Does anyone have any experience with this? A school close to ours just adopted this curriculum around Christmas. One of the teachers told me about it, the success they are seeing in some students in a short time, and explained what they do. I like the idea of the whole school being tested and doing reading (at their own level) at the same time, so no one would miss out on any class work. And some of the techniques she mentioned, such as feeling the mouth with sounds, writing big in the air, are multisensory. I am interested enough to consider sending my daughter (who is improving, but not because of the school here, and needs structured, cummulative, multisensory education other than at home!!) to the school for a semester to see if it works, but want lots of input!!! (She isn’t far enough behind for any special education, and our school is BRoke and I have to push for interventions (504 now) and next year I don’t think they will give her much because of her improvement.) I read their web site, and want some impartial advice. Thanks!!!!
Connie
Re: Success for All???
YOu might want to do a search on LM_NET (librarians’ em ail group - http://ericir.syr.edu/Virtual/Listserv_Archives/LM_NET.shtml) for it. It’s come up several times and gets mixed reviews — the issues I remember people having are that folks with no training in teaching reading are called upon to do it, and some people think scripted programs take all the creativity out of teaching. When reading librarians’ comments I would keep in mind that people who go into the field tend to be people who love books and reading — perhaps a rather high percentage of people who learned to read easily and naturally, and who therefore cringe at things designed to take the “Fun” out of reading without understanding that some folks need more direct teaching to get the skills to have the fun.
Connie,
As I understand it, everyone in the school teaches reading from the principal to the music teacher. This allows smaller groups of kids who are grouped with other kids at the same level. (Or else the school hires extra teachers just to make the groups smaller.) It is a VERY structured program and many teachers hate it because it demands that they closely follow the script. This tends to level the playing field. The great teachers are less effective than they would be on their own, but the poor teachers are better than they’d be on their own. IMHO, working in small groups with kids at your own level seems like a reasonable approach.I hadn’t heard that it was multi-sensory but I couldn’t swear one way or the other. It was originally designed for inner city schools.