Mimio reading comprehension/Headsprout

[bochead]

Is this worth the £200 squandoolies? Or is there a cheaper option out there for an ASD lad with mainly receptive language issues. The book "Language for thinking" is really helpful for us to give you an idea of where I'm heading with this.

I know Moondog has often recc'd it, but it's much dearer than the clicknread phonics programme DS has nearly completed. (which I can recc' for other ASD kids as the consistency of this programmes approach is just right).

I'll need to start saving if there isn't a cheaper alternative on the market.

Are you talking about the 3rd one?

Ds has done the beginners (non-reader) Episodes 1-40 and is half way through 40-80. I have to say that I think it is the best thing ever BUT, I think that there is not enough explanation about how to get the most out of it and how to ensure children with certain SN get the most out of it.

I know how to make it work for Ds now, but we had some frustrating times at the beginning.

But I think you mean the latest new one!? Do you?

Thre isn't a 3rd one.
Thery have renamed it as the company was sold.
Hate the new name. [hmmm].
Expensive? What price do you put on literacy?
It gives you over 40 hours of highly highly crafted intervention with sophisticated tailor made error correction. A couple of quid an hour.

I thought there was one specifically for comprehension that was being developed for older children!?

Boch, I absolutely don't mind sharing what I have learned about how to make it work with DS if you buy it. It's really only about not rushing and consolidating learning, repeating episodes and keeping motivation high. His motivation now is simply that he knows he is learning to read and wants to learn more of it.

His writing is completely child-initiated and yesterday he wrote a story about a crocodile. Only could really be read by me, but that's not the point.

What price do I put on sensory integration, the ability to dress oneself, etc, etc? I'm already paying for BO & RRT & guitar right now. On benefits with a mortgage all this stuff adds up and the sprog still needs to eat lol! He also also needs listening therapy at £1300-1600 a pop.

I really like clicknread phonics for beginner readers as it's affordable, can be passed onto siblings, very structured, easy to use, and consistent in it's approach. I do honestly think it's worth Moondog taking a peek at it, to compare with the fist stage of Mimio/headsprout. My Mum's well impressed with it & she's a retired dyslexia tutor.

However I'm trying to work out what happens once they hit that typical ASD stage of being able to read the words, but not understanding the context they are used in etc. Reading comprehension we called it back in the old day I think.

Many ASD kids don't do well at English literature exams higher up the school system & DS is master of the "nod, agree, but not have a clue what you are jabbering on about". His SALT is really helping, but I can't help thinking this English comprehension programme is the missing piece. I've found another programme - "Jacobs ladder" that also looks at comprehension. I want to foster his theory of mind & critical thinking skills as I honestly believe it's a delay, not a halt our kids have.

My issues with it:-

1/ I have a natural waryness of software takeovers as often the new company has a different ethos/agenda from the original owners. In this case they are very focused on hardware.
2/Price - compared to other educational software it is very expensive. It'll take me 6 months to fill the kitty for this.
3/With the name change wasn't even sure if I'd got the right bit of kit (Moondog's cleared that up). We want the second stage of the programme for 7-11 year olds.

'What price do I put on sensory integration, the ability to dress oneself, etc, etc?'

Yes. I agree with you. When do you stop? When you are living in a hovel? When you are bankrupt? When you are eating out of bins?

I think the point here is that Moondog believes this will do what it claims, and your child will be literate as a result. You are not so sure that it does so are asking if it is worth taking the plunge, and you are right to be sceptical, because we are presented with so many promises to fix our kids that usually have pretty high price tags.

If it helps, I am impressed enough with Headsprout to be planning to buy the 7-11 one, and have also bought the original for my 4yr old who has now started.

In terms of the takeover: I don't think it is very easy to change the ethos and teaching methodology because that is its selling point. The scientific approach to learning with continuous testing of the product to increase the efficiency of learning. In terms of expense: Yes, it is expensive, but I feel that the efficacy gives a good value iyswim. Having said that, we've not tried the 7-11 one.

Hope that helps. Btw, they charged us half price for a second registration for the 1-40.

Gotta say - Moondogs never steered me wrong yet .

It's really helpful to know you've found the 1st section impressive enough to use with a second child. I've not come across anyone who has tried Jacob's ladder, so I'm gonna go with Mimio in the new year.

Sadly there's a real disconnect between what I'd like to do to help DS, and what is actually possibly given my limited budget, so I constantly have to prioritise, and pray I'm making the right choices.

I do prefer to ask as ALL these SN companies promise amazing results, but you do have to negotiate your way round the snake oil salesmen. I honestly can't afford to make mistakes with my purchases, and the change of ownership did make me think again. Hopefully my questions will help others too.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and rec Moondogs book recomendation for others with poor receptive language "language for thinking" as we've found it very, very helpful over the last year. At £28 on amazon it's been money well spent.

have you seen the amazon reviews for jacobs ladder though? they are very good, and there are text extracts at the prufrock.com website

Bochead, there are many great reading programmes out there and I've made a note of the ones you mention and will check them out. Thanks for that.

We are all sad about the buyout and name change.
There are two products, and original names were Headsprout Early Reading and Headsprout Reading Comprehension. As the names suggest, one teaches reading and the other reading comprehension.

The names are now respectively Mimiosprout and Mimio Reading which are completely stupid names (I emailed them to tell them so) but still same product.

Neither are designed for kids with SN but the research team I am a part of is looking at using this with kids with SN and with some extra materials which are not available to the publice (Targetted Practice and Intensive Practice) we have got really complex and needy kids reading properly. These would be nearly impossible to implement without someone showing you how (although I could easily run a workshop on this to equip you to do so if enough MNers were intersted. I do it week in week out with class assistants.)

Bochead, glad you are getting on well with LFT. I think it is great and so flexible. One copy can be used with an entire class at different levels.I originally introduced it as a bridge between the two Headsprout programmes.
Reading comprehension is a complicated areas but vital to address.

clicknread is just a nice simple beginners phonics programme - no language comprehension benefits claimed or obtained from it at all. It's working for my son who has reecptive language in the form of auditory processing issues, combined with the typical ASD love of consistency. Various TA's, etc "helping him" only confused him greatly, this cuts through all that crap of varying teaching styles etc, etc, cos it does not require him to concentrate on a human AND learn the sounds and blending etc. It takes the pressure off him totally compared to face to face learning.

I have found storynory.com - a free audio story site very handy for comprehension - especially those stories earmarked as being for EAL speakers. They explain concepts like "raining cats and dogs" well for literal thinkers like my boy. Aesops fables at bedtime and talking about the fables have also been good for language comprehension - again these can be downloaded for free off t'internet. Just two free places for that spot in the middle between the two levels. When kids aren't fluid confident readers but still love hearing a story.

So far I suppose I've mostly separated my lad's comprehension of spoken language and his technical reading ability. There comes a point where you want to start combining the two and we are almost there.

I'll chack that out too so thanks again.
If only more people realised as you do that technical reading ability and reading comprehension are two different things (albeit ones that fuse very quickly) our reading stats. wouldn't be in the mess they are in.

Bochead
I have never thought of it like that before (lightbulb moment) My ds2 may well learn better from a PC/programme too.
He really struggles with the pressure or perceived success/failure & not getting it correct, making mistakes on top of all the human interaction.
He is almost 10 but academically he is below 5 yrs accross the curriculum despite a pretty good level of understanding.
You are genius!