategies, they have to practice them ad nauseum to reach fluency. It takes lots and lots of repetition; there’s no other way. So all the various fluency practices work: Great Leaps, other repeated reading techniques, neurological impress, combined with continuing to reinforce and practice the phonics - breaking multisyllable words into syllables, etc. - all that will work together to eventually make him a more fluent, capable reader.

Hi Annise,
I’m no expert, but my feeling is to move forward and not go back unless you find there’s a specific area that needs review.

To me, it seems like once all the PA stuff is firmly in place you want to have the child do lots and LOTS!!! of reading to build on fluency and rate. I also have my son practice “segmenting” or “chunking” lists of multisyllable words. I’ve found word lists on the net which I print out and we practice with.

One funny thing, I’ve noticed my non-LD 7th grader (language arts SAT-9 in the 99%ile), occassionally making surprising errors on multi-syllable words. For example, yesterday she was reading an article in Time magazine about dictators and thought it had said directors! Even beyond the mechanics of reading, never underestimate the importance of comprehension.

I would not take him back to phonemic awareness activities in isolation! Phonemic awareness is only one of the pre-conditions necessary for fluent reading. It sounds as if your son already has that piece. He needs explicit instruction in multi-syllable word management.

Why not take a look at the “Rewards” program from Sopris West? It provides specific instruction in multi-syllable word management, with an emphasis on developing accuracy and speed, for readers at a 2nd through 5th grade level (although I suspect it would be helpful for higher levels also). The teacher’s manual gives explicit instructions for the 20 lessons in the student workbook, and the program is relatively inexpensive. It sounds ideal for your son. I haven’t used it yet, but it will be perfect for my students who decode at about a 5th grade level after Phono-Graphix, but are still not what I would consider fluent readers.

Something else you may want to consider is a cognitive training program such as Audiblox or PACE. These programs quickly develop skills necessary for fluent reading. The mere act of reading will also usually develop these skills given enough time, but cognitive training seems to speed up the process considerably for dyslexics.

Nancy

You sound like you are absolutely right about what he needs. In my resource program he would receive fluency training and lots of practice with reading multi-syllabic words. If he can read at 3rd grade level and decode words, this is what he needs.

Somebody posted a URL last week that linked to an article from G.B. The article summarized that this phonological training, ala LiPs, etc. produces gains in pseudo-word and word reading only. It does not produce much gain in fluent reading of text. That requires fluency training. In my experience this also must include lots of work with decoding longer words, practice with roots, prefixes and suffixes. My students lose valuable seconds trying to decode new words and text at 4th grade level and up usually contains plenty of longer words that are not seen frequently enough to become part of one’s sight vocabulary. I have always marveled at the folks who say they have caught kids up after “x” hours of LiPs training. Now, I know, they don’t. They do get basic word reading and decoding up, but the automaticity and fluency still may need several years of work to truly achieve what I would call grade level (reading with accuracy, speed, comprehension and prosody at grade level).

I agree. I think the LIPS training gets them to the point where they’re now ready for fluency work. If they don’t get that along with continued work with multisyllabic decoding (LIPS provides them with the skills to do this but it’s one they’ll need to practice for YEARS before reaching automaticity in most cases), then they’re going to lose ground.

I get very frustrated when the ball gets dropped on this. Classroom teachers often think they can leave it to the specialists, but in the case where students have done an LMB intensive, the specialists often think it’s been done. The truth is that these kids need MORE, WAY more continued work with fluency and multisyllabic work. The LMB is the start; it’s a fantastic jump-start. But it simply doesn’t tackle fluency at all.

Annise,
My son just completed 4 weeks of seeing stars - what he walked away with was the ability to decode multisyllabic words. He’s now at the point where his PA is fine, he’s got the rules down. He needs fluency so he can get through the 3rd/4th grade material he is now able to decode.

thank you anitya and joan v. i know in my heart i have given my child this incredible gift of the foundation skills needed to read.

now i, the parent, who is looked on as not knowing as much as the public school educators, have to convince them that this child does not need any more lips. his p.a. is as good as it is going to get for now. and it is pretty darn good considering he started out with a LAC test score of 32/100 at age 8.5. no wonder he could not break the code….

now he has broken it - he has had lips and seeing stars and i have been telling the school for 1.5 years that he really needs work in multisyllable words, and fluency. yesterday he told me he will just not go back to the resource room and continue the blocks; he says he would rather figure the rest out on his own!

how do i get this information out to the school? i have written l.m.b but have not gotten a response. any ideas on how I can convince them NOT to do these p.a. exercises with this child???

any intervention. You don’t have to convince anyone of anything; you just have to say no (preferably in writing). In order to sound reasonable, I would simply provide the same reasons you have given here for rejecting more p.a. work, and mention that it would not be in your child’s best interests (always a killer phrase!). I assume this works the same in many other states. Personally, I would just do it and see what happens. Can’t do any harm.

Then, I would just teach him multi-syllable word management at home. It’s not rocket science. All you need are good materials (PG and/or Rewards).

Nancy

sometimes i get so caught up in all of this, i just forget……however, and here’s the killer, i have already rejected the iep, in writing, and this request has been totally ignored..