Hi Sarah,
Thought I’d give you an update on how the boys are both doing.
Thomas (10) is now reading in a completely different way than before. It’s quite remarkable & totally astonishing! It’s apparent that he is now looking at each word and decoding them into sounds.
I hadn’t realised it before, but – aided by any available clues – he must have been skimming across the text, half guessing / half sight reading the words. That annoying habit (to me anyway!) of getting the little words wrong has almost totally gone. His spelling is starting to improve too.
Thanks to your prompting, we’ve also picked up on Thomas’ light sensitivity and we’re in the process of sorting out some tinted glasses with the nice optometrist that you recommended. Hopefully, day a school should tire his eyes less when he has them.
Ben (7) didn’t “need” easyread in the same way as his brother, but was keen to join in the fun! (Though, to be honest, we did have a few concerns that he might develop down the same path as Thomas.)
“Need” or not, he has moved up several Oxford Reading Tree levels, and is now above the reading level required by SATS at the end of year 2 (2A).
The teachers have remarked that his concentration has improved substantially over the last couple of months. I place the credit for this on the eye-tracking exercises as well as on the tangential benefits of improved reading.
In both cases, both sets of teachers (they are at different schools – long story) believe that the boys’ recent improvement proves that they were absolutely right not to give them any extra help at school.. Slap-hand-on-head.. now count to ten..
Finally, you might be interested to know that the free-loader on the course (aka mum) has also improved. It’s noticeable that I can read unfamiliar words more confidently. Ha! will you improve my spelling too??
Thank you so very much for solving my sons’ reading issues. Success begets success and as they improve they are becoming more confident and happier at school.
Utterly brilliant – what more can I say?
(Please change the names if you use this as a testimonial.)
Best wishes,
Donna