What Kind of Results Do You See?
(The message below was posted on Audiblox Message Board 2)

Posted by Cindy G. on October 7, 2002, 7:22 pm

Hi,

I am considering this program for my son and would like some observations from those of you who are using this program. He is ten years old and although he reads well phonetically, his fluency is terrible. He frequently loses his place on the page and complains that the words "move" is a diagonal direction. Also he does a lot of substituting, for example, saying "a" when the word is "the".

Would this program help him and how? I am still reading "The Right to Read" so maybe I should just be patient, but this has been such a long struggle with him and I am desperate for answers.

In addition to his reading problems, he has had O.T. in the past because his handwriting is simply awful and he has trouble with fine motor skills.

He is homeschooled and we are working with a reading specialist so he gets plenty of individual attention...nothing seems to be helping. Any observations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Cindy

Hi Cindy,

My son could read (but below grade level) when we started with Audiblox. His reading was very choppy and he would lose his place on the page all the time. His reading is much better now because the reading exercise in AB helps to "widen the eye span".

When children have trouble learning to read they narrow their focus down to sound the word out phonetically - letter by letter. By doing this, they lose their place on the page easily. I was told my son had no peripheral vision by a Developmental Optomitrist and we purchased glasses and did eye exercises - which was a waste of time.

I now realize his peripheral vision was fine, he was just focused so narrowly on each letter because he was trying so hard to sound it out due to his troubles with reading. That is why he would lose his place on the page so easily as well. This problem is mostly behind him now since doing this program.

We were desperate when starting AB and now my son is working on grade level work and it is a real pleasure listening to him read - which he asks to do often now. Before he would avoid reading and have a temper tantrum if I insisted - what a difference!

Wendy

She used to always complain of letters moving. It doesn't happen anymore. She sometimes still uses her finger to keep her place but my husband and I just recently noticed that she rarely uses her finger now. So fluency is building. She also used to work so slow that we'd run out of time before finishing school. She's so much faster now. One lesson in math used to take her up to 2 hours and now she does 1 and a half lessons in 45 minutes with almost 100% accuracy. I can't wait to see how far she'll go on the program. I know it will be just what your son needs. I don't know if you read the beginning of Kori's diary but we paid tutors and went through every avenue we could think of before trying Audiblox. Now I have absolutely no desire to try anything else. We are sticking with the program till she's above grade level. I also plan to use the preschool program with my son. If I could pick one thing that has been the biggest blessing from this program I probably say that it's the concentration level that Kori is at now. She can stay focused on school for about four hours with very little break time. Her reading has also improved although we still need to work at it she is up by at least 2 grade levels.

Hope that helps,
Michelle

Michelle,

I am about 99% sure that this is going to be the answer I am looking for. I want to finish reading the right to read and I will probably order as soon as I am finished. Did Kori have the dysgraphia problems? I believe that is the set I am going to order. As a matter of fact, I may just go ahead and order it today!

Thanks,

She was tested last year (4th grade) and scored at a beginning 2nd grade level on writing skills. She writes neat but takes so long and holds the pencil very tight. She also pushes down very hard. We have noticed a big change in how hard she writes since doing Audiblox. She used to break her pencil lead so much that we kept the electric sharpener next to her with about 5 extra shapened pencils. She now uses the same pencil most of the day and only sharpens it when it gets dull! I'm not even sure what part of our program has helped but it seems things are progressing so rapidly since we've begun Audiblox.

We're rooting for you! We all know it'll work for you if you commit to it!
God Bless,
Michelle

Hi, Cindy,

My background is OT, yet none of the things I was doing with my daughter really was having much of an impact. She was still many years behind in most subjects. But when I saw Audiblox online last year I thought, "This is what has been missing in my approach." I was not working in an integrated, systematized fashion on foundational skills. I was principally working on higher level skills and when I did work on foundational skills I wasn't doing it in a systematic way so as to build one skill on another. As soon as I saw Audiblox I knew that Audiblox had what was lacking in my approach. I realized I had been working from the top down and Audiblox worked from the bottom up, so to speak.

You ask what results you can expect but I can't tell you for sure. The first day my daughter said she felt like her brain was being put in order. Your son may not experience that. He may even feel frustrated in the beginning, but as you persevere with him, you will start noticing things. At about two weeks we noticed that our daughter was able to organize her chores better. Three months into the program she was able to verbalize her thoughts better and she had come up several years in her Math already!

Who knows what progress you will see initially in your son, but I do know that what you will see will be improvements in areas that are foundational to his areas of need. You may not see improvement in the areas of reading and penmanship in the first days and weeks, but you will see improvements in some areas. And later you will see these strengths built on so that his reading and writing also improve. But you need to remember that if you just work on the reading and spelling by using a program only geared at those areas, you will not be really addressing the underlying problem. No matter what the learning difficulty is, Audiblox deals with the foundational, underlying skills.

Audiblox takes a commitment, but it is a commitment that really pays off for most kids. I don't think you will be disappointed.

Best wishes,
Barb

My son (age 8 1/2) has been using Audiblox for a few months now. I thought that he wouldn't benefit much from the reading excercises because he read pretty well, but after starting the program, I realize that he really wasn't reading that well and he has improved! He's my oldest, so I guess I thought he was doing ok, but when I saw improvement, I realized that he really did need some help. But where Audiblox has really helped is in his ability to organize and focus. He has ADHD and I'm not saying that AB is curing him, but I definitley see improvement in areas of concentration and focus in his work. He also struggles with awful handwriting ( he can write pretty neatly when he is doing focused copywork and I have written what he needs to copy from), but if he just has to write for any other reason, it's usually pretty sloppy. When I started AB, they sent me an email questionaire and based on my answers, they recommended what program I should get to start with. (It wasn't the one I would have chosen, but now I see why they gave me the one they recommended, so I really feel like you should get their opinion before ordering). Good luck and I really think it would help in your son's case.

Angela