please help me to help my 12 yr old illiterate nephew

Kids like this CAN be taught, he certainly SHOULD be taught, and there are no overnight miracles.
It’s not as easy as just buying the right computer game; if it were there wouldn’t be a reading problem in the country.

Whoever works with him is going to have to sit down and *work*. And it’s going to have to be done steadily, regularly, for a fairly long period of time — hey, he’s missed six years of full-time school learning, and he isn’t going to make that up in a few weekends.

There are several reading programs you can buy to work with him. Some are cheap and some are very expensive. The cheaper programs you mostly do yourself, while the very expensive ones involve taking him to a special center for intensive teaching. Price doesn’t always relate to quality, more to the amount of help and time you pay for.
There are in fact some programs on computer CD, BUT someone will have to help him and supervise and teach the things that can’t be put on a CD.

If you are ready to put in some long-term dedicated effort to helping this kid — and he really needs someone to do it — please feel free to ask me for my how-to-tutor notes at [email protected]

I realize the dedication needed for this project. My daughter has also agreed to help. I would like to start this project in October. Can you make some suggestions for computer programs to help tutor him in reading? I do plan on sitting at the computer with him to give him assistance . He lives nearby and I plan to have him come over 2 or 3 times a week. Thank You.

I don’t think Victoria was doubting your sincerity in teaching him, but that there are no quick fixes ala computer. This will involve work for the *child*.

There is a program called Lexia. I don’t know that it is a total program, in that it also will require the follow up and moderation of an adult who is familar with teaching reading. I don’t think it will be ANYTHING like a video game for him.

I don’t know why the school is not working with him on this, but he should be taught using a multisensory sequential phonetics approach, for example Orton Gillingham (OG) or OG based. There is nothign magical about this and it will take lots of work, a lot of it on his part. You will probably have to hire a tutor for this. I would not recommend a center
like Sylvan, as they are usually not setup for ld kids.

—des

I really appreciate the replies form victoria and des. Thank you very much. My e-mail is not working properly right now , so i cannot reply.
I just wanted you to know that although I am not a reading teacher, I have tutored adults in math for their GED exams. My son has talked to his teachers and they indicate that they are having serious behavior problems with him. So they are concentrating more on social skills than on academics. I do not want to see him grow up to be unemployable or in jail. I am his favorite person, so I think maybe I can make a difference. I think that I will speak to his teachers and maybe get some suggestions from them. I played a video game with him called “Kingdom Hearts” and although he could not read, he can build very complicated airships on this game. I was very impressed. Thanks again.

jodysue — I doubt that his teachers will have any very effective reading recommendations — consider their track record over the last seven years. They probably do not know any *effective* reading programs, and they have probably been indoctrinated with the theory that some kids just won’t learn, so they have written him off as a learner and are just going to work on his behaviour to make him a better inmate.

My offer of how-to-tutor notes still holds, and I think you could really do a good job, especially since you say you have some experience with GED.

If you don’t have email, you can go to your library or an internet cafe and sign up for a free hotmail account for temporary use.
Or, I can repost the whole batch here (I tend not to want to post the same things too often, but what the heck, it’s been a year at least.)
email me at [email protected] or post here asking me to repost, and I’ll get back to you.

Here is a post I posted to someone else on another board. Try going to Walmart and get one of those exercise balls for about 11 us dollars. Then try getting these books. This might really help and will be fairly easy to use since you just have him read the books.

Check out these books to help either brand new readers OR
those who are strugglers.

Kids are just not taught to look at words and by look at
words; I mean REALLY look at the
whole word. Look at any leveled reader or even a decodable.
None of them have the
words so carefully manipulated as they are in the I SEE SAM
Books.

Poor readers often have guessing strategies because they are
not analyzing the whole word, they often just look at the
first letter and guess.

The I See Sam books the words /sheet/shut/Sis/
see/sits/sat/sit/shell/sell/ on just a few pages. The kids
must get into the word and forces the kids to decode.

The I See Sam books may just seem like most decodables but
it is different. I have the BOB books, and many other
decodables. These book are the best I’ve found.

A teacher at my school last year took a look and thought,
these books were nothing special.
Just looking at I See Sam does NOTHING for
most teachers. But the quotation marks, the vowel digraphs,
the “overlap”
sounds, and capital letters and the best part of all the
stories that involve plot, characters,
and problem solving. What explicit program does anyone know
that includes
comprehension while learning code?

Now I SEE SAM also might look boring but all this hidden
stuff, so powerful. Too bad it is so hard to
explain the hidden stuff. You have to use the program and
that can take weeks and weeks
to see the benefits.

So, you might try this program with you low kids. You
basically go tot the RALP home page. Download the tests.
Plug them into the right level.

If you do try these book, consider joining the yahoo
listserve called Beginning-Reading-Instruction. There are a
ton of posts and great charts in the files section. This
program is very good. I have been trained in LIPS, Phono-
graphix, and I’d say, this would be a great vehicle to get
results for a general ed teacher to use without any training.

In fact, I will be using these books with a new PG spinoff
called ABeDeDarian in my LD resource class. I think these
books would be a great resouce with any program…..phonics
based or whole language. It is cheap, easy, and can be done
in one year if done for only 15 minutes a day.

Michelle AZ

. One place in IOWA for Set 1 and Set 2 at 1-
800-255-0405 and ask for the SWRL pronounced SWIRL books.
Then there is another source for sets 3-8 that are 30
dollars per set.
Both set 1 and 2 are only $15 from Iowa.
Here is the website for RALP where you can order all the
sets at 30 bucks a set if you want to keep it simple.:
http://www.usu.edu/teach/LittleBooks.htm

If you do end up using the books do join the free listserve at yahoo. Go to yahoo group, find the one named Beginning-Reading-Instruction. Read the posts. There are stories of kids age 13 and non readers using these books and becoming decoders. Use these books with another program if needed.

Another good resource is a book called “Never Too Late To Read” by Ann(e?) Tuley. It outlines an Orton-Gillingham approach to use wiht teens or adults who have still not managed to learn to read.
I would want to know just how poorly he reads and what holds him back.
I’d also want to know what else is going on as far as the major behavior problems, etc.; how does *he* feel about learning to read? (One of my secrets to success in motivating my middle school self-contained LD students was the idea that I devoutly shared their fervent desire that they be OUT of special ed… but it really does take a complex set of academic and social skills to make it “out there” if you’ve been in the STandards-Free-Zone for a while.)
What does he think about his future — or is he afraid to?

http://www.funnix.com/

This is designed for the parent/teacher to sit WITH the child at the computer to operate the mouse and control the pace of the lessons. Two levels, not “graded” to look like a “1st grade” program. The beginning program is basically 1st grade; the 2nd level is slightly into 3rd grade. This will give him a good foundation. Search the website and all the links. It’s probably the best thing for your nephew.

If games is what he likes, I would recommend a game called Deal A word. It is a word card game with reading as its emphasis. He might enjoy the card game format just like my girls do. It is certainly worth looking into at www.dealaword.com.

Sheila

Games and computer games and simple books are all good things and can be *part* of a worthwhile reading program. But after seven years of failure, you need to pull out all the stops and get something organized and planned going — the games etc. being part of the plan, but not all of it.
If an easy fast “magic bullet” existed to cure this problem, the school would have already given him that and we wouldn’t be here.

You need a step-by-step progression from simple to complex, with planned spiralling or review, direct teaching, skill development, language and auditory training, and all sorts of other things.
There is no one-and-only-one program — many different programs include all of the necessary elements. Unfortunately thousands of programs promise overnight miracles and don’t deliver, so you have to know what is needed and choose carefully.
I’m happy to share my how-to-tutor notes which outline programs that I’ve had success with as well as others that various people here use. Just email a request to [email protected]

Duly note that *every single post* from Momma Dealaword is an ad for dealaword, deceptively couched in assorted ways. Yea, sure, I believe the profile about be9ing a mom who has “just happened” to find out about it at conferences. Oh, but it’s okay as long as we’re selling something that’s GOOD, right?

I can totally relate to your trying to teach your grandson to read. Victoria has given you some excellent advice. You need to start with the simple and move toward the complex.

Just this evening I met with the mother of a twelve year old sixth grader who is reading at the first grade level. She handed me his LONG case history and I brought it home to read and he’s been labeled with just about every label there is. While I was there I gave him a simple spelling test. Some things I discovered were severe handwriting difficulties due to never having been taught correct letter formation, reversals of some letters, jusing ‘g’ for the \j\ sound, attempting to use ‘th’ for the \v\ sound, not knowing that ‘ck’ is needed after short vowels, and the list goes on. The first thing both of us need to do is to discover exactly what our 12 year old knows and does not know and work from there. This youngster has a very positive attitude and I’ve told him that we are going to start at the beginning, learning to print properly and move into spelling. For that I’m going to use sequential spelling lessons (http://www.spellangtree.org). Yes, I know, I’m talking about my own program here but it works for me. Because I have them available, I’m going to use the old Sullivan Programmed Storybooks.

With this child, the bottleneck effect is very evident. He is a bit of a slow processer so we need to automate the very basic concepts in order to get them fluid enough to flow through the neck of the bottle so he can begin to think about other concepts. At this point he still labors over letter forms. I may need to show him how some sounds are formed with mouth and lip positions (i.e. \th\ vs. \v\) since when I asked him to write ‘vat’, he first printed ‘that’. Watching for these specific errors is important because they tell us exactly where the child is having processing problems for which we need to find solutions.

Certainly make the attempt to help your grandson but I think you’ll need more than computer games. You’ll need to educate yourself on some of the basics. An excellent book to help with sound production (my bible through my many years of teaching first grade) is “Talking Time” by Louise Binder Scott. It’s from the 1960s but still available on occasion in the used book section at amazon.com.

I just would like to thank eveyone who has replied to my problem. I have been busy planning a 50th annniversary party for my parents. Once the party is over (Oct 3), I am going to dedicate my efforts towards teaching my nephew to read. I know I can do it . And I am confident that he can do it also. I know it is going to be a long process.
I asked my nephew if he would like to come over to my house a few nights a week to learn to read. His reply was “Sure” ( with some doubt in his voice).
I would like to post my progress on this site. I would also appreciate more advice as I proceed. I am determined to succeed in this project.
Thanks again to everyone.

Jodysue, I can only offer you encouragement. I’ve met with my 12 year old student about five times now and, although we had to start at the very beginning with basic letter formation, he seems to be retaining what I’ve taught him. For example, today we worked with using ‘ck’ and doubling the f, l, s, z after short vowels. It takes about two reminders and he’s off and running with new concepts. His handwriting has improved 200 percent in just one week. We’re spelling 24 words each day and reading a decodable story each day plus rereading at least one previous story. I won’t see him now for 2 weeks but I loaded him up with review stories, multi-sensory handwriting materials, a high frequency word chart, and a simple little blending game. I hope all goes as well with you. Grace

I have just posted

Beginning the alphabet and reading — long long how-to

here on the Teaching Reading page,

This is a detailed step-by-step teaching guide to getting a grip on helping the problem of the student who doesn’t know the alphabet.