I worked at Lindamood-Bell. AMA.
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Anonymous
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I am not OP, and have never worked for Lindamood Bell. I am an academic therapist, and also work in the public school system. I received my training at ASDEC, and feel I can provide a little insight here.
The school system interventions can interfere and be detrimental. The simple, quick explanation for this is that it is sometime worse to learn something incorrectly than not at all. I can not tell you the number of classrooms in which I have seen adults modeling incorrect sounds for students for just one example. I have even seen it done in the few schools that still have an OG type program, like Wilson, and the person administering the intervention had no training. Sounds is just one of the examples of errors, but also the most basic and fundamental elements. Wilson's can be a great program for a lot of kids, but does not always address the needs of more severe reading deficits. Certainly though, any program (regardless of its merits) must be used the way in which it was intended by properly trained staff. If you are lucky enough that your school has a good program, I urge parents to enquire about the training of the staff implementing the intervention. Both things matter...a lot. Please don't believe that any intervention can not hurt to try. It can. As for the question of doing it yourself at home, I would discourage this in most cases for the same reason. Unless you already have an extensive background or are willing to take trainings at ASDEC, you may encounter the same issues. This is not just simple tutoring. If you do have the time to take classes at ASDEC, I recommend it highly. Many of the therapists, myself included, started this because we have a dyslexic or special needs child. We believe very strongly in what we do, and are commited to the community we serve. However, there can be issues working with your own child unrelated to being properly trained. Keep that in mind, and proceed only if it seems appropriate. As to the expense, we realize that it is expensive. Too expensive for many, and I take that into account when working with families. I do not charge nearly the rates you have listed for LB. Please understand though that therapist put a lot of money and time into trainings, lesson planning, materials, etc. The charge per session is not just representative of that one hour with your student. I do my best to keep my rates competitive. I believe ASDEC may offer sypports for people who meet income requirements as well. At any rate, I just wanted to address those couple of points. I make recommendations to families like the ones mentioned when appropriate, but it is not a sales pitch. There really is not a shortage of students, and that isn't why most of us are doing this anyway. It is more as advice from another special needs mother who has experience in this particular area. I fully understand when people can not make that commitment based on their own situation. I have to make those same tough decisions for my own kids. |
Anonymous
While there are elements that are the same for every student, the program is customized to each person’s learning strengths and needs. Not all students start or end in the same place. Students can have different learning goals too. The best way to get a time estimate is to go for a consultation with a learning center. Students usually start by working on phonemic awareness, syllabification, and word decoding skills. Then spelling and reading comprehension tasks are added in. LMB can continue working on reading comprehension for quite some time if the student/student’s family desires. Lessons will increase the difficultly if reading material to an age appropriate level and may integrate note taking or writing skills. |
Anonymous
I’m sorry that your child has faced some challenges in reading and spelling. I’m really glad that LMB helped. I am not a diagnostician, nor are the folks at LMB, so I’m not qualified to make any determinations. Also, educational psychologists who do make diagnoses look at a lot of information from a range of tests, questionnaires, and interviews before making determinations. I do understand, though, how frustrating it can be to want a clearer explanation for why your child is facing particular challenges. (I’ve been there with my own family.) I’d start by going back to whoever diagnosed the working memory deficit. Ask for a follow-up appointment to see if the current challenges your child faces are consistent with the prior diagnosis. Share your LMB success and ask for good resources to use moving forward. Some practices will also recommend re-doing children’s neuropsychological evaluations every few years as findings can change as children develop. You could also try another round of LMB tutoring. Many children do return to learn new skills as they get older. |
Anonymous
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How do you make VV not boring? Kids seem
to be bored by it |
Anonymous
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Dear OP,
I have a 6yo son with ASD who I am considering using LMB to help him learn to read. He will be in KG this year in a small private school. He receives OT and ST and attends Social Skills classes. His math skills are fine. He can count to 100 and understands numbers, their order, and simple addition. He is not yet reading although he knows all his letters and the sounds they make and has at least 10-20 sight words. Should I continue to work with him - he does make slow progress or should I go with LMB. Financially, I could do it if I sacrificed some of his other therapies, classes, but I only want to do it if it is going to make a true difference long term. Thoughts, advice? One other thing is that he is really resistant to going to LMB for some reason - he went there for an assessment and they seemed super nice so I'm not sure why he does not want to go there. Thank you! |
Anonymous
You’ve given no indication as to why your child would need any type of reading intervention. NONEWHATSOEVER. He’s perfectly posed to have a great kindergarten. Save your money for music lessons and sports teams and family vacations. Your kid is fine, and it’s 1000% fine that he is not reading. —a kindergarten teacher |
Anonymous
I have a similar child and since his sister was dyslexic I was thinking the same about intervening early. But honestly managing the social and fine motor demands of preschool and kindergarten were huge challenges for him so as long as his phonemic awareness/ sight words were steadily increasing through K we let it go. The pressure of the LMB program, which my daughter did one summer, would have pushed him over the edge I believe. Once he got to 1st grade, the other demands were easier for him and his reading took off. I was so relieved and excited for him. I am usually a test/ intervene early poster since dyslexia is so straight forward to identify and treat. But in your son's case I strongly agree with the kindergarten teacher. If dyslexia runs in your family- tell his special ed team and they can help you monitor progress. |
Anonymous
UGH. This is why I don't like teachers. They prefer to denigrate parents as helicopter parents and be super dismissive, rather than look at the evidence and their own failures. A 6 year old, who only has 10-20 sight words and is at risk of language problems because of ASD and is making "slow progress" should absolutely be getting extra support so that child makes at least average progress (not slow progress) and doesn't fall behind. Signed, a Mom whose son was diagnosed at age 4 with a language disorder, but whom the school system refused to help because I was a mom who "couldn't cope with the fact that he just wasn't that bright" and was repeatedly told be teachers that he was lazy, unmotivated and not smart and that all kids learn to read by age 8. Finally, at age 8, I pulled him out of public school, sent him to a private school for dyslexics, where he made rapid progress in reading in just 2 years. OP, listen to your instincts. If you think your child needs extra support in reading he probably does. |
Anonymous
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Wait- why did you get a LMB assessment for your ASD child who is already in ST? They don't diagnose.
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Anonymous
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I am as annoyed by dismissive teachers as anyone. And I think that K/1/2 teachers who can't identify patterns of learning challenges consistent with dyslexia are engaging in educational malpractice. And I wish that was a real crime.
But LMB isn't extra support for reading, it is a heavy-duty dyslexia intervention. It is hard enough to get rigid kids to participate in regular therapies. I think there needs to be some evidence it is an appropriate intervention. |
Anonymous
LMB may call you a “clinician” but completing their training doesn’t make you one. If you don’t have a relevant graduate degree in a related field, you’re a paid employee who work with clients. You’re using their marketing spin to justify their exorbitant prices. |
Anonymous
| I am the one who posted about a 6yo with ASD who is going to KG but seems to be making very slow progress despite me working with him all summer to get him up to speed to attend a small private KG. He receives therapies after school which include OT, ST, socials skills. Over the summer, he has just attended a few half-day camps and has been travelling to visit family. I try to spend 30+ minutes every day teaching him how to read. He is able to learn one on one but it takes a lot of repetition, but I know from preschool and other group activities (like karate, swimming, etc) that in group he can not focus/pay attention, follow directions, so unless he gets a lot of intensive one on one reading instruction, he likely not going to be able to learn to read like other kindergarteners. LMB was recommended to me by a family friend who has a similar son a few years older. She said LMB was where her son finally learned to read. I don't think he was labelled dyslexic, just ASD and slightly low IQ of 70-80s. Anyhow, I was going to do LMB to help him be able to read and have a good foundation for future learning. However, I'm beginning to wonder if I could just continue to work with him and save all the $$ as all his therapies/education has been very expensive. |
Anonymous
| With those diagnoses I would say he is doing really well going into kindergarten. And the school should have resources to help. |
Anonymous
Orthographic dyslexia with a possible diagnosis of inattentive ADHD is my immediate thought. |
Anonymous
| How much of what you do is through the Visualizing and Verbalizing and how much is something else....and what is that something else? I know people who just can't afford the time or money for LMB. I always recommend the VV workbooks, which are cheap, but I always wonder if there is something else they would be missing. Thx. |