Fin’s Wilson reading Journey continued

Blog Series #4

Wilson Success Story

Fin and Kate were able to sail through Step 2 of WRS easily.  She gave him the End of Step 2 test in January, and he aced all the substeps.  He could orally read word lists and passages with accuracy and fluency.  His word list reading was done in 35 seconds and passage reading in 86 seconds, faster than the 79 seconds suggested.  His comprehension measures were 100%, and he only missed one spelling word in the written dictation subtest.

Our third observation was during their 20th lesson.  Fin and Kate started Step 3 in WRS, which is work on multi-syllabic words.  This book holds the most significant challenge for Fin because he could decode many one-syllable words before the practicum, but he had no strategies to decode multi-syllabic words.  Kate used a methodical, thorough approach to teach him one syllabication rule at a time and ensure he could apply it successfully before moving to the following rule.  Her excellent strategy paid off because Fin could now successfully decode and spell longer words. He seldom needed her to repeat directions, tapping, repeating, and even pointing to the text without her prompting. As you can see from his written dictation, his handwriting improved; he wrote much neater letters, paid attention to spacing, and correctly marked concepts. Fin did need some help learning to repeat syllables before spelling, but that was to be expected because it was a new procedure with Step 3.  

Fin’s strength is comprehension.  His reading comprehension has improved since he can decode fluently and accurately.  Kate used an informational passage from the Wilson Academy, and Fin could read it aloud accurately and with prosody.  That is the ultimate goal of the Wilson Reading System!