Parent Reviews of Easyread
Our most recent reviews:
last night he read some text that was on the TV without any prompting
Toby has been progressing well, and we’ve started to see little changes in him, for instance last night he read some text that was on the TV without any prompting. This is not something he would have ever done before.
He is reading the first half of the Snow White story quite well, however there is still a tendency to guess the longer words. This seems to be dependent on how engaged with the lesson he is on that particular day. When prompted to decode it he does so successfully.
The second half of the story without letters he reads quite quickly, quicker than the first half and quicker than me on most occasions.
I feel he is still a little way off from reading without characters, but the signs are there hopefully its is not too far off..
Thanks,
S
looks like thankfully the journey we have been is finally paying off!
Just to let you know that we’re really pleased with Jacob’s progress. It looks and feels like it’s all starting to come together. He read to me yesterday out of a school text and was much more fluent and confident than he has ever been. I was a bit tearful as it looks like thankfully the journey we have been is finally paying off!
He does still occasionally wildly guess at words, but by gently reminding him to decode it, he then does use his phonic skills to try and decode it with a bit of assistance from me.
We will continue with the lessons and I will keep you updated with any issues we encounter, but all is well as far as I can tell for now. Thank you to you and David for all the support and guidance with the program.
Best wishes
S
Already sooooo much better!
D is working the eye-tracking chart this week we got a bit off as we were out of town. He is on day 6 of the exercises. We also are doing some additional exercises provided by my husband (optometrist) as well to give address the issue.
I will let you know how the next lesson goes. I will say its been fun to watch the de-coding take hold. Its not 100% but SOOOOO much better. He is beginning to enjoy the challenge of reading again – so much so he wants to spend his $ on a chapter book. As a parent there is really not much else you could ask for.
Thanks and I will keep you posted on the next lessons.
Much more confident!
I will practice the eye tracking exercises again but I think he is doing ok. At K’s parent evening a couple of weeks ago, his teacher said he is much more confident and is certainly making progress with his reading and writing. He is on level 2 reading now which is a great!
Case Study: Chronic guessing, family frustration, low self-esteem
The Problem
When Charlotte started school, mum Jenny assumed she would learn to read just like everyone else; however very soon it became apparent that she was finding it harder than most. Charlotte was one of the youngest of her ten children, so Jenny felt well-versed in the reading journey by now. Having had good experiences with the older ones her hope was that, like them, after some initial hiccups it would suddenly just click for her youngest. But by the time she turned 8 years old they realised that there was no hint of it clicking at all. Far from it in fact; if anything Charlotte was spiralling.
The school cottoned on to the fact that something wasn’t right when Charlotte was 6 years old, and so for the past 2 years she had been placed in a special reading group and also received one-to-one help from a specialist teacher. And still nothing had changed. What had started as being the occasional mistake had turned into chronic guessing, even with the small common words.
It wasn’t just Charlotte’s school work that was being impacted either, as her self-esteem was sorely suffering too. So much so that by this time she was in Year 3 she had labelled herself “stupid” and “dumb” and Jenny had a terrible feeling that this was just the beginning. Even family life was dominated by the ghoulish guessing habit that refused to subside. Reading together at home was dominated by Charlotte’s frantic attempts to make stabbing guesses at all but the most basic of words, and as such resulted in deep frustration for both mother and daughter. Everyone was out of their depth.
The Solution
Funnily enough, it was a frustrating comment made by a friend that led Jenny to come across Easyread. The friend in question had suggested that a child’s inability to learn to read was linked to their adult teeth coming late. After years and countless hours of effort, thoughtful parenting and a positive mental attitude, Jenny was unwilling to accept that something as trivial as this was to blame for her daughter’s struggles. She was also appalled at the idea that their situation was set in stone and refused to accept that this was her daughter’s fate. And so in an effort to prove just how nonsensical the claim had been Jenny undertook some internet research. In the process of this research (and after having firmly established the dental health claim to be absolute hogwash!) she discovered Easyread.
As soon as she clicked through to the Easyread website and read through the information, Jenny felt an instant wave of relief, and genuine hope. The symptoms described perfectly matched her daughter for one thing, and for another it was the first time she had heard anyone speak of Charlotte’s inability to read as being rectifiable. They confirmed that she was not stupid or dumb – in fact probably quite the opposite. The fact that they then also had a thorough, well-designed and scientifically proven program available for children like Charlotte to neurologically change the way they read, seemed almost too good to be true! And yet Jenny trusted in what she was reading. This wasn’t just conjecture; these people knew what they were talking about. So she signed up.
Something Jenny liked from the outset was the consistency of Easyread. From the very first time they logged in to their online lesson and during the subsequent months that followed, the content was thorough, entertaining and repetitive in a way that allowed Charlotte to build on her basic decoding strategies day by day.
As for Charlotte – if Jenny were to identify the process as being associated with one emotion for her daughter it would be sheer happiness! It seemed like every day she was learning something new which in turn increased her self-worth, and so the positive cycle went on. Crucially, when it came to Easyread she could cope with every part of her 15 minute lesson, and this in itself was cause for celebration. Her self-awareness also increased dramatically. One afternoon, whilst reading together (something which Charlotte was happier about within a matter of weeks on the program) she remarked to Jenny “I can’t guess any more, can I mum”, and so together they proceeded to sound out and decode the words. To see her feeling so in control of how she was reading was wonderful. It was a very special moment for Jenny.
The Result
When Jenny thinks back to way things were before Charlotte began Easyread and compares it to where she is now, the difference is nothing short of astounding. She has essentially gone from being a non-reader to a reader in just six months! What’s more, she NEVER labels herself has being stupid anymore. Both her confidence in reading and her ability to decode – even challenging words – is overwhelming. And an added bonus that Jenny hadn’t even hoped for is that Charlotte’s spelling has improved dramatically as well.
“We are absolutely delighted with what Easyread has done for Charlotte. It has changed her life. Thank you all very much.”
Reading much more now
We’d just like to say that J’s confidence when reading has improved greatly, especially now that he is so far through the Easyread programme and he is reading (much) more at home these days.
He will be presented with his gold certificate in our sharing assembly, when his parents will be invited to attend.
Thanks again
Thanks from a 58 year old
Dear David
Thank you for all your help with my reading. I feel that I am improving every day. The course is very enjoyable, and I really liked the prizes even though I am now 58!!!! Heck.
Thank you .
Good news!
Agent H is decoding the words using the picture/rhyme and enjoying the programme and random games. He has moved up in reading levels in class and gaining confidence.
He is so excited!
Hi Sarah,
Thank you for your response it is greatly appreciated.
Have looked and tried the message tool today – had J with me and he started to type a sentence on the message tool all by himself, I had to take a business call and I came back and he had typed a sentence and was requesting me to print the page.
Obviously a lot of phrase and excitement was had between the two of us.
We then did our easy read lesson sometime later and he was so excited that he had typed his words correctly as one of the words was in his three little pigs story for the day.
We are taking things slow (at times I have to slow Jake down as he loves it when he can decode the words) and steady and appreciate your ongoing support.
ONLY thing that has ever worked
E is doing so much better with her reading. She does still have some work to do but she is able to read 3 grade level books with a little help. Even though she is still a couple of grade levels behind, its a great success and we are happy with how much she has improved!
The Easy Read system is the ONLY thing that has worked for her (we have spent over $10,000 on other programs and brain training techniques). It takes time, but it is worth the time and money to finally see some results.
Thank you!
J
After 15 years of struggle…
Hello! I hope David sees this message, because I would really like him to know this. N was playing a hockey video game (Canadians and their hockey!) this evening, and he just began to decode and read the choices that came up on the screen! We only started this program in January, and here it is just February! I’m so happy, this boy has struggled for fifteen years to learn to read. He was reading slowly, and he didn’t get all the words, but he got many of them, and he was READING! I wanted to share this success with you. Thank you so much.
Thank you so much!
Thank you so much i’m sad-end that this is the last few days of this program i have enjoyed it dearly i remember when i was learning the letters whit the pictures
thank you so much for helping me from T
🙂
The short answer is good news.
The short answer is good news. Daniel is also participating in a Australian Reading program called MultiLit and he undergoes standardised testing every 2-3 months and Daniel is now at or above his age level for reading accuracy and fluency. From memory the Easy Reach program goes for another 5 months (we started in March 2013). I thought Id probably continue easy read in the school holidays.
I think Easy Read really did help Daniel last year and even now when we read books we still use the names of some of the characters “egg with little legs”. So I am very thankful because last year was a difficult year as I was getting no help from the school and Easy Read did help Daniel get more confidence with his reading. Plus he liked the games.
Thank YOU for your time and support!
Thank YOU for your time and support! We really feel like for the first time in years we are on the right track with both of our children, and that has lifted quite some weight off my shoulders!
Grit
Astonished!
We love Easyread and have been meaning to write to you to express our gratitude because this program has been SO MUCH help to our 8-year-old, K. I was ASTONISHED to come into the living room the other day to find him VOLUNTARILY reading a book to his 2-year-old sister. I sincerely do not think we would be at this point without Easyread.
I feel that she is making some very good progress
I feel that she is making some very good progress with the program and I can already see improvements in her reading confidence (lesson 32)
Couldn't believe my ears…
On a side note, I wanted to say thank you for this program! My son told me this week that he loves to read….I couldn’t believe my ears. He still has a way to go, but for him to say he loves to read…was an answer to prayer!! : )
Impatient because he can now read!
Dear David and team,
I just wanted to say a big thank you for all you’ve done to help J with his reading and spelling. His Teacher is extremely proud of him as am I. It was a long course and lots of hard work, he thoroughly enjoyed it and it was only at the end of the course did he get impatient because in his words he could now read! Thank you once again.
I love Easyread and am really proud of myself…
I love Easyread and am really proud of myself. It feels good and exciting to come this far. I think I am a good reader now and my spelling is a bit better.
Thank you from Noah :)!
Thanks for the support. Yes, it was confirmed by Andrew's latest psych ed test that…
Thanks for the support. Yes, it was confirmed by Andrew’s latest psych ed test that he has now got good phonic knowledge and is decoding words, including unfamiliar ones. His reading and comprehension age is 13 (he is 9).
Case Study: 13-year-old non-reader…
Teen Mark had gone from reading swimmingly to sinking fast in just a few short years. And just when all seemed lost, Easyread became his life raft…
The Problem
Somehow over the course of Primary Year 4, Mark went from hanging in there with his reading to needing learning support on a daily basis. Pretty soon his mother Diana began to see why.
Mark had certainly never been a high flying reader, but he always achieved what he needed to – just about. It was when his classmates started on chapter books however that his grasp of reading began falling further and further behind. What seemed even stranger was the fact that he could read more complicated words totally fine and yet would routinely stumble with a very simple, short word. He had never enjoyed reading, but once the guessing started to escalate a lack of engagement turned into active resistance, particularly with reading aloud in the classroom. Diana was worried.
The one-on-one support continued into secondary school, and yet it was still as if Mark’s progress was still at a standstill. What’s more, by this stage he was very far indeed behind his classmates, and therefore barely able to complete work in class given the emphasis on reading in all subjects. As for spelling, this was a significant difficulty as well. Diana describes it as atrocious.
At 13 years old, Mark was well aware that there was a problem, and yet both mother and son had no idea what to do about it. All they knew was that major standardized testing (GCSEs) were on the horizon, and that was a very worrisome prospect indeed.
The Solution
It was around this time that Diana started doing some research online to try and better understand the perplexing difficulties Mark was experiencing. Easyread was amongst the gamut of reading interventions she came across, and something about it caught her eye. The explanation of the 8 Causes of Reading Difficulty for one thing seemed concise, logical and well-informed. When she went on to read about the 10 years’ worth of evidence-based and scientific research behind what was being said, she felt even more encouraged. So she read on…
The hands-on involvement they invited from the parent, the emphasis on easy learning and fun, and the fact that each lesson was restricted to 10 minutes, all fitted perfectly from a practical point of view. There was no way she was going to be able to force her headstrong teenage son to do anything he didn’t want to do, and she really felt as if he would come to this of his own free will! After having a go on the trial lesson Diane was pleased to be proven right; Mark really liked the setup just as much as she did. And so they signed up without delay.
It wasn’t long before Diana and Mark started to think of Easyread as a kind of godsend. The easy-going approach of the whole system and the principles of the Guided Phonetic Reading methodology which underpinned it, made learning seem totally implicit. She could also see how the system was subtly introducing more complex language as the months went by, and was thrilled to see Mark decode rather than sight-memorise words for the first time in his life.
Diana always knew that the support team could be reached and certainly made use of their advice, for instance with regards to the eye-tracking exercises they suggested, which helped him tremendously. But equally they were left alone to complete their daily lesson in their own home, which gave them a feeling of independence.
The Result
After just a few days Mark’s reading started to improve. After a couple of months, he was reading confidently in front of the class – something he never would have done before. Now at 15, having finished the program he is a capable and eager reader who enjoys reading for pleasure. He no longer needs to be taken out of his lessons for learning support either. In fact, he has been bumped up 3 reading levels. As for his spelling, he is embarking on his first GCSE year with average spelling for his age — something which seemed inconceivable a year ago.
Most important of all for Diana is the fact that by becoming more able to read and write her son has started to enjoy English, enjoy his lessons and even enjoys his homework! He is model pupil in fact! The future looks bright for Mark.
As we've just had our long summer holiday's and…
As we’ve just had our long summer holiday’s and we didn’t have access to a computer for a lot of the time, I’m amazed at how easily Rhiannon has slipped back into the reading and how her reading has improved. Most importantly I’ve noticed her confidence just growing with her ability.
He is enjoying reading books!
Just to let you know that we have decided to cease with spellmagic. H’s reading has come on so much and he is enjoying reading books (his favourite at the moment is the Beastquest series, whenever we are anywhere there are books, he always asks if we can buy/borrow some. A massive thank you to you, as he wouldn’t be anywhere near where he is now without spellmagic.
So again thank you so much for everything that you have done to enable H to improve. I love reading and just love it that H does too now.
Surprised at the change..
These messages and your personal contact phone calls are what we are liking about the course. These contacts enable me to ensure that I am assisting M with her course to get the very best out of it.
I have been surprised this week with how much quicker she has become in sounding and blending and then saying the words in the story. It is particularly great that you include those naughty words like ‘fart’……oh we laugh so much and she re-decodes and re-reads that line so many times.
M has re-started back at school, two weeks into the new school year, and home readers are coming home each night for her to read. I was very pleased that she used her de-coding skills, after I prompted her, which enabled her to get most of the words. Of cause with English language absurdities she was still trying to sound individual letters so it was impossible sometimes. From this I can see that M hasn’t quite mastered the grouping of letters that make a sound, like “ou”, “or, “ough” and all those. We will do some more re-reading of the story lines as you indicate, sometimes this is not done.
I was also so very proud of M moving ahead with the spelling test you gave her on Monday, I think, this week. She actually got through quite a few levels!
Jumped 3 book bands…amazing!
Hi David/Laura,
I thought you might like an update on B’s progress – she’s doing brilliantly.
I’ve been into see B’s teacher at her new school today and she’s really pleased with her reading, she’s now sitting comfortably in the top half of the class. She’s just done an assessment with her and moved her from orange (what she left her old school on) to gold. That’s a jump of 3 book bands – and she can read them all easily!
We are all really pleased and I just wanted to tell someone who would know how amazing that is for B!
I can’t quite believe how far she has come so quickly. Trying to explain what she was like last summer to her new teacher has really brought it home.
Thank you for all your support over the last 8 months, I can’t believe we only have 30 or so lessons left.