Wilson Reading System

The research on it is very solid. I hope they will be training you to use it as the training is absolutely necessary.

—des

Wilson is a good program-I’ve been using it for several years in my resource classes. Like many other alternate reading methods which offer systematic, direct instruction, it can take up to 2-3 years to complete, but I always see improvement and gains in my students’ decoding ability when they are in this program.

What’s being done about training?
I’ve had a lot of success with a similar program - but with training & team teaching.
(And I’m curious — your Coop? Homeschooling? Teaching? Tutoring? Parents group?)

Good point, Sue! Training is essential, IMO.

Janis

And my other question would be — how old are the students and what do they need? Not everybody needs what Wilson offers.

Although I’m not a teacher, I have to post to say that Wilson is the best thing that ever happened to my daughter. After making only 6 months progress in reading in 1-1/2 yrs., she started Wilson three yrs. ago, and her reading level has improved by 3 years! For a dyslexic kid that’s pretty darn good! My new sd is trying to tell me that it can be a “train the trainer” program, which is nonsense, and I will not accept it. Just an opinion from a mom.

My district bought Wilson materials but balked at the cost of training. Wilson is set up like a franchise.. official Wilson training is only gotten from someone officially trained by them.

But.. it is an Orton Gillingham based program, the underlying concept is simple and easy to grasp. My district did buy Wilson training tapes. While we cant say we are “trained” in Wilson, we do feel we can effectively use it.

The Barton System, another OG based program, relies nearly exclusively on video taped training. I think there are more hours than the Wilson taped training, and they involve some hands on practice. However, I believe that one can learn from video tapes, given sufficient focus, etc. The question I would have with Wilson is that the videos are seen by people of quite mixed motivations and interests, while I would guess the vast majority of people using Barton are quite motivated (they are paying customers after all).

So I would advise paying a lot of attention, taking notes, and trying out the program before attempting to teach so that you internalize all the concepts. At least then you will be one of the successful ones.

—des