Just wanted to share a great experience. Just set up my son with the CD player and Book CDs from Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic. Granted, it’s a new technology for him, and pretty “cool”, but at 11 years old, (dyslexic, rapid naming/word retrieval type), he has *never* voluntarily picked up a book!
I require that as he listens to the CD audio recording, he follow along and read aloud from the book (you can vary the speed of the CD playback to very slow for dyslexics). Now, occasionally, I can see he is “only” reading silently with the audio CD instead of aloud (a gentle reminder from me is what it takes to get back on track), but that’s OK.
What’s especially great about this technology, is that almost all scientific study supports the efficacy of reading practice, especially reading along with a voice to model good reading.
I *highly* recommend Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic. ($75/year for 1st year, then $25/year thereafter; $$249 for the special portable CD player (a regular CD will not work), though there are special desktop CD players which may be less money.
www.rfbd.org
KathleenW
Re: "Put the book down and get dressed":Words I've nev
Does the book come along with the CD? I tried getting books on tape and ordering the book from our local library but the words were not the exactly the same as in the book. My child loved listening to the story but was not able to follow along in the book because it was different. I couldn’t tell from the web sight with my quick scan if they sent a book along with the audio.If they did that would be a plus.
Check the edition of the book
When ordering books from Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic be sure to check which edition of your textbook is used by the school and is available by recording. There are slight differences between editions.
I’ve used this service for years and got all the way through college utilizing Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic. I strongly recommend that you simply pair watching and listening together. This is quite enough. By utilizing this practice for many years I have made myself actually quite proficient reader. Although, I still use recorded books since most readers read faster than I do.
Now with the advance in technology I utilize scanned books and text-to-speech software like TextAloud MP3 with AT&T Natural Voices. This combination can actually be better than most recorded materials.
Jim — Michigan
www.geocities.com/jnuttallphd
Recordings Blind Dyslexic
Unfortunately, RFBD does NOT include a book with the recorded CD. But by using the provided ISBN you can locate the exact book to read along with. (I’ve had some luck at the library and even greater luck buying used books at quite good prices at Amazon.com)
Current reading research confirms the benefit of reading aloud along with the spoken word. It uses several modalities (hearing, seeing, speaking) which apparently stimulate different pathways in the brain. So I insist on hearing my son read aloud with the spoken word. I have also recently purchased the Kurzweil 3000 which can read aloud from the Web as well as scanned books and downloaded Ebooks (there are other program which will do similar). While the electronic voice is not as pleasant as RFBD, it is adequate. In this case, the child must be at a computer and reads along with the text on the computer monitor. This “paired reading” is one of the few (along with “repeated reading” techniques that research supports for improved fluency.
The advantage of RFBD is the portability of the CD player (my son brings it to school and “reads” along with the CD while the kids have Sustained Silent Reading time; time that otherwise was spent staring off into space. Are there times when he just listens and doesn’t read aloud Yes, but even then, he seems to be reading along silently with the CD, and obviously there’s great benefit in that as well. (Disadvantage to RFBD is the cost of the Special CD player (a regular one won’t work) of about $250 for the cute portable (desktop units may be cheaper?)
All in all, a wonderful program.
Beth in FL
We use the older tape recorder, which was free for borrowing. It is not as portable as the CD player but he doesn’t take it to school. It depends what your purpose in using books on tape is. We use it to give him pleasurable access to the same books other kids his age are reading.
Beth
We have these books on tape and I love them. Now, I must admit I never thought of having him read outloud with the book, although I have had him read along silently.
Mostly, though, he has just listened to them. It is great to see him enjoying a book without us reading it to him and I think it has helped keep his vocabulary up to grade level. We’ve even taken them on trips and the whole family has listened to books. It got us through several longer than expected trips due to accidents and traffic!
It does make me sad though. I can see how much my son enjoys books when he doesn’t have to read them. He will lock himself in his room and stay in there all morning, just like my daughter does when reading a good book. I guess right now I have to accept the fact that he can manage his textbooks OK and that if he never finds reading books enjoyable, there are books on tape.
Beth