BrainSkills--good results?

Hi Alina,
If I’m not mistaken, Brainskills is designed to help with cognitive processing. Does your daughter have any specific processing difficulties? From what you’ve mentioned, it seems to me, you might be better off trying to pinpoint where your daughter’s difficulties are. Does she have a phonological problem, difficulty memorizing orthographic patterns, problem visualizing words, slow processing…etc…????

Once you have a better idea of what may be causing her weaknesses, then you’ll have a better way of determining what program might be the best for helping remediate her problems.

For example, if her difficulties are limited to reading, you’d probably be better off getting Phonographix (which you can buy for under $20 from almost any book store or Amazon). It’s a very easy “at home” program that often helps remediate reading difficulties quickly.

There are other programs, but the key is to figure out your child’s weaknesses and then go from there.

BrainSkills is a very good program. I would try to get the training as well as the video, if you can manage it. Usually the training will provide you with some helpful tips. You can do it with just the video, if you have to.

BrainSkills is very similar to physical training in that aspects of it are fun, but it’s a lot of hard work too. Most children will respond well to it. Keep in mind that it commonly takes 30 to 40 hours of training before you start seeing significant gains.

Audiblox is a comparable program, but lacks the auditory training component of BrainSkills. It is much more comparable if you add Reading Reflex to it. Because Audiblox doesn’t use a metronome, I suspect its training effect is somewhat slower than BrainSkills. However, many parents have gotten very good results with Audiblox, and it’s less expensive than BrainSkills. Website is http://www.audiblox2000.com.

Quite a few parents on the Special Needs board at http://www.vegsource.com have experience with Audiblox, so check posts over there. BrainSkills has not been out as long as Audiblox, and is more expensive, so there are fewer families with experience using it.

The only program I know that is better than BrainSkills is PACE.

If BrainSkills is not enough, there is probably some problem on the sensory-motor level of development that needs to be addressed. In that case you should consider getting a developmental vision eval, OT eval, CAPD eval, speech and language eval, etc.

Nancy

Part of the problem with finding a program is lack of testing data. I don’t know exactly what her problems are. The school won’t test her. They say retention is the answer. She’ll do better next year. I think there must be some problem, since her math is OK. We have tried phonographix. She gets the basic code—can read short vowel words, but is still sounding out many of the words when reading a story. She does have trouble remembering patterns of long vowels, diphthongs, and digraphs, though she gets th, wh,sh, ch. We have started to use Earobics. She enjoys the activities, but I’m not sure it is helping—it is too soon to tell. Her reading is slow since she sounds out so many words, and many are incorrect. She wants to do better, does not want to repeat 2nd grade—she will be 9 years old in Sept. Any additional suggestions greatly appreciated.

Hi Alina,
If your daughter is attending a public school in the U.S. and you request testing (in writing is best), the school is required to provide testing. I believe you can also test through the public school system even if you child is in private school, but I’m not familar with how this would be done. My guess is a letter to the local public school district.

I personally feel that getting some testing would probably be your best bet. You need to find out if she still has phonological difficulties or other areas of difficulty. Although, according to your description, I’d almost guess there’s a visual component or possibly even a RAN deficit (which could explain her trouble with remembering orthographic patterns - this is my son!).

In addition to school testing, you could also look for a local PACE providor and see about getting one of their free assessments. I had my son assessed by one and she told me that according to the results he didn’t need PACE. (Although, because my son does have a RAN deficit and poor cognitive fluency I did get Audiblox).

When did you do PG? Does your daughter have any language or motor skills difficulties? How are her comprehension and “visualization” skills?

I have asked, in writing, for testing, but was told that it does not matter if parents request it. Students will be tested only if a preliminary meeting of the child study team suggests it. The team did not feel that testing was indicated. Everyone at the school wants her to repeat 2nd to see if another year will help, or else go on to 3rd and struggle. Maybe when she is in 3rd and not making progress, testing would be available. I am frustrated, and I know she is too.
What is RAN deficit? I have thought about using Audiblox, but do not know if it would help her.

I would REFUSE to have my child held back. Tell the school that’s not an option.

You may need to hire an advocate. I always do for my son’s IEP’s. The school takes them much more seriously. A good friend of mine hired one to help her keep keep her daughter from being retained. The woman I hire is an educational psychologist. She also does testing as well. In addition to the school’s testing, I hired her to do the Woodcock Johnson III which tests RAN (Rapid Automatic Naming) which is sometimes a core deficit in dyslexic children. According to the research I’ve read, RAN can affect orthographic processing.

I haven’t been getting enough sleep these last few days (thanks to insomnia!), so I think my previous post sort of wandered. And I cringe at my spelling and grammatical errors!

Before jumping to any conclusions about a possible diagnosis (processing, phonological, RAN, visual, whatever…), I think your best bet is to get some type of testing. Whether it is through the school or on your own. See if you can get a referral to an educational psychologist or talk to a few, if possible, from the phone book. Our district has monthly meetings with speakers for parents of children in resource (or receiving special ed services). I believe it’s through SELPA (?) and these meetings are a wonderful way to network with other parents and learn about local resources. Call your district and ask for information about anything like this in your area.

Once you outline areas of concern with a professional, they’ll be able to help determine what tests might be most useful.

But with regard to the school district, find out your legal rights. Do you have copies of your original letter sent to the district requesting that your child be tested? If not, send another and keep a copy. You may need to threaten the district with a lawsuit. I have a friend who got very angry and did this (her son is at my son’s school). The school became very compliant and testing was provided.

First, if you are in the USA and go to a public school, the law *requires* the school to test your child after a formal written request. The school can not refuse. Don’t let them pull the wool over your eyes. Many people recommend a site called Wrightslaw (I don’t know it but hear it is comprehensive.)

Second, don’t get caught in the eternal testing trap. Some systems test and test and test as apparently an end in itself — finally after a year of exhaustion and expense, you get a bunch of num,bers and maybe a diagnosis, and the kid is a year further behind with no effective teaching. Yes, good tests can be useful to give you information — but used with a goal in mind, namely getting your child appropriate educationASAP.

Third, PG is a program that many people like, but it is not the be-all and end-all. If PG worked somewhat as you say, but your child is having trouble with the advanced code, that means at least she got the basic code; don’t quit just when things are starting to work. She needs more detail and repetition to learn the advanced code and multisyllables. I work with kids like this all the time, and I have typed up outlines of what I do and how I do it, with very high success rates. I will happily send these outlines to you — just click on my name and email me a request.

Finally, all tutors are not created equal. Unfortunately a lot of reading tutors have been taught the same failing approaches that the schools use, so the tutoring is just more of the same failure. Don’t give up, just find a tutor who knows how to use multisensory techniques and synthetic phonics and to work with real beginning readers.