Win yourself a copy of “The Right 2 Read” (Audiblox)

My son has a language processing probelm I just started Reading Reflex and we both like it.

Is Adiblox for auditory problems and could I do it with him or do I have to be a teacher?

Audiblox has a home version that can be done by a parent. It’s a cognitive skills training program. Basically you need to spend about 1/2-hour per day one-on-one with your child doing the exercises. The program starts with the visual exercises. I believe the auditory ones are added in later.

You need the video, book, and starter kit of manipulatives (easier to buy than to assemble yourself) — which adds up to about $80. You can order from the website at http://www.audiblox2000.com

I do not recommend paying any extra money for the Audiblox reading materials (I think they are sold separately). Just get the book, video, and starter kit, which makes an excellent complementary program to use along with Reading Reflex.

Mary

I have to disagree with Mary, you should pay the few extra dollars for the Audiblox reading materials. The program works only if you do the whole program. I have had such great success with Audiblox and my son is considered very servere LD as a matter of fact, it is the only program that has helped him, and we have tried most of them. If you pick and choose only parts of the Audiblox program, you will not make the significant gains that are possible with Audiblox.

Please email the people at Audiblox and they will explain why it is necessary to also do the reading materials portion of the program. I have been doing Audiblox for 22 weeks now and I just received my son’s report card. It was AMAZING how much he has improved. Don’t leave important parts out because then you are not truly doing Audiblox and you won’t find success with it.
Wendy

I was under the impression that it lacks a decoding component. All I am aware of is the work on speed recognition of sight words, in conjunction with some reading texts. Although important for developing reading fluency, this would not constitute an entire reading program. Is there more to the Audiblox program than that (my set is old, and the book did not come with it)? If so, what is the Audiblox approach to developing decoding skills?

Mary

I agree with you that Audiblox does not deal directly with decoding skills and maybe doing Reading Reflex in conjunction with Audiblox would be a good plan. Although I say in conjunction with, not by deleting portions of the Audiblox program. I wish I knew all the reasons why the reading portion were important, but I don’t.. But with the success I’ve had with Audiblox, I wouldn’t delete anything without first consulting Susan du Plessis (co-author of Right to Read), she has been more than helpful to me as I work through the program with my ds. I also highly recommend the book The Right to Read which explains the theory behind the program.
Wendy

The main objective of the Reading Exercise in the Audiblox Program is not so much to teach reading, but rather to teach a proper technique of reading. Once the learner has mastered this technique, one can follow it up with phonics instruction (but not before he has completed Level 3 of the program).

One of the ingredients in this reading technique is to widen the learner’s recognition span (also called eye-span). When a person reads, his eyes engage in a series of quick movements across the page with intermittent fixation pauses. The more often the eyes have to pause for fixations, the slower the reading speed will be. The wider the recognition span, the less often the eyes have to fixate and the faster the learner will be able to read.

A learner, who is taught to read according to phonics instruction from the very beginning, is taught the exact opposite. He is taught to break up every word into small units, thereby narrowing his recognition span. This hampers his reading fluency, which in its turn hampers his comprehension. By first teaching a proper reading technique, the learner will not tend to break up every word if followed by phonics instruction. Of course, one can unlearn this tendency, although unlearning is always a bit more difficult than learning.

To properly master this reading technique, it is important to display the word cards to the learner at the speed demonstrated on the Audiblox 2000 video. It is also important not to add new word cards if the learner is hesitant about any of the old word cards.

Decoding skills, by the way, are addressed by nearly all the Audiblox exercises, and also when the Reading Exercise is done correctly.

Good luck, Wendy.