Any suggestions

Mo, greetings. My son who just completed 3rd grade started the year off on a K-reading level. I found a program called Rock-N-Phonics which constists of a CD and workbooks. My son loves music and he really responded well to this program. When he was given the Woodcock reading mastery test at the end of the school year he tested at the 2.2 level, granted still behind but a great leap in the 8 months we used the program. He too knew the individual letters but had difficulty sounding out words. This program builds upon itself and words are introduced slowly. There are 4 reading books to go with the workbook and CD. What orginally attracked me to the program was the cost, it is only 12.95 I figured if it did not work the most I would be out was a chance to eat out once! I took the program to the school to get their opinion and they borrowed it to work with my son a few other students. The teacher said that all the students who did the program showed improvement. I dont know if all the credit should go to the program because we also began partner reading with him, I think perhaps it was the combination. We found the program at the local Parent teacher tools store. Hope this helps.

I will definately look into the Rock-n Phonics….it was just what I had in mind.
We have “Hooked on Phonics” in our closet… (which I was considering)…but I felt it might be a little outdated and not as fun?
Thank you so much!

Look into Reading Reflex. The book is about $20.00 and it has everything in it that you will need. This is a really good systematic sound symbol based program. You can do it with just the information in the book. It will teach you step by step through the program.

I see this ALL the time. Most of the kids I tutor fall into this category. If he knows the names of the letters, but can’t sound out, that tells me right off the bat that his auditory discrimination skills are weak. He may not yet be able to match sound with symbol. He may not be able to hear the distinctions between some sounds. He may not be able to blend sounds either.

Since he can memorize sight words, that’s the skill he’s relying on. He probably has no idea how to deal with sounds but is visually memorizing whole words. That method can get him just so far - usually mid-3rd. grade for the stronger sight word readers, before he’ll hit a wall. Don’t let him learn to read by just memorizing sight words! Teach him the sounds and all the phonics.

The recommendation for Reading Reflex is excellent. You can easily do that at home. Lindamood-Bell’s LIPS program is a more intensive, more comprehensive program that applies similar strategies in depth. The beginning part of the program teaches people the sounds by teaching them how the mouth works in making the sounds. This is important for individuals who don’t have the ability to discriminate among sounds, especially some vowels. Much of the rest of the program is similar to Reading Reflex, just more intensive. Your son may or may not need these strategies at that intensity. I’d start him with Reading Reflex.

That school sure missed the mark when they didn’t immediately start giving him these strategies! Effectively, they just wasted his time.

Just went back and reread your post. You said that he knows the sounds but can’t sound out. It still sounds like it’s in the auditory realm. He may have trouble with blending the sounds and with sequencing. Again, Reading Reflex or LIPS will work very well at giving him those skills.

We have addressed the problem of teaching a dyslexic to read. Please examine www.jwor.com for details.

We have addressed the problem of teaching a dyslexic to read. Please examine www.jwor.com for details.

This is a *great* way to get kids to make the connection between the sounds and the words; it’s at http://www.auburn.edu/~murraba .

You have explained my situation perfectly.
You know ….I pointed out that he was just memorizing at our last IEP meeting… and his teacher just recently acknowledged that she agrees with me at our end of the year discussion.
I know that the wall you mentioned in your post…..is about to grow taller and taller if I don’t figure this all out. I am getting him a complete evaluation done very soon by outside sources. A little history… (He is my nephew…we are seeking custody..but children services currently has the custody) He has only been in my care for one year so far…so he is really new to me too. I have alot of catch up to do : )
The sad thing about the school wasting his time….is really worse than you can imagine. His teacher has told me that she would not request a evalution by the school..because it may cause him to be ineligable for the services he is currently getting. Nobody has done any formal testing on this child..not children services, his past schools (subjective only), or his current one (continued services from last school. How sad it is… What if I didn’t have this website. and didn’t know any better??Can you imagine all the children caught up in children services who are are being left behind .: (
I ‘ve gotta run….I have alot to do……Reading Reflex first……then maybe figure out how or where I can get the LIPS.
You guys are great..
Thank you all for your suggestions.(Nan, Sue, Jim) I will check the sites out as well!!!!!!!!!!!!
God Bless
Thanks,
MO

Mo,
I did a one month “intensive” remediation with my son when he was on break from a multi-track school. (4 hours a day in 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the early evening). My son made HUGE progress with decoding. I highly recommend it! One thing I really liked about it is that it’s easy to purchase (I bought a copy of the book at my local Barnes and Noble — so I was able to look it over and make sure it was something I could do with my son). It’s easy to do, and it’s inexpensive (about $17).

Towards the end of the month I happened to take my son for PACE testing(a cognitive remediation program) and according to the test results his decoding skills were at age 15!!!! (he was 7 at the time). That was his highest score on the test and it definitly shocked me. Prior to RR my son could barely read anything. I was really frantic!

Unfortunately, my son’s reading problems are more involved. Although he can decode just about any word, he’s still a very slow reader and has appears to have some visual perceptual problems, word retrival and possibly SID — which is a whole different area and will require additional remediation.

I would definitely recommend Reading Reflex. I am just starting this with my son, who will be entering third grade in the fall. He repeated second grade last year and made some good gains but I would really like to boost his reading skills. I would also check into Audioblox. I am also starting that program. Have you had his eyes checked for tracking problems? He might benefit from vision therapy, also

After Reading Reflex, you may not need LIPS. I’ve read that Lindamood-Bell’s Visualizing and Verbalizing is a great program to do following RR. You can order the books for LIPS and VV through Gander Press. I’m guessing they may have a website, or you can find their phone number on LMB’s website.

I’ve been thinking about ordering VV for my son…but I plan to work on Sensory Integration this summer (along with many other things!!! It’s going to be a busy summer!).

Best of luck to you! :-)

for visual perception problems (we also had great success with “Reading Reflex”). This was a necessary pre-step for us before doing PACE. If you haven’t already, check out http://www.childrensvision.com and http://www.covd.org.

My dd was unable to read *fluently* until halfway through PACE. Had we not done vision therapy first, though, I’m sure we would not have gotten nearly as much out of PACE.

Mary

I firmly believe that any child with reading difficulties should get a screening with a developmental (some call themselves behavioral) optometrist first, before beginning any program. In fact, I’ve come to believe that every child, upon entering the school system, ought to do this but I figure we’re a long way off before that’ll ever happen. :o)

If your vision is impaired, for whatever reason, it stands to reason that reading will be difficult. I now routinely make the recommendation that children who’ve been referred to me go visit a dev. opt. at the outset. This kind of specialist can do the normal eye screening as well as check for tracking issues, color vision blindness or limitations, etc.

I had a student once whose color vision field, in every color, was so constricted that it was no surprise she struggled with reading despite exceptionally good phonemic awareness, phonics knowledge and application, strong sight word memory, etc. After just one month of daily color vision therapy at home, her reading took a great jump in fluency. After three months, she didn’t need any more tutoring in reading.

Prior to vision therapy, I was thinking it may be more beneficial to concentrate on therapy for my son’s Sensory Integration Dysfunction. I think this may be the “root” of many of his problems.

After he has received some OT, I was thinking about adding or following up with Vision Therapy and either Brainskills or Audiblox.

….and I’m sure I’ll probably want to add some other things too!

what is color vision therapy? I’ve never heard of it before.

Just a note for those who may not reolize it. Sometimes people will shorten reading reflex to RR which is fine as long as you make it clear which program you are discussing- which you have in this case. However, there is another very popular school program, Reading Recovery which is also frequently referred to as RR which is very very different…about 180 degree’s away in philosophy.

I’m under the impression that it’s fairly new so I’m looking for more information about it too. As I understand it, there’s a vision field for all the primary colors (and white). You can have a normal color vision field for, say, red but have a constricted vision field for another color. My student’s vision field was severely constricted in all the colors, which then gave her a very small field for reading.

The therapy is to stare at a colored lens for 10 minutes in a darkened room, then switch to another colored lens for an add’l 10 minutes. She was able to do this at home. This is done for at least 3 weeks. It widens the vision field. My student experienced a dramatic increase in her color vision field and this translated into an equally dramatic increase in her reading fluency. She’d already spent a year in private tutoring for reading and had many skills but they hadn’t improved her fluency. It seems that the final piece of it, for her, was to get this therapy. I’ve been really impressed with it.

First, let me second everything Joan V has said.

Memorization isn’t reading, but unfortunately you don’t find that out until too late, Grades 3 to 5, when reading skills cease to be taught and so many mny kids stay as functional illiterates.

Reading Reflex has a good reputation with many people here. If it isn’t enough for your needs, the classic and effective approach is Orton-Gillingham. Other complete phonics programs are also available — it isn’t the name on the package, but the contents that makes the difference.

With any book or program, what matters most is what you do with it. Take time and actually teach the skills; as your school has demonstrated for several years, just putting material in front of a kid is not teaching and is not effective.

You need to actually directly *teach* segmenting and blending and word analysis and putting it all together for reading. You can buy a program with all sorts of materials and high-tech stuff, or you can use chalk and a slate; what is important is that you show your kid what these skills are and how they work, and model using them. It takes time and repetition and patience, but these skills are teachable and learnable. As long as you keep your eyes on that goal, the name on the box doesn’t matter.

If you want some detailed and direct lesson plans, I’ve posted a lot of things previously. You can look back, or email me and I’ll dig up some things and send them to you.