reading on grade level how to check

Oh, there are so many red flags here I hardly know where to begin.

“My son who does having learning disabilities and in resource room for spelling ,phonics, writing.He is reg. classroom for reading”

If he needs phonics instruction and clearly has comprehension problems, why on earth is he in regular class for reading? It is clearly not appropriate.He probably is NOT on grade level.

“The sp ed teacher he has said the other 3rd graders in her class are in the reading book he did last year so reading in her room wont help him”

Well, too bad! I guess she can just give him instruction in a different book then! She is basically telling you something illegal! What “book” is she using? Reading instruction in an LD room shouldn’t just consist of a “book”. It is a method and many different books can be used to read from. If she is not using a multi-sensory structured language program for reading, spelling, and written language, then her class is not going to be very helpful anyway.

“He is also failing spelling in the resource room this 9 weeks so far”

The only possible reason that I can think a child could “fail” spelling in a resource room is if the child refuses to do the work. More than likely, she is not using proper materials, or it is not at the appropriate level, or she is giving him too many words.

Please find out what programs she is using for reading, spelling, and writing. Just write her a note or call and ask and then get back with us.

Janis

He is in reg. classroom they say because his listen comphrehension is that of a high schooler.In the classroom he listens to the weekly story on CD and I read it to him several times.
The school uses McGraw-Hill books the sp.ed class is a grade level below.
She does intergrate all of the subjects together but my son is only in the room for 80 mins a day the rest of the students are in there for all subjects but science and social studies.It seems multiseensory and more and more so every week she has said she has had to do things different because of my son but it is benefiting the rest too.One other thing the other students are DH classified my son is SLD.
Saxon Phonics is the type of phonics they are doing and that is where the spelling words come from.My son is failing spelling because of vowels he dont tell the difference and because of reversals when he writes.However this week he used the computer and still failed because of not knowing the vowel sounds and double constants.He has 20 words per week.We study every night and each day he misses different words.
My husband says it is time for another meeting he did write this reg. ed teacher back on his folder and said enough is enough our son is not reading on grade level I dont care what you said now I want to see some results and some changes.I dont know what they will think of it but since my son seems bright and does so well in math they just like blow him off till he throw a stink and I think that is a shame.Janis C. wrote:
>
> Oh, there are so many red flags here I hardly know where to
> begin.
>
> “My son who does having learning disabilities and in resource
> room for spelling ,phonics, writing.He is reg. classroom for
> reading”
>
> If he needs phonics instruction and clearly has comprehension
> problems, why on earth is he in regular class for reading? It
> is clearly not appropriate.He probably is NOT on grade level.
>
> “The sp ed teacher he has said the other 3rd graders in her
> class are in the reading book he did last year so reading in
> her room wont help him”
>
> Well, too bad! I guess she can just give him instruction in a
> different book then! She is basically telling you something
> illegal! What “book” is she using? Reading instruction in an
> LD room shouldn’t just consist of a “book”. It is a method
> and many different books can be used to read from. If she is
> not using a multi-sensory structured language program for
> reading, spelling, and written language, then her class is
> not going to be very helpful anyway.
>
> “He is also failing spelling in the resource room this 9
> weeks so far”
>
> The only possible reason that I can think a child could
> “fail” spelling in a resource room is if the child refuses to
> do the work. More than likely, she is not using proper
> materials, or it is not at the appropriate level, or she is
> giving him too many words.
>
> Please find out what programs she is using for reading,
> spelling, and writing. Just write her a note or call and ask
> and then get back with us.
>
> Janis

Okay, Jen, I now see where the problems lie. As a matter of fact, your resource room doesn’t sound very different from ones in the county where I teach, so I really get the picture.

First of all, it is very ineffective to be using the regular reading program with which the kids have already failed to learn to read. Saxon phonics is a good phonics program, and it is used in my child’s school in the regular K-1 classes. My child is having difficulty with all the rules and the fast pace. It’s great for non-LD kids, though. But those Saxon spelling words are awful! My child has trouble with that, too, but again, it is in the regular class. It is not appropriate for the resource room, sicne there are better things for LD kids. Another issue is that it is inappropriate for a child to be given spelling words that he cannot read fluently. So if he can read them, fine. But at the very least the list should be reduced for him. Twenty is obviously too many if he is failing.

“He is in reg. classroom they say because his listen comphrehension is that of a high schooler.In the classroom he listens to the weekly story on CD and I read it to him several times.”

I am assuming you are saying this in answer to my question about why he has reading in the regular classroom. If so, I would have to say…reading is NOT listening comprehension! Your son needs reading instruction!!! It is wonderful for him to have a strength in listening comprehension because it will help him learn from all the verbal instruction in the classroom, but this cannot substitute for learning to read. And listening to the stories on a CD do not teach him the fundamental reading skills he is missing either.

This resource room is basically useless. I don’t know how much success you’d have getting them to entirely chnage the program. You are probably going to have to seek outside tutoring by somone who has training in a multisensory structured language (MSSL) approach to reading, spelling, and written language.

I am going to give you a link to an article from the reading section of the LD Online site. It describes what a MSSL program is. It also gives the names of a few of these programs. Note that there are a few other good ones not on that list like “Language!” (www.language-usa.net) and the “Barton Reading and Spelling System” (www.bartonreading.com).

http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/reading/mssl_methods.html

You can try demanding that one of these programs be used at school, but if not, I’d immediately seek outside testing and then find a reading tutor who specializes in one of the above methods. I would not waste any more time and let him fall further behind.

Janis

I dont know what type of Saxon phonics he is doing but the words are more everyday words and rather easy his sister in first grade in a reg ed class has them too.But she is not doing phonics with Saxon hers is with the reading book.
I have looked around for a tutor but unable to find one to work with his needs of learning sy\tyle.

Well, her teacher is entirely defeating the purpose of the Saxon spelling if she is not using the Saxon spelling words along with Saxon phonics. The Saxon spelling words are specifically selected to go along with the phonics lessons. (Unless I misunderstood you to say the spelling was Saxon).

Janis

no my daughter is not doing saxon only my son.I was saying my daughter in 1st grade has a lot of the same words as my son and they are 1stgrade level words.it is so fustraing for him seeing his sisters in 1st,and 2nd grade reading and spelling way better than him .

I see. I’d just go back to my original advice, then. Try to get one of those MSSL programs for him outside of school if necessary. That is probably what he needs. That resource teacher just doesn’t understand remediation.

Janis

It could well be appropriate for him to be doing both special reading and regular — getting the stories and comprehension from listening is good for keeping the language growing in those areas, and not letting it stagnate back at his reading level.

YOu can use anyof a number of simple word recognition tests. The WRAT, and the Slosson are not great diagnostic tests because all a kiddo does is read down a list — but in his case he won’t have any context clues to use so he will bomb it totally.

However, you might not even have to do this. It seems like these teachers seem to think that he will “compensate” with his brightness, for his inaccuracies. It’s a fairly common myth — that there’s something magical that happens and even though it looks like the kid can’t read, they magically synthesize the thoughts.

Unfortunately it is a myth — as you know from the low grades.

The obvious solution is to get somesbody to read those stories to him. Accuracy is separate from comprehension — if they’re so ^$%^ impressed with his comprehension, let him continue to show it to them. They can get a volunteer or anybody to read the stuff to him in the hall or whatever.

It sounds like in the special class they are beginning to add more that is helping him. You might want to add more yourself, too. But it also sounds like they are trying to work with you, and they may even be educable.

That’s an inappropriate spelling program for him (pretty much by definition — if he can’t do it). Do they by any chance have some Mac computers in the school? There’s a great little program called “Simon Spells” that I bet he’d take to from Don JOhnston.

Just gothoime from talking to his teacher and she dont really know what to do since he comprhends so well when we read to him.We also discussed how he relies on picture a lot too.She thinks he is a little lazy due to fustration with it.I dont know what is really going to happen she even said she hates to see him in the sp. ed class for reading but really dont know what to do the school has not really given her much to work with in the reg. class.His sp. ed teacher I caught in the hall and she said we will try other things with his spelling and she knows the words are getting harder for him.She did mention maybe have him in her reading class with the 4th graders (their in the book he is now)but the school will have to move his special time to be with the 4 th graders and she dont know if they will agree to that or not.I am okay with it since a majority of his friends are in that grade and he could to if I did not hold him out of school one year due to speech problems.

Jen,

Okay, I have another idea. Since getting a tutor may be difficult, I looked up some Orton-Gillingham based computer software tutoring programs for you on the International Dyslexia Association web-site (www.interdys.org). If you want to read about others, you can go to the site and look under technology. But here are two that I think sound good or have been recommended by others. This could really help boost his reading and spelling if you can think up some kind of incentive for him to just work on it!

http://www.lexialearning.com/family/index.htm

http://www.prolexia.com

You might even suggest that the resource teacher keep it and let him work on it in her room instead of the things he is doing now. She might learn some effective techniques and then later purchase that or similar programs to use with her other students!

Janis

Thank you I am going to check these out .His resource room teacher is open to ideas it seems.What I think is that she has not had a student like him that is bright but has this trouble she is rather young and I was told by my sons speech teacher that this is the first time she has had a LD student and she is used to DH.At least she is open to different things for him she said so today to me.He is using the computer right now for spelling since he has reversal problems but she now sees since using the computer he still does not use the vowels correctly and now it is showing .His reg. classroom teacher says he dont know his vocabulary words by sight and she said he should so I dont know what to think about what to do we do flashcards everynight .

There are many phonics based programs that are not O-G based that can also work well. Your child’s teacher does not have to be trained in Orton-Gillingham methods to be a successful teacher. SRA has had a wonderful spelling program that incorporates phonics very well. It is called Spelling Mastery. I have been using it for 20 years and have had great success.

I agree with Sue. Your son might benefit from being in a regular reading class and also receive extra instruction in basic reading skills from the SLD teacher. I try to have a language arts block for SLD students that incorporates reading, spelling, and writing. This does not mean that the students are excluded from all reading, writing, and spelling instruction in the classroom. Research has found that the more some SLD students remain out of the regular classroom, the farther behind they become. It always has to be a careful balance. You want to give all of the instruction you can in the SLD room without having them miss too much and fall farther behind in regular ed.

Also, every child is unique. One phonics program or pull-out instruction model might work for one student but not for another. I think the best thing you can do is to keep the line of communication open with your child’s teachers and try to support them, and your child, as much as you can. Nothing is ever gained when the relationship between a child’s teachers and parents becomes broken.

What does the label DH stand for?

DH stands for developmenatally disabled it has taken place for mildly mentally handicapped.
Yes he does have some reading instruction but not reg. reading in the Resource room and reading in the reg. classroom> I had talks with both teachers yesterday and today and they are going to work more on things with him which he needs.They both said they need to work together more on his work.One dont know what the other is doing in each class.He is the only one in the resource room that is not in there all day .He has other problems too that are showing up in school a little now.He does have fine motor skill problems that the school is finally addressing too.He also has Tourettes and some tics he has right now are interferring with his work as he is getting sick trying to supress them all day because he is afraid of others making fun of his tics.