Thursday, October 22, 2015

Proof The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading Actually Works


In June, after we had finished our school year, I had my kids take the DORA reading assessment (purchased through Seton Testing and administered online through Let's Go Learn).

We took summer off from school. We started back in August, and I began using The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading with my 4th grade struggling (dyslexic) reader. We finished the book in 10 weeks. It wasn't always easy. We both wanted to pull our hair out sometimes. It was 10 weeks of intense work. However, it worked. Here's proof.

The DORA Reading Assessment tested her high frequency words, word recognition, phonics, spelling, vocabulary, and comprehension. Here are her results:




Let's take a moment and praise God right now!!!! Her high frequency word score stayed the same, but that doesn't surprise me, or concern me, because TOPGTR is a phonics program, not a sight word program. As you can see her overall word recognition jumped significantly. However, the main score I wanted on this test was that phonics score...what the book is all about. She went from a high second grade level to a mid 4th level (aka right where she should be) in 10 weeks. She did not score a 4.83, which doesn't surprise me either, because the last 2 sections of TOPGTR are the multi-syllable sections, and she struggled most with those. However, that's okay. I know what to continue to work on. Besides, that is expected to be mastered by the end of her 4th grade year. We have time. She's never had a problem with vocabulary and comprehension, but those increased slightly anyway.

The author of TOPGTR specifically states in the book not to worry about spelling while focusing on getting the child reading. So, we didn't. Her spelling still increased slightly, but this is obviously something we will now need to put more intensive work in.

It is said that at the end of TOPGTR students are left reading at a 4th grade level. Well, here's proof.

Note: Below is an affiliate link. I get a portion of the sale price via Amazon credit if you purchase through my link (which I'd greatly appreciate). However, I purchased this book on my own, and this post and my previous review are all true to my own opinions and experience.

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2 comments:

  1. BrookeOctober 22, 2015 at 4:20 PM

    Congratulations! Job well done, Mama. I understand the frustrations that can come with learning to read. May I ask how you approached the book to complete it in 10 weeks? Did you complete X amount of lessons per day or did you just work on it for a specific chunk of time each day? I would love to try something similar with my 4th grader. Just curious what worked for you. Thank you for your testimony!

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    1. Educational RootsOctober 22, 2015 at 4:29 PM

      Thank you! The first 2 weeks we got through the first 6 sections (60 something lessons) very quickly. This is everything up to (but not including) long vowels. So basic letter sounds, CVC words, etc. Because this was "easy" for her, we just zoomed through that part. Then starting the 3rd week we did about 5 lessons a day. I would NOT recommend that with a young child, but for us it worked. I wouldn't have been specifically pushing it for such a short amount of time, except for the fact that I am about to have a baby and really wanted to finish the book before the baby comes.

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