Testimonials
The following are testimonials from people who have used our
reading program:
Excellent Workbook, September 30, 2008
By Wendy D. Davis
This workbook has been a life saver for me and my son. He is an 11yo boy with dyslexia. I have found this book to be extremely helpful. I appreciate the way it is laid out step by step. Each step building upon the last. Review is crucial for us and I give him plenty of that, using index cards and just reviewing the previous lessons. I highly recommend this workbook for a dyslexic student. Also by the same is author is a multiplication book for dyslexic/visual learners. That has also helped tremendously. Again I believe this book has provided me with the necessary tools to help my son. Thanks.
AMAZING Book!!, April 26, 2008
By Darlene S. Slaugenhaupt
This book is AMAZING!!! It is practical, efficient, easy-to-use, and best of all EFFECTIVE!!! This book is a rare find because it is all about actual teaching lessons! This book is for parents/teachers who want to dive right in and start teaching to help kids learn to read immediately!! My daughter's reading improved more by using this book than with any other tool we've used! The book is economical and simple, yet the results are worth their weight in gold! Buy this book and you won't be disappointed!!
Nothing Short of Miraculous, October 16, 2009
By Sabrina Doster
I am the homeschooling parent of a dyslexic son aged 8 years. We had begun working on traditional phonics, spelling, reading topics around 3 to 4 years of age - the basics of alphabet followed by sounds, etc. - with all of our children. We quickly realized that our son was not progressing like some of the other children did. After two years of intense focus on phonics we were at wit's end when his achievement testing still indicated a reading level of Pre-K. We began researching curriculum that might be of assistance and came across this workbook which offered a downloadable trial version from the internet. Our son actually responded to the first few lessons quite well. We purchased the book and began using it for instruction.
I will admit, this curriculum is VERY hands on. It's not a 'toss the book at him and let him do it on his own' type curriculum. Mom or Dad MUST work alongside the child daily in oral exercises and dictation in order to fully utilize this curriculum. This is VITAL!! Also, in our experience, we found that we would do a chapter and then our son would need to review it (oftentimes MULTIPLE times) in order to fully master the concepts. We spent an entire year of instruction only covering the first 16 chapters of the book!
However, upon achievement testing, our son's results showed that he had progressed TWO grade levels in 6 months time! We were amazed! Since using this curriculum, our son has begun reading books on his own and is now reading at or above grade level. We still pinch ourselves to make sure we're not dreaming when he asks if he can stay awake just a little longer because he wants to read his book! We continue to use this curriculum, reviewing as needed, and highly recommend it to anyone educating a dyslexic child.
Sep. 15, 2010
By sphillips-sczelecki
I am very pleased with this workbook so far. It is slow going but I see the improvement. We seem to be progressing at the rate of about one lesson per week, factoring in repetition from previous lessons. It is definitely hands-on - you need to sit and work with the child. It also works better if you can do it at least 4-5 days per week for the recommended 20-40 minutes. I would highly recommend this to anyone whose child has a learning disability and is reading below grade level. You need to stick to it - it takes time and patience but the results are well worth it. Also, seeing my daughter struggle with simple sounds and letter reversals has given me a better idea of her challenges, and has reinforced for me how inadequate the reading instruction at school is. (And she is in an LD class.) She requires a lot of repetition of elements that are barely touched in school. We are about six lessons in and I see an improvement in her ability to sound out words. I see an even more dramatic improvement in reading for my son, who has a learning disability and ADD.
Great Workbook to Improve Reading, June 5, 2010
By A. Baxter (Seattle - WA)
I started this book a week ago with my 11 yo dyslexic child. She can already read, but not that well. Even though we have concentrated on phonics, she still won't sound out long words, and it took us forever to get her to understand the long and short sounds of vowels. Previously we had tried AVKO Sequential Spelling, which while it has its plusses, usually ended up with her in tears (she wanted desparately to be able to spell all the words right the first time). This book has a very nice blend of reading phonems, writing words, filling in blanks (to emphasize vowels--very important), and writing sentences. While in some ways this book is a review of what she already learned, I can see where there structured approach is already helping her. Better yet--no tears!! She enjoyed doing the first Chapter so much that she the first day SHE chose to do 2 Chapters (not her normal pattern). My daughter is also dysgraphic, and this book is a great adjunct to another book we are working through, Italic Handwriting Series, Book G, by Getty Dubay. I like that not only is the student writing the word, but is also writing the words in sentences in the same lesson, and speaking the phonems. GREAT Book! We are satisfied customers.
A very useful book for helping my struggling reader, October 12, 2010
Darcey Burner (WA)
My 7-year-old son is struggling with dyslexia, and we've been taking a "try lots, see what works" approach. He gets special education services at school, we have him using Lexia Learning software, and lately he and I have been working through this workbook, spending about a half an hour a night on it. Since we began using the workbook, I've been shocked at how much more quickly he's been picking things up. (Hooray for well-thought-through exercises!)
The workbook is fairly straightforward. Each lesson has several components that focus on a particular type of sound -- short vowels, for instance, or /sh/ and /ch/. The adult reads text that introduces the key concepts, the child practices reading words containing the sound in question, and then there are writing exercises where the adult reads to the child and the child uses the rules they've just learned to figure out how to write the words they hear. Straightforward, right? But the exercises are designed in an order that seems to work very well for how my son learns, and they're just the right length that he gets plenty of practice without reaching a critical level of either boredom or frustration.
I'm thrilled so far. It's not terribly fancy, but it's certainly sound, and it's helping my son.
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Excellent Workbook, September 30, 2008
By Wendy D. Davis
This workbook has been a life saver for me and my son. He is an 11yo boy with dyslexia. I have found this book to be extremely helpful. I appreciate the way it is laid out step by step. Each step building upon the last. Review is crucial for us and I give him plenty of that, using index cards and just reviewing the previous lessons. I highly recommend this workbook for a dyslexic student. Also by the same is author is a multiplication book for dyslexic/visual learners. That has also helped tremendously. Again I believe this book has provided me with the necessary tools to help my son. Thanks.
AMAZING Book!!, April 26, 2008
By Darlene S. Slaugenhaupt
This book is AMAZING!!! It is practical, efficient, easy-to-use, and best of all EFFECTIVE!!! This book is a rare find because it is all about actual teaching lessons! This book is for parents/teachers who want to dive right in and start teaching to help kids learn to read immediately!! My daughter's reading improved more by using this book than with any other tool we've used! The book is economical and simple, yet the results are worth their weight in gold! Buy this book and you won't be disappointed!!
Nothing Short of Miraculous, October 16, 2009
By Sabrina Doster
I am the homeschooling parent of a dyslexic son aged 8 years. We had begun working on traditional phonics, spelling, reading topics around 3 to 4 years of age - the basics of alphabet followed by sounds, etc. - with all of our children. We quickly realized that our son was not progressing like some of the other children did. After two years of intense focus on phonics we were at wit's end when his achievement testing still indicated a reading level of Pre-K. We began researching curriculum that might be of assistance and came across this workbook which offered a downloadable trial version from the internet. Our son actually responded to the first few lessons quite well. We purchased the book and began using it for instruction.
I will admit, this curriculum is VERY hands on. It's not a 'toss the book at him and let him do it on his own' type curriculum. Mom or Dad MUST work alongside the child daily in oral exercises and dictation in order to fully utilize this curriculum. This is VITAL!! Also, in our experience, we found that we would do a chapter and then our son would need to review it (oftentimes MULTIPLE times) in order to fully master the concepts. We spent an entire year of instruction only covering the first 16 chapters of the book!
However, upon achievement testing, our son's results showed that he had progressed TWO grade levels in 6 months time! We were amazed! Since using this curriculum, our son has begun reading books on his own and is now reading at or above grade level. We still pinch ourselves to make sure we're not dreaming when he asks if he can stay awake just a little longer because he wants to read his book! We continue to use this curriculum, reviewing as needed, and highly recommend it to anyone educating a dyslexic child.
Sep. 15, 2010
By sphillips-sczelecki
I am very pleased with this workbook so far. It is slow going but I see the improvement. We seem to be progressing at the rate of about one lesson per week, factoring in repetition from previous lessons. It is definitely hands-on - you need to sit and work with the child. It also works better if you can do it at least 4-5 days per week for the recommended 20-40 minutes. I would highly recommend this to anyone whose child has a learning disability and is reading below grade level. You need to stick to it - it takes time and patience but the results are well worth it. Also, seeing my daughter struggle with simple sounds and letter reversals has given me a better idea of her challenges, and has reinforced for me how inadequate the reading instruction at school is. (And she is in an LD class.) She requires a lot of repetition of elements that are barely touched in school. We are about six lessons in and I see an improvement in her ability to sound out words. I see an even more dramatic improvement in reading for my son, who has a learning disability and ADD.
Great Workbook to Improve Reading, June 5, 2010
By A. Baxter (Seattle - WA)
I started this book a week ago with my 11 yo dyslexic child. She can already read, but not that well. Even though we have concentrated on phonics, she still won't sound out long words, and it took us forever to get her to understand the long and short sounds of vowels. Previously we had tried AVKO Sequential Spelling, which while it has its plusses, usually ended up with her in tears (she wanted desparately to be able to spell all the words right the first time). This book has a very nice blend of reading phonems, writing words, filling in blanks (to emphasize vowels--very important), and writing sentences. While in some ways this book is a review of what she already learned, I can see where there structured approach is already helping her. Better yet--no tears!! She enjoyed doing the first Chapter so much that she the first day SHE chose to do 2 Chapters (not her normal pattern). My daughter is also dysgraphic, and this book is a great adjunct to another book we are working through, Italic Handwriting Series, Book G, by Getty Dubay. I like that not only is the student writing the word, but is also writing the words in sentences in the same lesson, and speaking the phonems. GREAT Book! We are satisfied customers.
A very useful book for helping my struggling reader, October 12, 2010
Darcey Burner (WA)
My 7-year-old son is struggling with dyslexia, and we've been taking a "try lots, see what works" approach. He gets special education services at school, we have him using Lexia Learning software, and lately he and I have been working through this workbook, spending about a half an hour a night on it. Since we began using the workbook, I've been shocked at how much more quickly he's been picking things up. (Hooray for well-thought-through exercises!)
The workbook is fairly straightforward. Each lesson has several components that focus on a particular type of sound -- short vowels, for instance, or /sh/ and /ch/. The adult reads text that introduces the key concepts, the child practices reading words containing the sound in question, and then there are writing exercises where the adult reads to the child and the child uses the rules they've just learned to figure out how to write the words they hear. Straightforward, right? But the exercises are designed in an order that seems to work very well for how my son learns, and they're just the right length that he gets plenty of practice without reaching a critical level of either boredom or frustration.
I'm thrilled so far. It's not terribly fancy, but it's certainly sound, and it's helping my son.
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