Barton and its comparison with other programs
image shot at Aro Ha
I have now been involved with the Barton Reading & Spelling System for 17 years. I have tutored many children and been so impressed with how well students respond to it. I have also learned about other structured literacy programs out there. What makes Barton stand out is this: most other programs try to get the child to be reading at grade level as quickly as possible. With this goal in mind, they introduce as many spelling patterns as possible to the child as quickly as possible. For many reading challenged students this is just too much too fast. In fact, I had inherited a student who was doing private one on one sessions with a Slingerland tutor for 2 years. Now well into 4th grade, dad had the teacher assess his reading level and it was still at the end of 2nd grade. After hitting this wall with Slingerland, he came to me and with Barton he made great progress. Another girl began with Lindamood Bell’s Seeing Stars and quickly hit her wall. Transferring her to Barton was the better choice as well. Why is there such a difference?
Barton is extremely systematic. It ignores grade-level standards and focuses on the fact that these students tend to have a strong sense of logic. The Barton program teaches the structure of the English language from the most used spelling rules to the least used. It introduces the rules in a way that each lesson builds on the knowledge of the previous lessons. You can just see how the students begin to turn on their “lightbulbs” and just get it. It is certainly overkilled for some students, who are not wired to need this intensive style of instruction, but for those that do need it, it’s like magic! Barton is delivered in a one to one setting so that each student can move forward at the correct pace for them. We can then move as fast as a student can go until we find a hole in their understanding and then we can slow down and strengthen that part of their foundation skills so we can then continue to scaffold on top of them, knowing our building won’t collapse. Because we can go one step at a time, this system works for the most profoundly affected to those only mildly affected. (Those folks just go through the program much faster.) Barton deals only with short vowels in the beginning. Controlled text limits the words the student is asked to read to those short vowel words. Any other reading is encouraged to be done using either audio recordings or having it read to them so they are still having access to grade level and above texts. We want them to still be growing their intelligence and their understanding of the world, as well as growing their book vocabulary. Their reading level will catch up. If students start young, in first or second grade, they will typically be reading grade level books by the time they are in the middle of Level 4, after around 12 months of tutoring on average. Long vowel sounds are first introduced at the beginning of Level 4, along with syllable division rules.
The unique thing about the Barton Reading & Spelling System is just that. It also focuses consistently on the spelling rules, unlike most other structured literacy programs out there. Each reading rule is taught along with the exceptions to that rule, then immediately, the related spelling rules are introduced. Everything is integrated nicely in a very logical format, and the students absorb the new information pretty easily because it makes perfect sense to them. No matter if we start with Kindergarteners or 6th or 8th graders, the magic in this program works the same. The students begin to feel more confident and take more risks with their reading and their writing. It just warms my heart to see the changes in my students!