Dyslexia using AAR …or Barton

Barton only suggests not reading outside books until the child finished Level 4. The other recommendation is not to expect the child to do textbook reading on their own until completion of level 6. This is recommended to help break the guessing habit. After completion of Level 4, the expectation is that the child will be doing eye-reading outside of the Barton lessons.

My kids prefer Kindle’s Immersion reading, which they both did use while working through Barton level 4. Learning Ally has some of their books as VoiceText which is similar.

Even though the kids did not do outside reading other than the Barton books through level 4, both of them still was being exposed to great literature through the use of the Kindle’s Immersion reading and Learning Ally. Audiobooks would also serve this purpose.

My 11 yo completed 5 levels of Barton. He did complain through level 4 which is difficult since it covers a lot of material in depth. However, his spelling and reading has vastly improved and he is able to complete a lot of reading assignments independently with fluency. Independence and fluency did not happen with other programs.

My 8yo is halfway through level 4 and in the past year has progressed from non-reader  to reading multisyllable words with ease. This is amazing progress.

I keep the rule sheets of each level readily available for them as they work through reading and writing. I don’t expect them to memorize each rule as they learn each rule. I have found that having the rules readily available that they gradually memorize them. However, using a rule such as “Picnic Chicken Basket” has been far more useful and easier to memorize than anything else that we tried to use previously.

Both of my kids have been formally identified as moderate dyslexic.

HTH

I know Barton has helped and is helping many with dyslexia. When we got to a certain point, I just knew we couldn’t continue it. My daughter is complex. It is more than dyslexia we are dealing with, so maybe that is why we needed to take a different approach. She LISTENS to lots of stories, but I just knew that before the 4th level, she needed to be READING material other than Barton. I saw her light up when she began reading a real story. She was so excited and it gave her more incentive to try to read. Yes, working in Barton for a while helped in certain ways, but I could not fathom staying with just that for at least several more months, maybe longer. Learning the techniques in the early Barton levels did help. So, I can use some of those techniques with another phonics program which also gives the spelling rules. Just my own personal experience. Each child will learn differently, so what works for one, may not work for another. The choices are overwhelming.