Review of the Wilson Reading Program
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 Mark (who has dyslexia) was my student as I progressed through learning three different reading programs. We started by using LiPs and Seeing Stars, then I used LANGUAGE! and finally (thankfully) I learned the Wilson Reading Program. All the programs were beneficial for Mark, but after I had Wilson's training, my skills improved greatly and he made much faster progress. |
Wilson is based on the early 1900's foundational work of the reading giants Samuel Torrey Orton and Anna Gillingham.
Here I'll introduce the Wilson Reading Program, explain why I like Wilson, list when Wilson works and when it doesn't, tell you a little about how I discovered Wilson and what programs I'd been using before that, and list some pros and cons of Wilson.
See also general information about remedial reading programs.
Wilson's mission, in their words:
To provide quality professional development and on-going support so that teachers have the skills they need to help their students become fluent and independent readers.
How I Describe the Wilson Reading Program
To me, Wilson is a powerhouse reading program for struggling readers (with or without a learning disability, like dyslexia), packed into a deceptively simple-looking 10-part lesson plan.
Wilson is more effective than most other programs for some very good reasons. Elaborating...
What Do I Love About the Wilson Reading Program?
- Frequent change of pace and short time spent (3-5 minutes) in the lesson parts. This keeps everyone's interest and attention, while supporting robust learning and durable memory.
- Use of sound cards to teach concepts. Students see as well as hear the concepts you're teaching.
- Multiple opportunities throughout each lesson and methods for students to learn and practice each word type and concept, both in reading and spelling
- Extensive controlled text for students to practice what they are learning
- Methods and materials that teach students to "see" critical word components, like vowels, digraphs, suffix endings, syllables (colored sound cards)
- Materials that keep students actively engaged and provide multiple opportunities to demonstrate and practice what they're learning
- Flexible progression that allows the teacher to customize instruction to the abilities of the students
- Tools to help kids stop the "guessing habit"
- Quick and simple assessment tool (charting)
- Reading and spelling are taught simultaneously, thereby reinforcing the learning of both
- Lesson planning flexibility that allows the teacher to customize the lesson to focus on the student's particular needs
- Hands-on, multisensory methods and materials that keep students engaged, and enhance the learning input from multiple sensory sources
- Wilson's materials are excellent (but teachers might not think so at first glance). There are no glossy pictures, which would allow the student to learn to guess at the words from picture clues, instead of using her decoding skills.
- The rigorous Level 1 Certification training, which includes a supervised practicum, helps a teacher thoroughly learn Wilson while gaining significant skill as a reading intervention professional.
As a Private Reading Tutor and Emotional Freedom Coach
In my private reading practice, I generally get referrals of students who have failed in every attempt to learn to read. I work with people of all ages, 1st grade- high school and adult, who come to me as non-readers.
I get calls from the parents of kids who have not succeeded in years of special education instruction and months of other programs (like Silvan).
Most importantly, using Wilson, even the most seriously learning disabled students learns to read.
Return to top.Discovering the Wilson Reading Program
 The Wilson Reading Program was an excellent choice for Jeff. He needed a lot of repetition to learn letter sounds and to be able to recognize words by sight. Wilson allowed me the flexibility to keep Jeff working on similar words, sentences and stories until he achieved mastery (accuracy, speed and ease). |
When I found Wilson, I had previously been using five different programs: LiPS, Seeing Stars, Visualizing and Verbalizing (all Lindamood-Bell programs), Great Leaps (to develop reading fluency) and LANGUAGE! (also an Orton-Gillingham based program).
After a brief exposure to Wilson at a conference workshop conducted by Barbara Wilson (author of Wilson Reading System), I bought just the Instructor Manual.
I quickly saw that the lesson plan structure alone would immediately improve my effectiveness as a reading tutor.
I was also impressed with Wilson since it was the first program I'd come across that offered certification for instructors, which includes a supervised practicum.
The practicum requirements include teaching 60 lessons, progressing your student through four of Wilson's twelve steps, and being observed five times by a Wilson Trainer.
Wilson's thorough and demanding training is creating a growing league of expert reading teachers throughout the English-speaking world.
What, No Lesson Plans!
One thing about Wilson that is both good and potentially frustrating, is that there are no pre-written lesson plans. The reason for this is that every struggling reader is different, so to be optimally effective, custom lesson plans must be written by the teacher.
Since the students must achieve mastery before progressing, the length of time needed to learn each concept will vary greatly from student to student.
Pre-written lesson plans would be far less effective for the type of student who needs a remedial reading program. The fact that teachers must write all their lesson plans both enables and encourages the teacher to focus on the problem areas (Wilson calls them "trouble spots") of the student and to address those areas in future lessons.
Pre-written lesson plans could not provide that level of customization and individualization.
Customized and student-focused, teacher-written (not company-written) lesson plans for every lesson should be a quality of all the best reading programs. Good teachers know and expect that.
Return to top.Use the Wilson Reading Program When...
- Students are in grades 2 - adult with readers in the lowest 30th percentile, or with a language-based learning disability (dyslexia)
- Students guess at words or who cannot read "nonsense" words
- Teachers are well-trained and/or have earned the Wilson Level 1 Certification
- Group size is six or less
- ELL students speak and understand English, but cannot read it
- Students haven't been successful with other reading programs
- Students are solid in reading, but have poor spelling. (Just certain parts of Wilson are used to teach spelling.)
Don't Use the Wilson Reading Program When...
- Students are pretty good readers, with just a few gaps in decoding. An example would be difficulties reading multi-syllabic words. Rewards might be a better choice then.
- You want a whole class reading program for 1st grade, with a typical classroom. Wilson is too basic and too slow-moving for the "average" student. Fundations is a great program for whole class instruction in K-3.
- The teacher is unmotivated and doesn't want to exert too much energy. It takes work, creativity, intelligence and energy to teach dyslexic and other struggling students to read. A fully scripted program may be better for untrained and unmotivated teachers.
- Students have solid decoding skills, but lack fluency. Great Leaps would be a better choice for those students.
Pros of Wilson
- Wilson really works well with students with dyslexia.
- Wilson often works where other programs have failed.
- Wilson manual is well-written with explicit teaching instructions.
- Wilson lesson is varied and keeps students' interest.
- No pictures - students must use word clues to decode.
- Covers the "Big Five" reading essentials of phonemic awareness, phonics, decoding, vocabulary and comprehension plus spelling and the mechanics of writing.
- High quality training is available with a supervised practicum
- Wilson materials are reasonably priced
- Online training is available
- Wilson provides free phone and online teacher support to answer questions
- Current event articles are offered weekly through a Wilson subscription service (Wilson Academy). Articles are written at a decodable level for students and at a higher level for the teacher or more advanced students. These are great for comprehension, vocabulary, reading skill application and fluency practice.
Cons of Wilson
- Wilson teachers must write their own lesson plans.
- There are no color or pictures in student materials
- The teacher must have adequate intelligence and language ability to comprehend and teach the code of the English language.
- Training is necessary for the teacher to be effective. Most teachers will need training beyond the 3-day Applied Methods workshop to impliment Wilson correctly and to get optimal results with their students.
- Low IQ students or those with language processing difficulties may have a hard time learning the concepts.
Wilson is the primary program I use with dyslexic students and other struggling readers.
I have such predictable success with Wilson that I only reach outside the program when my student needs something the Wilson Reading Program doesn't provide.
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