Parent Reviews of Easyread
Our most recent reviews:
I know it's only early on in the program, but from day one…
I know it’s only early on in the program, but from day one, I cannot fault one thing. I appreciate the total support from you and the team. It is so rare these days to find this type of dedication from anyone, so I applaud you and the team for going above and beyond for us. We feel 100% supported and have the end goal in sight. I truly thank you.
Estelle
Best reading he's ever done
A’s teacher told me today that he did the best reading he’s ever done for her – he read a paragraph from his new ‘Harry Potter’ book perfectly including some very challenging words. A big success!
So far Kalani is really enjoying Easyread…
So far Kalani is really enjoying Easyread, at first the image only text took awhile for him to decode, sometimes he wouldn’t finish but in the last week or so he’s become more confident and will finish the whole lesson. He knows most of the characters, though there are some that don’t come up as much (cr, dr, sc) and he will check his sheets. His guessing when doing Easyread is nearly gone, he slips up every now and then, mainly when he tries to read quicker. Reading at home has improved, mainly with the small words like it, is, the, and, etc. His reading has slowed down and he reads every word, he will also ask for help with words he doesn’t know instead of guessing.
When we are out, Kalani is more confident to read signs or messages, which he refused to do before Easyread.
I am extremely happy with Easyread, Kalani has made huge improvements in his reading, it will be interesting to see how his reading at school goes.
Joshua is enjoying the lessons…
Joshua is enjoying the lessons – especially the games and in the Funky Monkey game loves trying to guess which word he is going to be asked to do by looking at the game and the spare letters. He is getting much faster at this.
Also his spellings at school are improving as he is now thinking about the words and the sounds, where before, he seemed to be relying on memory.
Dare I say that…
Dare I say that Kombe has found a new series of reading books @ school that he loves & brings the reading book without any prompting. He is enjoying reading although he needs help with some words-the short every day words & not the long complicated ones. He takes time to decode the long words & he is right.
Guessing is down to 1 or 2 words & has only happened once this week!!!
Case Study: 3 siblings with severe dyslexia
The Problem
The story of Doresa and her three children’s struggles with learning to read began three years ago, when Javon was in Kindergarten and the twins Jordan and Makaila were in a private preschool.
Doresa and her husband were a little worried about Javon’s reading because he just seemed so inconsistent whenever he tried to decode words with them at home. As such they approached his teacher, who was frankly shocked by their suggestion that he had problems learning to read. Far from behind, she told them how Javon was actually the best reader in the class!
So why the problems with reading books at home? Well, fairly soon Doresa realised that the reason for the apparent contrast between her son’s baseline ability with individual words and his aptitude for devouring entire books at school, was that he was a highly gifted sight reader. His intelligence was in no doubt, having been tested as being in the 99.8th percentile for intelligence. For that reason, he had discovered that there was no need to read using the phonetic structure; he could simply sight-memorize the text, and did this so effectively that the teachers never caught on. At home meanwhile, where Javon didn’t have his throng of well-memorized books to hand, he could be seen making mistakes on even the simplest of words. Any given page was peppered with surprising mistakes.
Having made this discovery, Doresa took her Javon to see a psychologist who worked with gifted children. They confirmed not just a reading issue, but one of the most severe cases of dyslexia they had ever encountered. It was exactly because of his exceptionally high IQ that he still appeared to be reading above grade level.
Frankly, Doresa was unsure of what she should do next. It was a very strange position to be in, especially given that the school flat-out refused to give credence to her suggestions that he was unable to decode, even after they had the report from the psychologist.
Finally she made the decision to quit her job and homeschool Javon. That way she could ensure that he received the proper reading foundation he needed to be able to really progress. Doresa’s hope was that this was the start of a new and exciting change in the way Javon understood and processed written language…but unfortunately this could not have been further from the truth.
They had Javon tested again after twelve months and the results showed that despite Doresa’s very best personal efforts, he was reading only five additional words out of context compared with a year ago. A skilled sight reader he may be, but there was now no hiding from the fact that Javon was on a reading plateau. Doresa also decided to have the twins tested. They too were profoundly gifted (99.7th and 98th percentile), and also showing signs of dyslexia.
So, in an effort to pinpoint the issue, all three children had their eyes tested. The testing revealed them as having some tracking and convergence issues and so they subsequently underwent a year of vision therapy. However, while the vision issues improved, the reading did not. Feeling a bit deflated yet determined, Doresa’s quest to help her children continued.
From then on, the list of tried and tested interventions started to get ludicrously extensive! Reading Horizons, StarFall, Bob Books, All About Spelling, and lots of Scholastic worksheets… Javon would do the work without complaint, but aside from photographically memorizing pages at a time and therefore appearing to digest the material well, in her heart Doresa knew that he just wasn’t moving forward.
The Solution
When Doresa first stumbled across Easyread she instantly knew it would be perfect for one of her children in particular, Jordan, who was the least confident academically of all the kids. He was intensely frustrated and confused by all the different reading platforms they were trying to work through. For that reason, the idea of a game based system was something she thought would suit him very well indeed. The fact that the system had a focus on eye-tracking, and that the sessions were so short, were also excellent incentives for signing up her youngest son.
What’s more, while the cost of the program seemed high initially, compared to the $150 an hour Doresa was paying to have a certified reading tutor (who had been in place for quite some time and was yet to yield any positive change) this approach was ultimately much more reasonable. After watching her twin on the program on his first day, Makaila asked if she could start it too. Two days after that, Javon wanted to join his younger siblings, and so before they knew it they were all on board!
Everything about Easyread suited Doresa’s three very different but similarly bright children: the gentle approach, the fun yet challenging games, David’s gentle words coaxing the children to stop for the day and try again tomorrow when they get stuck in was especially for Jordan, the least confident of the children. The fact that not all of the words are “easy” in the lessons was hugely beneficial too. Javon, Jordan and Makaila could easily fake their way through words like “hat, sat, bat, mat”, which had tended to be the focus of other programs they had tried. However they couldn’t do that when being confronted by words that were new to them. The continued assessments allowed them to all clearly track their progress too, which was very useful. Doresa by this point had spent so much time and money on programs that appeared to be working because the kids were chomping through the material, but without some kind of formal assessment it was close to impossible to know for sure. Where Easyread was concerned, she was able to clearly map her children’s decoding ability as it flourished. And flourish it certainly did…
The Results
Mikaila, Jordan and Javon’s desire to read and confidence has experienced a drastic leap. Indeed Javon, the eldest, will now read to his younger siblings. Mikaila meanwhile has discovered that she loves reading books and writing stories. The biggest change for Javon is that he now not only enjoys decoding words, but has also started to write as well! This is a child that would never, ever write without being prodded to in the past. And yet now he will just pick up a pen and piece of paper and go for it.
Happily the three children have consulted one another and decided on what they would like their reward to be for finishing Easyread…space camp! They fully understand that this is a high pressure reading environment where every child is assigned a “job”, and that reading will be a part of every job. They will have to read publicly so that all team members can complete various phases of the mission. Aside from all being great space enthusiasts, it seemed to be a great fit with the “Agent” theme of Easyread and as such Doresa gladly agreed to this prize.
And guess what – even with the cost of Easyread and Space Camp – it is still cheaper than what the family would have spent hiring a private tutor to work with each child weekly! They are all reading and writing so much better than before they started, and the twins are working at decoding even the most challenging of words. They no longer shy away from reading challenges, but embrace them as they know every success they have in reading gets them closer to the ultimate Space Camp goal.
These three children defy the stereotype that dyslexia is a learning disability, since it is their very intelligence that led them to sight-read words in the first place. So with that in mind, where to next? Well 8 year old Javon is currently reading chapter books that are written for young teens, and meanwhile the twins are growing in confidence and ability every day that they are on the Easyread course. For these three little astronauts, the sky really is the limit!
No more 'tummy aches' before school!
We are thrilled with A’s progress and he is really enjoying the programme. The prizes through the post really keep him hooked and certainly appeal to boys.
His teacher has noticed a huge improvement too as A is now much more engaged and focused in lessons. But the biggest positive for me is that the ‘tummy aches’ Arthur used to have every morning before school have stopped. In fact they disappeared about 2 weeks in to the programme and have not reappeared. It is no small thing to say that my son is now happy at school and can see his own progress, has taken ownership of it and is thriving. The intelligent boy that we always knew was there is finally emerging. I know we still have a way to go and there’s lots of work to do to consolidate and really embed what he has learned, but I cannot thank you enough!
No idea it would be so interactive!
I have been extremely happy with Easy Read this far! It has been a huge relief for me, and I can see that L is progressing. His attitude has gotten better, and I can definitely see a change in his confidence level. There is still a lot of work to be done, but I’m confident that he will get there! : )
I have also been impressed by all the support offered. I had no idea that the program would be so interactive!
Thanks so much!
Scoring high in science!
Agent O did dictate a message for you but I would just like to let you know that he did a science test last week and scored 22/30. He was so proud that he came 4th in his class but the best bit was that he told me that he read it all himself! How fantastic is that! He certainly wouldn’t have done that prior to Easyread.
Many thanks for all your help and support; it is as always much appreciated.
Confidence growing
Kis really getting into her daily Easyread lessons and her confidence has grow both a home and in school. And she loves to do Eggi and Scribe as well.
Thank you Easyread!
I thought I'd give you an update of the progress…
I thought I’d give you an update of the progress Andrew has made since beginning Easyready. In April 2012, at age 7, Andrew was diagnosed as dyslexic, with giftedness in visual spatial areas but poor phonic awareness, and very poor reading ability. He was unable to spell and had profound problems reading and writing, despite scoring highly in maths. Soon after the diagnosis, we began Easyread. Within two months of Easyread I noticed a real difference. Andrew started to decode words, read sentences, and read signs on the street. His spelling improved and about a year into the programme, he began to read novels for pleasure – I never thought I’d see the day! Nearly two years later, he has been tested again by an educational psychologist. He still has a cognitive profile which matches dyslexia, but he has (at 9) the reading age of a 13 year old. His phonics score was also good. He still has weaknesses – particularly processing speed, and is about a year behind for his spelling age, but I am confident that with more work we can also improve his spelling. So thank you Easyread, I am very grateful for the help and I am confident that this has made the crucial difference for Andrew. I am happy to contacted as a referee for other interested parents, particularly those dealing with dyslexia.
She is decoding well although when tired…
She is decoding well although when tired still has the odd tendency to guess – but we are working on it. I can see she is improving in her focus on decoding and in this sense her reading is more accurate but she is still put off by a page of text and after reading a small chapter in her school book is tired.
All in all she is still thoroughly engaged in the program and that is fantastic!
Significant improvement
Just wanted to let you know that we have seen a significant improvement in L reading books. He has been allowed to move up a different colour at school which he has been desperate to do and at the same time (yesterday) something seems to have begun to click. Small steps but he was able to read pages with say 20 + words on them rather than just a sentence and was really good at sounding out, working out words, not guessing and recognising words. This is a big step change for us to begin to see so thought you’d like to know (of course we have more steps to take but this for us was great to see)
I guess without stating the obvious but this evening’s spelling assessor – L did so much better than in the past, I guess an outcome of building greater reading skills.
He received an award for reading improvement as well as…
He received an award for reading improvement as well as the class award for
the best all rounder at the end of last year – all going really well!
Jacqui
St Joseph's Primary School
Ruby has completed the course it has made an incredible improvement to her reading and spelling.
Case Study: Reading plateau, blending difficulties, guessing
Not being able to read forced lively Logan to go inside his shell. Mum was stumbling in the dark too with knowing how to help. But Easyread allowed them to see a light at the end of the tunnel…
The Problem
Despite being a late talker, Logan had always been a confident and chatty boy at school and at home. So when at parent’s evening his teacher described him as an intensely quiet child who was afraid to speak out in class, mum Lyndsey could only assume they weren’t talking about her son!
Lyndsey knew that learning to read had been casting a shadow over Logan, but she had no idea it had been affecting his self-esteem so profoundly. The previous year there were no troubles as far as reading was concerned. Yet suddenly from age 7 onwards, it was like he simply couldn’t do any more than he already was. He was stuck on a reading plateau. While his classmates were starting to read chapter books, Logan couldn’t even blend sounds together to form simple words.
His teachers agreed that something extra needed to be done, and Logan started to get additional small group reading support each week. He also started needing help with maths, something which he had always been good at before. Lyndsey soon realized this was because he couldn’t actually read the questions to be able to solve the maths problems. This knock-on effect was only the beginning, and pretty soon nearly all of Logan’s learning was being impacted. By the end of his third year of school, Logan was still unable to blend many words except for some simple 3 letter CVC words and there was a huge amount of guessing going on. What’s more, since this was yielding more failure than success his confidence was taking a bashing every time he picked up a book. He hated writing anything down as well because he was so afraid he wouldn’t be able to do it. So at almost 8 years old he was yet to write a sentence by himself.
Being an avid reader, Lyndsey was desperate to pass on the gift of reading for pleasure to her children. So her first instinct with Logan was to help him to appreciate the imaginative, joyous and freeing nature of reading. The family visited their local library regularly and often went to see children’s theatre based on much-loved books. Lyndsey was meticulous in helping with homework too, and when she saw his general uptake at school was suffering, she tried to find fun ways of going over concepts. Throughout all this, Logan was a willing participant and a hard worker with great determination. And yet he just didn’t seem to be able to retain information from one day to the next.
As a next step they tried making more practical changes. When Logan complained that he couldn’t hear at school because it was too loud, they requested that he be seated at the front of the classroom and also had a hearing test done. The test revealed his hearing to be fine, and seemingly no matter where he sat, his uptake was the same. Specialist teachers at the school began consulting on Logan’s behalf and even pushed to have him assessed by a speech therapist. But since he had already had a successful round of speech therapy in pre-school this was a dead-end. Next, Lyndsey requested that the school carry out a dyslexia screening, however it took several months to even get the ball rolling, and in the meantime Logan’s confidence was plummeting fast.
By this point, just doing the same thing over and over in a different way was really getting to both mother and son. So Lyndsey looked online for a different angle that they could try together at home. She soon came across Easyread, and when she read about the typical problems that kids using the system had overcome, it made perfect sense to her. She was particularly interested in the idea that guessing of words could become a habit, and that the brain needed to be rewired in order to encourage decoding instead. What a light bulb moment!
So they tried the trial lesson. Logan loved the fact that it was on the computer and he got to play games, so he was keen to sign up right away! By this point Lyndsey had done a lot of research into a wide range of interventions, and Easyread was by far the best suited. For one thing it sounded like the website was describing her son, but most importantly for the first time in a long time Lyndsey felt as if she had found something that might really help. They signed up the very next day.
The Solution
At just 15 minutes a lesson, Lyndsey and Logan found Easyread to be blissfully quick and simple to do. It wasn’t time consuming, which was an important practical consideration for mum and it was also easy for Logan to accomplish as well as being fun, which was important from a motivational perspective. Knowing he was working towards receiving prizes was an excellent incentive for him, and as such he happily did a lesson every day, even during the summer holidays!
Pretty soon, Lyndsey could see how the mother-son ‘teamwork’ that formed each lesson was having a wider impact on Logan. The fact that they were both in this together every day; being proactive rather than reactive, made him feel safe. It also illustrated to Logan how worthwhile it is to never give up, and that it’s good to ask for help when you need it.
Within weeks Lyndsey’s trust in the Easyread program and the team behind it was absolute. She had hoped to help her son, but she had never expected to receive such profound insights into his struggles! And yet she now realized this was the key to really helping him. Issues such as his eye-tracking weakness were swiftly flagged up and explained, and the simple exercises they were given to work on at home had a significant impact. The team then recommended a Behavioural Optometrist, and so Logan received a comprehensive diagnosis for visual processing issues (that Lyndsey never knew he had).
The Result
In the past year since signing up to Easyread, Logan has gone from wildly guessing at words and reading barely anything from the most basic books at school, to easily reading books that are twice as challenging. What’s more, he is set to move up yet another level soon.
His teachers are nothing short of amazed at the difference in Logan’s reading ability. His support-for-learning teacher even described him at the last parent’s consultation as being “the leading light of her reading group”. Furthermore, when the long awaited dyslexia screening finally happened recently, the school were shocked to discover that the results revealed he was now just three months behind the average reading age. Lyndsey and the teachers were in general agreements that the test would have yielded very different results a year earlier. His class teacher also praised his reading fluency and has commented on his burgeoning confidence in all areas of his learning. No more mister shy guy!
So is the honeymoon period over? Well actually, far from it. Since finishing Easyread Logan has taken part in the local library’s summer reading challenge. It is an annual tradition for the family, but this year for the first time he has actually been able to read the books himself rather than relying on Lyndsey to read them to him. Before bedtime each night, on any given car journey and even when he’s in the bathroom, Logan can most likely be found turning page after page of some great new book!
An added bonus is that his writing has also taken off in the past few months too! The boy who wouldn’t write a sentence last June is now writing pages and pages of wonderfully imaginative stories. The spelling is still mostly phonetic although getting better, and is certainly readable. Essentially he can now communicate in writing when he couldn’t before, and Lyndsey trusts that the rest will follow.
It has been a long hard slog for Logan and Lyndsey to get to this point, but both feel it has been well worth it to see the kind of progress he has made in both reading and writing. And I think we can all agree: it’s an incredible story!
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The Easyread System is an online course for struggling readers and spellers who guess when reading, make mistakes on common words, or spell highly phonetically. For more information or do so a questionnaire to figure out why your child struggles, visit www.easyreadsystem.com
I cannot tell you how much tobys reading has…
I cannot tell you how much tobys reading has improved in just 6 weeks. Toby is so much happier and can read so much. I had an a bit of an emotional moment over Christmas when he sat in a resturant and he read the whole menu and could choose what he wanted without having any help from us to read it, I think he even shocked himself!. It is amazing how he has gone from where he was to where he is now in such a short time. Tobys teacher spoke to me just before the holidays and said he has noticed a real change in his confidence. Really pleased thank you and look forward to him improving even more over the next few months.
Kian is doing well with his reading
Kian is doing well with his reading and I can definitely see a great improvement since he started the program. I also noticed today that he has made progress since his last lesson before Christmas. However I often find it difficult to get Kian to reread the story so I have often had to repeat lessons, is this ok? Kian also seems to be getting a bit bored with the story but he is doing the program 5 days a week and I suppose that is normal for a 6 year old boy. But yes there is definite improvement and I am very glad that we started the program. Also It may be a coincidence but Kian’s writing has improved quite a lot since he started Easyread. Thank you.
Helping him feel successful!
Hi David,
Thank you for developing the easy read system. I am finding it interesting to watch how N is progressing. It is still early days but I am sure it is helping him. He enjoys the lessons and it is giving him a feeling of being successful. This is a big part of the battle because when they are resistant it is a hard battle. The prizes are a great incentive and he waits eagerly for the next parcel to arrive in the post. I am very happy with how well you run the easy read program it is very professional. N seems to be reading more fluently and is very happy to do the online lesson everyday. He has been in school for three years and his teachers and I have been working hard on his reading all this time and he was still below the average in his reading level and struggling with both reading and writing. I have some hope that this program might finally make the puzzle of reading fall in place. He seems to be a text book case for your course so I will be very interested to see how we go.
Thanks again for your help and for developing this program. I am sure it will benefit N greatly and with a good foundation the world is his oyster.
Best regards
J
We have noticed a definite change in Toby
We have noticed a definite change in Toby, in particular, his confidence has sky rocketed as has his attitude towards learning. We are more than happy with his progress thus far, and are excited for what the future holds for him.
Thank you for the support you gave them…
Calum and Ewan continue to make progress with their reading. Ewan in year 2, reads with his group and is on track to complete the standard for his year by Easter. Calum is also reading with a group in his year. They are the “middle group” of the year and he remains positive and eager to work both in school and at home. The foundations Easyread has allowed them to stand in good stead – their spelling is very good and they both have a very good knowledge of all the patterns of sounds in our language.
Thank you all for the support you gave them.
Her enjoyment of reading is much greater…
Amelie is reading very well at the moment and her enjoyment of reading is much greater. I think her spelling is also improving however as she doesn’t use it in school it is harder to assess.
– H
Thank you for a wonderful learning environment…
Happy Christmas to you all! And thank-you for a wonderful learning environment. The new Spell Race game is fantastic – Kaia is so engaged with it. It makes her want to succeed at her spelling! And drives (ha, ha, excuse the pun) her on literally!
– H
Case Study: Retained reflexes, dyslexia, dygraphia
“During the summer holidays this year, we decided to arrange for Sammy to meet up with a Speech Therapist in France and Caroline Hurst a Behavioural Optometrist working in St Neots, Cambridgeshire.
Both meetings confirmed that Sammy has some measurable difficulties with reading and spelling but reassured us that we were on the right track trying to help him with the use of a private tutor and signing up for Easyread, however, it also showed we needed some additional specialist help.
Sammy met with the Speech Therapist in early August and her findings were emailed to us in a report a week before we were due to meet Caroline. She concluded Sammy needed further assessments with an Educational Psychologist and a Neurologist (standard practice in France) to compile a ‘Bilan de Lange’ (or language assessment) and to confirm what she suspected to be both dyslexia and dysgraphia. Indeed, her testing showed Sammy exhibited difficulties in several areas, although from my understanding the test is specifically designed for French children, and is not so successful at measuring bilingual children.
A few days later we met with Caroline Hurst, http://www.candahurstopticians.co.uk as you had already identified Sammy had some eye-tracking difficulties that we felt needed further investigation. Yet, we were not sure what to expect from our appointment… from the beginning it was clear this was a very different eye examination to anything we had attended before! It started with a Q&A session, followed by very comprehensive testing that lasted for over an hour, after which we were moved to another room where much to our surprise, Caroline asked Sammy to perform some exercises, that included hopping, skipping, commando-style crawling, balancing etc. She explained that probably as a consequence of Sammy walking early and by-passing much of the important crawling phase, he had inadvertently missed some essential developmental steps. She tested for five primary reflexes (Moro, Tonic Labyrinth Reflex (TLR), Spinal Galant (SG), Asymmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex (ATNR), and Symmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex (STNR)) noting that the presence of TLR, STNR and Moro reflexes were still very apparent, which she strongly believed had greatly affected his learning of gross and fine motor skills, crucial to visual development.
We were assured that by completing a course of Ocular Vision Therapy (OVT), Sammy would almost certainly begin to perform better at school and resolve his reading difficulties. We were given literature and Sammy was shown exercises he needed to complete everyday. We were given a diary to keep track of his progress and we made an appointment to connect on Skype so Caroline could conduct a progress evaluation one month later. In addition, she also prescribed bi-focal glasses for Sammy to be worn for reading, writing, board work and whilst watching T.V. or working on his computer.
Elation, confusion, shock, scepticism and guilt were just some of the emotions we experienced during the two hour drive back to our home in Suffolk. Could walking early really be at the root of all Sammy’s problems?
Three days later Sammy received his new glasses which he found challenging to wear at first, but has now adapted to very well and seems to love his new ‘intellectual’ image!
It has been over three months and Sammy’s progress has been impressive; his confidence has grown, he no longer yawns constantly when asked to read, his attention span, focus, comprehension and memory have dramatically improved, meaning he no longer follows the repetitive rhythm of learning, forgetting and repeating his lessons. His marks have improved in recitation and dictation, as well as mental arithmetic, (despite being good at maths he could never recite his times tables, he would learn them and then forget almost immediately!) so, it is amazing to us he has committed most of them to memory, and finally this week, to my delight he has read his first ‘proper’ book in English from cover to cover, albeit with a few pronunciation errors!
Of course this is only the beginning and we all have some work to do before Sammy can comfortably manage the CM2 programme of CNED (distance learning programme based on the French national curriculum) and work more autonomously in both French and English, but hopefully with the love and encouragement of family, the support of his tutor and the Easyread team, plus Caroline Hurst’s monthly progress assessments via Skype and another follow-up session in December when we are back in the UK, we are optimistic Sammy’s confidence and performance will continue to develop.
Please feel free to share our story with any of the Easyread users if it is in anyway useful.”
Easyread has created such a buzz around the school…
We are thinking ahead to the end of the Easyread sessions for the children we have on the program. It has created such a ‘buzz’ and enthusiasm around the school and we have seen a huge improvement in willingness and enjoyment when reading for the children using Easyread. We are keen to continue this ‘buzz’ and want to get the next steps right for these children.
– L