advice from seasoned tutors

I have found the Phono-Graphix assessments to be very accurate and that is all I use for reading assessment as a private tutor. It gives me a very good idea of the starting point for the student and, as I work with the student, I make modifications as I see the need.

While I am assessing the student, I give the parent a form to fill out that includes questions about history, other problems besides reading, vision, etc.

Before the appointment, I also ask the parent to bring copies of any prior testing for me to look over. This helps me orient myself to the student. One thing I am on the lookout for is testing that shows slow rapid naming. This is an indicator for a much greater need for fluency practice. Also, it alerts me to watch for developmental vision delays and possibly advise the parents to get a developmental vision eval.

The major reason I see for adding in additional testing of reading would be to prove that change has taken place. Schools need to do this in order to prove their teaching strategies are effective. As a private tutor, I rely on my students making rapid, visible progress in reading as my proof. The exception would be a student with multiple severe problems, as then testing might be needed to see if even minimal progress is being made in specific areas.

You might want to join the ReadNOW email list at http://groups.yahoo.com and ask what other reading tutors use for assessment. I think a lot depends on whether or not the tutor works for a school.

Nancy

Hi!
I work full time as a tutor and have all sorts of information for you.

First, if you haven’t asked me already, please email me and ask for my outlines. I promise to email them very soon, if I’m lucky this weekend.

[email protected]

Second, feel free to email me with specific questions.

I am very tired now and can’t give you a long reply, but will come back and post more later.

Thank you both for your replies.
I have joined the suggested forum and will wait for my reply. I thought that the Phono-Grapix was a good indicator of a students level, just wondering if I might need any thing additional. I will get background from teachers and family, (i think that will really help).
Victoria, I emailed my request for your outlines. I am so looking forward to you sharing your knowledge as I have benefitted so much from you since I joined this forum.
Any ‘must have’ books to get me started, or books that I should always have available?
As I mentioned when I start this I will be Phono-Grapix certified and LMB trained with summer experience at their MA center.
I have thought about trying to get an OG type training as well, what do people think?
I figure I should have as many trainings as possible and remain flexible,so that the stundents’ needs are met accoprdingly.
I am very excited about this endeavor, but am also getting a little nervous.

Just a quick question: where in Mass. is a LMB center, and where did you get the Phono-graphix training? I would love both, but they’re hard to find in CT.

Thanks!

[quote]Just a quick question: where in Mass. is a LMB center, and where did you get the Phono-graphix training? I would love both, but they’re hard to find in CT.

Thanks![/quote]
Jenn,
the centers in MA are South Shore and Arlington. However, there is an LMB center in Darien, CT, and I think they may still be hiring for the summer.
For Phono-Graphix check the READ AMERICA site and you should be able to find a site near you, but they only do trainings 1 or 2 x’s a year, I think.

For some students, Phono-Graphix *isn’t* enough - sometimes it isn’t multisensory enough for the student wiht a serious processing problem, and sometimes there just isn’t enough structure and repetition for them to make the “reflex” leap to reading in context, so they need things like decodable readers for practice.
It gets a little dicey there, because depending on your training you may be told that the one thing you should not do is “taint” the program wiht other materials. (The folks I know who use the program most effectively do so. Other folks I k now got a refund and got out of the training because they couldn’t guarantee that they wouldn’t - either inadvertently or intentionally.) The general response from the authors is that it’s *because* you tainted the program that it’s not working (if it’s not working YOU DID SOMETHIGN WRONG) - but I think differently.

I work as a private tutor and, like you, am trained in both PGX and LMB. The PGX assessment is a fine, quick assessment of the skills necessary for effective decoding, but doesn’t touch reading comprehension at all.

As reading comprehension can be a huge issues for many of my students, I also administer the GORT (Gray Oral Reading Test) to my students at our first meeting. The GORT assesses reading fluency, accuracy, and comprehension. It’s a bit more difficult to get a hold of….I think I had to send in a copy of my teaching certificate and coursework that showed I had been trained in proper test administration. If I see comprehension problems that I can’t attribute to poor decoding, I work extensively using LMB’s V&V. Once we get to the sentence x sentence level of V&V, I assign homework. I rely primarily on the SRA Specific Skills Series for homework, a series that is also heavily utilized in our local LMB clinic for comprehension. I also use the LMB workbooks, but my students quickly get frustrated with the format and don’t put in as much effort unsupervised, so I’m more likely to use those workbooks during tutoring sessions.

Because of my training, I probably would irritate both LMB and PGX with the way I teach decoding. I generally try to start with more of a PGX approach, because it’s relatively quick, but modify my approach based upon students needs. PGX just isn’t intensive enough for students with real deficits in phonemic awareness and other critical decoding skills, so I’ll incorporate LiPS if I see the need. I also prefer the ABeCeDarian workbooks to the PGX workbooks for decoding practice, so I think I annoy just about everyone! However, my students consistently make solid, measurable, and visible progress.

I hope this is helpful. Best of luck to you!

Wow, this is great feedback, I knew I could count on you . Keep it coming.
By the way, I just thought I’d mention that we are almost done with week one of the training at LMB and I am so glad I decided to do my training this way, instead of paying for the trainings because it is so much more in-depth, and I will have the entire summer of practice with some level of supervision and guidance.
Karyn,
I can relate to what your saying, a few things we went over in training this week were the exact opposite of PGX and because we are doing seeing Stars this is where the differences really show up. Over all, though I think that I will be able to gage what different children need (i.e. more seeing stars influence or more PGX),. What makes LMB special as some one said, is the comprehension aspect, also, I am really excited to learn LiPS, I find myseld using my own version often, mainly because I teach beginning Arabic, and Proper Arabic has very specific rules to pronunciation, when you learn it you are learning similar ideas that Lips teaches.
Ofcourse I will strictly follow LMB methods while working for them, and I think this will really help me master the method .
No time to edit this so please excuse errors.
MY KIDS ARE RAIDING THE FRIDGE AND MAKING A MESS. GOTTA GO!