Child Reviews of Easyread
It is fun reading to mummy…
Easy read has helped me at school. Homework sucks and it should be banned for ever but Easyread has helped me at school and at home. At home I am reading The Hobbit. It is fun reading it to mummy.
Thank you for letting me join Easyread.
– M
Dear David
Dear David,
I feel quite happy for doing all the levels.
Easyread has helped me to read really well!
Thank you for your help!
From Z!
Funny to learn…
Hello David,
I liked the course because there were lots of games and the Easyread characters are funny to learn.
– G
Case Study: Poor working memory
The Problem
Remembering words was always difficult for Sam, and before long it was clear he was in big trouble.
Before age 5 nothing seemed to separate Sam from his classmates developmentally. Mum Lisa began to have some doubts about her son’s ability to interact with written letters whilst in pre-school, however the teacher reassured her that his hit-and-miss approach to language was totally normal for his age.
A few months later he joined Kindergarten and all of a sudden reading took centre stage. By now, something much more dramatic was going on; it was almost as if his mind was totally and utterly switched off to remembering words. Sam could make the phonetic sounds out loud and express himself orally no problem. When he came across words written in the page of a book his mind instantly went blank and he guessed his way through. What’s more, despite being a generally focussed boy, Sam’s attention span when it came to reading was now incredibly short.
But what worried Lisa most was the effect of this ever widening gap on her son’s confidence. Whilst his friends were dealing in increasingly complex language; Sam was left stumped by simple three letter words, despite sometimes having come across them just a few minutes before.
Lisa was concerned, but the school still insisted that things were on track. She was determined to listen to her instincts on this, and so pushed for an assessment with the school’s resident Occupational Therapist. This confirmed what Lisa had suspected; Sam’s working memory was substantially weaker than most children his age. In a way it was a relief, but a daunting call to action as well.
Following the assessment, Lisa wasn’t prepared to sit back and watch as his suffering unfolded, so they decided to take the bull by the horns. Continual one on one practice at home and at school was coupled with Occupational Therapy for his memorisation ability. They also tried a number of reading intervention programs including Reading Eggs. Despite everything, he was still reading b’s as d’s and confusing ‘was’ for ‘saw’.
A few months later and still on the hunt for the reading Holy Grail, one of Lisa’s friends mentioned that they had used a program called Easyread to great success, so she looked it up. Immediately she could tell that the program offered a compendium of features that perfectly matched Sam’s profile: repetition, highly visual cues, quick-fire daily lessons and fun and interactive games. The trial lesson was a huge hit. What’s more, a few days later Sam was still regaling the family with his explanations for The Ants in Pink Pants and The Bear with Long Hair – he had remembered it all perfectly! Lisa was so impressed that by the end of the week they had signed up.
The Solution
The one thing that Lisa was immediately pleased to discover was that doing Easyread was not a chore. Mother and son sat together at the computer each day and laughed along to the jokes, inventive characters and games. The spy themed prizes that arrived in the post really caught his imagination too, and were a great motivator. Reading together before now had been like trying to get water out of a stone. With Easyread, the fun and the learning flowed harmoniously, and within just a few minutes they were done for the day. It was such a relief!
Lisa also enjoyed how supported she felt by the team. Every week they received updates and feedback on his progress, and she was given the opportunity to share their experiences over the messaging system and during the phone consultations. Sam was being considered as an individual rather than being pushed through a generic battery of lessons.
One example of this was when some testing in the lessons revealed Sam to have an eye-tracking weakness. This was not something that Lisa had ever suspected before, but they tried the set of physical exercises suggested by the team nonetheless. It required hard work and commitment, but in a matter of weeks they could see a clear change.
Sam dressed up in his Easyread spy kit!
The Result
Since starting Easyread Sam has progressed by 14 reading levels at school. That is essentially the equivalent of 1.5 years progress in just 8 months! These days, everywhere they go Sam will read whatever he can lay his hands on. His confidence has taken a gigantic leap too, which for Lisa is probably the most important thing. In fact, Sam has now developed such a joy for reading that all he ever wants to do is go to the bookshop! His focus is excellent compared with how it used to be as well. A 20 minute reading session can fly by!
Being at a very high achieving school, Sam is by no means at the top of his class, but just to be in the middle and not at the bottom, is a huge load off.
An additional bonus from the course which Lisa certainly hadn’t expected is the affect it has had on Sam’s general academic abilities-simply because he can now read the questions! The school system in New South Wales, Australia – where Sam and Lisa live – does not care whether a child can answer the question verbally; if they cannot not read it and write the answer down they are failed – even in Kindergarten! Now that Sam has unlocked the mystery that was language, maths, science and art can be understood at a whole new level.
Sam’s spelling has also improved, and although this is something they are continuing to work on, the very fact that he will now write a story for the very pleasure of it signals to Lisa that this can only get better.
Something else that is still very much a work-in-progress is Sam’s memory retention. Sam will begin a new program to help with this later in the year. However his ability to read has made him a more successful learner and a generally much happier child both at home and at school, so Lisa is certainly not worried!
A year ago, Lisa was concerned at the prospect of her son’s educational future. Now with just over two months’ worth of lessons to go she cannot wait to see what the future holds. Sam is teetering on the edge of reading take off, and his confidence has taken off at rocket speed. Anything is possible!
—
Laura O’Sullivan is a Reading Specialist at Morgan Learning Solutions, publisher of the Easyread System. Easyread is an online course that specialises in helping struggling readers and spellers who need support due to dyslexia, auditory processing disorder, a strong visual learning style, poor memory, and more. www.easyreadsystem.com
Thank you!
My reading has improved a lot and Easyread has helped me have more confidence, not just with my reading. Thank you all for helping me to read. I am really sad that the course is over!
– Agent J
I’m much better, everyone says so!…
It was fun. It is very helpful. I’m much better at my reading now – everyone says so!
– D
I made it!
dear david
i have made it to gold. sometimes i thought i would never do it!!! my favourite bits were decoding the stories and lerning the characters.
Case Study: Poor decoding, no progress, shyness
From losing streak to winning streak: last year 10 year old Nathan was unable to decode even single words. After a few months of using The Easyread System, he is happily reading entire chapters!
The Problem
Nathan had always been a shy child, and so starting school was inevitably difficult for him. His natural coyness wasn’t helped by the fact that he was also a summer-born child and therefore up to 11 months younger than some of his classmates. By the end of year 1 however, Nathan’s mother Caroline was happy to see that he seemed to be progressing well with his subjects, friendships and general school life.
From the start of Primary 2 onwards however, the tables decidedly turned…
Not long after the start of the new term Nathan’s teacher expressed concerns about his ability to understand what was going on during lessons. Not long after this, Caroline began to have concerns of her own, specifically with regards to her son’s reading. Nathan wasn’t interested in reading any books at home and instantly became upset or stressed if he had to read for homework. Caroline strongly suspected that his difficulties in the classroom were connected to the struggles they were facing at home with his reading, but she had no idea how or why.
So, they struggled on in this way for the next couple of years, during which time Nathan made zero progress with his reading and writing. When he reached Year 4 the school decided to have him assessed. The results confirmed that due to dyslexic tendencies, Nathan was likely to struggle to follow information that was presented to him in a classroom setting. To an extent, this could be managed at a practical level by providing him with extra support with his class work. What worried Caroline the most was the extent of her son’s abilities, and his state of mind, when it came to reading itself. By this stage he was reading at the level of a 7 year old with a chronological age of 9 and Nathan’s feelings towards reading were very negatively charged.
In an effort to break this spiteful cycle, Caroline substantially upped the amount of reading they were doing with Nathan at home. Being a big fan of non-fiction, they started with the Ladybird series ‘Peter and Jane’. They then proceeded to buy numerous fact files, science books etc. During this time they saw a spurt in his confidence with books, but that was all. Caroline could see that as well as having something that engaged him, they needed a technique that would approach decoding from a side angle. At 10 years old he was quite often dumbstruck by the prospect of reading even a single sentence; conventional methods had failed him utterly.
It was during a chat with a friend about their quest to find that elusive ‘something else’ that Caroline first heard about Easyread. She listened as Clare described the success she had seen with using the system for her son and daughter – both of whom had been floundering a year ago and were now achieving great results. Such a definitive personal testament had Caroline signing up the second she got home and sat down at the computer!
The Solution
After just 2 weeks of daily lessons, Nathan was able to decode and read small sentences. The games and Trainertext characters combined to make for both a fun and a highly beneficial learning environment, which is exactly what Caroline had been praying for! Nathan was reading and having fun for the first time in his life. Decoding during his Easyread lesson became commonplace even each day. They were well and truly finished with the ‘siege against words’ that they had experienced before. What’s more, the vocabulary in the stories and the nature of the games suited his age and interests down to the ground, and so this spurred him on even more.
As the weeks went by and the lessons and prizes continued to come in, the drip, drip, drip of reading enthusiasm soon turned into a flood! His confidence at school was progressing in line with this too, and reading meanwhile, turned into something that he just couldn’t get enough of!
Caroline will always remember the day that he sat down and read an entire chapter of a book; an event which she had never dared to hope was possible. He only got stuck on three words overall and the entire 10 pages took him no more than 10 minutes to complete. His fluency was impeccable as well; but most of all, the smile on Nathan’s face when he had finished told the story of what this meant to him. Caroline is certain that Easyread is to thank for that wonderful experience.
The Result
Nathan’s joy of reading and general progress is, brilliantly enough, still a work in progress!
With just over a month left to go on the course, his reading level is now at 10 years and 3 months-that’s an increase of 3 years and 3 months compared with where he was before he started the course! Caroline can see that the more of the Easyread system he completes, the more confident he will become and the more equipped he will be to begin senior school. To contemplate how ill-equipped Nathan was last year compared with now leaves her speechless.
—
Laura O’Sullivan is a Reading Specialist for the Easyread System, an online course that helps children with dyslexia, auditory processing disorder, poor memory, and more. www.easyreadsystem.com
Thank you…
I feel good that I am finding reading easier and I like some of the games such as Letter Quest and the jokes.
Thank you for helping me (that bit was from my mum!)
Case Study: ADHD, dyslexia, low confidence
Having ADHD, dyslexia and chronic low confidence, Cameron had the odds stacked against him when it came to reading and spelling. With Easyread he was finally able to begin closing the gap…
The Problem
Cameron was a bright toddler and reached all his speech milestones without issue. But when Mum and GP Natalie thinks back, the symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder were there from the start.
At nursery Cameron was very overactive compared with other children his age, and his concentration span was minimal. This continued as he grew older. Natalie was scrupulous in helping her son to manage his attention difficulties over the years. For instance, upon discovering that visual processing problems can cause concentration problems they had an assessment with a Behavioural Optometrist. This lead to the discovery that Cameron was dealing with some pronounced eye-tracking problems. The expensive glasses that followed made some difference, but his level of energy continued to be off the charts.
The main obstacle Cameron faced once he started school was his attitude towards learning, and reading in particular. The eye-tracking difficulties and ADHD combined to make his ability to sit still and focus very limited indeed. This then fed into a feeling of low confidence. As the children around him progressed ahead with their reading, he fell behind. And the more he acknowledged this fact, the further behind he fell. He felt alone, and it was hard for Natalie to watch as this spiral played out in the early years of his education.
Natalie wasted no time in having Cameron privately assessed and as a result, by age 7 he’d been diagnosed by an Educational Psychologist as displaying key symptoms of dyslexia. The school responded brilliantly quickly – referring him to the SpLD unit straight away where he was provided with additional reading and writing support for over a year.
During that time his reading improved a lot. He could identify a wider range of words much more quickly and his guessing reduced. Nevertheless, he was still behind compared with his peers by approximately 2 years. When we consider that Natalie read to Cameron every evening, this disparity seems even more stark. It was like a lid had been firmly placed on his progress.
His writing meanwhile was nothing short of atrocious. At the end of every week when Natalie flicked through his school books she felt like she was reading hieroglyphics, not English! That’s not to say that there hadn’t been some improvements in this area, however – unlike a year ago, Cameron could now spell the 100 most common words and his cursive writing had really progressed. But there was still plenty of room for improvement.
As long as they carried on as they were, Natalie knew that further meaningful progress with both reading and writing was unlikely. In fact, if anything the gap would widen even more, given that pretty soon he would begin the transition into secondary school, which would be challenging enough without these setbacks. Cameron’s problems with motivation, attention and confidence were leaving him feeling angry and frustrated with the world. For Natalie it felt like everything was pointing to the fact that there was a clear need to act now if she wanted to ensure that reading and writing weren’t going to hold her son back during his adult life.
So, Natalie looked on the internet for some ideas on how to confront his motivation and attention difficulties head on. During this search she came cross Easyread. She could see that the structure of the Spellmagic program was aimed at abetting such difficulties. Plus it would mean replacing their painful daily real book reading practice with a session on the computer – a trade that she knew Cameron would be happy with!
Natalie tried the sample lesson. There was a no-nonsense, encouraging and rapid fire feel to it, which she felt he would like. Cameron still only managed to focus for half of it, however he requested to come back to it later on, at which point he proudly worked through until the end. And then, they were off…
The Solution
From the word go, Cameron’s favourite thing about Easyread were the games he got to play each day! They engaged him in a way that a normal reading book had never been able to before. He also enjoyed receiving the certificates and prizes through the post, which motivated him enormously.
Becoming easily frustrated was inevitably still a problem for Cameron given his ADHD and temperament, and so to say that Natalie and her son never argued about Easyread would be a lie! Nevertheless, she was happy to see overall growth in his tolerance and confidence as the weeks went by. Natalie was also grateful that the support team could provide a good deal of flexibility in terms of the content of his lessons. By the final months, they had a quick, simple and effective battery of activities which suited him nicely.
Despite some characteristic opposition along the way, Natalie was determined that Cameron would see the program through until the end. And thanks in large part to her dedication, perseverance and the excellent support she provided during every lesson, they did just that!
The Result
After eight months on Easyread, the most significant change that Natalie can see in Cameron has to do with the mammoth issue of his attitude. He still finds reading hard for sure, and is not quite ready to do so for pleasure. Nevertheless he is definitely a happier learner. Whereas previously Cameron felt that his struggles with written words defined him, now he is willing to give almost anything a go when it comes to producing work and attempting spellings.
He has improved on his reading age by 13 months. His reading accuracy meanwhile has massively improved by 28 months over a 12 month period. And his reading comprehension is now exceptionally good. His spelling age hasn’t changed a great deal, yet the school have remarked on a clear improvement in this area. What’s more, Natalie is confident that it will progress more with time. Although his spelling is still very inaccurate, a clear contrast from this time last year is the fact that it is much more “phonetically permissible” now, which is a huge step in the right direction.
Aside from all the improvements in his confidence, reading and writing, Natalie also feels that she now possesses a renewed understanding of how best to help her son deal with challenges he faces. The excellent support provided by his teachers at Windhill School in Hertfordshire has had a fundamental part to play in recent years too, and she knows that they still have a long way to go. But thanks to Easyread they have now scaled the first in a series of mountains that a year ago seemed unscaleable.
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Laura O’Sullivan has had the pleasure of working with Cameron and Natalie over the past year and is thrilled with their success. She works as a Reading Specialist for Morgan Learning Solutions, publishers of the Easyread System. Easyread is an online course for struggling readers and spellers that uses a highly visual approach to phonics suitable for children with dyslexia, auditory processing disorder, short-term memory weakness and more.