My school district is contemplating implementation of the Wilson Language System in the secondary school ESL program in which I teach. After having participated in the Wilson two-day overview sessions, I came away with the distinct feeling that this program would have very limited utility in our program.
The vast majority of my students have no trouble with English orthography or decoding. Fewer than ten percent at most might qualify in any given year based upon the profile that Wilson seems to be addressing.
My concern is that, in implementing this very specialized approach that targets only a few of my students, overall program resources would be attenuated to the disadvantage of the remaining LEP population. As much of my time is spent in content-area support as it is in actual, traditional ESL instruction.
If anyone has opinions based on direct Wilson experience or links to sites that offer a balanced assessment of the overall effectiveness of Wilson in a middle school or high school ESL setting, I would appreciate being apprised of them. Thanks for any assistance.
Wilson Language Training
Moderators: Dimitris, maneki neko2, Lorikeet, Enrico Palazzo, superpeach, cecil2, Mr. Kalgukshi2