Hi! We are currently using rod and staff English 3. He’s doing OK but it’s tough. He is dyslexic. I’m looking into more simple but yet still effective and less teacher intensive. I’ve heard good things about IEW and dyslexia. I am looking into fix it grammar. Thoughts? Can anyone compare the two or have used both and prefer one over the other?
We tried Rod and Staff English, too. Yes, it was tough and frustrated our boys…a lot. I was an English major in college and the teaching with Rod and Staff was intense. I changed our sons to. “Climbing To Good English.” It is comprehensive without being intense for them or me. It comes in a workbook format with a separate teachers’ edition.
“Climbing To Good English” is published by Schoolaid. Milestone Books has the series on their website: milestonebooks.com
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My son is dyslexic, and I actually just purchased the IEW program for use with him and his non-dyslexic sister. I am doing Barton Reading, and spelling for his reading program and their tutor support group is full of rave reviews of IEW for dyslexic kids. Many of the professional tutors in the group do both Barton, and IEW with their students.
He isn’t quite ready for it yet, we are in the middle of level 4, and Susan Barton recommends finishing at least level 4 before adding it. I’m planning to start it with his sister who doesn’t really struggle at school because I just don’t see her learning effective writing structure and style in school.
Based on what I understand about dyslexia, Barton, and the program so far it’s a perfect fit. It’s very structured, starts with the very basics, and builds in a way that explains it explicitly. It’s also adaptable to doing without any actual writing on paper, or reading. It could easily be done using text to speech both in the reading and writing portion. I love this because while he is still working on his reading ability he can start work on his ability to plan, structure, write, and self edit all types of writing.
The students are given clear checklists with each unit, and are only graded on the items on the checklist giving them early success. They continue to add skills, and expectations in each unit, but not until they are solid on the earlier skills. It is also suitable for teaching public speaking and presentations which for a dyslexic kid is going to be easier than a report.
The other great feature is you can use any source material for what to write about, and you can use subjects that interest your student. It can be used to reinforce their knowledge in any subject they are studying. I don’t feel like it will be very teacher intensive depending on the age. It requires modeling in the beginning of each unit, but then as they understand they can work on it independently if they have access to speech to text tools or can type.
I hope this helps. I can let you know as we get going in it, but I’m happy with the training materials I’ve studied so far.
Janae
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Hi! I am new here. We just starting using IEW for my son who just started 4th grade and I absolutely love it!! He has autism and hates doing schoolwork because it is hard for him. The method IEW teaches is not hard for him and he is understanding it. Hope that helps! I think it is worth the $$.
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Hi! Thank you! We went w FIG and so far so good. He really likes it too!
Oh good! Glad it is going well.
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