Language-Wise by Read America

Language-Wise is a full-blown, certified provider version of the book “How To Increase Your Child’s Verbal Intelligence”. If you read the book, you will know what LW involves. Readamerica offers LW programs for children at their Orlando clinic, and also offers training to become a certified provider of LW programs. However, you can do much the same thing at home using the “How To” book. It’s very comparable to the difference between “Reading Reflex” and lessons provided by a certified PG tutor.

What spelling program?

Mary

Mary,

They have a spelling program in addition to PG and Language-Wise. Must be new since I haven’t seen anyone mention it here. I was going to order the PG worksheets and there are also supplemental things for the Language-Wise and Spelling for home instruction. I just don’t want to order too much without hearing opinions. I think it is possible that this spelling could be used earlier than AVCO. I did order the Verbal Intelligence book today. My child does have comprehension/memory/language problems, so I am hoping it might help.

Janis

The spelling item is called Super Speller.

I actually ordered it and used it while we were doing Reading Reflex 3 years ago. It’s really not a complete spelling program, but is a way of supplementing and reinforcing Reading Reflex while also developing some spelling savvy.

At the time I used SuperSpeller, the parent supplement to Reading Reflex was not available.

We used SuperSpeller only for a little while, basically because my daughter lacked the visual processing skills necessary to make use of the approach. It quickly became too difficult for her. I’m sure that many children benefit more from it than we did.

My own opinion is that SuperSpeller is not nearly as useful as the parent supplement, and the parent supplement does a lot for spelling already. If a child can get through all of Reading Reflex and the parent supplement worksheets, he/she will be more than ready for Sequential Spelling. SuperSpeller will basically only provide more worksheets. I know quite a few people who have got through all of Reading Reflex, and more who have gotten through most of the parent supplement, but I don’t think I know anyone who has gotten all the way through SuperSpeller. I think it would be most useful for non-LD kids, and as an alternative supplement (instead of the parent supplement) for advanced code.

Mary

Well, it sounds like to me we may have our hands full just using RR with the parent supplement. I really think my child would probably benefit from some of the Language-Wise, too, which also has a parent/clinical supplement. So I think I’ll just skip SuperSpeller for now. If we can have her reading fairly well in the next year and a half (by the end of second grade), then maybe we can try the AVCO if she needs spelling improvement.

Mary, can you think of any of the other things that I should order to go with RR?

Janis

Mary,

Another question. Whay finally clued you in to your daughter’s visual processing problems? Mine has been diagnosed with APD and she is a very visual child. But another post did make me wonder about her visual processing. She does confuse b and d, but she is still in first grade. She used to write in mirror image from right to left until I corrected her and she stopped. I have attributed some of that to her mixed dominance, but I am wondering just how visual skills might tie in.

Janis

was when my daughter quickly learned how to decode with Reading Reflex (within 6 weeks went from preschool to 2nd/3rd grade level words, at age 8-1/2) but could not read fluently. Her actual reading of text was excruciating to listen to — did not sound like a normal beginning reader. She not only skipped words, but skipped entire lines without realizing it. She made a lot of substitutions and, if she slowly sounded out a word and then encountered it again in the same sentence, she didn’t recognize it at all and had to slowly sound it out again.

Prior to this, I had asked her opthalmologist several times if her vision could be related to her difficulty learning to read (dd has severe congenital astigmatism, for which she wears glasses). The opthalmologist assured me her vision was more than adequate for reading. I had heard of developmental optometrists, but the opthalmologist basically told me they were all quacks.

I had heard from my neighbors about a non-profit foundation with a vision clinic, that provided services to a public charter school for special needs children. The vision clinic also took outside clients. Finally, I decided I had nothing to lose but money, and made an appointment at the clinic. Figured I would just have to chance that I would be able to recognize quackery if that’s what it was. Instead, the optometrist was able to demonstrate for me a couple of dd’s many development vision problems. We ended up doing vision therapy for 8 months, followed by PACE, and then a Phono-Graphix intensive.

Incidentally, no one thing ever did it all. I had to assemble all of these therapies on my own.

My dd had had significant writing reversals also, but I did not realize that is another red flag for developmental vision delays. Not all children with reversals have vision problems, but a high proportion of them do. (Some reversals through age 7 are normal, but my dd had many reversals, even at age 8.)

Mary

Thanks, Mary. I’ll try to be in tune to those things.

If I may ask you another question, what do you recommend that I buy of PG materials? I am considering using it with a child at school, too, so I may get Word Works so I can reproduce, or do you think I should just order the parent supplement? I take it that the manipulatives and the storybooks would be good to have. The guy at RA said that according to Anna’s scores, she may not need a lot of the early lessons and he recommended that I just get the parent support book with Snuffy Puppy (not the parent supplement that contains all levels) or else get Word Works so I can use it at school and home. Have you seen all these things? It is so hard deciding when I can’t see the actual products.

Janis

the parent supplements. It would be a lot easier than reproducing Word Works sheets. WW is set up basically for a classroom teacher.

I think the RA suggestion is fine. I am certified in PG, and use the type of parent supplement he is suggesting. I have seen the supplement for RR, and much more of it is devoted to basic code. Where the supplement really comes in handy is for advanced code work and multi-syllable word management.

I would get the set of cardstock manipulatives. They will hold up through multiple children better than paper, and they are nicer to handle. Unless you will be working with a lot of very young children, I don’t advice laminating the manipulatives. Laminated manipulatives stick together and aren’t as nice. Just cut them up and use them. If and when they wear out, you can always buy another set.

That’s all I would get — the parent supplement recommended by RA, and the manipulatives. Everything else is fluff or not really appropriate to your situation. The website is very confusing. The only reason I know all this is because I had a chance to see and handle everything when I was in Orlando getting the training.

Mary

Mary

just buy a parent supplement for each child you want to do RR with. Having the supplement in a spiral binding helps keep everything organized.

Mary (having a typo day….)

Wow, Mary, is this helpful! He really had me convinced that I should order Word Works, but I knew I’d never work with more than one child at a time. Also, the lesson plans for group activites would be useless for me. I may have used the wrong terms for the books in my last post, though. Let me clarify.

The only confusion I still have is that the Parent SUPPORT book he is talking about is designed specifically for children who are being tutored by a PG tutor, and the parent support book is the homework portion. It is $39 and includes one level of reader (Snuffy Puppy for ages 6-7) and worksheets. I’d still have to buy the manipulatives for $15 for a total of $54. And then I’m not sure I’d have the main instructional sheets.

The RR Parent SUPPLEMENT contains all worksheets from basic code all the way up, so I wouldn’t need all of it with my child. For $59 it includes 330 worksheets and the cardstock manipulatives. Then, I’d have to buy Snuffy Puppy for $9, which would make my total $68, but I think I’d have a lot more worksheets.

It is great that you were able to see these products. I agree that the web-site needs improvement.

Thanks for your help!

Janis

I didn’t realize the supplement included the manipulatives in the price.

However, I would still just buy the $39 support book (which has Snuffy Puppy on the last few pages) and $15 cardstock manipulatives.

If the other child is starting at the very beginning, unlike your child, you might want to order the supplement at that time. The extra pages for basic code work could come in handy then. However, most kids really don’t need it to get through basic code. It’s mostly for kids who are very young and starting at square one — knowing nothing at all. The extra worksheets won’t do you any good, because your dd is already past needing them.

Mary

is in a 3-ring binder. Basically, what a classroom teacher would do is pull out one of the reproducibles for an exercise and make copies so that each child would have a sheet to work on. The support manuals are *much* better for one-on-one work.

Mary

Okay, so as a tutor, do you use the parent support manual as you teach? Then does the parent do anything?

Janis

Mary,

If you’d just like to reply to me by email, that would be fine. I realize we are taking up the whole page on the message board talking about ordering materials! I think you can get my email by clicking on my name.

Janis