Has anyone used this program? I am in the first few weeks of using it with a class of reading disabled 16 year olds (all have IEPs and are learning disabled). Two of the 10 students absolutely detest it–can’t see how the subskill training exercises relate to reading (despite my explanations), think the program is childish (I have them on the adult version), and think their reading (grade 4-6) is just fine where it is. One has ADD. Does this sound like adolescent defensiveness? Denial? The program has lots of reinforcers,but the subskill training exercises might seem very repetitive to someone who is not highly motivated to improve his reading. The trainers recommend that the comprehension exercises not be used until significant progress is made in the reading subskills training. These exercises might make more “sense” to my objectors. The manual doesn’t define what “significant progress” is. The pgm. is supposed to get good results, and my district has a site license for it. So far the jury is out where I am concerned. I’d be interested in feedback from anyone who has used it.
I am trained in PG and am going to introduce it as an adjunct to the AutoSkill program. The two programs “fight” a bit, since AutoSkill contains some analytic phonics content; the two complainers may love it or they may hate it, but there is no denying they need it! A direct instruction program delivered by a human might suit them better. My struggle will be to see to it that their negative attitude doesn’t spread. (So far so good.) It will be interesting to see and compare the results of these two programs. Any comments on computer reading programs in general?
We used this about 3 years ago at the elementary school where my daughter went to school. you are right it is kind of BORING…The audio was very difficult for my daughter and I to discriminate. Your kiddos may like Reading Reflex better because it is not as boring as sitting at a computer and pushing buttons to uncover a puzzle.. I found the comprehension piece of the program much more interesting than the visual and auditory exercises and felt that the program director didn’t access that during the time my daughter was in the autoskills pilot program.