Remedial ReadingWilson Language System

Just for fun:

• How many syllables are in the English language?

• What two consonants never end a word in the English language?

• What do eat, bread, and steak have in common?

• What is the most common vowel sound?

• List three words with split vowels.

• What is the difference between a homograph, homophone, and homonym?

Answers:

• 6 (closed, open, vce, -le, r-controlled, double vowel)• V & J• EA double vowel –different sounds• Schwa: salad, seven, lesson, Alaska, compliment• Create, violin, reopen• Examples:

homophone: rose & rose - different meanings/pronounced the samehomograph: live & live - pronounced differently/spelled the samehomonym: stalk & stalk- same spelling/same pronunciation/different meanings

Dyslexia

• http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/09/11/whats-going-on-inside-a-dyslexic-students-brain/

Wilson Language System

• Uses a multi-sensory approach to reading and spelling along with teaching patterns and rules.

• First published in 1988 and has developed into training teachers and providing materials. Their website provides videos.

• Wilson has published research and testimonials about its’ effectiveness.

• Check www.wilsonlanguage.com

My personal experience:• Can be modified to suit the students’ needs• Can be used to “plug holes” so to speak, and go on• Teaches both reading and spelling, although spelling skills usually follow

behind the reading skills (Wilson promotes 95% word reading vs. 75%-80% spelling to continue)• Easy to use as the teachers manual:

• gives explicit directions• lists skills that you are teaching and gives a broken down type of verbal dictation of the

entire lesson.• breaks daily lessons into parts to keep the lessons moving• Provides a lesson book page to actually write plans

• Reading for some older students actually becomes a study of the English language

Getting Started

• Use the WADE to assess students (see handout) Wilson Assessment of Decoding and Encoding

• Sounds in isolation including consonants, digraphs/trigraphs, vowel sounds, welded sounds, and additional sounds (tion, sion, etc.)• Reading words grouped into syllables (non-sense words too)• Spelling words also grouped into syllables• Reading and spelling sight words• Fluency in a words per minute chart

• Wilson has all students start with either Book 1, Lesson 1 or Lesson 3• Referred to as Lesson 1.1 or 1.3

• There are also two levels of words, A and B• A is for elementary, ESL, or older students with limited vocabulary• B is for students with a varied vocabulary-the Wilson recommends that you start with A level

words with all students and progress to B

• Lessons are referred to as 2.3B = Book Two, Lesson 3, B vocabulary• Book 1-teaches closed syllable pattern, consonant sounds, basic digraphs, and short

vowel sounds and making these words plural.• Book 2-teaches closed syllable pattern with welded sounds, blends, and digraph-blends.• Book 3-teaches two and three syllable closed pattern and “scooping” words into

syllables.

Multi-Sensory Part

A large part of the Wilson are the sound cards:

• I used a SMART Board with unlimited letters

• Sound cards on the chalkboard for easy manipulation for teaching and student spelling

• Wilson also has small magnetic boards but they are difficult to use for some students

Multi-Sensory Wilson recommends “tapping-out” sounds

• Consonants, vowel use one finger

• Digraphs use two at the same time

I haven’t had much luck with getting older students to “tap-out” sounds so I use dry-erase boards, scooping, and counting syllables.

I also think that using the SMART Board helps with the multi-sensory part of the system.

M a p map

Lesson PlansLesson plan pages are provided and the teacher can actually take notes

on student progress during class and continue the day to day lesson plans as the lesson progresses and decide the next days plans.

Review sounds students are struggling with or present new

sounds

Review and teach new skills

Use flashcards and play games like “Collect the cards” or “Around the World”

Use the book to read words, sentences.

Back to the sound cards and review sounds in the opposite

Spell using the sound cards

Use dry erase boards or paper to spell words and sentences. Practice capitalization and punctuation.Read stories

from the bookRead orally something the students like to teach comprehension, vocabulary, literary elements.

My own additions:• The Wilson provides fluency practice in the form of phrases. • I actually use Wilson controlled stories. • Students are tested at the beginning of the year and given the story in a file

folder to take home and practice always carrying the fluency in their backpack.• I start every class with fluency (which students should have) and actually time

fluency three times a week at the beginning of the year and twice a week during the second semester.• I have a file box with all the stories accessible for students in case they forgot

their fluency and for obtaining new fluency stories as they progress.• Students chart their own fluency progress and eventually, they can time each

other.• The very first reading of a story is “cold” and every other reading is “hot.”

This is charted in two colors.

Fluency Charting

Book 1 Book 2 Book 3 Book 4

30

25

30

25

50

30

40 40

55

35

50 50

Fluency

cold hot hot2

Book 1 through Book 3

• Book 1 starts with closed syllables - three sounds. By the end of Book 1, students know: all basic alphabet sounds and short vowel sounds, plural (s), diagraphs. Examples: gum, sad, fox, chop.

sat---set---sit mad---met---mitt---mutt to practice vowel sounds • Book 2 adds welded sounds (ang, ank, ong, onk, etc.) plus two-letter

blends, three letter blends, and diagraph blends.sang---song---sing sank---sink---sunk

• Book 3 moves from one syllable words to two or three syllable words.sunfish---punish---extinct---athletic

Book 4 through Book 6

• Book 4-starts a new syllable-vce (long vowel sounds)*e kicks the vowel and the vowel says it’s own namebathe---reptile---give (v never ends a word)---involvedissolve---valentine---trombone

• Book 5-open syllable-cv (y as a vowel; first syllable/i/, second syllable /e/ and . . . the schwa sound)

hi---cry---protect---skyline---pantry---comprehend---compliment• Book 6-suffix endings (including 3 sounds of –ed) + cle syllable

hopeful---responded---hopelessly---maple---castle

Books 7-12 = more complex concepts• Examples of concepts taught:

-c or g followed by e, i, or y = soft sounds-dge & nge fudge & plunge-tch & ph-sion/tion-r-controlled syllable-double-vowel syllable-suffix endings that change the original spelling

hope/hop hoping and hopping• All of the lessons teach exceptions to the rules.

• End.