Thank you Phonics Pathways...

My struggling reader is making progress.

I was not worried when EE was in Kindergarten and not ready to learn to read. I wasn't worried when she was in first grade and still didn't seem ready to read. Isn't this why we were home schooling? So that our children could learn on their own time table?

We didn't totally ignore language arts in Kindergarten and first grade. EE learned her consonants and short vowel sounds. She worked her way slowly through the Get Ready for The Code, Get Set for the Code and Go for the Code books in Kindergarten. In first grade she worked very slowly through Explode the Code 1, Christian Liberty Press' beginner reader It's Fun to Read and some Sonlight Core K Language Arts worksheets. She couldn't seem to get beyond short vowels at that point. I had Reading Reflex so I tried my hand at that with her but I was having problems using that program.

I had briefly tried Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons with my twins, but didn't like it. However, I got to a point of feeling desperate as we approached second grade so I borrowed a copy from my girlfriend and we tried it. It was going well until we got to about lesson 40 or 50 something. We put it aside for a little while and practiced what she had learned at that point with more Christian Liberty readers; Pals and Pets and A Time at Home. We ended the school year going back to 100 Easy Lessons. That took us into the summer and was okay for awhile, until we hit around lesson 60. It moved too fast for her and she still had a lot of trouble with blending.

We had to stop. I dug out my copy of Reading Reflex and read it carefully. I had an “aha” moment and felt confident Reading Reflex would help. We began third grade with Reading Reflex, a new set of beginner Bob Books and Explode the Code 2. I began to suspect that maybe we should have her eyes checked again. After sharing her struggles on the Sonlight forums I was made aware of Developmental Vision Therapists. I learned that there are Optometrists that go beyond the normal testing to check for developmental delays in the eyes. I made an appointment with one for EE. Turns out her eyes hyper-focus. A normal optometrist would have told us that she had 20-20 vision, but I watched as this doctor went beyond the basic tests and discovered that after about five minutes of trying to read her eyes get tired and begin to blur. So now she wears glasses. That helped a lot! We began to make progress with Reading Reflex and little easy readers and Explode the Code. The doctor did say if she didn't seem to improve we should bring her back for more testing to determine if she needs vision therapy for other possible eye development delays.

I thought we were doing pretty well, but we ran out of practice with Reading Reflex mid year. I bought some more easy readers, Fun Tales by Sonlight, and she began reading those and continued with Explode the Code, going back and forth between 2 to 2-1/2 and back to 2 because we lost book 2 in her bedroom for a few months.

A friend happened to see Pyramid Reading Exercises  (now revised and called Reading Pathways) on sale at Timberdoodle and told me about it. I looked into it and thought it might be worth trying. I became interested in Phonics Pathways which is put out by the same company, however, I wasn't ready to buy something else yet. I thought I should make a follow up appointment with the vision therapist. Turns out that my girlfriend bought it. She loaned it to me and after looking it over I decided to give it a try. I liked it so well that I ordered my own copy.

I still think that I should make a follow-up appointment, but I am so happy with the methods of Phonics Pathways and the progress EE has been making! I gave her a few “tests” from the review sections of PP and determined that we should begin with short vowel double consonant blends. When we have a lesson we first do a warm-up exercise with the Pyramid Reading Exercises reading one pyramid. The pyramid exercises begin with one word at the very top within a triangle. Then a second word is added to the first word in the next line. Then a third and fourth word added on the third line and so on, so that the student is reading short phrases and sentences that incrementally build. This is suppose to help with developing eye tracking, increasing eye span and teaching syllabication. Then we open up the Phonics Pathways book and she reads a page from it. Phonics Pathways teaches reading and spelling together. Her first lesson was on “ck” at the end of a short vowel word. She has also been learning when to use “C” and when to use “K” at the beginning of a word. Each page/lesson is usually made up of groups of lists of words with a related spelling rule and then some silly sentences at the bottom of the page. What we do next is what has excited me the most about this program. I bought a second grade composition book at Staples. After she does her reading, EE takes out the composition book and I dictate short sentences or phrases that use the words she just read. I sit beside her and also use this time to be sure she is using proper handwriting formation. She only writes 3 sentences or 6 two word phrases.  She is doing so well and we are both encouraged! It is wonderful to see her not only blending better, but learning to spell and write at the same time. I think this exercise reinforces what she learned in the reading. We've been working on short vowel consonant blends for about two weeks. When we first began she wasn't hearing the third sound in the words. For instance, she might write “met” for the word “melt”. Just within these two weeks she is now more consistently hearing all the sounds and writing them correctly. That is exciting!

I would highly recommend this reading program to any struggling reader or even for beginning readers. I would be lying if I said that EE loves the program. She doesn't necessarily like it, but she is willing to do it because the lessons are fairly short and even she is recognizing that she is making progress. She does want to be able to read and write like her friends and wants to write stories.

As I said, I probably still need to make a follow up appointment with the Developmental Optometrist, because there still may be some other issues that need to be addressed. In the meantime, I am so happy with Phonics Pathways!

Posted by bethanyrae

Did you know that Firefox had a recent update? Probably sometime in the last couple of weeks. You might need that. I use Firefox, and I don't have any problems with the copy and paste thing.
Do you know how to use the keyboard commands? If not, Control Z is Undo. Control A is select all. Control C is copy. Control V is paste. Control X is cut/delete. Control Y is redo. Hope something here will help.
I appreciate the links in your post. I made note of some of them last night. My 9yr old is dyslexic and takes tutoring (Orton Gillingham) with a specialist. I had heard about the vision thing. There is someone who does it near us, but we need to see if our insurance will help with it. You nudged us into looking into it.
bethanyrae

Posted by Anonymous

Are so lucky to have YOU as a mom!

:-)

Your NOT so Anonymous husband,

Netopia

Posted by netopiasgal

I knew about the different controls, except control Y and Z. Control C and V were not working for me. I think my Fairfox is updated, but I will check. thank you.

I'm glad my links helped you. I think my dd might be dyslexic but we haven't had testing for it yet. I think that is what the follow up testing with the Developmental Optometrist might determine. Her oldest sister is slightly dyslexic and her middle sister has some reading sequencing issues that played into her having difficulty reading, so this isn't such a new path for me, but it seems EE has had the most difficulty. The other two were a bit further along at this age than she is.

Seeing as how I am a basketball Mom too, I added you to my friends! See you around!

Posted by

Thank You for recommending that I read your blog. It makes me feel less like I'm alone in the process of trying to get ds to read. I understand your troubles with both Reading Reflex & 100EZ as that's been our experience too. Mama T