- K

It has taken a lot of input from us as well as Molly but the benefits have been immense, Molly is so much more confident in her abilities and will attempt spellings she previously wouldn’t have. Her handwriting is much neater and her work is generally so much easier to understand.  Her most recent homework although still with spelling mistakes was completed all on her own, with no tears and was beautifully neat, in sentences and completely understandable which is such a major step forward.

So thank you not only for helping Molly to spell but for helping us to understand the struggles she has been going through and helping to support us through some frustrating months.

- L

Praise is clearly an important part of any relationship. If you have worked for someone who doesn’t know how to praise, or lived with someone who never shows appreciation, you will know what I mean! We should all be looking for ways to praise and thank people for their efforts.  With a child we set our “rule of 5” which means you should find five opportunities to praise your child for each time you give any form of criticism, advice or admonishment. Otherwise you will find your advice and criticism just bounces off.

But here is the key question: what is the right way to praise your child?

With children we are hoping to help them improve their performance and development. To maximise the benefit of your praise, the evidence is that you should praise someone’s effort, not their ability:

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/oct07/vol65/num02/The-Perils-and-Promises-of-Praise.aspx

If you stop to think about it, I think that what the report says does fit with one’s own experience.

For example, I accept that I am intelligent in many senses and I am happy that I have been lucky in that way. I know I am pretty dumb in others too! Frankly, I have had no involvement in either because they are genetic traits, so I take no real pride in my strengths and try to find humour in my weaknesses! It is pure vanity to take pride in your natural abilities. They are gifts that should come with responsibilities.

However, I know I have worked pretty hard over the years, despite being quite lazy by nature. I do take pride in that, because it has been my choice. I have had control over it and I have changed the path of my life through my actions. So, if you praise me for what I have achieved through application that will definitely give me a warm glow!  It will also help me continue to apply myself too.

So I do think it makes sense to focus your praise on the effort your child has made to achieve something, rather than their brilliance. As the report says, overpraising someone’s brilliance can be very limiting to their psychology, although I personally think that some praise of a child’s talent can also help open their belief in what they can achieve if they work hard.

As ever, nothing is simple.

David Morgan is Managing Director of the Easyread System, an online synthetic phonics course designed to help struggling children learn how to read. 

Overall he is doing fantastically and the confidence this has given him has enabled him to achieve in other areas..e.g. he is getting 98.5% in Maths SATs and 100% in Science SATs!

- T

This program is the last thing I was prepared to try, as we have spent A LOT of money on various expert assessments which left all of us feeling terrible. One woman even told us Thomas might never be able to live independently!! Every assessment seems to assume an ability to read even when you are seeking help due to delayed reading!!

Since you identified his eye problems his progress has been incredible. Watching the amazement on his face when he first realised that he could read the words on the page was one of the best days of my life!!! From there I have been excited to see his confidence improving all the time. Once upon a time I would have to almost complete Thomas’s homework myself, now he gets it done on his own.

I can see him improving every day with his decoding skills and I am having to support him less and less with this as well. I think there is some improvement in the spelling as well which has been a major problem for us until now. I am really thrilled with the program and I have been recommending it to friends and colleagues. I only wish I had found you years ago.

- D

Did you know: 

There are two words in the English language that use all of the vowels, in the correct order, and end in the letter Y: abstemiously and facetiously.

Cool stuff!

I thought, along the way, that Easyread was really good and I’ve had lots of fun doing Easyread everyday. What I liked about it were the games and the stories. I think it has helped me really improve my reading and I am now reading the third Harry Potter and really enjoying it. I now really like reading.

– B (age 9)

1                     I defy anyone not to like him

2                     He has undeniable brilliance

3                     It is clear he has achieved that through practice

You don’t have to be a football follower to appreciate a David Beckham free kick.  As the ball floats over the defending wall and then curls away from the goalkeeper while dipping into the top left corner of the goal, one is left moved and amazed by how something so simple can have such magic beauty. If you have never watched it, I feel that is your loss.

(In case you’re interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N6G8XlyCMM)

But every schoolchild in the UK will know the stories of him kicking ball after ball into an empty goal, often an hour or two after the rest of his team mates have gone in to shower.

If you start to dig into the background of any top performer, you will find the same story. The main difference between someone good and someone brilliant is how hard they have practiced.  You will not find a single story in history of true brilliance without practice.

So it is only fair to be honest with your child about it. Their great hero, whoever that might be and in whatever field of endeavour, is really just a hard worker! If they want to emulate them, they need to work hard too. It is easy to align someone’s psychology in that way.

Of course that extends to things that they don’t want to do either. Then there are two parts to the process:

1                     Do they have to do it?

2                     Do they want to do well?

The answer to part one is clearly complex and how to manage that varies hugely. But often the answer is “you just have to do this”! Anything school related fits into that zone.  So, at that point it is easy to shift to part 2 and remind them what the essential key to doing well is: practice.

David Morgan is Managing Director of Oxford Learning Solutions and creator of the Easyread System, an online synthetic phonics course designed to teach dyslexic and highly visual learners how to read. Find out more at www.easyreadsystem.com.