Our OSPI is saying these programs are good comprehensive reading programs. Any comments?
Re: Reach,Kaleidoscope, Highpoint, Fast Track good programs?
There’s another Kaleidoscope, thankfully:
“Kaleidoscope, an Open Court Intervention Program, aids students whose reading level is two or more grades below their chronological grade level. Kaleidoscope condenses the essence of Open Court Reading in order to intensify the instruction, making it possible to deliver two years of instruction in one year.”
“The Reach System consists of three highly effective, research-based, and research-validated programs integrated into a comprehensive solution for accelerating learning.
The core programs are:
Corrective Reading
Reasoning and Writing
Spelling Through Morphographs”
Both of these are available from SRA: http://www.sra4kids.com/
Kaleidoscope is listed under intervention and Reach is under direct instruction. My opinion is that I’d choose Reach for older elementary LD kids.
Janis
Well I couldn’t find REACH.
Kaleidoscope is part of Reading Milestones. Reading milestones is a sight word based program designed originally for deaf kids but now used with ld kids who are not making progress with phonics. If they aren’t they need systematic explicit phonics (ie an Orton Gillingham approach) not sight words. If they are in this program there is no way to tell if there phonics skills are good enough to read for comprehension. If they aren’t then you should work intensively with that first.
Fast track and the other you mention, I couldn’t get enough info in a short time to make heads or tails of. Both of them appear to be part of the CA programs for working with kids 3-4 years below reading level.
What we use around here is Reading Recovery. Not sure if they are comparable. Fast Track says they will get “quick results”. This makes me suspect already.
If they are that far below level, they need really intensive reading programs such as Orton Gillingham based programs, which I doubt your district will provide. You’ll either have to find a tutor or do it yourself thru one of the more user friendly ones depending on level and age.
Please tell more about yourself and situation.
—des