Decision Making Guide

As a general rule, the Beginning Green Level is best for students under the age of nine years old. The Overlapping Strategy is best for students 9 and older. However, each student is unique. Please see links below for below for guidance.

  • You will have the option of starting with Stevenson’s Letter’s Manual in Kindergarten, or the Beginning Green Manual in First Grade. If you start in Kindergarten, the early lessons of the Beginning Green Manual in first grade will be review. If you begin in First Grade, you may want to use some of the Stevenson’s Letters to supplement, but most typical learners will not need the extra practice.  After students finish all levels, they should be able to attack middle school materials.

  • You will begin these students with The Beginning Green Level and proceed in a mastery fashion, step by step, level by level. These students will not be reading at grade level, so how fast you go depends entirely on their learning issues. The students who move quickly will cover the entire Green Level AND the Lonely Vowels in one year. The students in this group who have many learning challenges might take two full years to go though the Beginning Green Level – and in extreme cases, even longer. (Because there are so many different types of students in Stevenson, we do not assign grade levels.)

  • It is extremely difficult to know where to start with a third grade student who has some splinter skills.  If the third grader is frequently using the wrong consonant sounds (except for b and d confusion that can be handled separately), they need to start at the Beginning Green Level.  Also, students who move very slowly, such as students with cognitive impairments, should start with the Beginning Green Level. Likewise, students whose speech and language deficits make it very difficult to understand them, should use the Beginning Green Level.  On the other hand, students who struggle mostly with the vowel sounds and the general inconsistencies of English phonics, can start at the Overlapping Strategy materials (see that link).  This approach requires students to know consonant sounds and shapes consistently and know a few sight words. The Overlapping Strategy also moves faster than the Green Level. If you need more advice, call us. We are happy to help!

  • The Overlapping Strategy was specifically designed for this type of student. The Overlapping Strategy Teacher’s Manual and the Overlapping Strategy Student Book, which have part Green and Part Blue covers, replace the entire Beginning Green Level. Those two books are used in conjunction with the Basic Blue Level materials. The key components of the first level are pulled out and covered more quickly while new points from the second level are being introduced (thus the “Overlapping” name.)  The two Overlapping books will tell you when and what to use from the Basic Blue books.  After you complete the two Overlapping books, you continue forward with the remaining blue books and then move to the peach/orange materials. After this last level, students will be able to attack middle school reading material. It will probably will take between a year and a year and a half to finish all of the Overlapping and Blue Levels.

  • These students will use essentially the same Overlapping Strategy as the older elementary students. Students who might be severely dyslexic will undoubtedly have failed many times, and they may be frustrated. 

    The best cure for frustration is success, but these older students still need to start at a simple level to build a solid and reliable foundation.  They also need to be treated as adults.  Other older students, who are likely to be in Special Education classes, may have multiple disabilities. In this circumstance you may need to begin with the Beginning Green Level and then progress to the Overlapping Strategy Level. Call us for individual assistance.