UPDATE: Reading Recovery Program? Advocacy tips? Talk me off ledge

[hillview]

re OG vs Wilson. DS1 did wilson over the summer and OG is what his school does. I am not really an expert but I believe both are good. I think OG is more intensive or at least his school is

[inmypjs]

Thank you inmypjs for that awesome post!! Will be following your wise advice. We def. are trying to get DS into an OG method but I think we are stuck for around 8 weeks with RR because going public or private testing will take about that long. Also I am starting to hunt for private tutors now and given the cost I want to find an awesome one and that will take a month or so too most likely to interview etc. Our therapist also warned us if we start OG/Wilson now while the RR is going on it will probably make it look like RR is working and then we won't be able to argue for a change via his IEP!! But yes I want him gone from reading recovery. Thank you so much for the advice and help! I am going to find our local decoding dyslexia group tomorrow. I have been in contact with Literacy How (very helpful and also referred us to a state dyslexia group) and our local town special needs group (director also despises reading recovery). Decoding dyslexia is my next call.

Inmypjs, do you know how many years of tutoring a kid with milder dyslexia might require in a range? Could it be as little as 1-2? I know the neighboring suburb to us actually offers Wilson routinely in their special ed and if I am looking at 4-5 years of paying for private tutoring 4-5 times a week, it may make sense to at least consider a move.

That makes sense. You are correct, that private OG tutoring will inflate the RR results. I know of 2 people in my area who did private OG tutoring with great success, only to have their school proclaim that their new special ed reading program was the reason - even though the progress took off right at the point that OG tutoring was initiated. Sigh. There is language in IDEA that a special ed lawyer in our area found that says schools must take private tutoring into account if it is being done and the child is progressing.

In terms of length of OG tutoring, I have generally heard 2-3 years, depending on frequency and intensity of the tutoring, and severity of the dyslexia. Dysnomia issues seem to make it take longer - those are present in double deficit dyslexia, which is the most severe. Most I know do 2 tutoring sessions/week (1 hour sessions). If you son is mild, and you have a good tutor, and you don't skip summers, then yes I think it could be as little as 1-2 years. Especially since you are catching him so young.

I wanted to clarify that I am NOT a professional advocate, nor is anyone in Decoding Dyslexia. It is a grassroots movement of parents and educators who provide support to other parents. The best place to find your state's group is on facebook. Some have web sites, some do not. It just depends on how long the group has been going and how strong they are.

Another place to get support is Learning Ally. You do have to join to get access to their parent support hotline - and you need a diagnosis to be eligible. So if you eventually get there, keep it in mind because the audio books and the parent support are great. A bunch of ladies from Decoding Dyslexia New Jersey work there now - which is where the DD movement started. They also have a new "find a tutor" network (that is public) that you can put in your state and find OG tutors. https://www.learningally.org/parents...tutor-network/.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Without reading all the replies, I'd just try it. It's 30 minutes, in school, free and if it winds up being a waste of time, it's really not a huge deal. You can reevaluate after 6 weeks or so. I'd try it and then pursue other options (if necessary) after it concludes.

[Katigre]

Honestly, I'd start doing stuff at home for his issues. Have you looked into Barton or similar?

[inmypjs]

RR can last as long as 20 weeks. So 6 weeks maybe, but 20 weeks (by the time it is implemented, winter vacation, etc) will end up being the whole school year. I do agree that if you want to do it yourself you should look into Barton. It's around $200 a level, and you can resell what you buy for 75% of the cost, or keep it and possible hang out your shingle as a tutor. They are much needed!

[niccig]

Has the school slp done a full evaluation, all of those phonological skills that you are concerned about the fall within the slp domain. I'd sit down with the slp and discuss your concerns, the slp may be able to advocate for the type of program he needs as most slps favor a phonics based approach to reading.. I know I do as am slp.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

My DS had phonological awareness deficit. I had him assessed at my college's department for communication disorders. He was already there for articulation issues. They gave him a phonological awareness test that teased out the areas of phonological awareness he had difficulty with. Overall, he scored low normal, BUT in the key areas for reading, he scored very very low, as in 3-5% of his age. It was not an omnibus test of language, it was only assessing phonological awareness skills and quite detailed. He had therapy for phonological awareness and had improvement in 2 semesters, he was up to grade level.

[sste]

Nicci, did he take the c-top? Or some other that you rec? My sister was mentioning the ctopp to me. There are some phoneme awareness issues -- he is fine on rhyming but not on sound discrimination and parsing syllables I don't think. I know the SLP has done some sort of evaluation and I am going to talk to her on Monday. He def. has a documented phonemic awareness issue -- I think fairly moderate.

I just don't see why anyone wants to offer him a NON-phonics based program?!? I think part of the issue is that RR is title 1 and that came through the teacher/RR program and his IEP team didn't even know about it in advance.

As for me, I am super-upset because both of my siblings were dyslexic and my sister has lifelong, serious, and limiting self-esteem issues as a result. My brother never learned to read and I believe his lack of literacy was a factor in his death a few years ago. I am actually having flashbacks over here.

My sister who is now a reading specialist and Wilson trained is voting for us paying for private Wilson or OG tutoring five times per week, possibly six. Ideally during school with him pulled out for an hour. My family is nothing if not intense. She said wait 4 weeks while I search out a tutor, get the four assessment measures showing minimal progress after 20 lessons, and then pay for our own tutor *while* we are arguing with the district to have the one OG/Wilson tutor come to our school esp for DS. She thinks most of the year will pass before we sort out the district doing anything satisfactory, even then they may only give him 2-3 sessions. Her feeling professionally and from her own experiences was that in terms of achieving lifelong speed and fluency we need to act aggressively while his brain is as young/plastic as possible. She feels like she is corrected and reads well but she will never read quickly because she didn't get the right treatment young enough. And she thinks we need to act before he develops a self-image of himself as low achieving which is absurd but a clear risk.

Unfortunately I don't have the time (work FT, two other kids) or really the right kind of relationship with DS to work with him on reading on that level of intensity. He fights us whereas he is highly compliant to outside therapists.

Thanks again everyone, just very this weekend.

[inmypjs]

Hang in there. It does get better. And you have got some good plans and options in front of you that will really benefit your child. Seriously, catching this in 1st grade makes a HUGE difference. It's the kids without parents like you that I worry about the most. They rely on the school to tell them when something is wrong and to provide the right help. Your child is lucky to have you!

Also do know that regarding your sister's reading, fluency is the one thing that many dyslexics struggle with, even with the right instruction. I hear and read that so much from the 'experts' in the field. I don't want to discourage you about your own child, but just wanted to share that. My own son reads above grade level for accuracy and hugely above for comprehension. His fluency is low, and it probably always will be. We work around it and just try to help him be the best that he can be.

Keep us posted on everything!

[cuca_]

I'm late to this thread, but wanted to share that my DD1 has been doing Wilson for 3 years, and I think it is a wonderful program. She receives 1 on 1 tutoring every day at school (private school for kids with LDs). Not only has it helped immensely with her reading, but her spelling has come a long way. I agree with your sister. Start with one on one tutoring, don't wait for the school district. I don't think you need 6 days a week of tutoring, but if you can swing 4 or 5 that would be great. From what I have see at our school very few kids complete Wilson in 2 years, and most take more than 3.

I agree with PP that your DS is lucky to have you. He will be ok. DD has severe LDs and ADD and we had a bumpy beginning finding the right program for her. In the end, we have seen fantastic improvement with Wilson. Also, once she was able to read, my DH had her read out loud every night. She is now a very strong reader. In fact, she reads well above her Wilson level.

We did OG before Wilson, and Wilson worked better for DD. However, OG wasn't 1 on 1, so that could be the difference.

[westwoodmom04]

If you get to the point where you are considering removing him from school during the school day for tutoring, I would look to see if you have any private schools in your area that are targeted at kids with reading learning differences. Something along the lines of this -- www.jemicyschool.org We have several friends who have gone this route and they chose it because they wanted their children to get the reading help they needed as part of the normal school day (and also for the very low teacher/student ratios). Most kids transfer back to mainstream schools after lower school. The downside is the price. There are three private schools in our area in this model, if you are in a large urban area, there should be similar options.