Parent Reviews of Easyread
Our most recent reviews:
Easyread and Special Needs Children
Easyread changed my life!
Happy Easyread child, mother and dog!
Ben loves Easyread!
"…she volunteered to read a paragraph out loud in class…"
We are very happy with what we have seen so far. We have seen a tremendous boost in confidence, and there is never any resistance to doing EasyRead. We have not missed one day since we began.
In re-reading the text, she does well on the ones with text, but struggles a bit with the non text words. I think that it’s hard because it forces her to decode, which is what she needs. Still occasional guessing, but she is now self correcting. So a step in the right direction.
She came home from school yesterday to say that she volunteered to read a paragraph out loud in class. That speaks volumes!!
My daughters best friend in the neighborhood, who is also a struggling reader (one year younger), has been wanting to do EasyRead, since she saw Sofia doing it. And her parents signed her up this week!! I’m excited for her also.
I’m hoping we see continued improvement, and would like to see this program adopted by schools, and I’m also speaking to our tutoring provider about the possibility of adding it.
Thanks so much, and I’ll keep in touch.
This system has been absolutely superb for my daughter.
This system has been absolutely superb for my daughter. It’s hard to believe how and what she is reading now compared to the start of the year. She is now reading the books on the reading list for her year and was tested last week. Her speed and accuracy were 6 months ahead of her age, and her comprehension was put at 13 years (she’s 9 and 8 months).
— S.
We first realised that Sophie was really struggling…
We first realised that Sophie was really struggling with reading and spelling when she was seven. Since then she has been assessed by psychologists, occupational therapist, developmental optometrist and specialist dyslexia tutor and completed weekly programs with these specialists. Over this time I have come to realise that once a week programs are very expensive and for us were not a very effective use of anyone’s time. Sophie was not motivated by any of these programs and getting her to participate was always a battle. I came across Easyread on one of my regular Googles on Dyslexia and was immediately impressed by what I read on the website in particular short lessons everyday.
Sophie and I then looked at the information together and completed the trial lesson. She loved the way David was explaining things to her and she said “He really seems to understand.” She was very excited at the thought that there may be a way that she would be able to read and spell like her friends.
So far Sophie has really enjoyed the program and is very motivated by the codewords and prizes. She has always been rewarded by us in different ways for the work we do at home but it is much more exciting to send off a codeword and then receive a package in the mail. She also really enjoys the way that the program feels so personal. It actually feels like David is there in the room with us. It seems like someone cares and really wants to help.
Sophie has had no difficulty in completing the lessons so far and taking out the letters in the stories so she has to decode rather than sight read the words has really helped her understand this process. She is also guessing less but as this has been her major strategy for so long she is finding this habit harder to break. We always reread each page after she has decoded the words and she has no difficulty with this.
As you say it is too early to see any improvement in Sophies’s normal reading but we are now aware of and watching out for guessing (which she has developed the ability to do very accurately over the years) and we are doing a lot more decoding together. The time we spend reading is definately a lot more enjoyable and a lot less frustrating for us both.
The first six weeks of Easyread have been fun and rewarding and Sophie and I are looking forward to seeeing what the next six weeks brings.
Best wishes
R
Thank you for your system
Matthew is decoding each line of the reading until it is fluent. He usually only has to read through twice, and the second read is quite fluid and with appropriate inflection.
We are pleased with his progress thus far. He recently took a test for school and for the first time for over a year, scored at grade level. This is a big change from just in late April, when he had lost confidence and did not give the test a serious effort because it was too difficult for him from the start.
Thank you for your system.
L.
Just to let you know…
Just to let you know, Andrew has taken a maths assessment at his new senior school, without a reader for the first time, and has been assessed at L5 and is in the top steam. This time last year he failed the maths on the Kent test because he couldn`t read the questions.
What a difference a year and the Easy Read course can make!
L.
My son has improved his reading…
The only thing that I can say is that your program is great. My son has improved his reading and best of all he loves coming back from school and getting online to do Eeasyead. There is no way I will ask for a refund your program is to good, if somebody says otherwise they either didn’t do it right or they are just abusing.
Thank you easyread.
M.
We just wanted to thank you…
We just wanted to thank you and your colleagues for all the help Matthew and I have received over the last ten months. The Easyread programme has be fantastic. Matthew’s reading has improved and he has now caught up with his peers. He, I think, will never be a lover of books, but if he finds a book that excites him, he is very keen to read. He still finds spelling difficult but we have seen an improvement.
The length if each session was great any more and Matthew would of been fidgety. He absolutely loved the games, except for the mushroom picker, although I thought it was fine. I liked the way the games all worked in different ways, making Matthew decipher the words or images. The stories were great encouraging Matthew to decipher the Easyread character revealing the story, how he managed to read it so fast I don’t know.
I really have nothing negative to say about Easyread except that part of me wishes it went on a bit longer. Matthew has now started his final year at junior school and I hope we can keep the momentum going.
Please thank David for the wonderful concept of Easyread.
We wish you well with the programme.
Regards
P & M
Moved up 4 reading bands!
Just thought I would let you know that when Ania returned to school this week she has been moved up 4 bands in her reading books, she is very proud of herself and we are very pleased with her progress. The easy read programme seems to be really helping her.
– H (Ania, age 10)
I can't hardly believe it myself…
I thought I’d write you a short note to tell you, something is definitely happening with Sofia. I know we are only on lesson 30….but last night we finished a book together. We only had 7 or so pages to go, but she did amazing. I couldn’t believe the words she was sounding out. Large 6 syllable words. Saying “Don’t help me”. She called in her dad, saying to him “Listen to me dad.” When we finished that book, we had to go immediately to the book shelves to get another. Couldn’t get her to go to bed because she wanted to read. NEVER HAS THIS HAPPENED!!! Six weeks ago, we couldn’t sit through 5 minutes of reading without tears and anger. We spent 45 minutes reading…and had to force her to stop. Again, I know it’s only lesson 30, and the fluency isn’t there yet, but we just made a tremendous leap mentally in her confidence.
I can’t hardly believe it myself. But something is happening!! What a great way to end our day.
Happy Reading!!
P.
Simply amazing…
We are really SO happy with the program. The progress Sascha is making is simply amazing, her teachers are really impressed and hadn’t heard of Easyread before.
– JM
Parent Perspective: Easyread Helped Ben’s Intelligence Shine
Our son Ben turned 7 in November 2011. We had been concerned about his lack of progress in reading for some time. After several requests, over a six month period, we managed to arrange a meeting with the school. With no hesitation they agreed that Ben was experiencing difficulties in his reading. However, the child they described was not the one we knew.
They said he had little imagination and was unable to express himself verbally.
At home he is known for his long, detailed stories and impressive vocabulary. They said his difficulties would affect all areas of his school work and seemed to be looking only at damage limitation. As far as they were concerned, this was a problem which was not going to go away. It was one we would need to help him to live with. We felt they were writing him off too soon. The one thing we all agreed on was that Ben did not realise he had a problem and his confidence was still high. The school’s plan for the future was to leave things for 3 months, focus more on his reading and writing, and to further assess Ben during that time.
We were not happy with this approach and worried that we were losing time. We felt that at this age and stage every minute counts. We were particularly concerned that his confidence would be affected. We started the Easyread program mid-November 2011
How did we pick Easyread?
We had a very strong feeling that Ben needed a different approach. We did not think that just doing more of what he was learning at school would help him. After all, he is a bright boy and it had not worked for him so far. He is only 7 years old and was going to bed at 7pm so I did not think what we did should take up too much of his free time.
So I started looking at the different approaches advertised on the internet. There were a huge number of very different systems. I tried the trial lesson on the Easyread website and liked so many things about it.
- The characters were fun.
- The lessons were time-limited to a maximum of 15 minutes.
- Most of the work was presented in the form of games.
- He would not feel that he was doing extra school work.
- The approach was also different from that at school.
I spoke to an Easyread representative on the phone and discussed Ben in detail. We talked about him as an individual and it seemed that Easyread might be suitable for him. When I told them part of his story, they were able to understand and often knew what I was going to say next, which gave me the confidence that this was worth a try.
Ben started straight away and did not see it as work.
It was games and funny characters, and there were prizes to be gained. He was still unaware that he had a problem so we just said it would help him catch up with his older siblings (who both love reading). He worked through the lessons every day and they took very little time. He became familiar with the characters and we all played games to help him remember them. He felt that he was good at what he was doing and proud of the achievements he made. The prizes were a great incentive.
We were happy with the program but knew it would take a while before we saw the results. However, the day the three kids returned to school after the Christmas holidays, Ben wrote his first story at school. The teacher said she previously had to push him to get one sentence on the page, but he had written a whole page. The spelling was horrible but the story was long, convoluted and written down on paper! What an achievement!
They had had their first glimpse of his real ability, 18 months after he had started school. The teacher also commented that he was more confident in all areas of his work. We had thought his confidence had not yet been affected, but it obviously had. The result was that the expectations of Ben rose and his problems were taken more seriously. The brighter he was considered to be by the school, the greater his difficulties appeared to be. At his review, this was recognised and the school decided they needed a further 3 months to do more in-depth testing.
Ben’s reading went from strength to strength. By Easter he was at that very annoying stage when they read everything in sight: every road sign, every sauce bottle, etc. His next review fell at Easter when the school opted out saying that what we were doing was so effective they did not want to jeopardise it by doing anything else. Although there have been times when I have had to resort to bribery (Lego and family trips) to get Ben to do his lessons he has always enjoyed the lesson when he got down to it and the lessons have remained short.
At the end of the summer term, 7 months after we started Easyread, I got a phone call from the school saying that they saw no need for further reviews for Ben as he was now reading at his reading age. He thinks he is a great reader and reads by choice. He has moved up a class with no support and is managing well. He is full of confidence.
Pauline S. is an Easyread parent from the UK. She has had two children go through the course now since 2011.
Parent Perspective: Easyread Helped Ben's Intelligence Shine
Our son Ben turned 7 in November 2011. We had been concerned about his lack of progress in reading for some time. After several requests, over a six month period, we managed to arrange a meeting with the school. With no hesitation they agreed that Ben was experiencing difficulties in his reading. However, the child they described was not the one we knew.
They said he had little imagination and was unable to express himself verbally.
At home he is known for his long, detailed stories and impressive vocabulary. They said his difficulties would affect all areas of his school work and seemed to be looking only at damage limitation. As far as they were concerned, this was a problem which was not going to go away. It was one we would need to help him to live with. We felt they were writing him off too soon. The one thing we all agreed on was that Ben did not realise he had a problem and his confidence was still high. The school’s plan for the future was to leave things for 3 months, focus more on his reading and writing, and to further assess Ben during that time.
We were not happy with this approach and worried that we were losing time. We felt that at this age and stage every minute counts. We were particularly concerned that his confidence would be affected. We started the Easyread program mid-November 2011
How did we pick Easyread?
We had a very strong feeling that Ben needed a different approach. We did not think that just doing more of what he was learning at school would help him. After all, he is a bright boy and it had not worked for him so far. He is only 7 years old and was going to bed at 7pm so I did not think what we did should take up too much of his free time.
So I started looking at the different approaches advertised on the internet. There were a huge number of very different systems. I tried the trial lesson on the Easyread website and liked so many things about it.
- The characters were fun.
- The lessons were time-limited to a maximum of 15 minutes.
- Most of the work was presented in the form of games.
- He would not feel that he was doing extra school work.
- The approach was also different from that at school.
I spoke to an Easyread representative on the phone and discussed Ben in detail. We talked about him as an individual and it seemed that Easyread might be suitable for him. When I told them part of his story, they were able to understand and often knew what I was going to say next, which gave me the confidence that this was worth a try.
Ben started straight away and did not see it as work.
It was games and funny characters, and there were prizes to be gained. He was still unaware that he had a problem so we just said it would help him catch up with his older siblings (who both love reading). He worked through the lessons every day and they took very little time. He became familiar with the characters and we all played games to help him remember them. He felt that he was good at what he was doing and proud of the achievements he made. The prizes were a great incentive.
We were happy with the program but knew it would take a while before we saw the results. However, the day the three kids returned to school after the Christmas holidays, Ben wrote his first story at school. The teacher said she previously had to push him to get one sentence on the page, but he had written a whole page. The spelling was horrible but the story was long, convoluted and written down on paper! What an achievement!
They had had their first glimpse of his real ability, 18 months after he had started school. The teacher also commented that he was more confident in all areas of his work. We had thought his confidence had not yet been affected, but it obviously had. The result was that the expectations of Ben rose and his problems were taken more seriously. The brighter he was considered to be by the school, the greater his difficulties appeared to be. At his review, this was recognised and the school decided they needed a further 3 months to do more in-depth testing.
Ben’s reading went from strength to strength. By Easter he was at that very annoying stage when they read everything in sight: every road sign, every sauce bottle, etc. His next review fell at Easter when the school opted out saying that what we were doing was so effective they did not want to jeopardise it by doing anything else. Although there have been times when I have had to resort to bribery (Lego and family trips) to get Ben to do his lessons he has always enjoyed the lesson when he got down to it and the lessons have remained short.
At the end of the summer term, 7 months after we started Easyread, I got a phone call from the school saying that they saw no need for further reviews for Ben as he was now reading at his reading age. He thinks he is a great reader and reads by choice. He has moved up a class with no support and is managing well. He is full of confidence.
Pauline S. is an Easyread parent from the UK. She has had two children go through the course now since 2011.
Thank You…
Thank You. We are having great leaps forward due to your program. Please pass this on.
K.
To begin with I was sceptical and I should not have been…
Jamie was diagnosed with dyslexia last year. It was a real shock for me and at first I couldn’t accept it. Once he started on the Easyread course and I worked with him every morning on it, I began to really understand the difficulties he had. I then also read a lot of material, and through understanding the problems he had with his short-term and procedural memory, I fully appreciated that your advice about learning to decode and encode and training Jamie’s brain in a different way. Clearly this was the only way in which we could resolve the problems he had at school.
To begin with I was sceptical and I should not have been. It also helped to read the book “The Dyslexic Advantage” by Drs Eide (in fact I had read that book before I started your course). I don’t know if this might help you with new parents coming to the Easyread course.
Jamie also had his eyes tested by a suitably qualified optician as a result of your guidance (this was the fourth test he had and the three earlier ones said he had perfect eyesight). As such we discovered he has Meares-Irlen Syndrome and a tracking weakness in his left eye. He now has special glasses he wears in class and for reading and this has improved his ability to read dense text with accuracy.
His spelling has improved greatly but I feel he still continues to work on his decoding and encoding and would wish to continue on to level 5.
In addition to Jamie’s spelling problems he had issues with maths in that whilst he understood the concepts, he found remembering some of this difficult. I have engaged a maths tutor who has expereince in working with dyslexic children and she comes once a week. Jamie passed his maths without difficulty last year. He also knows all of his times tables up to 12 as I taught him to learn these using rhythms.
Jamie has really come on in the last year and I am looking forward to this year at school. I know he will continue to require support but now I understand the problems, I can help him. He is in fact a clever child and at IQ testing his standard score in Verbal Comprehension was 134, Abstract/Visual Reasoning was 123.
– D
I think Easyread has helped me with my spelling…
Today Jamie received his Gold Certificate and had the following to say about Spellmagic: ‘every morning before school I have done Easyread. It was tricky because I was a little tired but when I had finished it I felt good about trying my best. The sounding out was a bit hard and I did not like mushroom picker game so much. My favourite was when I got a joke at the end of the lesson! I think Easyread has helped me with my spelling because now I write more fluently without mistakes. Last night mum tested me (when I was tired) and my score was 51 out of 60 for a spelling test).’
🙂 🙂 🙂
– D
Dear David…
Dear David
Easyread has really helped me with reading and I really liked it because it helped me so much. My favourite bit was the beginning when I was being introduced to the characters and all the games.
Thank you so much for helping my reading. I am really good at reading now.
Ben
Thanks for all the encouragement and support which is wonderful…
We have been very happy with Auley’s progress. Last night he read his school reader to his little sister (he’s now teaching her to read!). His confidence is great and he just told me he is a better reader.
He gloats to his friends at about his prizes and even shows off to his older cousin who also asked his mum could he join Easyread. Thanks for all the encouragement and support which is wonderful, especially when they realise its not just about getting prizes, even if they are super cool!
Thank you so much.
– G
Great advice through Easyread
Jessica is making progress. She is beginning to be much more fluent due to the re-reading strategy. I can’t say as I have any suggestions as to how to improve [the course] as it works very effectively. The best part for me as a parent is knowing there is always great advice either by messaging or telephone.My advice is that “if you follow the instructions as asked it does what it says on the tin”.
Thank you very much for your continued support.
— C (Jessica, age 8)
I just wanted to say…
I just wanted to say we are starting to see Cole decoding and not just guessing. This morning he wanted to read a paragraph in front of a group, one that he has not gone over. We were surprised he made no mistakes! On words we knew he has not seen much he actually slowed down and read them correctly. They were ‘infirm’, ‘interchange’. and ‘accompany’. I am still trying to get him to slow down on words he considers easy, but the games help with that because if he reads it too fast or didn’t decode it he makes a mistake, or will make one if I don’t help him. I am going to try to make some words with just the pictures to see if this helps. We just wanted to let you know how proud we were of him slowing down and not guessing at a word. This is a first!
Thanks again, T
I'm glad I picked your Easy Read System over everything else…
Lessons are helping him little by little. He doesn’t stop asking until I log him in for his daily studying. I make sure I do it when all my attention is going to be focused on him 100%. I’m glad I picked your Easy Read System over everything else.
M.
I found the course really fun…
I found the course really fun, and it’s made reading much easier for me. My teacher can’t believe the difference. I went reading age of 6 to a reading age of 11. My mum and dad are really pleased, and I feel a really confident reader.
Thank you so much.
From Sam