Reading Programs v Modifications

Here’s my feeling on this. Accommodations and modifications are needed where the disability is severe enough that, even with extra work and/or tutoring, the child will still fail. That is no substitute for remediation, though. Intensive, daily remediation—preferably one-on-one—is needed to improve the child’s weak areas, hopefully till he reaches the point where he can succeed without the accommodations, etc.

Here’s an example. Say a child has severe dyslexia, so severe that he would fail for sure if he had to read any of his assignments or write them down. He can’t begin to spell properly and his handwriting is slow, labored, and illegible, which pretty much kills his chances of turning in decent-looking papers or passing a written test. He will need books on tape (an accommodation), a scribe (another one), and maybe a computer at some point when he’s learned to type. If notetaking is required, he’ll need someone else to take the notes for him. He will need to have the number of, say, spelling words or math problems reduced (a modification, if my understanding of the term is correct), since it takes him so much longer to go over them than it does his classmates.

Until he can read and write, he will *have* to have those accommodations and modifications or face certain failure. All the while he’s receiving them, though, he needs to receive daily remediation in reading, spelling, and handwriting, from an expert trained in giving such remediation to students like him. He’ll probably need a program like Orton-Gillingham, or something similar, to succeed in learning to read and write. Gradually, through his own hard work and the determined, skilled effort of his tutor and/or resource teacher, his reading and writing skills will improve to the point where he can begin to use them for his written work, though he’ll still need special help to use them successfully for possibly a long time to come, and he may need to have his homework load reduced since, even with his new skills, it’ll still take him 3 times as long to read a chapter or write an essay as it does his classmates.

So, if the school isn’t using proven methods to remediate his deficits, then the school is failing to do its job. Such a school should be held accountable for its failure to at least try to help him learn to succeed. If that requires pull-out, then pull-out should be used.

Well, that’s my take on the issue.

Yours truly,
Kathy G.

Chris wrote:
>
>
> Hello,
>
> I need your help. For several years I have been observing
> students in inclusive classrooms. Many of these “mildly
> handicapped” students are successful because of the multitude
> of modifications being made for them. If a student has a
> disability that is severe enough for labeling (ie. reading
> disability that brings the label, learning disabled), why are
> validated programs that would specifically address these
> disabilities such as the Wilson Language Program, Lindamood
> Bell, or University of Kansas Learning Strategies not being
> used ? I know that these programs would require “pull-out,”
> but what is the main purpose of our educational system—to
> modify so that no challenge is present or to teach using
> PROVEN methods for success? Parents, educators,
> students…what are your feelings on this? I am also very
> interested in whether educators are prepared to teach these
> programs in their undergraduate/graduate special education
> classes or whether they are just exposed to descriptions of
> the programs? Any comments will be helpful.
>
> Thanks!

In general, teachers are not taught with these programs and are often taught about these programs with the “well, we have to tell you about these programs because the nutzoid fringe group that uses them will give us trouble if we don’t. We know reading is fun and natural, and makes you feel good.”

I gues I should consider myself lucky that our school district does use Wilson Reading for those students who need it?? What is very interesting is that those students who are in it in 4th grade have a spelling list that is more difficult than the spelling list the rest of the class has. Has anyone noticed this in other grades as well?? Sorry, just a little off track.

Not only are those programs costly for the district, a district will likely not invest in them unless you can show that a large enought portion of the mildily disabled would benefit from it. Plus, the district would then have to pay for the teachers, or para’s to be trained in how to teach the program. Not likely for it to happen, huh? Better to stick with reading strategy programs. Get the book Teaching Students with Learning Problems by Mercer and Mercer. It has a wealth of teaching strategies in it for reading, math, and writing- grades k-8.

I never heard about any of the specialized reading programs, including the ones you mentioned, until I had been teaching for several years. My university, in undergrad and grad programs, didn’t tell us about any specific remediation programs ~ I spent my first 3-4 years teaching finding out about them for myself. They are very expensive ~ to be trained in any of the Lindamood programs can cost between $300-$500, and that’s not including supplies and materials. Often they are only given in specific places around the country. Many districts won’t pay for this initial cost unless they are large enough to have enough kids who would make the cost of the training worthwhile.

It’s true that many of these programs are expensive and require training but much of this can be learned on one’s own. Get a copy of “Remedial Training” by Gillingham and Stillman and read through it. It’s an old book but still available. You can request it through a library exchange.
The “Winning” program from Sing, Spell, Read and Write might be a little pricey but doesn’t require training. Also check out Sue Jones’ website at for lots of good ideas.

Other programs are so simple and inexpensive that they can be implemented without training. Grace at

No one program works for every child and few schools can have people trained in multiple programs.

Too often the philosophy is - have them keep up without ever really catching up. School isn’t good at stop everything and focus. School is more of a process than an outcome and it keeps rolling along. Allowing kids to roll along with it with modifications rather than providing multiple reading interventions fit the culture of school.

If it were my world to run, I’d stop everything and focus on a child’s reading but school doesn’t work that way. It keeps rolling along and excepts the child to as well.

My feelings on this are that’s it might be a cheaper way to do things but it’s not a better way.

Chris, you are looking at a major issue in what to do in Special education classes, the battle of remediation or just accommodating to keep up. I work at the elementary level, in resource. First, I think you need to know the student really well, through experiences and good assessment. Determine the needs, for some, slight accommodations may be enough, for others, you have to remediate. In my district, many of us have been trained in the LindaMood Bell programs, we are in our 3rd year of offering many of the componets. Many of us use LIPS, Reading Naturally (fluency & comp program), SRA Corrective reading, Excell Math, Touch math, Wilson (middle schools mostly), there are many good ones out there, depends on the student and what they need. The district didn’t train on all these, just the LindaMood, the others you can go to conferences or sometimes County Offices of Education offer them, or you can tag onto other districts’ trainings. One thought I have had over the years, I have worked at the high school level also, is this: some students have disabilities severe enough that despite a lot of different types of remediation, still don’t read or write, I think they need good accommodations to give them access and opportunity to gain from their educational experience. I think sometimes we get stuck in a tutoring situation rather than remediate, I try to remediate all my students at the elementary level, as they move up in grades, remediation happens less and less. Good luck on sorting this one out.