End of the year...end of the term...

We are closing in on the end of 2010. What a year it has been! So much has happened here in Middle Tennessee, in Beacon, and even at our house. We have had floods and record heat, we have brought new tutors and staff on board, and our little personal Beacon family has added a child. And now as we enjoy the holiday season, we must also look ahead to the new year. Some things for you to think on:

- how is the school year going for your child so far?
- if they are struggling, what interventions have you tried to help them?
- is it now time to try something new or bring in outside assistance?

Remember, that the older your child gets, and the further they progress in school, the more challenging it can be to catch them up when they are behind. How long is too long to wait? Our general rule of thumb is to seek assistance by the middle of the first grade year. If your child is experiencing severe challenges and/or your teacher has mentioned specific concerns, you might want to seek assistance before then. If your child is older, even in middle or high school, it is NOT too late. Seek out the help they need. Find the best fit for their needs, and go for it. Don't wait, and don't run out of time.

Beacon is here to help with reading lessons and screenings for Irlen Syndrome. We'll be here when you are ready. Call us to schedule your appointment before the end of the year, and we will take 10% off the cost of your lessons. Initial consultation is offered at no cost, and we will tell you if we are not the right fit for your child - we will even assist you in located appropriate resources. Don't wait any longer. Life is not showing any signs of slowing down.

Adult Student Update

Well, our adult student (we'll call him Tom) is doing absolutely wonderful. He has completed eleven lessons, and we will test after 20. Tom remains very enthusiastic in his work - he is always here as scheduled, always on time, and has always completed his assignments. Tom is becoming more comfortable and confident with his sounds and words, and is slowly beginning to sound out and read words independently. We will continue to work through his Beacon lessons, as well as adding a bit extra for him (extra sight words, extra practice on sounds he might struggling with, things he can try to read/think about during his normal day) to work on. We will keep you posted on that!

Have a blessed day and remember to be the change you want to see in the world.

Tutors are ready!

Come on in! We have five new tutors for you, so keep watching over the coming days, and I will give you a bit of info about each of them. If you live in the Old Hickory, Mt. Juliet, Hermitage, Donelson, etc. area, give us a call and we will have some ready to work with you! I am so excited about each of our new tutors. They are all excited and ready to work struggling readers. We offer a no cost, no obligation screening along with a 50% money back guarantee if we do not acheive a one year growth in word recognition. You can't lose with that! Can't wait to hear from you! If you would just like a bit more information, come and see us next weekend at our parent seminar. Information on that can be found at http://www.beaconliteracy.com/news.php .

Almost there.

We have about 3 weeks to go - I am very anxious to test Cooper and see how his scores come out...but I will wait! He continues to do his homework perfectly and I am always amazed at his effort and enthusiasm. We still have some letter reversals and word substitutions in our fluency practices, but they are getting fewer and farther between. Cooper is also beginning to correct himself when he makes a mistake and and something just doesn't make sense...that is our goal...for Cooper to be able to self-monitor and continue to progress without too much extra help. We want him to be able to keep up with his peers. I will try to post again next week, but will definitely have something to say when we are finished!
Have a great weekend!

...and going...

Sometimes Beacon Reading amazes even me. Cooper is moving right along in his lessons. We have missed a couple due to illness, field trips, etc...but he is keeping up just fine. I try to send home readers that correspond to our lessons. I am finding these stories on readinga-z.com - great site...if you tutor, teach, do anything with reading, have a look! A true plethora or resources!
Back to the point...Cooper is reading those books much more fluently than before, and we are receiving extremely positive feedback from his parents & teacher.

Cooper still has a bit of difficulty on timed reading tests (AR), but this is to be expected...his fluency has improved tremendously, but combining that word recognition improvement with fluency and comprehension simply takes a bit more time...we are just 8 lessons in - so we have about 12 to go...I'll keep you posted!

Making progress

Well, Cooper did remember his glasses, and we made it through the story. He did great! Much better than I anticipated. He did not struggle with any part of the story, and even stopped to tell me his thoughts on certain comical events in the story - like the pig that didn't like the mud - without any prompting. That is one of my favorite things about Cooper. He truly engaging himself in his work, even the most mundane. So, he will be working on that story until Monday, and then we will get back to our regular lessons.

Cooper tells me that his reading is getting better, and things are a little easier! That's what I like to hear! We are 7 lessons into our twenty, I'll keep you posted!

A New Adventure!

Well, we have a new student! We have completed 5 lessons. He is in the second grade, and is very bright. Cooper is wearing Irlen (read more about Irlen at www.iren.com) lenses to help with his vision and reading. They seem to be making a difference. I can certainly tell a difference when he is wearing them - his reading is much more fluent. Cooper seems to comprehend things quite well, but struggles with basic decoding and fluency. He often guesses at what the next word will be. So, we will work on that...

We are six lessons into the Beacon Literacy Program (read more at www.beaconliteracy.com) ...Cooper is doing very well with his lessons. He always completes his homework, and is such a pleasant student to work with. We have worked through the short vowels and vowel controlled r. Cooper often struggles at the beginning of each lesson, and sometimes throughout the lesson. He is, though, very quick to correct himself, requires little instruction, and - I cannot say this enough - he has the BEST attitude any teacher could ask for. We are supplementing our Beacon instruction with short, decodable books from Reading A-Z. With Cooper being only in the second grade, I would expect that our typical 20 lessons will be sufficient. I would like to try a couple of other things, however, so we may do a bit more.

Next week, we will veer slightly from our traditional lessons and read through a short story that Cooper will listen to and write out for homework. He will also have a few questions to answer about the story. I have two goals for this: 1) to review/reinforce what we have been working in the past 3 weeks, and 2) to focus a little more on his fluency. I am curious to see how Cooper will do with this, and how he will feel about it. I do hope he remembers his glasses!

Cooper's word recognition tested at 2.83, and he reached a frustion level on a first grade reading passage. Our goal is to bring his work recognition up to at least a 3.8, preferably a 4.0 or higher, and bring his fluency up to at least an intruction level in 2nd grade, preferably 3rd or fourth. I have not tested comprehension. From the brief time that I have spent with Cooper, though, I do not feel that comprehension is a major issue for him.

Tutoring on School nights

We are 17 sessions into our 20! Both students, brother & sister, are doing very well. I always find it amazing (even in my own household) how different two children can be. The brother, we'll call him Mark, is doing wonderful with his lessons, but has a very difficult time focusing for long periods of time, and has very little interest in anything related to schoolwork. He does much better on our Saturday lessons when he has not had a full day of school and homework. His sister, let's call her Marie, could work for hours at a time. Mark is struggling more with basic reading and decoding, where Marie is having some difficulty in that area, but is having more difficulty with comprehension and recall.
So, with Mark we are working with the Beacon Literacy Development Remedial Reading Program as it is traditionally set up and have not deviated from it's methods and procedures. He seems to be doing very well with this. We spend about 30 minutes per session. I try not to let lessons run longer than that, as he begins to lose focus. Beacon lessons, typically do not last longer than anyway, but with students like Mark, you sometimes get to stop in the middle of session and "chat" about other things :). I am very anxious to test him and see what gains he is making.
I started Marie with Beacon lessons, but doubled them up. We worked on those for about 10 sessions, give or take, and now we are using the Beacon methods with other materials. At the moment, we are Brigance Building Skills. I am quite surprised, at grade 6, at how unfamiliar Marie seems to be with answering basic comprehension and vocabulary questions. We are spending a great deal of time of that.
We will see how things go! I will be testing both students in about two weeks and then we will determine if we need to continue with our sessions.