My five top praise tips to help kids succeed with Easyread:

1) Be sincere in your praise! Your child really is working very hard. This is like neurosurgery – it takes significant effort and energy. Applaud every step with genuine enthusiasm.

2) Be liberal in your praise. Give positive encouragement even after every word or two is read (or phrase – depending on your child’s ability and where they are in the program). This really helps create a positive atmosphere about reading. I will never forget the first time I did this, and how my daughter turned to me with huge eyes and said “Thank you Mommy!” after I complimented her reading skills.

3) Look for times when your child decodes the Trainertext as fast, or perhaps even faster, than you. Make a BIG deal of this. Kids love to “best” their parent!

4) Look for opportunites to lighten up! Be silly about mistakes. Of course you need to genuinely empathize with their struggles, but it can often help to laugh or give feedback in a silly accent, or a ridiculous sounding voice. Use a puppet or favorite stuffed animal to give feedback (if age appropriate of course). Everything becomes less stressful if you can laugh.

5) Finally, be very liberal with those prizes. Your child may need extra incentives from you, in addition to those coming from Easyread. If prizes motivate your child (and it’s likely they do) then reward them frequently with prizes that are meaningful to them. You may wish to set a time frame by which to complete a certain number of lessons (eg. we finished lesson #150 by the end of summer holidays) and this generated some energy to keep going. I made sure this was a longed-for prize item – and it worked!

You can read all about Sandy and Sophie’s Easyread journey here.