Hello,
My child is in Learning support with Pdd disorder High functioning.
they are using the Wilson system. I am using reading reflex and its going slow. I have found that he can segment the sounds Tap out , but when ask to blend the sounds ( Big he saying ig) he says the last two letters of the word. He comes home with 100 or 90 on his spelling test but when ask the spelling words two days prior to the test he doesn’t know the words or the next two days after the the test he won’t know how to spell them or read them only segment the letters. I have found that in school and at home you segment the word so much that you are testing him on the letters not the words.
I have asked the school if they have a different program in the district that would be more appropriate for him. They got defensive, we are opening his IEP to brainstorm about what eles they con do for him.
My Question is if they don’t have any other program what else can they do? I want to be prepared.
Thanks,
Nadine
Re: School/Parent can't find the right reading program
It could be that slow going is still good going if he’s getting the foundations. What are his strenghts — are there things he picks up more quickly? And if so, what kind of processing is he better at? Could be they could find a way to work those strenghts into what they are doing or change what they are doing to incorporate his strengths. Wilson is fairly packaged but there are different activities within its structures that could be done to tap strenghts; can you describe the kind of learnign he does well?
Re: School/Parent can't find the right reading program
You might want to try the Sound Reading CD from http://www.soundreading.com . I have found it to be an excellent supplement for home use, and it would be helpful no matter what reading program your child is doing. You can call the company to make sure you order the correct level of CD for your child.
Nancy
Re: School/Parent can't find the right reading program
I am inclined to agree with Sue. How long has this been going on?
How about evaluation results? Did any processing disorders show up?
I am not certain we should be expecting reading programs to work wonders. They don’t and sometimes it is very slow going.
I would continue with the exercise and model the correct response back to him. I also like to use letter tiles and have the child touch the tiles as he or she says parts.
Shorterm memory could be really weak. You can try b/i/g, enuniating each sound, then blening the first two and finally adding the final /g/ to the /bi/. It is generally preferable to work left to right. This way your child never has to recall more than two segments at a time. When he gets good with, try stretching to three, and so on.
Nadine,
How old is he, and does he have Wilson instruction one-on-one? If he is leaving off the first sound, then he could be taught to blend the first two sounds and then add on the third.
I am not sure what you are saying about him not being able to spell a word, only segment the letters. We actually only segment sounds, not letters. And this is what helps a child spell. If you say write the word “big”, and he can segment the sounds /b/ /i/ /g/, then he should be able to write the letters as he says the sounds.
Phono-Graphix would be good for him as the mapping exercises give them so much practice saying and writing the sounds for words. Do you have the parent support book that goes with Reading Reflex? If he has already mastered the basic code and adjacent consonant part (which I’m not sure he has from your description, you could just order the parent support book for older readers and specify his age for the stories in the back. Go to www.readamerica.net and there is an online catalog.
I have a sense that maybe he just needs more intensive instruction. I have not taught a child with this disorder, but I do know someone who taught several autistic children to read using PG this summer. So I know it works unless there is an additional unidentified problem such as visual.
Janis