At Home

Resources to use at home

School Data

First, look at your school district’s Local Literacy Plan on their website. Every (MN) district is required to have one per MN Statute 120B.12. This should give you more details about your district’s approach to literacy. It should also outline what reading assessments the school does for children, particularly in K-5. These assessments are typically done in the Fall, Winter, and Spring. If you don’t have the results, ask your child’s teacher! Make sure you also understand what the results mean — what percentile do the scores correspond to?

Any child who is not reading at grade level in MN, qualifies for intervention at school. This is stated in MN Statute 120B.12 and 125A.56 and should be defined in the district’s Local Literacy Plan.

At-Home Tutoring and Resources to Use

At DDMN, we recognize the value of using a highly trained tutor. However, not all of us can afford a private tutor. We want to provide some at-home options:

Screeners available for free online:

  1. Check your child’s phonemic awareness:
    PAST from David Kilkpatrick
    If your child has difficulty with this test, you can purchase Equipped For Reading Success. The book contains phonemic awareness one minute drills and lots of information.
  2. Check your child’s auditory discrimination and phonological awareness:
    Screener from Susan Barton
    If your child has difficulty, you can find a LIPS (a Lindamood-Bell program) tutor or purchase Foundation in Sounds to do at home.
  3. Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills : UO DIBELS Data System (uoregon.edu)

Programs to consider using at home with your child:

These are options that parents have shared with us. Different families may have different needs and/or different results. This list is not exhaustive.