Barton Reading & Spelling System verse All About Reading/Spelling disagreements flood Facebook dyslexia groups. Passionate positions exist on both sides. How does a parent chose? Many chose on the basis of price. Barton is much more expensive than AAR. Does cheaper mean it’s the better option? Let’s dive a little deeper. Let’s move beyond price to look at how the programs compare on instructional content.
In full transparency, you need to know that I’m a certified Barton tutor, but I’ve also used All About Spelling and All About Reading. I’m biased toward Barton, but this comparison is as unbiased as I can make it.
So, I looked at Levels 1-3 of the Barton Reading & Spelling System and Level 1 of All About Reading and created a comparison.
Placement/Screening Tests
Both programs have some type of screening test for beginning the programs, but they have different focuses.
Barton has a 3 part student screening. Students must pass part C in order to begin in the Barton Reading & Spelling System. The part C of the Barton Student Screening is to test auditory discrimination, memory, and sequencing. These skills are critical to using an Orton-Gillingham approach.
AAR has a 2 page placement test that asks the teacher/parent to assess the student’s readiness in letter knowledge, print awareness, listening comprehension, phonological awareness, and motivation to read. There is nothing in this placement test that addresses auditory discrimination, memory, or sequencing.
Phonemic Awareness
All of Barton Level 1 is dedicated to phonemic awareness as a critical first step to beginning reading for a dyslexic child. In 80% of the population, phonemic awareness develops naturally, but in 20% it does not. That 20% represents the dyslexic students. These children must be explicitly taught phonemic awareness.
All About Reading does not have any foundation phonemic awareness level. It is stated in the placement test for level 1 that the student should display phonological awareness. There is a phonemic awareness activity in most of the lessons in Level 1 called “Change the Word”, but in most exercises the initial sound is the only sound changed. There are a few times when the ending sound is changed. I did not see any vowel changes.
Students with dyslexia need intensive work in this skill.
Multi-sensory
In all three basic levels of the Barton Reading & Spelling System, the student is using tactile (touch and say), auditory and visual senses. Barton uses wooden tiles in their program. Given a choice between wooden and plastic tiles, my students strongly prefer wooden tiles.
All About Reading also has a multi-sensory component. The students as asked to touch and say (tactile) under the letter cards, and then blend sounds into a word by sliding their finger underneath the letters.
Nonsense Words
From level 1 through level 3 , the Barton Reading & Spelling program uses nonsense words as an instructional/assessment portion of almost all of the lessons. There are a small handful of times when nonsense words are not part of a lesson.
I found no use of nonsense words in All About Reading Level 1.
Fluency
Both All About Reading Level 1 and Barton Levels 2 and 3 have fluency pages. The fluency pages are in the student book, and part of every All About Reading lesson.
The fluency pages for the Barton levels are contained on the tutor support page of the Barton Reading website. All tutors who have purchased a Barton level can access these with a username and password.
Sight Words
Sight words are introduced very differently in both programs. In the Barton Reading & Spelling System, sight words are introduced in Level 3 once all the foundation work is complete. The student is given a list of approximately 14 sight words to read and spell. The student only works on the words they have difficulty with.
In the All About Reading program, sight words are introduced in Lesson 26. There are only two introduced at a time. The student is only reading these sight words. They are not spelling them. Reading sight words is typically not what dyslexic children struggle with. They more often struggle with the spelling of the sight words. The spelling of sight words does not seem to be addressed in All About Reading Level 1.
Spelling Rules
There are 7 spelling rules in Barton Level 3. One of those 7 rules is the FLOSS rule. The FLOSS rule tells the student that in a word with one vowel ending in f, l, s, or z must be double those letters.
All About Reading also introduces the FLOSS rule in Level 1, but it merely states that some words need this. There is no explanation of why it is needed.
Unit syllables are also introduced in Level 3 of the Barton Reading & Spelling System. These units include -ang, -ing, -onk, -unk, etc. The All About Reading program introduces the sound card -ng, and then puts the a, e, i, o, and u with it. This is slightly problematic as -eng is not found at the end of American words. Teaching these sounds as units makes it easier to understand that these vowels make an unusual sound when combined with -ng and -nk.
The concept of closed syllables is also taught in All About Reading Level 1 and Barton Level 3. Open syllables are not taught until Barton Level 4. All About Reading teaches them in conjunction with closed syllables.
b/d Confusion
The confusion between b and d is one of the very classic warning signs of dyslexia. The Barton Reading & Spelling System addresses this strongly in Level 2. Students are required to check each “tricky” letter each and every time before they read it to eliminate all guessing.
All About Reading addresses this in an appendix of Level 1. The approach AAR uses to address this confusion is from a handwriting standpoint. Correct formation of the letters should help the confusion. This is not enough to help a dyslexic student overcome this ingrained confusion.
Grammar and Syntax
Barton addresses grammar and syntax from Level 2 and up. All About Reading does not address grammar and syntax in level 1.
So, which program is right for your dyslexic child? That choice is yours. Barton is a much more intensive program that covers a multitude of elements that are essential to learning to read and spell.
AAR does not appear to include all the essentials that are necessary for a dyslexic child nor does it have the depth that the Barton Reading & Spelling System does.
Feel free to leave a comment letting me know why you chose one program or the other!
All About Reading covers phonemic awareness intensively in its Pre-reading level. Level 1 is for students that are ready to begin actual reading.
All About Reading make no attempt to address spelling at all, as it’s companion program All About Spelling covers spelling extensively.
Since you seem to have missed these fundamental aspects of All About Reading, I think this is biased toward Barton and not a full comparison.
Thank you for sharing your point of view Robin. I did use the Pre-reading level of AAR for one student. It really does not deliver the same level of phonemic awareness as the level 1 of the Barton program. This student needed several months of Lindamood-Bell LiPS intervention before he was even ready for Barton Level 1. It took him a few months to master Level 1 of the Barton System. This young boy is just one example of the many students I’ve worked with over the past few years. I’m not sure if you have used Barton level 1, but if you have you can surely see the clear difference between AAR Pre-reading Level and Barton Level 1.
As for AAS, you are correct. I didn’t use that in the comparison. My understanding, and please correct me if I’m wrong, is that AAR Level 1 is to be completed before starting AAS Level 1. I used the first 3 Levels of AAS with my youngest daughter. AAR was not created at the time we used the program. AAS was okay for her, but I didn’t see a significant improvement in her spelling with the program. It was, however, better than any other program I had used to date for my dyslexic children.
I hold the pedagogical perspective that reading and spelling should be incorporated together. I know Marie Ripple doesn’t hold that perspective.
We have 20+ students at our reading center who have shown tremendous gains with the Barton Reading & Spelling System. To get the most bang for your buck, the Barton program has more meat.
All the best to you and yours, and thank you for taking the time to comment.
I used Barton through about lesson 4 of level 4, and then hit a wall. My son began to dread reading and I was overwhelmed with all the rules. So we have put that on hold, and I purchased AAR. We are both enjoying it, and he has started wanting to read on his own. I do see what he learnd in Barton as very beneficial and maybe will return to it , but the change has been beneficial as well:)
Thank you for the informative comparison. As a Teacher/ tutor I know the foundations for reading must be in place. Barton System also know this and encourages all beginning to start with Level 1 and not skip to upper levels. It sounds like All About Reading does not emphasize this need. As a result success will not take place. It helps to know I have chosen the right curriculum for my daughter and clients.