Name: Spreading the Feast Gathering
Start: 2025-07-11T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-07-12T23:59:59-05:00
Location: LaGrange, KY

Tagged: Barton Reading, Dianne Craft, dyslexia

This topic has 11 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 5 months ago by Christine Kaiser.

Viewing 12 posts - 1 through 12 (of 12 total)

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November 15, 2013 at 2:43 pm
psreitmom
Participant
We are currently using the Barton reading System for dyslexia. I have seen significant progress in my daughter’s reading and spelling, but the system is costly, and I think is becoming monotonous for my daughter. I was looking at Diane Craft’s right-brain method, and I honestly think my daughter’s needs could be met using her materials. I am thinking about using it for math, because she is really struggling I that area, so I thought maybe using it for reading and spelling would give us the same results as Barton, but would not be as costly. I read about Craft’s resources before, but decided to use Barton, because our consultant recommended it. It has helped, but I feel after three levels, my daughter may need a change. She still needs instruction in this way, but I want to make sure we would still be on the same track with her reading and spelling. Any comments or suggestions?
November 15, 2013 at 5:48 pm
Betty Dickerson
Participant
I have not heard of Diane Craft’s resources for math. I’m interested! For my almost 10yr old who has dyslexia, we have used All About Reading with success! It finally clicked! We had previously used about 4-5 reading programs. She is my 4th child; it’s not like I’ve never done this before, but she is my first with dyslexia.
For math, we are using a combination of Life of Fred, Math Games from RightStart, and Mastering Mathematics. The latter may be all you need. It is not a well known curriculum, but google it and you will find alot about it for dyslexia. MUS is the other recommended curriculum for dyslexia, but that did not click with us. We also used Teaching Textbooks and she might return to that some day in the future, but right now she needs some other approaches to cement those math facts.
November 15, 2013 at 5:54 pm
pinkchopsticks
Participant
I think of Barton as a step further than Dianne Craft’s materials. We started with Dianne Craft and then moved to Barton when that was not working. (When I had talked to Dianne she recommended moving to Barton if my dds dyslexia was severe enough that her program was not working….which was the case.) As far as cost, I alway bought my levels new and resold them for almost the price I paid. So, while the initial investment was steep, I could resell one level to buy the next. I will say that working through reading and spelling in this fashion is labor intensive to get from begining to end no mater which way you choose. It takes alot of dedication fromn both parent and child.
After 5 or 6 levels in Barton I moved my dd over to a private Wilson tutor. I needed the break and the accountability. I think the way Wilson is set up is easier to understand without as many rules and exceptions. My daughter is making great progress with Wilson. The down side would be needing to pay a tutor….it necessitated me finding a job. :/
All that to say that I guess it really depends on your dd and her needs.
As far as math goes, that it a continual struggle for us as well. We did Touch Math for a while…that was recommended by our neuropsych. It was helpful for addition and subtraction. I don’t know where you are in math skills, but it is another option to consider if your find yourself looking for another program at some point.
Chris
November 15, 2013 at 6:13 pm
psreitmom
Participant
anabetica – We are currently using MUS, but it is not working as well as what I thought it would. I am interested in the right-brained method for math and I think Diane Craft also recommends Touch Math. I am looking at different options right now. I will look at Mastering Mathematics.
pinkchopsticks – I believe my daughter’s dyslexia is moderate, but I think, after looking at a picture of all the tiles that will be added in coming levels is going to be overwhelming for her, as she has had some visual problems. She gets very frustrated and confused with ‘too much’. I know that it’s going to take work no matter what we use, but I feel we may need to approach it differently. I do not have the option to go to a tutor. I am going to look at Touch Math as well.
November 15, 2013 at 6:23 pm
Betty Dickerson
Participant
How old is she? We have major issues with patience here. If she can’t get something down the first time around she becomes totally exasperated and quits. So, she is her own roadblock. Today she was doing a typing program for the first time–total meltdown, lots of drama. We talked about patience and having to do things several times before our fingers “learn” and she did better. She is turning 10. From all the research and time on the internet that I’ve spent the past 2 weeks researching math curriculums, I found so many parents with dyslexics this age having the same issues. But reading is finally starting to click with her. I wonder if there is a developmental milestone at this age and it’s a painful process?
What impressed me about Mastering Mathematics was reading about it from an adult who is dyslexic and right brained and now has studied this topic as it refers to learning, and after reviewing several different math curriculums, why she recommended this one. It is not impressive looking at all. Alot of the info I came across were old posts in the WTM forums. But I think in a few years, I will look back and realize that many of the struggles weren’t so much the curriculum, but just the developmental things going on inside of her at this age–like adjusting to more abstract thinking.
I don’t know if this helps. I don’t think there is a magic bullet (I’ve spent so much money in search of it). Alot of it is just sweat and tears, for them and for us. I would check her vision as well. Patience and perseverance. I hope you find something that works for both of you. I totally understand how hard it is.
Blessings!
November 15, 2013 at 6:56 pm
suzukimom
Participant
Well, Delta was reading (below grade level) before I realized he had dyslexia – it was his spelling that tipped me off with that.
we are using All About Spelling for his spelling, with a lot of review (I’m using ANKI for the reviews instead of the cards) – and his spelling has improved immensly. (He went from picking random letters to spell words – not phonetic, not visual – I have no idea how he would pick them…..) to getting review words right about 96% of the time when ANKI brings them up!
I think his reading has improved too – I’ve used a few different things to try to improve it…. I recently tried Diane Craft’s reading program – and he was so bored reading the lists of words… sigh. I hadn’t really found the best place to start for him in it. Right now we do some reading from McGuffey’s reader (a low level, to increase his confidence) – he reads along with audiobooks for his other subjects (or to me reading it)… and I’m also hoping that All About Spelling will help with his reading (which I’ve heard of people using for reading before All About Reading came out….) If we had the resources, I’d possibly buy All About Reading as well – it just isn’t possible right now.
For math, we are doing pretty good with RightStart math. The facts are slowly coming – there are times that I dispair because it feels like he forgot everything! (Common with dyslexics/dyscalculics….) – But we just take a break then and play games and do practice sheets….

November 15, 2013 at 8:56 pm
Rebekahy
Participant
We use Dianne’s program – I would say that my daughter has mild dyslexia – after using it for a year the reading and right brain exercises we’ve seen excellent progress including in spelling WITHOUT doing her actual spelling program, somehow spelling is just starting to improve. We did a very modified version of the reading program because I didn’t want to make her read lists for 20 minutes or whatever the time frame was, so we’d just do a page a day.
Suzukimom- if you’re not doing the physical exercises and writing 8’s with Dianne’s program I would HIGHLY recommend those as I think they are invaluable and I’m thinking about having ALL my children do them everyday regardless of whether or not they are right brained.
For math we use MUS, BUT to reinforce those math facts – we use multiplication.com – they have picture stories to help remember the times tables – they are animated and FREE and have puzzles and games to help practice the one you just watched.
November 15, 2013 at 10:16 pm
psreitmom
Participant
Thanks for all the replies. As far as the vision, my daughter actually had surgery to align her eyes, due to problems at birth. She is very complex. It is not just a dyslexia problem. She had a hemiplegia (one-sided CP). There are multiple areas of difficulty we are dealing with.
As far as the curriculum, I know we need to make some adjustments. I was thinking about going back to Phonics Pathways, which we were doing before Barton. I think it would basically yield the same results. I think spelling is going to be the biggest issue. I can teach her the sounds to learn to read, so the greatest task will be learning the spelling rules. It just seems like an expense to use Barton for spelling rules. Controlled reading is recommended in Barton. We are just finishing level 3 and was told my daughter shouldn’t be reading books other than what is recommended in Barton. She is sitting here reading a level 2 book right now. She wants to read so badly, and I feel if she wants to try to read other books, the exposure is good for her.
The math needs some adjusting and I am going to check out the different suggestions here. The rods in MUS just don’t seem to be working the best. I think more pictures and real objects would work better for manipulatives. I just have to decide what to use. There is a website for good practice for all ages in math and English that I just came upon today. It is http://www.ixl.com. Too many choices out there. Thanks for everyone’s help.
November 15, 2013 at 10:50 pm
MamabearCali
Participant
Subbing in as we are in a similar boat. My beloved son is 8 years old and with me doing reading with him 4 days a week an hour a day on my lap he has progressed to early 1st grade reading. I knew he had dysgraphis, but now we are certain it is dyslexia as well.
I am trying to decide between Diane Craft’s program and Barton reading. He is reccomened for LIPS primarily because his auditory memory is not very good at all. But I have not yet found a Lips program that I can access at home. So here I am hitting my head on what feels like a brick wall trying to make (for us) very costly decisions.
Any help is appreciated.
November 15, 2013 at 11:41 pm
psreitmom
Participant
MamabearCali- A friend in our homeschool group has a daughter with dyslexia. She was hardly reading 2 months ago, and she is 9. Her mom just told me recently that she starting doing working on readingeggs.com. She is amazed at her daughter’s progress since she started that program. I am not using it, because we have finished level 3 in Barton, and I believe most of the Reading Eggs program is what my daughter already had. It IS a hard choice when you have a child who struggles.
November 16, 2013 at 12:03 am
pinkchopsticks
Participant
Mamabear….my dd had problems with auditory memory. She started with a program called Earobics. It is ear training games on the computer. The levels are games that get progressively more difficult. That might be a good place to start if you are looking for something you can implement at home.
January 12, 2014 at 8:40 pm
Christine Kaiser
Participant
We will start with Dianne Craft’s BIT tomorrow. Does anyone who used Dianne’s method know of any online support forum?