Advice on Reading Programs

[Guest guest]

Hi Everyone - This group has been a valuable resource for me as I travel

along with my son who is now 11 and his hearing loss. He did not get hearing

aids until last May, and we are now in a new school (5th grade - middle

school!)

Can anyone share reading programs that worked for their kids? k has

Down syndrome and has using the Program until just this year. For some

reason, the new team cannot get it together and see the same things that the

team saw last year. They want to switch him over to Edmark, and I am opposed

to that plan.

As I understand it, Edmark would be more for younger kids, and you would

advance to . Edmark is more sight words, and not learning to decode and

spell phonetically.

is all decoding and phonetics, and he did really well last year.

Except for those words that are seemingly easy, ie., sit, sat, bat, bar, sip,

etc. - those words where he has the hearing loss and still has a really hard

time hearing those certain sounds, whether it be the vowel sounds or the " t " or

" p " as in sit or sip.

I would love to know what reading programs have been successful with your

kids and of course, any advice is welcome. We meet again tomorrow!

Thanks

Sandy in NJ

Mom to k - bi-lateral hearing loss now with BTEs

[Guest guest]

Sandy, I think your instinct about is correct. is one of the

" orton gillingham " type research based reading systems. Reading is taught very

systematically and phonetically and it really does work with kids with hearing

loss. I have never heard of Edmark. No Child Left Behind is all about using

research based reading systems, which is. Is it in the IEP about the

reading system?? Around here (GA) it is the rare kid with DS that actually gets

any reading instruction! Very low expectations.

[Guest guest]

Edmark is a respected reading program, but one, I believe, that is used

primarily for younger grades and perhaps for kids who function at a lower

level.

We met today and agreed to move forward with , with some tweaking

where needed. The reading teacher was just amazed that k could hear and

spell " punish " but has a hard time with sit and sip (go figure!) - like he can

even hear those sounds in sip and sit?!

Thank you for confirming my gut about .

I am sorry to hear that kids in GA are not getting reading instruction. No

excuse for that! Talk about underestimating our kids with DS!

Sandy in NJ

>I have never heard of Edmark. No Child Left Behind is all about using

research based >reading systems, which is. Is it in the IEP about the

reading system?? Around here >(GA) it is the rare kid with DS that actually

gets

any reading instruction! Very low >expectations.