Great Leaps & Reading Fluency

However, I have two students for whom it has not made any difference at all. No reflection on the program, these two children seem to be severely learning disabled in a manner that effects reading speed and fluency. The key may be selecting those students for whom the program will work.

Has there been progress with some other program or method?

In the midst of an incredible reading crisis in our country, I devised a plan (from my research and training) to help the children of North Marion Middle School. I was a teacher, the son of a teacher and never aspired to wealth nor prominence - my religious background teaches me that wealth is grease to hell. My program worked so well, I was encouraged to sell it. I didn’t. I published it myself at home. It was not designed for everyone - not at all - it was designed for the children in my world who could not read - it was not designed for specialists to make a fortune from - it was designed so parents, volunteers, even DEATH ROW INMATES could teach someone to read. That is all. In this world of everything and everybody please know that I have always considered Great Leaps a tool - one of many - to help end a crisis - a crisis we EDUCATORS brought on by our worship of fads. My work is supplemental. I’m sorry it is not a magic want for everyone - nor does everyone need that constant reminder - for learning disabled students - the researchis clear…for over 90% of them will make substantive gains in a minimum amount of time, for a minimum amount of money - in my opionion, take an aspirin before opting for exploratory brain surgery. Ken Campbell, developer, Great Leaps

I’ll be at LDA in Denver and NY Orton. Let’s talk.

Great Leaps might be something I could use. I will contact you by e-mail to arrange to meet you at NY Orton.

Peace.

In NY IDA I’ll go over the origins step at a time - share data, enertain questions, and have a good time. There is no better forum in America (well, LDA is an equal) than NY Orton - unbelievable list of speakers. Ken

My son’s dyslexia is of the type known as speeded naming or word retrieval deficit. We’ve tried Great Leaps and I think it’s a good program. We’re regularly using another program — Read Naturally. I was so excited by this program that I told my son’s Resource Teacher about and she started a program at our school for at riskh readers — and the kids love it. Yes, it does cost more than Great Leaps, but you might want to check it out. The stories are interesting and the kids look forward to their time in the reading program. (PS. We use parent volunteers as program monitors for most of the time with the kids) Kathleen

No, I have two students who are making progress like snails. One is learning to read more words, yes, but he is not improving his inordinately slow rate. He is a mixed bag of very LD, very low motivation and very bad attitude. I know this is not politically correct to ever blame an LD student, but this child really has a bad attitude, he complains he walks as slowly as possible from one place to the next, etc. And, he has always been this way since he started school. The other I cannot figure out either. She may not have much motivation, but she is clearly very, very LD.

I am very interested in Maryanne Wolf’s double deficit theory. These are children who have very poor rapid naming scores, in addition to other issues.

I won’t be there and I am not in the least bit disappointed with you or your program. I have been in this field long enough to know that we use many tools and there is not one correct approach for every child. The two children for whom the program is not working are my extremes. Both have IQ scores in the 105 range (good), but both have severe reading problems that are probably the result of multiple issues. At least one probably needs, really needs, intensive therapy from a program like Lindamood Bell, for hours and hours and hours…………I cannot do this in a public school resource program. The boy i purchased the program for has made gains, though he is topping out. However, he could read 25 wpm two hears ago. It took 20 minutes for him to read an informal reading inventory passage with decent accuracy. He has a severe rapid naming deficit.

No, I like what you have done. Just as with all things, there is not a cure all.

Anitya, Do you feel the child with the bad attitude that is slow moving might have ADD, inattentive type or APD? My 13 year old has both these disorders, he is VERY slow moving, mumbles when he talks, is slow starting tasks, has word retrieval problems, and lack of motivation for things he thinks he is just gonna fail at any way. We attempted meds with him but they did not help. What finally helped was we hired a private tutor for him. His tutor works with him 1 on 1 in the library where it is very quiet. She started out teaching him study skills although we had just hired her for reading. She said she started with study skills because she has found it helpful to have the student organized and to have the skills of skimming and scanning for a purpose. Her strategy paid off because these were skills he could use right away. For example when it came time to work in a textbook and answer questions he has a better idea of how to find the answer. Perhaps this students attitude and lack of motivation is related to always failing and this is his defense mechanism, just a thought.

Anitya,

My son fits the double deficit theory. His reading is catching up to grade level. He can read his grade level textbooks but not independently (we alternative reading paragraphs with his science and social studies books).

My own take on kids like this is that it is difficult for schools to do enough for them. I have been intensively involved in remediating my son for about 1 1/2 years now. We have done a variety of private therapies that have greatly reduced hisdeficits as well as teaching him to read. I started doing this because it was so very clear that the school was doing nothing to help him but have eventually come to the conclusion that the situation was a blessing in disguise.
Now in third grade we finally have a adequately trained resource teacher. My view is that I am finally getting some help!!

I personally think the motivation and bad attitude come from a child who hasn’t experienced success. That, I think, is the continual challenge with LD kids, especially those with severe LD.

Beth

Yes, I do believe he is inattentive type ADHD, however he has a bad attitude,too. He makes it a point to tell teachers what he doesn’t like to do (no excuses, this is not because his LD makes it soooooooo hard), he says rude things, he is just an often sour and unpleasant child, this is his disposition. He arrived at school with this disposition before anyone tried to teach him to read.

Regardless of the source of the bad attitude — it makes it tougher. And if the bad attitude came from other causes before the kiddo ever crossed the school threshold, then it’s even tougher to change it. With kiddos like that I try to teach as if this might be the day they come around, and I keep looking for solutions and ways to make the kiddo experience success, but I don’t take it too personally if they don’t come ‘round.

Oh, ok I took the bad attitude to mean towards school work in that he was reluctant to do it. I thought you meant the bad attitude as in not doing work, turning it in, and not caring. My son would never tell a teacher he is not gonna do something but he does show a reluctance toward some activities and this could be construded as a bad attitude. His teachers say he is a very pleasant student just hard to get motiviated I thought maybe you were seeing the same thing in this kiddo. I agree there is no excuse for a child to sass or talk back to a teacher or anyone else for that matter. Sorry to off misinturpted what you meant.