Child Reviews of Easyread
Case Study: Tummy aches, stress, reading difficulty
Before Easyread: When he started Easyread at age 7, Louie’s confidence in his reading was very low. This was starting to have a knock-on effect with all his subjects at school. He is a very bright boy with an inquiring mind who works very hard, so it was hard to see him struggle so much. His mother Lisa knew that he needed a solution to the reading problems before he fell too far behind in school.
During Easyread: Easyread fit in well with family life as it was a short daily lesson that could be completed whenever was convenient each day. It felt different from a tutor approach, which would have been “more of the same” as what he was getting at school. The computer format absolutely inspired Louie; he would run to the laptop to complete his daily lesson. After months of upset, frustration and tears, it was like a light had been switched on for him. Watching both his ability and confidence grow through Easyread was a joy for Lisa to see.
After Easyread: His reading improved hugely, which has impacted all of his subjects at school. Louie is really proud of his achievement and continues to be a willing reader.
Louie says: “When I started Easyread I felt frightened of doing reading and writing because of getting it wrong and because it was so difficult for me. Then I started Easyread. I really liked doing it every day as it helped me read and I liked doing it on the computer. The scared feeling in my tummy when I was trying to read before went away. Now I feel like I have done really well, I can decode easier and I feel more confident now at school too. I think Easyread is excellent for children who are not confident with school tasks. Thank you David I think Easyread is the best!!”
His mother, Lisa says: “After 6 months of Easyread being a truly integral part of our lives I shed a tear!! Both with a little sadness that we would not be doing the incredible lessons together anymore but much more importantly the effort, perseverance and dedication that my Louie has shown over the months is both inspiring and humbling to me as his mum. I am so proud of him. My greatest thanks go to you David for creating the most incredible tool by which children who do not pick up reading via the ‘normal’ reading teaching methods at school, also have the possibility via Easyread to shine and achieve their true potential. My heartfelt thanks.”
Now I can read Harry Potter
I really enjoyed Easyread and I think the games were really fun. The best bit was getting the final codeword. It really helped improve my reading and now I can read stuff like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I can also use my kindle more. It has really helped me at school because I can read.
Thank you for all your help.
from
Arthur
I wrote 7 pages!
Dear Sarah,
Thank-you Sarah for the ape in a cape T-shirt.
Love Corban
PS Yesterday I started writing a story in an old exercise book. I wrote 7 pages!
I enjoy your classes
Dear Sarah and David
Thank you for my certificate. I enjoy your classes. I am finding them easy and fun. Thank you for the prizes. I am going to Scotland tomorrow for my holiday but I am hoping to keep doing your classes every day.
Thank you.
Dear David…
Dear David,
I like your games.
At school I’m in BB8.
Thank you for all the gifts.
My favourite story was Ungar, I liked the race the best.
I feel really good about my reading. That’s it.
From E
[message written entirely by E himself without help on spelling]
Very big smile from Oliver
I have a message from Oliver, he says “Yes I have been enjoying Easyread” with a very big smile on his face 🙂
The scared feeling in my tummy is gone
When I started Easyread I felt frightened of doing reading and writing because of getting it wrong and because it was so difficult for me.
Then I started Easyread I really liked doing it every day as it helped me read and I liked doing it on the computer. The scared feeling in my tummy when I was trying to read before went away.
Now I feel like I have done really well, I can decode easier and I feel more confident now at school too.
I think easyread is excellent for children who are not confident with school tasks.
Thankyou David I think Easyread is the best !!
From Louie Age 7.
Case Study: Off-the-Charts Clever with Asperger's and Irlen Syndrome
Before Easyread
From an early age Craig always loved having someone read stories to him, but when he started school he loathed reading and writing and homework was a battleground. It would have been easy to label him as “clever but lazy”: he had an incredibly high verbal IQ but low performance in literacy. His mother, Fiona, suspected dyslexia but the school did not want to test to find out. Irlen lenses helped with some aspects but did not seem to “cure” his learning difficulties.
When it came to reading, his main strategy was to guess, based on the pictures and the first letter of the word. Craig was an amazingly good guesser and hid his difficulties well, but he felt keenly that his classmates were racing ahead with reading when he was struggling so much. It just didn’t add up – he knew he was clever so why couldn’t he do it?
One day, he started to pack up his books into a box to sell at a car boot sale. When I said he should keep them for when he got better at reading he said, “There is no point, I’m rubbish at reading. I’ll never be able to read these so someone else should have them.” It was a heart-breaking moment for Fiona.
In Primary Three his reading age was tested as 21 months behind his actual age. The school were still not concerned and said he would learn at his own pace. Fiona disagreed, and decided to give give Easyread a try.
During Easyread
Craig has Aspergers and is very rule-driven. He hated the fact that the phonics rules taught at school didn’t work – for instance he was taught that “ou” spells the sound “ow” (as in loud or proud) but that didn’t work for soup or group. So he just ignored the rules and memorized the words, which didn’t work as a strategy for long.
Easyread suited Craig perfectly because the rules are never broken. He has a very visual memory and could 100% rely that the Owl with a Scowl picture represents the sound “ow” every time without exception.
Also, Craig shared narrator David’s sense of humour and loved learning all the Easyread characters like the Uncle with the Carbuncle.
Fiona was surprised at how keen Craig was to do Easyread every day. Whilst battles over homework each night were still of epic proportions, he always did his 10 minutes of Easyread in the mornings without complaint even in the holidays and weekends. He hasn’t missed a day yet, even when he was off school with the sick bug!
After Easyread
The results have been better than ever imagined. In only 4 months on Easyread, Craig’s reading age went up by an astonishing 19 months! He still improves daily and Fiona now believes he may end up with a reading age beyond his actual age. He is now confident in decoding words he doesn’t know and he very rarely guesses. His whole attitude to reading has changed. Now he happily reads to himself and Fiona often finds him at night, lying in bed, fast asleep still wearing his glasses with a book beside him! He has started engaging with text around him, reading cereal packets and signs where he would never have tried before.
Craig’s family are now able to celebrate his dyslexic, autistic, creative, brilliant mind without having to battle over reading every day. In fact, reading has become such a joy that it’s hard to imagine a day passing where he doesn’t pick up a book for pleasure. He recently said to Fiona, “I love reading so much I am going to read for the rest of my life!”. What a turnaround in only 4 months!
Fiona says: “Tonight when I tucked him into bed he whispered – “Mum, I have a secret! I can actually read Captain Underpants now! I read 5 whole books last night!” (Easyread has not cured him of his tendency to exaggerate!) I cannot find words that can thank Easyread enough. David and his team have given Craig the gift of reading which will make his whole life at school less exhausting as well as opening doors for learning that were barred to him before. Thank you Easyread!”
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Sarah Forrest is a Reading Specialist for the Easyread System, and has been delighted to oversee Craig’s brilliant progress on the course in recent months. Easyread is an online course that uses innovative visual phonics to resolve poor literacy due to dyslexia, auditory processing weakness, sight-reading and more.
Very thankful
Hi David i had a lot of fun doing it i am very thankful.
A message from Rachel
Hello David and Easyread staff,
I have a message from Rachel. She LOVES Easyread and wanted to know if you have a level 6 or 7! She does want to continue with level 5 story, but we are going to take several weeks break so she can enjoy the rest of her summer break from school.
Rachel also says she LOVES the games, jokes and especially the RIDDLES in Level 4. As her mom and coach, I think she has probably enjoyed the Level 4 format the most of all.
The timing of her last lesson should be Tuesday, July 8, and it is perfect. We have been invited to spend the night at a friend’s beach house, so we will be celebrating Rachel’s accomplishment in the sand and surf. She can have any dessert she wants, even before the meal!
We have been working with this since September, so you can imagine the joy and accomplishment we feel. While Rachel does still struggle at times to put sounds together in multi-syllable words, such as articulated, I know that Easyread has helped her because she can do it if she slows down and works it out. More importantly, Rachel ENJOYS reading books.
I have told so many other parents about Easyread and I hope they follow through with viewing your website. We are extremely pleased to recommend your program and have never doubted the investment for Rachel’s future.
Happy Reading to you all!