[rhssped]

I have a 3rd grade student who CAN NOT retain anything. I have tried everything possible in the past 2 years. Last year, he was on meds briefly and it helped. This year, mom says he cannot be put on any kind of ADHD medicine. I have researched a ton of strategies and used them all, but still have very little progress. He can sound out CVC words, but when it comes time to blend it- he either leaves off the initial sound or completely changes it to a different sound. Most of the time he struggles to put that initial sound at all- it’s like his brain literally forgets in a matter of seconds. And sight words- I don’t even know what to say about that. He is still on a Kindergarten reading level. Does not even know half of pre-primer sight words.

So- is there some kind of super intensive phonics/reading program that someone may know of that I could look into getting? I know there are so many out there. I was just hoping that maybe someone knew something research based/top of the line/successful that would help.

Any strategies or ideas is greatly appreciated!!

[sped91]

I'm doing Phonics First with my kiddos. It's Orton-Gillingham based. I'm seeing some good success with it. It involved an expensive training that my district paid for.

Last year I started using sight word videos from Youtube with my kids. I found sight word songs and then created QR codes to link to the videos. I saw amazing sight word growth from my kids. The Jan Richardson/Jack Hartmann ones are especially good.

What methods are you using to teach him to blend? Are you using manipulatives? Has he had his close vision tested by an optometrist or an ophthalmologist? Does his struggle apply to all written work including written math? Are you having him use his finger or a pencil to point to the letters as he is blending? I know many don't want students doing this because they fear it will build a bad habit and slow them down, but you can't get much slower than not being able to read.

[WGReading]

Do you have information about his phonemic awareness skills? As a reading specialist, when I work with students like you are describing, there is almost always a deficit in phonemic awareness.

You should also make sure any instruction includes orthographic mapping. David Kirkpatrick's book Equipped for Reading Success includes information on orthographic mapping activities and also phonemic awareness sequence/resources.

To remediate PA, I'd recommend Heggerty Phonemic Awareness, or One Minute Phonemic Awareness activities in David Kirkpatrick's book. Both of these resources have a phonemic awareness screener/placement test.

I use multi-sensory instruction strategies for literacy instruction (Orton Gillingham). My students with diagnosed disabilities respond well to the multi-sensory approach. It allows me to tap in to learning preferences and strengths, while also bumping up the repetitions.

[Haley23]

My first thought was PA as well. Dropping the first sound is a strong indicator of PA deficits. We have both of the resources mentioned by the pp. I've seen some good results with the Heggerty this year, especially with my 2nd graders who have pretty severe deficits. I am working in the K curriculum with them. It was painful at first, but now I can get through one of those lessons in about 5 minutes with my small group and then we can move on to the reading.

I liked the idea of the Kilpatrick activities being one minute, but many of my students also have severe articulation issues and those activities very quickly get into multisyllabic words. My students bottomed out with it pretty quickly due to not being able to pronounce anything close to the multisyllabic words they were supposed to be starting with.

I also wonder how fluent the student is with letter sounds. Does he take a long time to sound out the word, or can he say the sounds very quickly? If he's not able to say the sounds lightening fast, I'd keep working on fluency with those as well.

This year I also heard it explained that when kids are starting to sound out CVC words they should be "melting" the sounds together. It's impossible to type out what I mean, but instead of saying /c/.../a/..../t/ it's more like /c//a//t/ with no space between each sound/stretching the sounds into each other. Possibly obvious to others but it honestly never occurred to me to explain it like that and I always had beginning readers say and point to each individual sound before moving on to things like whispered rehearsal or silent rehearsal. Explaining it this way/practicing this way with my first graders has made a SIGNIFICANT difference in a very short amount of time.

Not sure if you've already tried this, but my severe strugglers also do better with just one word on a note card at a time when they're first learning to read. If they read it correctly, I give them another one. Even though practicing in other ways (i.e. list of words, on board, letter chart where you're pulling down sounds, etc.) uses the same strategy, there is something about this that works for them. Possibly just the motivation factor- the one word seems doable and it's a tangible thing of getting the card when you get it right.

For kids that really struggle with sight words, I write 5-7 in large print on pieces of paper and place them in another spot in the room (either lined up on the floor, or taped to the wall). I mix in a few they know pretty well with a few that are newer. I have each set written in a different color and then assign each student a color. The first round, I say the word and they find it and trace it with their finger while spelling it and then repeat the word. The second round, I say the word and they pick it up and bring it back to the table while spelling it/saying it out loud. It gets them up and moving and they tend to think it's a fun activity. This is in addition to many repetitions with reading and spelling/writing the word in each lesson.

[Tounces]

I have used Orton Gillingham. I think using Making Words would help by manipulating the letters and sounding and blending the letter sounds for different words. I like to use magnetic letters.

[Snowflake29]

I literally came on here today also looking for advice for a super intensive reading program so I’m glad I’m following your post!

For sight words, have you ever heard of SnapWords? It’s a multi sensory sight word system that connects pictures, sentences and movements to each sight word. My kids love them! I have them practice a stack daily and introduce 3 new words a week. This is my first year doing it consistently so I’m not sure about long term retention but I do think it’s working right now. I would check that out