Gail Benson shares her son’s success in overcoming a learning problem.
School calls with bad news
At the end of 2010 the teachers of the school Troy attended called me in and indicated that Troy had a learning problem when it came to spelling and reading. They felt strongly that he should repeat Grade 2 as literacy skills needed attention and they feared that he would fall behind in all subjects if these skills were not improved.
I remarried in December 2010 and so Troy and I relocated. My step-son is one year younger than Troy and was promoted to Grade 2 for 2011. My husband and I decided that we did not want Troy to repeat the year and be in the same class as his new step brother. We chose, instead, to find additional assistance for Troy to help him improve his reading and spelling abilities.
I did my research and liked the Edublox concept. Troy was assessed in January 2011 and commenced lessons immediately.
A noticeable improvement
Troy enjoyed the Edublox lessons and always showed enthusiasm to attend classes.
His confidence in reading and spelling has increased steadily through the year. He has coped exceptionally well in the Grade 3 class and has shown an interest in reading.
The night before spelling tests was always a nightmare in our house as there would always be tears of frustration and stress because he battled to recognize words that he was to be tested on. As the year progressed, his attitude towards spelling began to change and I recognized that he was starting to apply the principles being taught at Edublox.
His teacher reported a significant improvement in the 2nd term. Although he still battled with his spelling, we could see from his spelling tests that he was improving every week. I could see that when he did not attend Edublox (during public school holidays) he did worse in his spelling tests.
Troy has never shown an interest in reading, probably because he battled to understand what he was reading because it took so long to work out each individual word. By the 3rd term of last year, Troy has taken to reading his Bible before bed every night. He now comfortably reads out aloud and when we are driving in the car, I find him reading every sign board and advert.
I am incredibly proud that Troy has moved from the position of “needing to repeat a grade” to achieving “3+” for all reading related topics and “3+” and “3” for all phonics and spelling activities.
Not yet out of the woods
Although Troy has been promoted to Grade 4 and the teacher feels that he will cope well, he still requires improvement in unprepared spelling and dictionary skills. He still battles with unfamiliar words, and when reading he often has to spell out the words before recognising them.
There are also specific sounds that confuse Troy, such as “-use”, “-ough” and “-oar”.
We will continue to work hard this year.
I have attached Troy’s report from Grade 2 and his final report for Grade 3. His Grade 3 report reflects the evaluation per term and it’s fantastic to see how he has improved through the year.
Regards
Gail Benson
Troy’s report at the end of Grade 2 shows that he struggles with reading, spelling and writing:
A gradual improvement in reading, spelling and writing can be seen from term to term on Troy’s Grade 3 report:
An example of Troy’s school work, 8 March 2011:
An example of his school work, 13 January 2012:
