Starting Lindamood Bell at 14??
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Anonymous
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My 14 year old was just diagnosed with dyslexia and adhd. To learn to read he had three years of one to one Orton Gillingham tutor at his old private school. Recent testing still shows major differences in decoding.
Is dyslexia tutoring at this age worth it? Has anyone used Lindamood Bell? Any and all thoughts appreciated! |
Anonymous
| I did a lot of research into dyslexia programs when my child was disgnosed. From what I learned, Lindamood Bell is super expensive and very hit or miss as to whether it works or not. You'll find many complaints of parents who spent thousands of dollars on the program with nothing to show for it. I ended up using a program called the Barton Reading & Spelling program which is effective for kids of many different ages and abilities and uses some of the elements of Lindamood Bell combined with Orton Gillingham. We used an online tutor to work with our kid and found it to be very helpful. But if you don't use the Barton program I'd stick with Orton Gillingham and find a private tutor or OG program (look into ASDEC) to work with your son over the summer. |
Anonymous
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OP, yes, tutoring for dyslexia is still very worth it for a 14 year old. I’ve reviewed a lot of the research - the peer-reviewed publications - and am unimpressed by Orton Gillingham. The evidence is thin for specific effects and the approach is fairly slow, which isn’t what you want. I’ve been using a few methods based on the Phono-Graphix approach (Reading Reflex, Reading Simplified), with great results. It hits decoding hard and RS in particular makes learning very streamlined. The evidence is fairly robust for this approach (P-G broadly).
Different things work for different kids, but I start where the evidence points, first and foremost. |
Anonymous
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You might look into a corrective DI program that’s designed for older children. Something like this:
https://www.mheducation.com/prek-12/program/corrective-reading/MKTSP-URA04M0.html |
Anonymous
| OP, It would be very difficult to give you a good answer here. Most people make a blanket statement about the necessity of an OG program and as the PP alluded, there really isn't solid evidence for that. In fact, a pre-packaged "program" is rarely the ideal fit for anyone. There are so many skills that need to be considered to identify the best approach and therefore it should be individualized. Don't let yourself become convinced that OG is the only way. People love it because there is often a lot of early success, but many, many children become stuck with it at a certain point and as PP suggested, it is slow and dry. If you'd like to share more details about specific strengths, needs, test scores, etc that may be helpful in getting meaningful responses. At the core, dyslexia is a language-based learning disability so you may consider working with an SLP who addresses literacy. |
Anonymous
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I'm a dyslexia tutor. We work with lots of kids in middle and high school, and yes, a 14-year-old can still become a fluent reader! The older students actually realize how much they're learning and often really appreciate it - we've had high school students we're tutoring tell their parents this is life-changing.
Orton-Gillingham is great for teaching phonics, but it's not enough. Most kids with dyslexia have weak phonological skills, and he needs those to be strong in order to become a fluent reader. There's more info on our website - look for Kids Up Reading Coaches. I've heard mixed things about Lindamood-Bell, including that it's very expensive and very rigid. But I don't have any experience with it myself. |
Anonymous
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Yes, it’s very much worthwhile to strengthen decoding skills. Reading is a life skill, and stronger reading will really help your child in school and in life. It’s never too late to learn.
Specialized, evidence-based tutoring for dyslexia is expensive no matter who you see. Typical rates are around $100/hr but certainly go higher. It’s not unusual for children to need one to two school years of tutoring in order to get caught up, and most program recommend tutoring three or more days per week, as that is what is indicated by research. I worked for Lindamood-Bell for a bit as a way to learn their program. It’s fine, but it’s not for everyone. I think of it as the “microwave cooking” of Orton-Gillingham based tutoring. I also don’t love the way they run their centers in the summertime: they’re packed full, not all of the tutors are well trained, and supervisors can be stretched a bit thin. Find an independent tutor with experience in reading remediation who also knows middle school kids well. You might try to see if there’s a learning specialist who tutors during the summer. Lab School used to keep a publicly available referral list of outside service providers. Orton-Gillingham based approaches would still be appropriate for your child. Wilson is one such approach that many teachers have training in. ASDEC teaches a Sounds and Syllables curriculum, which is also O-G based. It’s a great program for kids with moderate-to-severe dyslexia. However, ASDEC tutors can be rather rigid about starting everyone of every age at level I. I think that would be quite frustrating for a teen. That said, ask around and see if someone ASDEC trained is willing to do some assessment and start your kid on an appropriate level for his current reading ability. |
Anonymous
+1 Look into speech to print/linguistic phonics programs, like Phono-Graphix, Reading Simplified, EBLI, etc. |
Anonymous
| Lindamood bell reading programs are multisensory and focus on visual skills and memorizaton to help children become better readers. It focuses less on phonics and more on memorization, but can definitely work for some kids. |
Anonymous
| OP here. Thank you so so much for all of these responses. Think an individual tutor who uses a variety of approaches sounds like the best plan. I see that the Lab School has a list of tutors, does anyone else have someone they have used - or a business they would recommend? |
Anonymous
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Lab School list tends to be teachers who are 'sold out' of their inventory, in my experience.
Learning A La Carte is one company? |
Anonymous
| Where do you live? |
Anonymous
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I would look for a tutor who is a Fellow of the Orton Gillingham academy who likes working with tweens/ teens.
They would be able to design a very custom program to identify the gaps and remediate without using a canned program which can feel too childish. The Orton Gillingham Academy has a directory of tutors on their website which would be a good place to start. Fellows have a lot of experience across students and are often trained in multiple intervention techniques. This is hard work and teens need to be treated more as partners in their learning than children to be rewarded after each section like Lindamood Bell does. |
Anonymous
Just chiming in to say that this isn’t entirely true. Children memorize only common phonemes and some sight words that do not follow the rules they have learned so far. As an Orton-Gillingham based, multisensory program, it’s phonics based. I think when people hear or read “memorization,” it can cause them to link helpful programs to disfavored whole-language programs. |
Anonymous
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Lindamood Bell has changed my younger child’s life, in reading, comprehension, and math. He’s a bit younger, but it has been wonderful.
Our LMB tutors come to our house and work in an office space to limit distractions. Maybe someone can recommend a program like this in your area. It is very expensive, but these are basic life skills worth investing in if you have the $$$. |