Reading Fluency and Spelling Improve

Testimonial by Gayle Dowie

In Grade 1, Dean had difficulty with phonics and the blending of sounds. His progress with reading was fair, but it was in Grade 2, when the volume of work increased, that he really started struggling with spelling and reading.

He reversed words when reading, could not remember the sequence of letters in a word, and there was no recognition of words that appeared a few times on the page. Each word was sounded out and often he was unable to say the correct word after sounding out the letters. His reading homework was extremely stressful for him and his mother!!

The weekly spellings were learnt and he would get 100% for the test that week, but a few weeks down the line, even the simplest words had to be re-learnt.

Dean went for various assessment tests with a remedial teacher, a speech therapist, an educational psychologist and an IELD therapist. There was a slight improvement with their programs, but is was only when Audiblox was 'discovered' that an exciting and very marked improvement was evident. We started with a 'crash' course during the July holidays and continued with daily sessions.

At the beginning of Grade 3 his reading and spelling age were about 9 months below his chronological age. By the end of the year, after 5 months of Audiblox, they were slightly above.

Dean is now in Grade 4. He still has a way to go, but his self-confidence has grown, and he is now willing to participate in group reading and class activities. His long-term memory has improved, and most spellings are now remembered. If he has a problem, he can transfer what he has learnt to another word, and he is learning to break longer words up to make it easier to remember the correct spelling. His reading is fluent, with only a few incorrect words and hesitations. The other day he made this comment: 'I just love reading.'

For his report at the end of the third term he achieved 3 A's and a B, and one of the comments was: 'He has been enthusiastic with his reading, which will continue to help all areas of his work.'

An update on Dean's progress was received a year and a half later:

We are no longer doing Audiblox. Dean had had enough and his teachers felt he needed a break from it. As you can see from his year-end report, he achieved his aim of beating the girls in his class. Prize giving was a wonderful surprize — it took a while for him to register that his name had been read out!

Dean was first in class!!