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My 5yo has had some learning and speech issues, diagnosed with Apraxia three years ago. She's made great progress in her speech, but still struggles with reading concepts. (I think she has some processing problems.) I'm starting to see a learning pattern in her -- once she learns something one way, it really gets "stuck" in there and then trying to introduce the same thing a different way just doesn't click for her. For example, learning her letter sounds -- after a year and a half of speech therapy, listening in on phonics lessons with her sister, going over and over flashcards, taking a phonological awareness class at the speech clinic and doing homework through the week for that, she STILL didn't learn her letter sounds until last summer when listening to Leap Frog videos over and over all summer long. And now, she struggles to remember certain letter sounds unless we make the sound or hand motion that went with it in Leap Frog. But she is anxious and ready to learn how to read... begs to, in fact. She does basic worksheets okay. As long as there's enough repetition of the same thing -- and we occasionally jog her memory with the Leap Frog clues -- she does okay.

So my question is this... I'm thinking that RME would be a great program for her because of the way it emphasizes each letter sound and the blends, setting them apart from the others in the word. So that she can really "see" them and recognize the markings for each one. But I'm afraid that she'll get "stuck" on those markings and come to rely on them so much that she can't read without them separately from the RME lessons, kwim? Or do you think this might pass as she gets more and more comfortable with reading real books?

Also, what about the Italic print used in RME? She's doing A Reason for Handwriting and that's going just fine, plus I have CLP's Adventures in Phonics that we've just started. Do you think it would be okay to use RME even with the different style of print? When I did RME with my oldest, she was also doing the Italic workbooks, but she didn't have any learning issues, either, so it was a moot point, really.

Any thoughts? Has anyone used RME with a struggling learner?

I can't answer any of your questions but I wanted to say "Way to go Mom!" And encourage you! hugs!
Tansy

I used RME with my daughter, who has vision problems, during her first grade year. She had been through a year of pre-K and Kindergarten in a private school, and still did not recognize many of her letters or know their sounds. (We did not discover the vision issues until well into her K year.) So, when we began homeschooling her for 2nd grade we used RME. I loved it! The special markings really helped her to understand when the 'A' is short or long, etc. She did a super job with it and felt good about being able to read the passages that come later in the book. By the time we finished the program, she was able to read with a bit of help on the bigger words, and she was so proud of herself. RME took a non-reader who was convinced she couldn't do it and would cry if we tried to make her and made her into a confident reader. I'm so happy we used the program, and I plan to begin with my 4 year old very soon. Also, by the end of the program, my daughter was saying that the 'special markings' got in her way, so she wasn't stuck needing to use them indefinitely. She is now using the emerging reader's schedule in Beyond.....and looking forward to using DITHOR in the Fall. I think it's a super program and I hope my comments have been helpful. Good luck with your decision!

Thank you! So there's hope... I guess it might just take a little longer with her, and LOTS more patience....