T.R.I.P. First Update!

We have started the T.R.I.P. program with my 10 year old and my 5 year old has joined in too! You can read here why I decided to be a part of this review.

We only have a few mornings a week to do the program but we try to do it at the same time each day as the program suggests.

(From their website:)

"TRIP" lessons consist of hand-eye coordination training exercises to help those with Dyslexia, ADD, ADHD and other reading problems. "TRIP" has been in use at our reading center for over 30 years and has helped thousands. "TRIP" contains 20 lessons in downloadable form. Each lesson contains sight words, flashing practice and a story reading exercise. Also included is a home reading lesson video showing you how to use the exercises plus techniques to successfully help your child. In a recent survey done by a well known consumer magazine to help students with reading problems three strategies taught in our video are listed as being helpful. These strategies are: the use of a tutor, one on one instruction and a daily or weekly schedule."

I found the instructor DVD very helpful in learning first how to implement this curriculum. The video is very thorough and walks you through the first lesson. It shows you how to become your child's tutor as your child makes his way through the 20 lessons, guiding and correcting them through the hand-eye coordination exercises, reading, and comprehension. Here is a photo of my son after completing lesson 4.

Each lesson has two pages you need to print out. One is for sight words, the other is for reading comprehension and fill in the blank. My son is getting the hang of how the system works and  is progressing quite nicely through the curriculum. I have actually caught a couple of mistakes he was making in writing his letters that could pose a problem down the road.

The first part of each lesson consists of 10 sight words. The child reads these out loud and the parent looks for errors. Making a check mark beside the word only if they said the word correctly.

The second part of each lesson is called flashing practice. My son liked this part. There are three speeds to choose from in which symbols, numbers, letters, then sight words will flash and your child must write on paper what they just saw flash before them. We used the slowest speed since my daughter was trying to follow along. I think my son had more fun when he was being challenged at the higher flashing speeds.

The third part of each lesson is the Story Card. Here the child is challenged with a story where all the sight words are integrated into the story. The child must read along and comprehend the story with the sight words and fill in answers to questions at the end of the story. I love to see the excitement in my son's eyes as he gets to see the sight words being used in a story and he gets the chance to comprehend and discuss them as he fills in and answers the questions! These first four lessons are still very easy for him but I am thankful for my son's willingness to use the program and allow me the chance to tutor him and look for reading and writing errors as he becomes a mature 4th grader!

I found this quite from the T.R.I.P. website:

*Three-quarters of students who are poor readers in third grade will remain poor readers in high school.

– Yale University

For that reason alone I would buy this product. This is a great inexpensive product to allow parents to evaluate their own kids in the privacy of their own home. This is giving me the confidence that if my son becomes a great reader NOW, in the 4th grade, he will STILL be a great reader when he gets to high school! So far it has been a wonderful tool to evaluate my kids' progress in reading and writing skills. A private tutor would cost around $65 a session. This program only costs $19.99!

I have a few more sessions to complete before I finish reviewing this product, so check back and follow along with us on our T.R.I.P.!

I received a free copy of this DVD to review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations. I am part of The CWA Review Crew.