Soar to Success

jannie

trying to survive....
Someone was asking in Special Education 101 about reading comprehension programs.

Any thoughts on the effectiveness of the Soar to Success to Reading program for middle school students?

Are there any other reading comprehension programs you would recommend?

My older difficult child 2 seems to be having major issues with reading novels....and he's recently been complaining of comprehension issues....

So far....he's fooled the school system and has done well on all testing...but I think he falls apart on longer texts....
 

klmno

Active Member
I don't know- but just thought I would mention that since being on mood stabilizers, my difficult child has complained (if you want to call it that- he doesn't like to read books) and made a point to make sure psychiatrist knows that he can read something then thirty seconds later, not remember what he read and not be able to answer a question about it.

Has this only been an issue since mood stabilizers were started?
 

jannie

trying to survive....
Good point...but this has been an issue forever...

He's only been on a mood stabilizer for about two months....
 

smallworld

Moderator
Jannie, have you thought about a private S/L evaluation to see where exactly his reading defiicits lie? We did that with my daughter A last summer, and it gave us really great info. Instead of using a specific reading comprehension program, we hired a 9th grade English teacher to work with A on her school novels. It's helped tremendously this school year, and I'm going to have the same teacher work with A on her summer reading.
 

JJJ

Active Member
If phonics are the problem, Wilson Reading is great. I don't have any experience with Soar.
 

Christy

New Member
I attended an in-service training on the SOAR to Success program but haven't had the opportunity to use it with students. I will say that is seems like a very good comprehension tool that is relatively easy to use. It has it's own reading material so it wouldn't directly relate to the novels your son is reading but once he became familiar with the with the program, he could apply the skills he uses with SSS to his classroom reading.

Does the school use the program or are you thinking of purchasing it for home use. I think it is rather expensive because the kit contains so many materials.

Good Luck!
Christy
Christy
 

jannie

trying to survive....
Getting a middle school or high school tutor is a good idea to assist with the novels...

I'm not thinking of purchasing the program, I'm thinking about hiring a tutor. I do work in a school and we have just purchased the program but no one is yet trained to use it.

I am thinking about a neuropsychologist testing...but somehow I still think he will continue to "hide" his disabilities because testing generally uses brief articles/stories...and he knows how to "work" these articles...he doesn't use his strategies for lengthy readings....He's actually been in the William and Mary reading/writing program since grade 2...and hasn't yet been caught. I just found out yesterday that he had NOT read his two novels from this quarter....he had convinced me that he did..and he skipped one other book last quarter...I know it iwll catch up with him. :biting:
 

smallworld

Moderator
You're right that neuropsychologist testing doesn't look deeply at reading disabilities. But it is very good at assessing cognitive, psychological and general academic functioning. I do think an S/L evaluation is a good adjunct to neuropsychologist testing if you're looking at a specific reading issue.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
hon,

If you work with the schools, is it at ALL possible to find one of the reading specialists you like and trust, and have them test difficult child with longer texts?

My mom and dad have a friend who is a reading specialist and she has been known to do this. It takees some work, and a fair amount of time, but it can be done.

Just so you know, she describes all the skills it takes to read and comprehend as a brick wall. Sometimes the wall is standing, and seems fine, but some of the bricks are missing. She has been known to dig for the missing bricks to help a student who seems to be doing well but shows some signs of problems, but it is very time consuming. In the summer she does it in exchange for other things (more of a barter), often because it is for a student with low income and the schools just don't have time to do this here.

Hugs,

Susie
 

Sheila

Moderator
Reading comprehension problems can be caused by many different things.

My difficult child required intensive language therapy. A LindaMood Bell program (Visualizing and Verbalizing) was utilized by the Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) and I also had a home program. But the program itself wouldn't have addressed all difficult child's comprehension issues.

Too often, everyone wants to attribute comprehension problems to ADHD. Longer text can be a problem on it's own, but that's just a contributory issue -- not the underlying cause(s).
 
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