Before Easyread, Sam did not like reading at all. The school readers were a daily battle with tears and frustration – and Sam was in the lowest reader in his class at age 5. Sam’s dad and extended family members all have dyslexia, so his mother was ready to intervene early to find a good solution for him. Her hope was that Easyread would build Sam’s confidence so reading would not be such a negative experience for him.
During Easyread, Sam and his mother found that the program worked well for Sam’s learning style. There were still frustrations and periods where they experienced the same tears as they had with the daily readers from school, but the code words and continual certificates and prizes really did help. The Skype contact for remote lessons with the Easyread support team was a big help too. The fact that the lessons were short meant it was easy to fit into the start or end of their day.
There were occasional times when Sam’s mother had to persuade him to do the 10 minute lesson and he would resist, or not do it properly. But thankfully they persevered through those tough moments because there was a point later in the course when Sam showed up with a book and read it out loud to his mum all by himself without help – she admits that she cried in that moment!
After Easyread, the results have been strong and positive. Without a doubt, Sam has improved in his reading. His speed and flow are much improved, and he sounds out now more than he guesses. Before he was not really reading, but just making up words that he thought fit into what he saw on the page. Now he is much more confident and this means he is willing to attempt words he doesn’t know instead of giving up. Though Sam has yet to become a bookworm (he doesn’t yet want to pick up a book and read it by himself), Sam’s mum thinks since he is so young that day may still come. And even if he never becomes a huge reader, she believes Easyread has helped to remove the stress around reading and help Sam get more out of the early foundation years of learning.