FastForWord vs. Wilson

I would wait for the independent eval.; there may be something else standing in the way of your brother achieving success with Wilson for reading. Make sure he has a WISC III, Gray Oral Reading Test, and tests of vision and hearing; ask ahead of time what tests will be done and why that test(s) was chosen to make the most of your brother’s time.

I know he had a WISC done about a year and a half ago, so I don’t know if that test will be redone!! I will ask about the other tests.

The Doctor doing the independent eval is supposed to be really good, so hopefully I get some new information from her.

Anything is better than what the school provided!!

Thanks
K.

Bring the WISC III test report and scores to the evaluator; achievement testing needs to be looked at in the context of IQ…for example, if you were a student with mental retardation( with an IQ below 70) reading at an early elementary level and very slow progress academically would be expected.

His IQ score was low but not near the 70’s.

It was explained to us that his lack of process was due to an extremely low processing speed. Off the top of my head I don’t remember his standard score on the Woodcock Johnson for processing speed but his percentile rank was 2%.

We get a lot of numbers but no real solutions on how to help. I know there has to be programs available, FastForWord, Audioblox, Earobics, etc, that help with processing speed and auditory skills.

I want to make sure that the school provides compensetory services to him since it is now completely obvious that they did not get him the education he needed.

Thank
K.

The software programs you mentioned do not have any reliable data that demonstrates or prove that they get the results they want consumers to think they will get.

Any Orton Gillingham program is a good one, steady consistent instruction is important. Good luck.

If you haven’t yet done so, you may want to do some reading on the NeuroNet website (http://www.neuroacoustics.com). Auditory processing disorders often disrupt vestibular development, which in turn results in slow processing and difficulty learning.

Has he had a CAPD eval? This is usually covered by medical insurance. That would be helpful in determining if FFW is likely to be effective. FFW can make a dramatic difference for kids who have the auditory decoding subtype of CAPD. A good website with information about CAPD, including a search engine to locate CAPD audiologists (regular audiologists don’t have the necessary training) is http://pages.cthome.net/cbristol/

Unfortunately, CAPD by itself does not qualify a child for services from the school district. In other words, even if he has CAPD, it may not help you get more out of the school for him.

Have you looked at Phono-Graphix? You could do that with him yourself, using the book “Reading Reflex” ($16 at most bookstores, although I recommend getting the company’s $39 support manual to use when working through advanced code). This approach often works wonders, and in my opinion is well worth the effort to try. You should see significant gains within 8 hours or so of one-on-one work if the approach is working. If you can afford it, a certified Phono-Graphix tutor would be even better. Website for Phono-Graphix is http://www.readamerica.net.

Mary

If your brother has been receiving Wilson for three years and yet only reads at a third grade level, I’d gently suggest Wilson isn’t working for him.

I’d have your brother read books - even at third grade level- on his own every day. He should spend 20 - 30 minutes a day trying to read at a level he’s comfortable reading at. Finding books of interest at that level can be a challenge but biographies of interesting people can be a good place to start and are readily available at any library.

He’s lucky to have a sister like you.

I am doing the reading reflex book with my 6 yr old son now. I am trying to get my brother to do it but he says he is not interested. He has been diagnosed by an audiologist with CAPD.

He works with my family all summer long at their catering business and feels that is more important. I can’t blame him for wanting to forget about school becuase it has been so terrible for him. It is hard to motivate him based on that and the fact that he is now a teenager!!

It is very hard!

Thanks
K.

Thank you!! He is like my first baby and it is so hard to watch him suffer. I am so angry with what the school has done to him, I only wish I had found out about all this earlier. Maybe I could have done more.

We try to get him to read anything, my Mom buys him comic books, which may seem silly, but he reads them and can follow the stories. I also try to get him to read to my son, it is slow and laboring for him, but my son doesn’t notice and he loves having his Uncle read to him.

K.

I would try the LindaMood Bell program. My child going in 8th grade and is having great success with it. Went from 3.2 grade level to 5.8 grade level in 5 month. Direct, 1:1, intensive (every day 2 or more hrs) is the key. If your brother is working in a group with other kids, he is not getting the 1:1 direct instruction he needs at his age to catch him up. You can’t wait another year or more. Call a LindaMood Bell center and ask for their video. If you don’t have one near you, there might be other reading or speech and language places that teach the LMB method near you. Just like a lot of places have Fast4word, many professionals use LMB.

If he has been having Wilsons for the past three years and is only reading at a third grade level, Wilsons is not working for him fast enough. I would recommend that you buy Reading Reflex and start teaching him. As you said, he also works, you will have to decide what his priorities are. Fastforword is not a reading program although I have heard that they have a program out that is called by a different name that is a reading program. Since time is a problem, give PG a chance.

That is the hardest part, getting him to actually do the reading. I have reading reflex that I am using with my son. He, my brother, let me give him most of the assessments, I played it as a just for fun type of thing. He really didn’t do that well, which is not surprise!

I told him that I would love for him to do the reading book with us, it would be so helpful for my son to see his Uncle, whom he thinks is some kind of super hero, doing the book also!!

I don’t know I guess I will try again!! Any suggestions??

Thanks
K.

Hi Joanne,

Could you elaborate on Wilson in particular as not having any reliable data? Where could I find something that proves this. Our school says they use Wilson, Jordan, Cloze Reading Techinques, Alphabetic Phonics and supposedly Orton (but no one knows who the trained teacher is in our district). So, basically they use Wilson and Jordan as their biggies; yet I am sure that they are not used as they were designed to be used.

I want to pursue getting to the bottom of this Orton they claim to have and want to be able to prove that the Wilson and Jordan are NOT WORKING. His tests scores and progress scores prove this, but the school argues with me every time I try to use these scores.

Anyway, I’m rambling. Any resources you could point me toward on Wilson and/or Jordan would be much appreciated.