Barton vs Scottish Rite

[jg_puppy]

Is there anyone who can compare Barton to the program used at Scottish Rite. Has anyone used Barton with a non dyslexic student?

My 6.5 year old just started Level A in ABCD and he is making some progress with ABCD. Reading is still a struggle, and I think he might be dyslexic. I plan on staying with ABCD for awhile to see if things get better, but after looking at level B it looks like a big jump from level A. I really don’t think he will be able to make the jump when we get there based on how he is progressing with Level A.

There is a private school in the area that works with dyslexic homeschoolers using the program from Scottish Rite. The program is reasonably priced, but you have to have a formal diagnosis. The problem is that we do not have the money to get him formally tested right now. If I think Barton would work for him is there a reason to get tested verses just buying Barton. I could get several levels of Barton for what it would cost to get a formal diagnosis.

Jan

[Dobela]

We decided to have our son privately tutored using Scottish Rite rather than Barton. They have some similarities. For my son though, to do Barton, he needed to first do the LiPS program before Barton due to phonemic awareness problems. We could not find a local tutor to do that and honestly, I just didn't have the time or resources to teach it myself. We found a Scottish Rite tutor next and the main difference is that the current Scottish Rite program has a LiPS like program built into itself.

The Scotttish Rite program is also written to be taught 4 or 5 days a week for at least 45 minutes. Most Barton tutors I found recommended that we only do Barton for 2 sessions a week, even if I did it myself. I know most homeschool familes do Barton more often however.

[jg_puppy]

Thank you for you help.

My son has good phonemic awareness of individual letters. His main struggle is with blending and fluency. He also doesn't remember sight words very easily. Attention is another area of struggle with my son. I don't think I could do a 45 minute session with him. He may just not be ready to handle either program.

Jan

[Dobela]

Both tutors we consulted did ask if he could sit for an hour and attend that long. If my son had not been able to I don't know if they would have taken him as a student.

Have you done the Barton Screening that is free and online? I also thought my son had good phonemic awareness. He could give me the sounds for every letter in isolation so I thought that part was ok. However, when I presented sounds to him and he had to tell me which was the same and different on that screening, I discovered that he had problems with phonemes.

Both Barton and Scottish Rite are excellent programs and have taught thousands of children to read. We went with a tutor because teaching my son to read was a huge stressor and an area of conflict between us-we had been working at it for 3 years with little to no progress. We bought Barton but I alsohave a special needs toddler and I Just didn't have the time needed to learn the program myself and then implement it myself. I finally decided I needed to be his cheerleader instead of the coach for this part of learning. Hiring the tutor has put a strain on us financially but for us it has also been worth every penny. When looking for a tutor, one of the deciding factors for us in choosing Scottish Rite was the frequency of tutoring. The Scottish Rite tutors said that they typically can go thru their complete program in 2 years or so by seeing students 4 hours a week-depending on the severity of the reading problem. The Barton tutor said it would take her a minimum 4 years or so and she only saw students 2 hours a week. My ds was turning 9 and we decided that we couldn't wait 4 years for him to make that much progress, if it was possible for him to make that much progress.

Another issue for my son was his vision. Actually, that seems to be his biggest problem. He had all the signs and symptoms of a visual tracking and perception problem according to covd.org. We now tihnk that part of his blending and other reading problems were cause by his inability to track efficiently thru a word. You can't blens if you aren't seeing the letters in the correct order. After starting Vision therapy we have seen huge gains in all areas. I don't think he would be making the progress he is now if we wen't combining VT and reading tutoring.

[jg_puppy]

Have you done the Barton Screening that is free and online? I also thought my son had good phonemic awareness. He could give me the sounds for every letter in isolation so I thought that part was ok. However, when I presented sounds to him and he had to tell me which was the same and different on that screening, I discovered that he had problems with phonemes.

I did the screening today. He passed Part B, but failed Part A and Part C. He has some of the symptoms of APD so I am not surprised. He receives speech therapy once a week through the public school and they don't think there is a problem other than articulation.

[Dobela]

If you are really interested in Barton, call their number and ask for help in deciding when to start. When I called with questions, I actually spoke to Ms. Barton and she was most helpful. They are a wonderful resource even if you don't use the program.

[siloam]

Is there anyone who can compare Barton to the program used at Scottish Rite. Has anyone used Barton with a non dyslexic student?

My 6.5 year old just started Level A in ABCD and he is making some progress with ABCD. Reading is still a struggle, and I think he might be dyslexic. I plan on staying with ABCD for awhile to see if things get better, but after looking at level B it looks like a big jump from level A. I really don’t think he will be able to make the jump when we get there based on how he is progressing with Level A.

There is a private school in the area that works with dyslexic homeschoolers using the program from Scottish Rite. The program is reasonably priced, but you have to have a formal diagnosis. The problem is that we do not have the money to get him formally tested right now. If I think Barton would work for him is there a reason to get tested verses just buying Barton. I could get several levels of Barton for what it would cost to get a formal diagnosis.

Jan

Jan,

For me it would be Barton hands down, but I am a cynic. I would assume I would get the one person who didn't use the Scottish Rite program correctly and that my ds would not improve. KWIM? Just the way my life seems to go, so I prefer to be the one responsible. I know I will get the job done.

I am also doing LiPS for ds. It isn't difficult to use. The introduction to letters is scripted, so you only have to deal with answers that don't line up to what they script and review. They do give general ideas for review, games and such, but I would love, love a schedule. What I think really helps it is categorizes and labels sounds based on how the mouth forms to make them, and their relationship to each other. Those are labels and visual clues you can use for years to come when they get stuck on sounds. For example my 3rd dd has a hard time hearing the difference between short /i/ and /e/, so I took a cue from LiPS. /i/ is made with more of a smile and /e/ with more of a rounded mouth, so when I can tell she is having troubles with the sounds I have her look at my mouth while I say the word and I exaggerate the smile or roundness so she can tell which one to use. When my ds forgets what sound a letter makes, say v in van, I can back up and first ask him what his lip coolers are. He knows those pretty well, so he will usually answer /f/ and /v/. Then I tell him that this is his vocalized lip cooler, so he knows it is the /v/ sound that he needs.

By the way you might ask Susan about where to go for a diagnosis. I was diagnosed through Irlen Institute. Last time I called it was about $500 to be evaluated by an Irlen worker. Now they only deal with visual dyslexia, so this isn't the screening that will give you all the information you would ever like to know, but it might be enough to get your foot in the door with the SR program.

Heather

[Melabella]

Have you done the Barton Screening that is free and online?

I am having trouble finding the online screening. Can someone point me in the right direction?

[siloam]

I am having trouble finding the online screening. Can someone point me in the right direction?

Melanie,

Here (http://www.bartonreading.com/students_long.html#screen) is the student screening.

Heather

[Melabella]

Thank you, Heather!

[ElizabethB]

He also doesn't remember sight words very easily.

With my remedial students, I've found that sight words hinder their ability to sound words out.

Here's how to teach all but 5 of the most commonly taught sight words phonetically:

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/sightwords.html

Also, here's a fun game to play to help increase the repetition you need. I use it at the end of my tutoring sessions when my students are starting to get tired of formal work:

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Phonics/concentrationgam.html

Working from a white board instead of a book also allows my students to work longer. And, adding in a bit of spelling to what they are learning helps cement the information in their brain. If I'm working on short a words, I'll have them sound out 20 and then spell 1 or 2 that they've already read. After doing this for a while, I'll have them spell phonetically regular words that they have not yet read.