Bannatyne Reading, Writing, Spelling and Language Program

Third Edition

SPECIAL EDUCATION: 

INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES

MENTAL RETARDATION (MR/EMR)

A longer version of the following article was published in: Special Education in Canada, Spring Issue, Vol. 55, #3, 1981. 

Please read the slightly shorter version below (written by the original authors) to appreciate how very effectively the Bannatyne Reading, Writing, Spelling and Language Program teaches these language arts subjects to a class of 15 students (with Intellectual Disabilities) aged 10-14 years with WISC-R IQs ranging from 55-80.

LEARNING DISABILITIES CONQUERED?

A REPORT ON THE BANNATYNE SYSTEM OF LANGUAGE ARTS USED WITH EMR STUDENTS AGES 10-14    

By Ellen Horsman and Bernard Heydorn, Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada

(Note: All bold emphases are by the above authors.)

This paper reflects the outcome of an experimental programme, the Bannatyne Reading, Writing, Spelling and Language Program, for teaching language arts in a Special Education class in Moncton, New Brunswick, during the 1979-80 term, essentially seven months of instructional time.

The fifteen students, seven girls and eight boys, in this special education class range in age from 10 to 14 years, with 12 years being the average. The IQ, as measured by the WISC-R, ranges 55-80, with a class average full scale IQ of 67. A more detailed breakdown gives the class average Verbal IQ as 66, and the Performance IQ as 73. The baseline achievement was determined by using the WRAT (Wide Range Achievement Tests). The class average pre-test scores for reading (decoding) was 2.3 and Spelling was 2.5. The class is a composite of problems, both psycho-educational and socio-emotional. Attendance on the whole was good, although two members were only present 55% of the time.

The major vehicle of instruction for reading and spelling in this seven month period was the Bannatyne Reading, Writing, Spelling and Language Program. This is a multi-sensory, task-analyzed, integrated language arts programme using age-neutral content. The material, which is presented in meaningful context, is fast-moving with mastery and overlearning emphasized throughout. Listening, discriminating, articulating, tracing, splitting, blending and closing are integral parts of the programme. Syntax is discussed right from the early stages. Approximately 90 minutes per day of the two-and-a-half hours allotted to language arts were related to the Bannatyne Program.

Although the highest performing group did better in decoding and spelling, the children's vocabulary was (prior to this study) lacking, therefore when vocabulary was presented conversationally (as required by the Bannatyne Program) all groups successfully participated. The two upper groups were combined for the spelling of new words and the two lower groups were combined for the spelling of review words.

A variety of record keeping methods were used. As well as standardized tests such as the WRAT, students maintain daily records of spelling accuracy and error-free word recognition. A composite class record is maintained as well as individual records in spelling, word recognition, and independent reading comprehension exercises. Also, results of error incidence (includes errors not self-corrected within two attempts) in oral reading or prose passages (included in the Programme) are graphed weekly. Upon completion of each Workbook in the Bannatyne Program, the student must attain 90%+ word recognition, and 80% on spelling the Workbook Key Words.

Post Test results using the WRAT (see Table 1 below) show the class average gain in reading improved from grade 2.3 to grade 3.6, and in spelling from grade 2.5 to grade 3.6. This represents an average increase of 1.3 grade levels in reading and 1.1 grade levels in spelling over a seven month period of instruction.

Table 1

Results: Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT) grade levels in Reading and Spelling

A discussion of these results shows that this gain in language arts (reading and spelling) is almost double [for a 12 month year] the rate of achievement of students in regular classes with average IQs!  Thus, in spite of overall low intelligence of our subjects (the average IQ was 67) the students made very significant gains using the Bannatyne Reading, Writing, Spelling and Language Program.  It should also be noted that the increase in spelling scores of 1.1 grade levels almost paralleled the increase in reading scores of 1.3 grade levels in this class (over seven months). Thus, very significant gains were achieved in a traditional special education class setting of 15 students to one teacher and not in an ideal one-to-one remedial setting. Further, it should be noted that the class included students with a multiplicity of problems (psychological, social-cultural, and intellectual), and a variety of diagnostic labels (learning disabled, aphasoid, cultural-social-emotionally deprived, slow learner, educable, trainable mentally handicapped) and a combination of the above. 

A closer inspection of individual gains by class members shows that two students with borderline trainable IQs WISC-R Full Scale 55 improved an average of 1.3 grade levels in both reading and spelling over the seven month period! Similar gains were made by some other students characterized typically as EMR (IQs 60-70). In one case an aphasoid boy with a verbal IQ of 45 (WISC-R) improved 1.0 grade levels in reading and .7 grade levels in spelling. In yet another case, a learning disabled boy (Verbal IQ 70, Performance 80, Full Scale 75 on the WISC-R) improved 3.2 grade levels in reading and 1.9 grade levels in spelling over the seven month period. 

In conclusion, it should be stated that the students seemed very motivated and interested in many activities associated with the Bannatyne Program and their own intrinsic rewards of progress in the language arts. One boy, who has a paper route, announced one day that he now could actually read much of the newspaper he delivers. Parents have stated that their child was more communicative, happier, easier to get along with, eager to go to school, and taking more interest in the newspapers, comics, signs, menus, and personal grooming. Mention should also be made that gains made in the Bannatyne Program by these types of students seem to be far superior to progress made in similar types of classes using "traditional" Special Education language arts programmes or even Distar, as reported by R. G. Stennett and Ioma Isaacs in Special Education in Canada, Vol. 53:2, 1979. The average gain in the above mentioned study (average IQ of 78 and average age of ten and a half years) was 4.6 MONTHS for Distar students and 2.6 MONTHS for the Control Group on a traditional Special Education programme, taught over a TWO YEAR PERIOD.

For a comparison of these Distar results with the Bannatyne Program, note that prorating the average 7-MONTH gain of our Moncton children up to 12 Months means a gain of over 2 GRADE LEVELS or 2 FULL YEARS progress in ONE full calendar year.

The writers of this report feel that the Bannatyne Reading, Writing, Spelling and Language Program is a very successful programme in meeting the needs of students who are developmentally and emotionally handicapped in the area of language arts. This is no doubt based on the fact that the Bannatyne Program recognizes the major diagnostic aspects of learning disabilities -- auditory-vocal, visual-spatial, visual-motor and language disabled, and builds specific practices to remediate these deficiencies. In conclusion, in the opinion of the writers, the Bannatyne Program can be classified as a truly remedial program which gets students up to the level of performance that could not be predicted using IQ expectancy tables and other conventional methods of instruction.

As a postscript, it should be mentioned that recent results show that five other Special Education classes in Moncton (age range 6-18 years) have similarly achieved very significant gains using the Bannatyne Program during the last year.

Reference: Bannatyne Reading, Writing, Spelling and Language Program by Alexander Bannatyne PhD.

A longer version of the above article was published in: Special Education in Canada, Spring Issue, Vol. 55, #3, 1981. 

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Surely, there is no need for further comment about the exceptional value of the Bannatyne Reading, Writing, Spelling and Language Program when used in Special Education classes for those students (like the above children) with WISC IQs below 80. 

As long as any Special Education student (with WISC IQs below 80) can speak meaningfully in simple English sentences and follow simple verbal directions, he or she can almost certainly be taught to read, write and spell efficiently using the Bannatyne Reading, Writing, Spelling and Language Program.

Please also see the TESTIMONIAL about Kay, a Down Syndrome teenager with a WISC-R IQ of 58, who learned to read to the SIXTH grade level in eight years using the Bannatyne Program.

The Bannatyne Reading Program is a comprehensive, fully integrated reading program, writing program, spelling program, language program, and reading comprehension training program. The Bannatyne Reading Program is unlike any other reading programs currently available. This means you will find many features which are only in the Bannatyne Reading Program. The Bannatyne Program works very effectively with all kinds of Special Education students. In some Commonwealth countries the program may be referred to as: Bannatyne Programme, or Bannatyne Reading Programme. 

Bannatyne Reading, Writing, Spelling and Language Program -- Copyright © 2003 Alexander Bannatyne, PhD