Another mom wrote me a while back and said,
"You simply must take a look at this reading program!" The Barton Reading
System is thorough and well done. It was created by Susan Barton, who joins us
for this special interview.
Christine: I had a chance to look at three
level of the program, and they are masterfully done! Ms. Barton,
how did you come to be interested in the remediation of reading
problems?
Susan: My nephew has dyslexia. Although he qualified for special
education at the public school in first grade, under the category of Learning
Disability, his reading skills did not improve much - even after spending over
$20,000 on vision therapy, tutoring after school at a Sylvan center, tutoring
by a retired reading specialist, and many other interventions. It wasn't until
he was 16, and reading at only a 2.5 grade level despite receiving special education
help for 10 years, that we finally discovered his struggles were due to dyslexia.
Most public and private schools do not have programs that work for children
with dyslexia, nor do they test children for dyslexia. Dyslexia also explains
why the many interventions we tried outside school did not help much. The reading,
spelling, and writing skills of children with dyslexia can improve tremendously,
but only if they are taught using a very different approach - an Orton-Gillingham
approach.
Christine: Can you give us a short version
of what this means?
Susan: Orton-Gillingham is very different
in WHAT is taught, the SEQUENCE of teaching, and HOW it is
taught.
Orton-Gillingham teaches reading and spelling as the same
subject. Whatever is taught for reading is practice for spelling,
and whatever is taught for spelling is practiced while reading.
We improve their reading by improving their spelling.
The sequence is from most common to least common - for spelling. We teach them
to spell without the need to memorize. We teach them to listen to each sound and
to combine that with a few highly reliable spelling rules.
The methodology - or how - of Orton-Gillingham is simultaneously multisensory.
So students hear it, see it, color code it, move it, say it, and write it all
at the same time as much as possible. That approach is the exact opposite of learning
styles.
Christine: There are SO MANY reading programs
on the market. Why should a parent seriously investigate yours?
Susan: Most kids will learn to read no matter how you teach
them. But 20% of kids will not learn - even when exposed to multiple ways of teaching
reading. Those kids also spell very poorly, usually have terrible penmanship,
have trouble telling time on a clock with hands, had difficulty learning to tie
their shoes, have significant difficulty memorizing their address and phone number,
confuse b's and d's, often forget to capitalize the first letter in a sentence,
don't use punctuation, and mix up sounds when saying multi-syllable words such
as aminal, bisghetti, hangaberg.
Those are a few of the classic warning signs of dyslexia.
Those are the types of students who will greatly benefit from
the Barton Reading & Spelling System.
Christine: Is the Barton System good for
every student? Tell us what types of students would benefit
the most.
Susan: The Barton System is of most benefit to students who
can read a word fine on one page, but won't recognize the very same word on the
next page. Or the student can read a word fine when it's in a story but can't
read the word when it's on a flashcard.
Or the student who has learned phonics but won't (or can't) use phonics to
sound out an unknown word.
It's ideal for a student who confuses words that have the same letters in a
different sequence, such as who-how, form-from, trial-trail, was-saw, on-no,
left-felt, reserve-reverse, or united-untied.
Christine: The Orton-Gillingham methods can
be intense and time-consuming to learn. How does the Barton
system deal with this roadblock?
Susan: There are seven well-known Orton-Gillingham-based systems.
Most were designed for professional teachers who have summers off and can go away
for weeks of training each summer - or whose schools will pay to fly in trainers.
The Barton System is the only one designed for homeschool
parents who cannot leave their children.
All of the training the parent needs comes inside each level - on videotape
or DVD, along with scripted lesson plans, plus all of the reading material, spelling
lists, extra practice pages, and color-coded manipulatives. So a parent can become
an effective Barton tutor in their own home - without having to attend training
classes. We also offer free unlimited support.
Christine: There are ten levels to the program.
How does a parent decide which level to choose? What if the
child has had other tutoring already?
Susan: If a child has never had tutoring using a different
Orton-Gillingham-based program, or the LiPS program [Editor's note: This is a
program offered by Lindamood-Bell], then that child should start at Level 1.
But if the child has already had recent and intense tutoring
using that approach, then we will send post-tests of our first
few levels to parents to determine the right place to start.
Christine: At the successful completion of
the program, what level will the student attain?
Susan: When students finish Level 10, they
are reading, spelling, and writing at the mid-ninth grade level.
In our society, that is considered adult level.
Christine: What exactly is dyslexia? What
is a reading learning disability? Will the program work for
both types of students?
Susan: Dyslexia is an inherited condition. It is a language-processing
problem that makes a child very insensitive to sounds within a word. That's why
children with dyslexia hate it when their parents say, "sound it out."
They are having trouble clearly hearing and identifying each sound - despite normal
hearing. Some audiologists call it an auditory processing disorder.
If tested at a public school, a parent might be told their
child has a learning disability. But most children with dyslexia
are not severe enough to qualify for special education services
under the category of learning disability or LD.
How could a parent tell if their child might have dyslexia? Take a look at
the classic warning signs of dyslexia. Dyslexia affects much more than reading
or spelling or writing. The more warning signs that match, the more confident
a parent can be that dyslexia is the cause of their child's struggles.
To learn more about dyslexia, go to www.BrightSolutions.US.
Christine: How long does it take for the
parent to become familiar with the program?
Susan: About five hours per level. Each level comes with five
hours of training - for the parent - available on videotape or DVD. So a parent
can spend Monday afternoon watching the tutor training videos, then start the
lessons the very next day. Only when their student got to the end of that level
would the parent order the next level - which comes with five more hours of tutor
training on video, which builds on what they have already learned.
Christine: How often should the student have
tutoring sessions? How many years will it take to complete
all the levels?
Susan: To made adequate progress, a student must receive one-on-one
tutoring at least twice a week, for 45 minutes to an hour per session. That is
the minimum. At that rate, a student with average or "classic" dyslexia
would take about three years to complete all 10 levels. But it is much better
to get an hour of tutoring every day. The Barton System should replace every other
language arts activity. If used this way, an "average" dyslexic student
would complete the program in less than two years.
Christine: Can you describe the components
of the program? Are there readers or games available to students
while they are in the program?
Susan: Each level comes with five hours of
tutor training on video or DVD, scripted lesson plans with
everything you need in one well-organized manual, a packet
of student pages as blackline masters (so you can make as many
copies as you need), the color-coded letter tiles, and anything
else necessary to give the lessons in that level.
Games and fun reinforcement activities are described at the
end of each manual. Computerized games are available for free
through the Internet.
Christine: Although the program has been
available only since 1999, the research indicates that it is
wonderfully effective. Would you comment briefly on this?
Susan: Yes, it really does work. Independent
research that proves the effectiveness of the Barton System
is on our website. Just go to www.BartonReading.com,
then click on the Research button.
Christine: What would you say to the parent
who feels the cost of the program is prohibitive?
Susan: The Barton System is completely reusable. So one way
a parent could reduce the cost of the system would be to find another parent whose
child is struggling with reading, spelling, and writing - and share the Barton
System with them. That cuts the cost by 50%. Or, when the parent has completed
one level, they could sell that used level to someone else. Or, they could tutor
someone else's child for a small hourly fee, which would offset the cost of the
Barton System.
Christine: This is certainly a thorough program!
To learn more about the Barton System, go to www.BartonReading.com.
Or call 408-559-3652 and ask for a FREE Barton Demo & Screening
video.
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