I am happy to give you my thoughts, but let me just say I would recommend Easyread without hesitation, and infact I will be signing up my younger son should he fail to make progress this academic year (he is in Year 1).

My 8 year old son has struggled with reading since the outset. He is now in Year 4. His inability to keep up with the pace and teaching style at school, together with receiving so many mixed methods of teaching has meant that the academic gap between himself and his peers has widened each year. Despite having one to one help and a tutor, and my having spent thousands (yes, thousands!) of pounds on other remedial reading methods, Easyread is the only thing he has been willing to engage in, and it has turned him from a non-reader to a reader. We are on about lesson 104.

I was a Primary teacher before having my children. Since my son showed difficulties with reading 4 years ago I have been reading every available book and piece of clinical and anecdotal evidence regarding the topic. If you are interested, Diane McGuinness’s book ‘Why Children Can’t Read’ is the one I would single out as being the most thorough, worthwhile and authoritative work in the field. She has a view on dyslexia I think you will find very interesting. My son was diagnosed with dyslexia at the start of year 3. It didn’t make a shred of difference to him or the way he was taught. My opinion is that it does not exist as a diagnosable condition, an opinion shared by many.

Some children-about 30%-struggle with the aquisition of the skill of reading, but it’s more to do with poor teaching, mixed methods, and a lack of thorough consistent teaching following a systematic approach. That’s what children who are struggling need. What they get more often than time with the class teacher is time with untrained teaching assistants, who try hard but don’t know how to teach the skill of reading. Methods such as Thrass and Phonographix are foolproof if employed correctly, with infinite time, skill and patience but schools just cannot provide these things, as teachers and the curriculum are overstretched, and the struggling children get further and further behind. I mistakenly thought school had the situation in hand and knew what they were doing, but the teaching of reading is being squeezed in and delivered hurriedly. I decided I had to do something out of school hours to help my son.

As I mentioned already, he had a tutor but could not keep up with the work and it was just more of the same to him. He had already decided he was stupid, and would become extremely distressed and felt he would fail if he tried to do anything academic, so he refused to try. We tried the Davis dyslexia method to very great expense, but in the end it was worse than useless, and has no clinical evidence. A lot of their methods are mumbo jumbo. We went to the Helen Arkell Centre, and again this did not help.

And then I read the Easyread website. It used methods I had come across in my reading that were evidenced to work. I signed him up the same day, without hesitation. My son took to it straight away, because it is short, achievable and has a completely different feel to school work. Because it is done in the home he does not have peers watching and therefore no need to feel he is being judged or failing. It is really really good fun, it builds skill upon skill over time and it feels safe, non-threatening and achievable to the user. There are great prizes, which keep my son motivated, and you get a lot of support (daily if you need it) from people who are dedicated to helping your individual child, and who are highly skilled. It retrains children who have got into the habit of guessing to decode every single word. This is really key, but it is not something all assistants/mums/grannies who ‘hear children read’ at school are guaranteed to know the importance of.

My son loves the lessons and they work. He was not reading at all. Now he can. I don’t think you will regret it for a second if you sign up.

Please feel free to email me again if you have any further questions.

Kind regards,

Joanna

Harry is progressing well. We had parents’ evening and Harry is now average for reading in his class, whereas just over a year ago he was pushing away books. He enjoys reading his school books most nights and is progressing well and is enjoying reading Mr Men books at the moment! Many thanks.

-Mrs Baldeon

We are doing really well this end! I really feel Cassius’ reading is improving, and most importantly he seems to be enjoying it as he is finding it easier. The other night I heard him in his room reading aloud to himself! This has really not happenend before, so I am thrilled. He also picked up another book this week (one with pretty small text, and limited pictures) and came and told me he could read it!
Many thanks, and we continue to be very excited by our progress with Easyread.

-Claire

Easyread has helped me a lot in my spellings and my reading. It is also great fun. Now i am reading the heroes of olympus stories. Thank you.

-Brandon (age 11)

Many thanks for all your help and support with Brandon. He has enjoyed the games and stories over the past few months. He is now reading all the time and has shown improvements in other subjects as well.
-Beverley murphy

I can see that Matthew is growing in confidence with regard to his reading. Not too long ago he was reading the picture text easier than the written text. Now he is reading written words easier but does tend to rely on the pictures above occasionally if he is not quite sure of the sound required. It is amazing how he has been helped by your methods of teaching. We will keep going and continue to watch his progress grow. Many thanks for your offers of help and advice along the way.
-Paula

Easyread has been a fantastic help to Molly, her reading age has greatly improved and she now works at the same level as the rest of her peers. Her confidence has seen the greatest improvement though.
Once again thank you very much for all your help, the wonderful programme, and brilliant spy toys we have received!
-Anne (and Molly too!)

My daughter has really taken to Easyread; she enjoys the daily ritual. We are already starting to see improvements in her reading. She is more confident to read text on signs and in magazines and menus that she sees around and about. Her fluency with school reading has improved radically in the last 2 weeks and her teacher has commented that she has begun to use her phonic skills to decode long/unusual words.

I think she started reading quite early by memorising the words as pictures and didn’t really need to decode in the ways that the other children did. As she reached the higher reading levels this became ineffective. Now she is learning the skills she should have learnt earlier.

-Janet (her daughter is currently 1/5 through the course)

Wow what a difference today!
The game at the beginning Jungle Juggle made a great difference to both Charlie and Alexander’s attitude to the reading of the ‘three little pigs’, thank goodness.
I was amazed, I actually discovered that they are really picking up the concept of decoding and both read really well. They actual did it with out the huge resistance like the other days. I think the boys really respond well to the game at the beginning!!!
Yesterday I did validated Charlie that he thought it was easy (even though at the time I thought he was really struggling) and it seemed to have shifted his attitude as well. I hope this makes sense!
By the way, personally I really appreciated the last game in this session as I got clearer on the blend sounds with the images.
Thanks for this format today, I really appreciated it (the boys too!)
I would still like the boys to chat with you if that is okay? This coming Monday evening 21/10/11 suits please let me know.
Cheers and thanks
S

Ollie has really come on with his reading, it’s been hard work but the change and improvement is so noticeable especially now reading books too. Some of the games were great fun, he really enjoyed fighter mission and letter quest. He still has quite a long way to go to build his confidence still but we have certainly moved a long way forward – so thank you.
-Joanna

It has been wonderful for me to see the great improvement in Seans reading since starting to use Easyread. He enjoyed the programme especially fighter mission (this was his favourite). The approach of just 10 mins per day worked so well. It has been a great relief for us as parents to see Sean achieve his current reading age after being told a year ago he was two years behind. His Teachers suspected dyslexia and we’ve just been told recently that Seans work now is not that of a dyslexic child. I cannot thank you enough for developing this course it has been instrumental in helping our son become a confident reader.
I might be interested in signing Sean up for Level 5 if you could send me some information on it, its duration etc.

Thanks and Kind Regards
R

Matthew was so proud of himself!! His confidence is extremely high.

We are so happy with his progress. He speaks constantly of reaching “take off point”. His new attitude towards reading is wonderful. He is excited about it and his new attitude alone makes this program worth it. Thank you so much.

L

The other day he picked up a book that he had not been practicing at school and read it aloud – this is a first. I was startled and very pleased.

In summary: Progress continues apace and all is well.

Jonny

Cal has come on leaps and bounds in the first six weeks of the easyread system he now finds sounding out of words much easier.

He has picked up books at home and read them without being asked and enjoyed the stories he has read, this is something he NEVER has done before.

Thank you
S

I spoke to Jemma’s English teacher yesterday and what good news!!!
Her reading is above average and now the spelling.Amazing, thank you very much. The teacher is also very keen to get Easyread into the school which I think is very exciting.
She is now on lesson 159 and I would just like to know how many more there are please?
A very big thank you
T

Aimee is making good progress and has moved up 2 groups in her class in reading and spelling already. I was expecting it to take longer as she has only completed 44 lessons. We have a new codeword STICKS to send.

thanks again, H

Just to confirm all is well and Sam is still enjoying Easyread. His development is now noticable, which is excellent.

Kind regard

C

I’ve had a call from the school actually to say they have been very pleased to see an improvement in Archie. He is one of I think three children doing easyread independently, but having seen good results in those three, the school are now proposing to contact you directly (if they haven’t already) to use the system on a larger scale. Archie’s confidence is growing, which is very important – we have the 11+ in January and I think he’s beginning to feel more sure of his ability to do himself justice on paper. He’s really taken to reading, which I’m delighted with, and I think I see progress in his spelling. He gets very frustrated with the writing element, which is another weak area, but we are calmly trying to work through it…!

So, all good, thankfully.

C

We are pleased with Harry’s progress with easyread. He enjoys the lessons and we have managed to fit it into a daily routine fairly easily.

I’m not sure if the games randomizer is really random or not, but if it isn’t we’d like ‘Fighter Mission’ a lot more often!

Thanks and best wishes,

S

Since starting Easyread 7 weeks ago, Cassius’ attitude towards reading has transformed. The changing pace of each session is so subtle it enables him to remain keen, and enthusiastic every time he logs on. He loves the characters and the challenge of winning the great prizes! We are very excited about what is to come, and the confidence and enjoyment I see developing in him towards reading. The stress has lifted! Many thanks for your wonderful support.

Claire Baxter

1. The lessons are clearly aimed at the kids, the language, the pictures, the jokes.
2. The emails and videos which explain the next step are really helpful to ensure we are doing the lessons correctly.
3. The interviews help build a relationship between us and your staff, its nice to know someone is always on hand if i have a question.
4. After 6 weeks, the kids have become so much more confident in their own ability. I have seen a huge difference in their ability to blend sounds and track the words along a page. Reading easier text now sounds fluent.
5. The kids love the prizes. It really pushes them on. The letters they get with the back story of being in spy training makes learning fun and really catches their imagination.

The easyread lessons are very quick and easy to fit into even the busiest of days. The lessons are easy to follow for both parent and child, with guidance given at every step of the way and if you are ever unsure, the staff are always on hand to explain and are very helpful. The kids really enjoy the lessons and look forward to doing the games. We have tried so many different things to help the children improve their reading but saw little or no improvement, Easyread has improved their basic reading skills and increased their confidence in less than two months. I was initially hesitant to think that 15 minutes a day could make much of a difference to their reading ability but am really pleased with the progress made so far and would highly reccomend Easyread to anyone.

Regards

Nikki

Joshua’s reading is progessing beautifully and we are noticing a real difference in his everyday reading. He has now gained the confidence to try reading other text and books than just his school reading books. Many thanks.
-Cara

Easyread was fun. My reading and spelling are much better now. I really like Scribe and Grace’s House. My Dad says that I have really improved and that I now read on my own. He can’t wait for my helicopter to arrive. Thank you,

-Imogen (age 7)

Before Easyread James was a VERY ANGRY and frustrated boy. Since starting Easyread James is a lot happier and does not think that he is dumb or an idiot.
He picked up the characters very quickly. The prizes are very motivational and he thinks that he is a real spy.
Level two, initally there was alot of resistance until you found out he has an eye tracking problem. TEN TENS sorted this and the soft toy that was a prize also helps with his eye tracking. The advice on Irlen has led us to coloured overlays and James should receive his coloured glasses in a week or two.
We are nearly at the end of the first story of level two and James has logged on by himself on two occassions recently because he wants to find out what is happening.(His special agent assistant is never far behind him!) As for the games he loves them all.
I can’t champion Easyread enough, thank you so much. I’ve got my funny happy little boy back!

-Janet

I am feeling very happy that i have got my gold certificate. I have enjoyed easyread so much that i think my sister should do it when she is old enough.

-Joshua (age 7)