I have gone ahead and gotten Barton (books 1&2), and had some reactions for anyone considering that route. The up front cost is high but includes training. Getting certified is pretty easy, after books 1-3; 4-7;8-10 you can go there (there being CA) and it takes a day where you “tutor” Susan Barton, who will initially make no mistakes and then start making errors. The testing is $149 for each section. So if you are thinking of certification it is pretty good price wise. She says she gets numerous referral calls. If you are certified she will refer you clients.
She has a pretest for who will likely be successful in OG. Other people she refers to LMB and/or for dealing with attention issues. I did think the test was hard. My student passed without much difficulty. She also has a tutor screening.
The first book is Phonemic Awareness which is more than the average OG program— many kind of combine the phonemic awareness with the introduction of the letters.
The introduction of vowels uses LOTS of visualization and she uses many mnemonic devices to remember spelling rules and other stuff. For example there is the “milk truck rule” to remember when a “k” or “ck” ends a word. To compare to Wilsons , say, Wilson describes bonus letters “s”, “f”, “l” but there is no anchor for those words, the kid remembers there *are* bonus letters but what are they?
The hand gestures are interesting. They keep you from needing to talk so much. I think then the kid can concentrate more.
There is also a whole part of the program on fluency. It is very neatly done and includes a description of grammar (parts of sentences at least). IMO, very well done.
Some people say they would not want to watch tapes, but her tapes are VERY professionally done and interesting. I have seen many other educational training tapes and these are far and away the best. I watched them in one sitting (about 4-5 hours).
—des
Barton Reading and Spelling is EXCELLENT
I started teaching elm Rescource Room last Aug. My masters program didn’t teach me to teach anything. Yikes! I had 2 3rd grade primer readers - innacurate, choppy, completely bumbling.
I saw Susan Barton present at the CA Reading Conference and gathered the $ to buy level 1 - seperating sounds by color! The students were blown away, they couldn’t bumble! After that level 2 and they still loved it. It is highly interactive and they also loved the social interaction.
then I got 2 2nd grade non-readers. Didn’t even know the sounds well. Started up with them.
You can buy the next kit when your close to finishing, that way it spreads out the costs. The tapes are excellent. The rules are funny and the kids remember them. This year, all the kids are in level 3, almost level 4 and are holding their own in class. They are truly LD, maybe even dyslexic, so they aren’t surpassing the class, jumping grade levels, and still need the IEP and extra support.
I reccomend it to Everyone with a struggling reader!!!!
Re: Reactions to Barton Reading and Spelling
I just started book 4 in the Barton system, and I gotta say, this gets pretty advanced. Though my understanding is that this book takes months to go thru (and judging that we are only on lesson 2 after a few days and not even done with it, I’d say it’s true). So I think the cost thing is HIGHLY misleading. I can’t imagine that her mom is going to want me to continue after she has gone thru book 5, unless her fluency is just not good enough. (And then we’d go to something else anyway.) I really can’t gauge the reading level but it is easily over 6th imo. I’d be interested in what Kelly (?) thinks, as she also has just gotten into book 4.
BTW, the fluency exercises in the book are really excellent. My student is now reading at her level with great fluency and even feeling.
—des
She is top notch, sincere, compassionate, honest and she is a great presenter. I knew her before she got her program off the ground and saw it in it’s protype stages. You really can’t go wrong with her stuff.