I am working with two very bright (IQs >99th %-ile) dyslexic twin boys who just finished 3rd grade. One twin earned Bs in most of his subjects this year and his teachers comment that he is a cooperative, hard worker.b This boy is moving right along with Lexercise. He is motivated to earn points even if there is no associated prize. He improves his accuracy nearly every day. With weekly clinic sessions and daily Lexercise practice he is making steady gains.
His twin brother, on the other hand, failed 3 of 4 subjects this spring and didn't pass his end-of-grade reading exam the first time he took it (although his evaluation suggests that he is reading 3rd grade text at an instructional level. He said last week that we are "torturing" him with Lexercise. His mother said that "nothing motivates him." His Lexercise Workout has included Isolator and two MatchStar games: Words Printed & Words Printed-to-Words Spoken. His percentage accuracy has rarely been over 80% on any game.
I made a deal with this boy:
I shortened his Workout to consist of a 5 minute Isolator game (the one I want him to practice most) and a 1 minute MatchStar: Words Printed Game and a 1 minute MatchStar Words Printed-to-Words Spoken Game AND I agreed to decrease the length of his Isolator game by one minute each day when he achieves an accuracy >80% on Isolator the previous day. If he achieves two days in a row at >80% his level will be advanced. and re-set.
We both signed this "deal." The first day after we made this agreement he scored > 90% on all three games and 95% on Isolator. He was proud of his hard work and liked the idea that he had some control over his work time the next day. He did realize at some point that his brother, whose Workout was set to last 15 minutes, was going to be able to make a lot more points than he was, with a 7 min.(or less) Workout. The boys' mom allows them to buy privileges and computer time their points. So, we'll see if he decides to work longer for more points. But even if he doesn't decide to work as long as his brother I am happy. He is bright enough that, if he focuses (as he has to in order to score at a high accuracy level) he will master the patterns addressed at each level with just a few minutes of practice each day.
I think Lexercise may have started to break up this boy's resistant, oppositional approach to practicing things he finds difficult. I have asked mom (who is a physician) if she'd be willing to write a paragraph for this forum with her impression of how Lexercise is working for her boys and she said she would....so stay tuned!