Anyone get themselves certified in a reading method??

I am a certified PG tutor. Most children I can teach to read. There are two categories of children who need more help than I can offer.

Children with severe speech, language and or hearing problems: I refer these children to speech language pathologists who have also been trained in PhonoGraphix. They are much better trained to deal with complex issues.

Children with vision issues: Some children need to be evaluated by a qualified developmental optomestrist. For example, a child who covered one eye and twisted his body into uncomfortable positions while reading needed glasses with prisms to compensate for his visual deficits (and to retrain his eyes. I did teach this child to read but he needed additional services. Another child that I am seeing now has excellent segmenting and phoneme manipulation skills. She does not make phonological errors when she reads. She doesn’t know the entire code so I can help her there. However when she reads she loses her place, repeats herself, misses small words and misreads words, then self-corrects. I am sure she has a tracking problem and maybe other visual deficits as well. She is being evaluated next week and I can’t wait to get the results.

I am sure I have not encountered every kind of child with every kind of reading issue. But so far, this has worked for me.

Hi, Des,

I am trained and certified in Phono-Graphix. I think a private tutor has more credibility when certified. So I do think it is a good idea.

I really personally think most kids will make it with PG, I really do. And I am teaching some of those hard kids Linda mentioned, hearing impaired with speech-language delays. I am also taking Language! training (which is OG based) so that I can go further into comprehension and written language after completing PG.

At the moment I teach in a school system and tutor on the side. My plan is to quit in the next few years and just tutor.

Janis

I got my training before “Certification” was an option — and I agree with your perspective. What I knew before total immersion in Orton-Gillingham would have served the general majority of kids well, but those kids don’t end up in special schools — it’s precisely the kids with the most interesting and/or severe language issues, despite average or better intelligence, that we had the pleasure of working with. It takes a lot of trainnig and working with other people and sharing knowledge to tackle the puzzlers and often there are no quick fixes.
It was also a rather huge advantage to have a 1:2 setting, 5 days/week, 50 min. with each student. You *really* get to know how the individual mind is working and processing. You look for patterns, and what tricks to pull from your sleeves (and from the whole shelf of resources you’ve got to draw from).

[%sig%]

Thanks “guys” as they might say back in Chicago. :-)
Sue, I looked at your webpage, read it some and think it is a great resource. Thanks ahead of time as I think I’ll make use of it. I am thinking of going with Wilson, and signing up for a two day workshop. They also have the online training, which looks good. Also their prices, with the whole package, are considerably cheaper than other OG programs. I am getting PG and a couple other things, as everyone doesn’t need that intense a program. I just love Susan Barton and I’m sure her program is terrific but it is the priciest out there, including all the Wilson training.

Pretty soon I’ll be able to put up a shingle. :-)
Well first maybe get the house cleaned– and you thought finding a reading program is hard!!! :-)

—des

I feel that if you are going to be teaching or tutoring LD kids, the LiPS training is really helpful. It isn’t easy to learn or do correctly, but the multi-sensory aspect is often exactly what LD kids truly need. And it is the basis of a lot of other reading programs out there — even if they don’t admit it (and many do)…

I also use LiPS in a public school setting, in groups of three or four, and I use mostly handmade materials. The only commercially produced materials I buy are the letter tiles and colored blocks, but I believe you could even make those, or buy them much cheaper elsewhere (Pro-Ed sells them, I believe, it is under $100 per child for them, and they can be reused again and again). I’ve also made/adapted/borrowed many game formats that I use for extra practice and reinforcement, and have a set of blackline masters I have created and borrowed from multiple sources for the same reason.

I usually get great results — between 1.5 and 2 years progress in nine months is average, resulting in good percentile and standard score gains for my students. This is pretty close to what can be gotten with one-on-one tutoring, and though it isn’t exactly fast it is sure…

Anyway, the bottom line is almost any method is “affordable” if you are creative about it, so get the best training you can afford, because that is far more difficult to duplicate or replace! I even think getting multiple kinds of training is a good idea, not to mix and match methods so much (which no one really wants you to do!) but to broaden your background and give you a variety of techniques to use. LiPS is certainly a very good place to start, as it is a well-designed program that really addresses the auditory weakness research says is the primary cause of most reading problems. Even if you don’t end up using it as is, you will have a really in depth understanding of what a good reading program should entail…

Hi,

Shoshie I would be interested in emailing you about this. Can you email me?? My address is: pleiades3 AT earthlink DOT net. (as in user@provider. net). I have some questions.

Thanks,

—des

Des,

The above post does remind me to mention that I am taking Lindamood Bell’s Visualizing and Verbalizing training (for comprehension) in another week. I feel that is an essential component for me to be a qualified tutor/teacher. I will be trying PG with a couple of hearing impaired/language delayed children this fall. If I find I need LiPS, then I’ll take it next summer. But if these kids can learn with PG, then I’d say almost all can, because they fit the LiPS profile very well.

Janis

I’d still like to hear from somone who has taken the LiPs training. I don’t want to get into the whole PG discussion, when I tried to talk about something else. I am NOT opposed to it, btw.

Anyone who has taken the LiPs training want to write me at:
pleiades3 AT earthlink DOT net

—des

Des, if you are changing the topic to LiPS, you might get more feedback if you post a new topic. This one’s title has to do with certification in reading methods. Lindamood Bell does not certify trainees unless it is one of their whole school projects.

Janis

I have been certified in Reading Revoloution, and used it for almost 5 years. It is an amazing program that is multi sensory, uses multiple intelligences and is very comprehensive. Look it up at ReadingRevolution.com.
Ilene :D