Why can't I?

joyfulheart · Post by **joyfulheart** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 8:33 am

I've been obsessing, praying about and thinking about doing DITHOR with my 3rd grader (bigger).

He IS an emerging reader, but is currently under lots of intervention to improve his (dyxlexia based) reading issues, comprehension, etc...

One of the things he seriously needs help with is comprehension, and understanding main points of the stories. Which DITHOR does.

So I'm seriously thinking about doing DITOR with the emerging readers set, to try to improve those skills.

I prayed about it all day yesterday, and someone has offered me their used copy.

Any idea why I can't or shouldn't do DITHOR this way?

paliz · Post by **paliz** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 8:42 am

Is there a reason you aren't doing the Emerging readers list? I don't see why you couldn't use DITHOR but I haven't used it either.

joyfulheart · Post by **joyfulheart** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 8:49 am

sorry, I took an allergy pill this morning and I'll all muddy headed. LOL

I was trying to say (and didn't do a good job at it) that we have the emerging readers set with Bigger, and want to do DITHOR with that.

It looks to me like the site recommends DITHOR to be with the INDEPENDENT reader only.

blessedmomof4 · Post by **blessedmomof4** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 9:46 am

The Bigger manual has the schedule for reading the emerging readers in the appendix (and the child reads each portion aloud to you), and has 3 comprehension/discussion questions for each daily assigned portion. The Storytime box of the daily lesson plans covers literature, character, and genre discussions while allowing you to read aloud to your child-I believe children who are continually read aloud to also improve in comprehension and reading level. Together, these pretty much cover the skills in DITHOR at a simpler level, so you can focus on getting your child to the point of being an independent reader, so he can later use DITHOR with success instead of potentially being discouraged because he's not ready. So, using DITHOR at this point may just be redundant and overkill. I hope that made sense.
By the way, my 3rd grader is also using the emerging readers, because at the beginning of this school year, I knew she didn't have the reading and writing skills to do DITHOR. My 4th grader is using DITHOR 2/3 because at the beginning of this year, she was below grade level in reading. Both girls have made great progress in the past half year.

my3sons · Post by **my3sons** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 12:29 pm

blessedmomof4 wrote:The Bigger manual has the schedule for reading the emerging readers in the appendix (and the child reads each portion aloud to you), and has 3 comprehension/discussion questions for each daily assigned portion. The Storytime box of the daily lesson plans covers literature, character, and genre discussions while allowing you to read aloud to your child-I believe children who are continually read aloud to also improve in comprehension and reading level. Together, these pretty much cover the skills in DITHOR at a simpler level, so you can focus on getting your child to the point of being an independent reader, so he can later use DITHOR with success instead of potentially being discouraged because he's not ready. So, using DITHOR at this point may just be redundant and overkill. I hope that made sense.
By the way, my 3rd grader is also using the emerging readers, because at the beginning of this school year, I knew she didn't have the reading and writing skills to do DITHOR. My 4th grader is using DITHOR 2/3 because at the beginning of this year, she was below grade level in reading. Both girls have made great progress in the past half year.

I agree with Lourdes here. I think you'll find that using the comprehension questions in the Appendix, and doing the DITHOR-like lessons in the Storytime box of plans, you'll be set! Those 2 things combined together lay the foundation for great success with DITHOR. I know your ds will benefit from those as much as mine did! You'll have plenty of time for DITHOR after that, and then your son will have a nice strong start to it, with all of his acquired arsenal of skills from the Emerging Readers and the Storytime plans!

With that being said, if the Emerging Reader's Set is smooth sailing, and it begins to seem like your ds wants to clip along at a quicker pace with that, you can always do 2 days of the Emerging Reader's plans in one day, doubling them up to move through them more quickly. Whenever you finish the Emerging Reader's Set, you can just begin DITHOR, Level 2/3. So you can always have that option in the back of your mind as you begin the Emerging Readers Set and Bigger's Storytime box. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie