Rosie is enjoying her Easyread lessons. She works mostly independently on the Funky Monkey game and has got quite fast.The pictures that support the letters and sounds work very well for Rosie, both in her Easyread lesson and with her homework.We have printed some copies of the pictures that we use when she reads and writes at home.
-S
Lilys progress has been amazing, she was struggling at school and I was called in on several occasions. Lily couldn’t remember her sounds or letters. The SENCO was and has been very supportive, and after each visit she would send me home with several things for Lily to work on, none of which really helped.
They were very concerned about her progress and I was worried to the point of sleepless nights and tears!.
Imagine my suprise then, when only a few weeks into Easyread her teachers are writing in her Reading Diary how much she was improving in class. I told them that Lily has been doing Easyread and since then have recommended it to other parents. They even looked into having it at the school but their budget could not allow it.
Since then Lily has gone from strength to strength and has won several awards for her progress, the last one being Best Improved Pupil. Her overall behaviour has also improved and she no longer tries distraction tactics to prevent her from reading.
Lily had just gone on to Stage 3 Biff and Chip – a few months ago ago she couldnt say her sounds….
Lily is getting better at her fluency but she takes her time and we are building on that.
We still have a long way to go but with the help of the team at Easyread and Lily’s hard work I know we can get there.
We are more than happy with the support you have given us and the fact that you are available at the end of the phone is a big plus.
The structure of the course has suited Lily although she struggles with a lot of the words in the Three Little Pigs, (the larger words)but we work on these together.
I love the fact that you tell us when she has done her days work – Fab idea!
Thanks again..
- A
We are so pleased with Easyread; Anna’s reading & spelling has improved a huge amount in the last 6 months. We feel sure that Easyread has been instrumental in helping Anna by teaching her to sound out words & not to panic about it. Thanks to all at Easyread for the brilliant programme & all the support given. And the fantastic prizes, which Anna has loved !
–S
Thank you very much for Isabelle’s latest prize. She loves the radio and was really pleased to receive it. Her reading is coming on really well and she even wants to practice reading her school books to me now without us having to battle over it. I am just pleased we found you on the internet!
-C
Having watched Isi read over the last 40 odd lessons I can honestly say she has become a lot more fluent. She still gets stuck on some of the phonics but a quick check of the Easyread character soon puts her right. She doesn’t seem to be guessing words anymore and her decoding in her “normal” reading seems to be much improved.
We have really high hopes that Isabelle will continue to progress and I think she herself feels happier as she can feel how much easier it is each week.
She really enjoys the letter quest game and the adrenaline certainly kicked in whilst trying to avoid the monster.
-C (6 weeks into the course)
So far we have found the Easyread course a great inspiration. It was difficult for us to get Callum to take any interest in reading, now after starting this course, he is managing to cope much better. His interest is being maintained through the interactive aspects of the course and the excellent prizes. He is very keen to do the lessons and his confidence in his ability to read is much improved. The support from the tutorials, telephone calls and e-mails is faultless. Granny heard his reading for the first time in 3 months and has noticed a marked improvement already. David’s manner and method of delivery in the lessons is pitched perfectly for Callum.
-K
He has been so chuffed with his prizes and in fact his “big hand-writing” session at school yesterday was the best he has ever done – a whole page of A4 in 45 minutes. He says the Easyread is making it all much easier and so we feel that we are already seeing a response to the program. He is a much happier person in himself too. Great stuff!
– K, at Lesson 12
We’ve found the system to be very good so far. The mix of games and reading has been really good for motivating Elina and making it fun. It has been really useful to be able to discuss her progress with you and to ask questions as well. It took a little while to get into the exercise of reading just from the characters rather than letters but I am sure this has helped a great deal. I think one of the main things I would highlight to others is how much the system has helped to take the stress out of practicing reading – both for Elina and for us trying to support her. The transformation happened very early on and the design of the course really supports this process.
I am delighted to report back that we have seen some wonderful progress in Joshua’s reading. One of the best things we have seen is the way he has grown in confidence. This is seen through him trying to read text in a variety of places such as cereal boxes, game instructions, road signs etc. He is enjoying the fact that he has improved significantly and now wants to read rather than seeing it as a chore. His improvement is also shown through the development of reading at school and the speed at which he is now learning sight words. He is guessing less and decoding much, much more. Joshua really seems to have connected with the Easyread process, loves the encouragement through the programme that has come in various forms – especially the prizes! A great motivating factor!! Thanks again for your help.
–K
Here is a new study for us parents to whip ourselves with… about time spent nurturing our children!
My take on it is this:
1 Yes, with 30 children in an average class, each child is lucky to get more than 10 minutes of one-on-one time per week at school. That may seem amazing, but when you do the sums you will see it is right. 30×10=300mins or 5 hours. So any one-on-one time can only really come from us, the parents.
2 Yes, we are always busy as parents and that time is really hard to find. I like some of what they say about using time already allocated for other tasks, but equally I think it is important that you can also walk to school “just hanging out” together, as well. What we used to call “time time” is important as well as “quality time”. My own children used to groan about one friend of ours who would always “draw the lesson out of” any situation he shared with them.
3 The key for me is a routine of certain short, sacrosanct moments in the day. The most essential for us was always bedtime. Time then, of complete focus in an undemanding way, is essential and often both parents are available, if there are other demands. These moments should not include more than 5-10 minutes of “learning time” in a session. For children, less is often more with learning. One or two sessions per day is all you need to aim for to achieve good results.
4 Finally, helping a primary-level child is not about setting walls to climb or chasms to leap. Young children are sponges and learn by assimilation. So, if you do something slowly and clearly together, as a team, your child will be learning massively from that experience, with low stress levels. Keeping stress out of the process is essential. Get your child to do what he/she can and you do the rest. Don’t leave your child to struggle with a task. There is plenty of life ahead for that!
- David