I searched the internet out of desperation as my son was struggling so
much with his reading. Having paid out a lot of money for tutoring,
he had managed to learn most of the high frequency words ‘off by
heart’, but both the tutor and his school had failed to teach him the
most basic factor in reading which was connecting letters together, to
make words. (phonological wareness). I know it sounds easy once you know how, but somehow 4
years of primary school later, and he still hadn’t grasped that
concept. I don’t understand entirely how they managed it, but 6 weeks
into the easyread system and it had clicked. It was so fantastic to
see. I’m not saying that was end of his reading problems, but it was
a huge step in helping him. Once your child has mastered this, they
then need to stop their habit of guessing words. The words he had
learned, high frequency words, were always the words he guessed with
other words, simply as the first letter was the same. The easyread
scheme concentrates so hard on removing that bad habit away from your
child. With characters as a guide, your child will learn to ‘say’ any
word they like within the text without struggling. After time, they use
the characters as a guide less frequently, and can read well without
it. 3 months into the course and my sons reading had improved by 11
months ( analysed by his physcologist).
The thing I found most surprisingly positive about the course was the
support we received. Everytime my son lost motivation, or came to a
stumbling block, the support was there immediately. Obviously the
frequent motivation in the form of prizes were a massive support, and
the encouraging note, and knowing a prize was coming in the post added
to the motivation. The support is honestly like having a teacher living next door, who you can just pop in and see at anytime, and is always keen to help.
I know, on the outset, the course does appear very expensive, and I know there are plenty of websites out there who take advantage of desperate parents, but I promise you, without any doubt, that this is not one of them. For all the help and support you receive, as well as the lessons and fun games, and prizes, it is more than worth its money.
My son has got underlying difficulties due to past speech and language difficulties, so unfortunately this scheme wasn’t a quick fix solution for him. I have to say now though, his support teacher doesn’t now see my son as having a reading problem. For him, its comprehension. (understanding what the story is meaning). So for any kid without comprehension problems, well wow, you can’t go wrong. And for other kids who do have problems, well its still a huge help.
Thank you so much easyread,
Heather