Alex: he has caught up with his peers and now reads before bed!

The Backstory

Before Easyread, Alex could not really read other than simple sentences and even then he struggled. He was about a year behind his peers in terms of reading. He found having to read his book from school a chore and there would often be tears before bedtime.

Unfortunately, in my son’s school, it had not been explained to us that he needed to read any book he brought home at least 4-5 times a week and we only read it with him once or perhaps twice before it was returned to school. When we found out, at the end of his school year (Year 1), I attempted to do lots of reading with him over the summer and at the start of Year 2.

He did improve slightly but it became apparent that something more drastic was required or the gap between our son and his peers would grow wider.

Our son was receiving additional help at school (he had been receiving it since Year 1) but there seemed to be little progress. We contrasted this with our daughter, who was a year behind our son at school and had by this stage, almost caught up with him at reading and were rather alarmed.

I researched various courses offered online and decided to try out Easyread and the rest as they say, is history.

The Easyread Experience

Alex enjoyed the games on Easyread and we were lucky as he made progress very quickly.

This incentivised Alex to proceed with the lessons. I have been quite strict with lessons, with them taking place every 6 or even 7 days a week as I am a firm believer that if Alex got used to it, he would protest less when he had to do it. Not only did Alex have to be disciplined (but so did I) as otherwise, there was always something else to do instead. I made Easyread a priority and most days it took place after dinner. It did work (to a degree) but bribes have had to be offered along the way!

The Results

8 months later, Alex has now caught up with his peers (and even surpassed some of them) and we (and he) is very pleased with his progress. He loves being able to read the menu in a restaurant, signs on the road and has realised how much freedom being able to read, offers him.

With his improvement in reading, his spelling has also progressed. There is still work to be done with his spelling but he is getting there. I am also amazed at his comprehension and he certainly understands more than I give him credit for quite a lot of the time. While I do not think Alex will ever be one of life’s greatest readers, he does like to take a book with him to bed. Anything with a superhero or graphic novel is high on his list.