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Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons: Revised and Updated Second Edition Paperback – June 15, 1986
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“[A] magical book...I’ve seen this method work in my own home, having used it with both of my children and watched that light go on.” —John McWhorter, The New York Times
“Countless parents have told me they used this book to teach their child how to read when their child wasn’t being taught in school.” —Emily Hanford, host and lead producer of the APM podcast, Sold a Story: How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong
Is your four-year-old or even three-year-old child expressing interest in reading, constantly pretending to read, and asking questions while you are reading? Do you want to develop a young reader but are unsure of how to do it? Is your child halfway through kindergarten and unable to read simple words without memorizing or guessing? Do you want to teach your child to read using the most research-supported method with a long record of success?
Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons is an adaptation of the most successful beginning reading program written for schools. More than 100 formal studies using the highest-quality research methods have documented the superiority of the Direct Instruction approach to phonics and other essential beginning reading skills.
Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons is a complete, sensible, easy-to-follow, step-by-step program that shows simply and clearly how to teach children to read. In 100 lessons, color-coded for clarity and ease of delivery, you can give your child the basic and more advanced skills needed to be a good reader—at about a second-grade level.
Twenty minutes a day is all your child needs to become an independent reader in 100 lessons. It’s an enjoyable way to help your child gain the vital skills of reading. Everything you need is here for you and your child to learn together. Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons will bring you and your child a sense of accomplishment and confidence while giving your child the reading skills needed now for a better chance at tomorrow.
Training videos and additional supplementary material are available for free at StartReading.com.
- Print length420 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherAvid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster
- Publication dateJune 15, 1986
- Dimensions8.38 x 1 x 11 inches
- ISBN-100671631985
- ISBN-13978-0671631987
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From the Publisher


Editorial Reviews
Review
"With its short lessons, intuitive alphabet, clear lessons and hands-on learning component, Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons can be an easy, compact and affordable way for parents to get children reading quickly." —Anne Miller, The Smarter Learning Guide
"Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons is incredible. I owe this book, author and method a huge thank you—my daughter can read now, and more importantly, reads for fun. Plus, it's an interesting way to teach phonics I hadn't seen before." —David Weller, The Barefoot TEFL Teacher
“While working within a university-school partnership, I trained, supervised, and guided my teacher candidates as they implemented Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons with the lowest performing first grade readers at a large urban elementary school. Semester after semester, I witnessed children who were considered 'nonreaders' or poor readers advance to reading with joy and confidence and candidates who became skilled and proud of their newfound craft.” —Dr. Susan Syverud, Ph.D
"I have spent years of my life being passionate about literacy and reading... In college I took a path that led me to keep teaching younger and younger children, trying to figure out why they were not prepared until I began directing childcare centers in 2015. I keep hearing/finding the same things. Children are not being taught to read! And parent/teachers have no idea this is happening until about 2nd or 3rd grade. The main reading curriculum is not scientifically researched or backed! Being an educator in this work, I recognize all the care, thought and research it takes to create a resource like this that is so easy for children and facilitators to understand and teach!” —Brittany Lemons, Family and Community Engagement Specialist–Birth to Five Illinois
"Teach Your Child to Read In 100 Easy Lessons has been endorsed by the National Right to Read Foundation as an exemplary instructional program for teaching children to read...The program is academically sound--the results speak for themselves. The continued problem of illiteracy is an enormous one, but [this book has] made a very significant contribution to solving one of American’s greatest needs.” —Robert W. Sweet, Co-founder and Former President, National Right to Read Foundation
About the Author
Elaine C. Bruner coauthored the original Direct Instruction beginning reading programs with Siegfried Engelmann, pioneered training teachers in Direct Instruction methods, and has worked at the University of Illinois on computer applications of Direct Instruction.
Siegfried Engelmann was a professor of education at the University of Oregon, and wrote numerous bestselling books on teaching, including Give Your Child a Superior Mind and Your Child Can Succeed. He was the originator of the Direct Instruction approach, proven as the most effective method for teaching, and he developed more than 100 Direct Instruction programs. Visit his website at ZigSite.com.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
LESSON 1
TASK 1 SOUNDS INTRODUCTION
1. (Point to m)I'm going to touch under this sound and say the sound. (Touch first ball of arrow. Move quickly to second ball. Hold two seconds.) mmmmmm. (Release point.)
2. Your turn to say the sound when I touch under it. (Touch first ball.)Get ready. (Move quickly to second ball. Hold.) "mmmmmm."
(To correct child saying a wrong sound or not responding:) The sound is mmmmmm. (Repeat step 2.)
3. (Touch first ball.)Again. Get ready. (Move quickly to second ball. Hold.) "mmmmmm." (Repeat three more times.)
4. (Point to s.)I'm going to touch under this sound and say the sound. (Touch first ball of arrow. Move quickly to second ball. Hold.) ssssss. (Release point.)
5. Your turn to say the sound when I touch under it. (Touch first ball.)Get ready. (Move quickly to second ball. Hold.) "ssssss."
(To correct child saying a wrong sound or not responding:) The sound is ssssss. (Repeat step 5.)
6. (Touch first ball.)Again. Get ready. (Move quickly to second ball. Hold.) "ssssss." (Repeat three more times.)
TASK 2 SAY IT FAST
1. Let's play say-it-fast. My turn: motor (pause) boat. (Pause.) Say it fast. motorboat.
2. Your turn. Wait until I tell you to say it fast. motor (pause) boat. (Pause.) Say it fast. "motorboat." (Repeat step 2 until firm.)
(To correct child saying word slowly -- for example, "motor [pause] boat":) You didn't say it fast. Here's saying it fast: motorboat. Say that. "motorboat." Now let's do that part again. (Repeat step 2.)
3. New word. Listen: ice (pause) cream. (Pause.) Say it fast. "icecream."
4. New word. Listen: sis (pause) ter. (Pause.) Say it fast. "sister."
5. New word. Listen: ham (pause) burger. (Pause.) Say it fast. "hamburger."
6. New word. Listen: mmmeee. (Pause.)Say it fast. "me."
7. New word. Listen: iiifff. (Pause.)Say it fast. "if."
8. (Repeat any words child had trouble with.)
TASK 3 SAY THE SOUNDS
1. I'm going to say some words slowly, without stopping. Then you'll say them with me.
2. First I'll say am slowly. Listen: aaammm. Now I'll say me slowly. Listen: mmmeee. Now I'll say in slowly. Listen: iiinnn. Now I'll say she slowly. Listen: shshsheee.
3. Now it's your turn to say the words slowly with me. Take a deep breath and we'Il say aaammm. Get ready. "aaammm."
(To correct if child stops between sounds -- for example, "aaa [pause] mmm":) Don't stop. Listen. (Don't pause between sounds a and m as you say aaammm.) Take a deep breath and we'll say aaammm. Get ready. "aaammm." (Repeat until child responds with you.)
4. Now we'll say iiinnn. Get ready. "iiinnn." Now we'll say ooonnn. Get ready. "ooonnn."
5. Your turn to say words slowly by yourself. Say aaammm. Get ready. "aaammm." Say iiifff. Get ready. "iiifff." Say mmmeee. Get ready. "mmmeee." Good saying the words slowly.
TASK 4 SOUNDS REVIEW
1. Let's do the sounds again. See if you remember them. (Touch first ball for m,) Get ready. (Quickly move to second ball. Hold.) "mmmmmm."
2. (Touch first ball for s.) Get ready. (Quickly move to second ball. Hold.) "ssssss."
TASK 5 SAY IT FAST
1. Let's play say-it-fast again. Listen: motor (pause) cycle. Say it fast. "motorcycle."
2. mmmeee. (Pause.) Say it fast. "me." iiifff. (Pause.) Say it fast. "if." shshsheee. (Pause.) Say it fast. "she."
TASK 6 SOUNDS WRITING
(Note: Refer to each symbol by its sound, not by its letter name. Make horizontal rules on paper or a chalkboard about two inches apart. Separate writing spaces by spaces about one inch apart. Optionally, divide writing spaces in half with a dotted line:-----.)
1. See chart on page 24 for steps in writing m and s.) You're going to write the sounds that I write. You're going to write a sound on each line. I'll show you how to make each sound. Then you'll write each sound. Here's the first sound you're going to write.
2. Here's how you make mmm. Watch. (Make m at the beginning of first line. Start with a vertical line:
Then add the humps:
(Point to m.) What sound? "mmm." First you're going to trace the mmm that I made. Then you're going to make more of them on the line.
3. (Help child trace sound two or three times. Child is then to make three to five m's on top line. Help child if necessary. For each acceptable letter child makes, say:) Good writing mmm.
4. Here's how to make sss. Watch. (Make s at beginning of second line. Point to s.) What sound? "sss."
5. First you're going to trace the sss that I made. Then you're going to make more of them on the line. (Help child trace sound two or three times. Child is then to make three to five s's on second line. Help child if necessary. For each acceptable letter child makes, say:) Good writing sss.
LESSON 2
TASK 1 SOUNDS REVIEW
1. (Point to m.) I'm going to touch under this sound and say the sound. (Touch first ball of arrow. Move quickly to second ball. Hold two seconds.) mmmmmm. (Release point.)
2. Your turn to say the sound when I touch under it. (Touch first ball.) Get ready. (Move quickly to second ball. Hold.) "mmmmmm."
(To correct child saying a wrong sound or not responding:) The sound is mmmmmm. (Repeat step 2.)
3. (Touch first ball.) Again. Get ready. (Move quickly to second ball. Hold.) "mmmmmm." (Repeat three more times.)
Copyright © 1983 by Siegfried Engelmann
Product details
- Publisher : Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster; First Edition (June 15, 1986)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 420 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0671631985
- ISBN-13 : 978-0671631987
- Item Weight : 2.1 pounds
- Dimensions : 8.38 x 1 x 11 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #511 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2 in Reading & Phonics Teaching Materials
- #2 in Family Activity
- #5 in Early Childhood Education
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About the authors
Dr. Phyllis Haddox, is co-author of Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons with Siegfried Engelmann (1931-2019, originator of the Direct Instruction programs and teaching approach) and Elaine Bruner. Dr. Haddox has fully revised, expanded and updated the book for its second edition. On her website, www.startreading.com, she has made available FREE her VIDEOS (segments for training, demonstration, and information) and printable SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL (sounds cards, word cards, progress chart, and much more) that she created for Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons. (Her videos may also be seen on YouTube.)
Phyllis began her career in education as a classroom teacher and then reading specialist in California. Later at the University of Oregon, she provided hands-on training to undergraduate and graduate students in supervisory, teaching and management techniques. As an educational consultant she worked extensively in the United States (including Hawaii), Canada, and the Caribbean directly with students (preschool through college level), teachers, administrators and parents. She provided needs assessment, evaluated curriculum implementation, and designed management and teacher support systems for schools, districts, and agencies. Nationally and internationally she has been a workshop presenter who trained thousands of teachers and paraprofessionals (including tutors) to use Direct Instruction techniques and programs. Some tutors created their own very successful business after learning from her how to use Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons. In addition to Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons, she co-authored with Engelmann Thinking Basics and Concept Applications (published by McGraw-Hill as part of the Corrective Reading Series). Dr. Haddox assisted in the development of science and mathematics laserdisc series and has produced more than 20 reading training videos. Dr. Haddox has also worked as an instructional design consultant for the Mayo Clinic on training videos and for author, Barbara Sher, for two of her books (Live the Life You Love and It's Never Too Late, If You Start Now).
Dr. Haddox was the Director of the University of Oregon's Direct Instruction Model of the federally-funded Follow Through Project. This project has been called the "largest education experiment ever conducted." It provided a broad range comparison of 13 major educational approaches used in 170 communities with 75,000 children each year. Data was collected by Stanford Research Institute and analyzed by Abt Associates. The result of the comparison was that students in the U of O's Direct Instruction Model achieved the highest performance level in language, reading, math, and spelling as well as emotional well-being. Project sites managed by Phyllis were labeled "exemplary” by the United States Office of Education's Joint Dissemination/Review Panel.
Phyllis is actively retired and lives in Eugene, Oregon. She responds to inquires and testimonials (from her website, www.startreading.com) and volunteers with non-profit organizations. She enjoys interacting with family and friends, learning, reading, and gardening.
Siegfried “Zig” Engelmann (1931-2019) was professor emeritus of education at the University of Oregon and the primary architect of the Direct Instruction (DI) programs, an approach based on the principles originated in the Bereiter-Engelmann Preschool in the late 1960s. Engelmann was the senior author of more than 100 curricula using DI principles and numerous other articles and books. He had a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of Illinois and an honorary doctorate from the Psychology Department of Western Michigan University. He was the 1994 recipient of the Fred S. Keller Award from the American Psychological Association’s Division of Experimental Analysis of Behavior. In 2000 the journal Remedial and Special Education named him as one of the 54 most influential people in the history of special education, and in 2002 the Council of Scientific Society Presidents awarded him the 2002 Award of Achievement in Education Research.
To learn more about Zig, visit http://zigsite.com/
Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read book recommendations and more.
Customer reviews
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To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book's lessons effective and engaging. They find learning to read fun and natural, with little effort required. The book teaches sounds before letters, solidifying sounding out practice from the very beginning. Readers appreciate the simple pictures and stories that are well-presented. Overall, they find the book helps build confidence in reading.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers appreciate the book's lessons length. They find it encourages self-paced learning with a reading comprehension exercise at the end of each lesson. The exercises help children practice reading words by memory. Readers also mention that the book makes it easy to teach kids how to read. The lessons are all basically the same, but as the child progresses, they start to teach.
"...The lessons are all basically the same, but as the child progresses, they start to teach newer techniques such as "READING THE FAST WAY"...." Read more
"...He didn't know any but a few letters. He's bright and motivated, especially when things interest him (hello, knowing 100 dinosaurs by name), and he..." Read more
"...it for you, laying out a fail-safe, carefully planned and graded path of instruction, introducing new sounds, words, and difficulties with obvious..." Read more
"...What I love most is how the book encourages self-paced learning—my child can move through lessons at their own speed, and we’ve seen great progress...." Read more
Customers find the book's technique effective. They say it works well for their children, and is a great tool for helping children learn to read. The book depicts stories effectively, and customers find it practical and efficient.
"...He was stunned. I was stunned. The method works, everyone. It is monotonous and repetitive, but it works...." Read more
"...It's definitely a useful tool, but it makes using any easy readers or complementary systems really hard...." Read more
"Short version of review: this method is powerful and it works...." Read more
"...The approach is incredibly simple, effective, and engaging, making learning to read feel like a fun, natural process...." Read more
Customers find the book helpful in learning to read. They say it develops a love of reading and helps their child become a fluent reader in just 6-8 weeks. They appreciate the rewards for reading each paragraph and that the process is straightforward and pain-free. The lessons introduce sight words and help their child absorb almost any children's book, including The Cat in the Hat.
"...'s quirky and slightly amusing little stories can move quickly towards advanced reading skills, through their dozens of carefully-graded steps...." Read more
"...is incredibly simple, effective, and engaging, making learning to read feel like a fun, natural process...." Read more
"...Since the reward is so motivating, I have never actually had to end a reading session early, because she wants to get her reward for the day, so she..." Read more
"...In all honesty, using this book to help littles learn reading is a chore and really dragging, as there are no vivid illustrations to keep them..." Read more
Customers find the book's sounding out method effective. It teaches sounds before letters, and treats letters as blending sounds from the very beginning. They say it solidifies the sounding out practice and their child is excited when new sounds are introduced. The book is phonics-based and easy to use.
"...I am stunned at the progress he is making! He knows the sounds well and can say them quickly without thinking...." Read more
"...the "Distar" system starts the kids out with a complete letter-based sound and phonics system so they can learn to 'decode' even new words from..." Read more
"...Avoid losing your temper, raising your voice, or scolding your child at all costs!..." Read more
"...They connect letter sounds with words with stories with writing and finally, with reading comprehension, the point of the whole exercise...." Read more
Customers enjoy the reading ability of the book. They find the stories simple but enjoyable, with good visual learning and repetition. The pictures and directions are well-presented, and the book is cleverly organized. Readers appreciate the short stories and picture from the story.
"...These are nicely animated with music, and kids tend to get them completely absorbed into their brains in a big hurry, making the opening stages of..." Read more
"...I really appreciate the short stories and the picture from the story with discussion questions...." Read more
"...more on generalized fine motor skills, but now even the writing practice is doing well." Read more
"...popped up and here we are six months later with a 5 year old who can read stories and I’m blown away!..." Read more
Customers find the book helpful for building confidence in reading. They say it helps build self-esteem and is exciting to do the lessons every night.
"...includes clear explanations and helpful tips that made me feel confident as the teacher, and the spiraling technique helps reinforce what’s been..." Read more
"...feel like overkill, it's about HOW the brain processes and builds on information...." Read more
"...I loved used this book because it was so joyful and easy...." Read more
"...sounds (improving pronunciation), and as lessons build, it can boost confidence (in communicating and expressing), help with social skills, and..." Read more
Customers have mixed opinions about the book. Some find it enjoyable with simple stories and interactive activities. Others find it boring with repetitive lessons and dull stories.
"...And now that the words are easy for him, the excitement is there, and he's much more able to sit through a whole lesson- sometimes even asks for..." Read more
"...I found the lessons to be boring, which required a bit of bribing to get my little one to want to complete each lesson, like a small piece of candy..." Read more
"...The approach is incredibly simple, effective, and engaging, making learning to read feel like a fun, natural process...." Read more
"...This is why it's also important to continue to read for fun before, during, and after the program if complete...." Read more
Customers have different views on the book's pacing. Some find it progressing quickly and picking up reading easily, with one lesson per day in less than 20 minutes. Others mention it starts slowly, drags, and is boring to look at.
"...Some are more comprehensive and move at a slower pace, many more "fun" (and the welltrainedmind forum is a great place to get the run down)...." Read more
"...This book has no frills. It looks boring and nothing like we'd think to buy for a small child. There are no colors or brilliant pictures...." Read more
"...This means your child accelerates smoothly, and you won't push her/him off that cliff by suddenly tossing in something that completely baffles the..." Read more
"...Usually only takes 10-15 minutes to finish each lesson...." Read more
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Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2018This review will be continuously updated as we progress through the 100 lessons. I will make a new update every 20 lessons.
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Son's Age: 5 1/2
Ability to read at start: Knew ABCs and most of the phonics. Had never read words on his own.
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As the parent (or instructor), please take time to truly read the introductory pages. They go over why this method works and how long it took them to achieve success with all the children they tested this book's method on. It took years of revisions of the method until they reached the one used in this book. It gives very specific instructions on how to teach, the tone to use, how to correct mistakes, pronunciation, etc. Success hinges on the parent's ability to teach correctly. If we don't put in the effort, it will fail. PERIOD.
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(2/16/18)
Lessons 1-20: Let me start by being perfectly honest with you. The first 5 lessons were tortuous for both me and my 5 year old son. He does not like to sit still, he does not like to repeat things over and over again, and it was extremely confusing for both him and myself as we began this book. I was still getting used to the teaching aspect, and he was getting used to the sitting still and repeating sounds over and over and over again. I nearly gave up after the first 5 days. You may want to as well. PERSEVERE!
We pushed on, and I adjusted my attitude from one of impatience to one of encouragement. I put excitement in my voice. I offered incentive (more on that later) for completing a week's worth of lessons. We kept at it.
Around Lesson 8, something changed in my son. He caught on. A switch flipped in his little mind and he began putting the pieces together about slowly sounding out the letters without pausing...and noticing how he was suddenly READING A WORD! He was stunned. I was stunned. The method works, everyone. It is monotonous and repetitive, but it works. Sounding out the words without pauses between each letter is brilliant. The dot method used in this book is brilliant. He uses his fingers to move to each new dot and sound and it keeps his mind on track.
This book has no frills. It looks boring and nothing like we'd think to buy for a small child. There are no colors or brilliant pictures. But it keeps their minds focused on the words and letters.
This book is very quick. You can knock out lessons in 10-15 minutes once you've gotten the hang of them. We do them in carline as we wait to pick up his older sister from school.
We're on Lesson 20, currently. My son has gone from not being able to read ANY words, to reading MANY words (2-4 letters) with ease.
I've added on BOB Books after each lesson, and they are the perfect addition to these lessons. He has BLAZED through 2 boxes of BOB Books, and has begun picking them up and reading them on his own. I AM STUNNED.
IT WORKS. Don't give up in the beginning because it is hard and frustrating, but I PROMISE, if you're doing your job and find a way to keep your child engaged (ENCOURAGE ENCOURAGE ENCOURAGE!)...they'll soon be so proud of what they can do! Updates on further lessons and progress to come!
--------------------------------\
UPDATE 3/11/18
We are now up to Lesson 47. There have been many days where my son is doing so well and enjoying his progress so much that we do an additional lesson that day. I must say that this is truly shaping up to be the best book I could have ever bought for my son. I am stunned at the progress he is making!
He knows the sounds well and can say them quickly without thinking. He is remembering old words and is able to quickly sound out new words due to his knowledge of the letter sounds. The orography used in the book is ingenious for helping little ones remember the different sounds some letters make.
The lessons are all basically the same, but as the child progresses, they start to teach newer techniques such as "READING THE FAST WAY". Admittedly, we stumbled at first. It's a tricky thing to teach a young child to sound it out IN THEIR HEADS, and when the know the word, just say it fast. It took one or two days of frustration before he caught on....and now it's no problem! If you think about it, that's reading. We say the words in our head. This book just adds the step of having them say it out loud, too!
Something I had thought about is addressed in the book as well. Some words are always said differently than how we sound them out. Words such as 'SAID' 'TO' 'OF'. The book teaches the child to sound it out first (as they always should)...but to then explain that it's a funny word that is spoken differently. There's honestly no other way to teach this to a child other than some words in the English language are just weird, lol!
I'm impressed and very encouraged at my 5 year old's progress. New update around lesson 70!
- Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2017I can count on one hand the number of reviews I've left, but I wanted to write this one for those who are on the fence. I started this program for my 3.5 year old, really only because he kept asking. I'm all about the play-based approach generally and had no desire for him to be reading, or to teach it to him and mess something up. My son's not in an academic preschool. He didn't know any but a few letters. He's bright and motivated, especially when things interest him (hello, knowing 100 dinosaurs by name), and he has some pre-reading skills (loving being read to, being able to rhyme and identify words that start with the same sound) but he can't sit still for two seconds, and I was dreading this whole thing.
At lesson 40, I'm pretty amazed. This book has been wildly successful for him so far, but we've adapted a lot. He has always begged for reading lessons before we actually start one, but initially, would quickly grow frustrated or have real problems concentrating once they began. So after the first few lessons (which are shorter/easier and were novel), we started breaking them up into 2-3 chunks throughout the day and "gameifying" them. I also bought a bag of 100 mini dinosaurs from Amazon, and unashamedly give him a new toy after every lesson. So yep. Bribery. Also, "blending" sounds was our developmental roadblock. I almost abandoned the book around lesson 25 or so, when he still didn't have it. He was doing the rhyming exercises without a problem, and also learning all the individual phonics easily, but had real issues blending the sounds together. I've heard that blending tends to be the skill that makes or breaks the book and some kids just won't get it till later. For my son, it clicked around lesson 30 (though I had to scaffold- often covering up the first letter of a CVC word, so that he just had to do one blend instead of two, and then connecting it with the rhyming exercises he was so good at, by saying "'It', very good. Now rhyme 'it' with 'ssss'.") He still sometimes covers part of a word with his fingers when the whole thing is overwhelming, and does it piecemeal. But he's totally sounding everything out and it's an awesome thing to see. He can even sound out the two-syllable words, like "little". And now that the words are easy for him, the excitement is there, and he's much more able to sit through a whole lesson- sometimes even asks for two.
I will say that I don't use the script a lot, and there are things we'll have to pick up in a second go, or from another source. Reading each story twice is too tedious. He doesn't have the motor skills to write, etc. And the focus on comprehension and fluency is something we'll have to keep working at- he sometimes forgets words from the beginning of the sentence because of the pace. But I think it's amazing that he's decoding so well. He hasn't missed a word or even needed help with one in the last three lessons. I do love that this is a phonics system. I didn't learn to read until in school and didn't use phonics- it made the idea of teaching reading opaque to me, since I wasn't sure how I actually learned to read myself. Phonics systematized it in a way that makes so much sense.
I do want to mention that there are other books that I suspect are as or more effective, and might be a better fit for your child. Some are more comprehensive and move at a slower pace, many more "fun" (and the welltrainedmind forum is a great place to get the run down). If I were starting over, I might have chosen one of these, because, due to the age of my son and his temperament, I had to basically become a one-woman show to keep things engaging and positive. I also think, for us personally, approaching blending from several perspectives, and maybe in a more gamefied manner, while providing more practice on one-blend words ("if," "on", etc.) would have helped crystallize things for him sooner/less painfully. As it was, I did a lot of supplemental oral blending work- breaking words up orally when in the care, reverse blending etc., and I think it helped, though I'm really not sure what made it all finally click. Once it did? Smooth sailing. And it clicked all at once- from getting every word wrong, to rarely stumbling. Kind of awesome to see.
Some final notes about moving beyond the book: it's apparently very common for kids to drop off around lesson 50, when the length and difficulty of the stories goes up significantly. My suspicion is we'll be ok here, because he really can sound out just about anything in each lesson, and now that he's succeeding, has a lot more patience to try (plus, we're fine with breaking it up if not). But we'll see. The second major drop off comes after Lessons 70-80 where the names of all letters, and the capital letter forms are introduced over about three lessons, and where the special orthography that helps with pronunciation disappears. I think this might pose a bigger problem for us, since he doesn't know capital letters or letter names already- and learning all that quickly will be a stretch, and the specialized script really does help. The specialized script, for me, is a bit of a love-hate thing. It's definitely a useful tool, but it makes using any easy readers or complementary systems really hard. Reading a "real book" is so much more motivating for him now, but many of the readers I've seen (Bob, or I am Sam books) aren't a great match, since they introduce letters at different times, have a different orthography (e.g., no hat on the a), and don't use phonics-based script. There's just a lot of new information- and he struggles at even the simplest readers. It'd be great if there were accompanying readers you could use in tandem with this book- because there's a difference between reading a few sentences, and reading a "real book"- a big one.
I know there are a lot of caveats in this review, but my kid is reading a full two years before kindergarten, due to ten minutes of practice every few days over a single summer. And he's excited about reading more each day. Really hard to give less than five stars there.
Update one year later:
So my suspicions were right here. Once you get past Lesson 70 or so, the pace is brutal for a kid that doesn't know his alphabet already. The book is still throwing new phonic sounds at you, but also expects the kids to learn lowercase and capital letters as well as the names of all letters, AND drop the special orthography- all very suddenly. It was too much, the last one especially, and we put reading away. He sort of lost his motivation, and I had no urge to work on this before he was ready, so I dropped it. I did kind of expect that the skills he'd picked up would help him transition to reading regular books on his own through the year. That didn't happen. He forgot a lot of what the book covered, and really just remained content with me reading to him.
We returned to it this summer, with him age 4.5 knowing about 80% of the letter names, capitals and lower case included, and it was a whole different thing. He now has the motor skills to write, his ability to comprehend and retain what he reads is excellent, and he loves the lessons and flies through them in 5 minutes. His attention span is still that of a four year old, but no more one woman show required for him to sit through one- just some mile redirection. Most key, instead of being an insurmountable challenge,dropping the specialized orthography was a small hurdle, easily cleared. He's done with the book now, and taken off with reading in a way I suspect will stick with him. I'm sure doing it last year helped with foundation skills. And I wonder if we could've made it through a year earlier if he'd known his alphabet better. But I'm pretty happy with how things went. I do suspect, just because of how easy it was at age 4.5, that 3.5 was a little early for us. Maybe I could've made it through, but better to just wait till there's interest, it's fun and painless. That's what it was this summer.
Top reviews from other countries
- SamReviewed in Canada on December 27, 2024
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Tool
It has taught our kids, and our friends kids, how to read, and did so fast.
- Ionathan OberhageReviewed in Mexico on August 25, 2024
5.0 out of 5 stars Our son loves it.
Our son loves reading this book. He didn’t like the other curriculum as much but really enjoyed this!
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Amazon CustomerReviewed in Spain on January 7, 2025
5.0 out of 5 stars Genial para los niños que entienden inglés pero no leen
A veces los niños que entienden inglés pero su lengua principal es otro idioma, tienen problemas para leer en el cole porque cuando leen utilizan los fonemas de su lengua principal, estos no encajan con lo que tienen aprendido del inglés en la cabeza. Ha sido una gran ayuda, paso por paso, y ahora lee y entiende sin problemas.
- ClareReviewed in Germany on March 25, 2022
5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommend
Book looks boring but my kids enjoyed the stories and it builds in such a way they never got frustrated. Used the book to teach 2 of my kids and now started with my three year old.
- hThakurReviewed in the United Arab Emirates on June 30, 2020
5.0 out of 5 stars Best Book for learning to Read English
We have personally become big fans of Siegfried Engelmann because of this book. Based on Direct Instruction system: meaning teaching in very small incremental steps.
If you are not able to teach your child how to read through this book, then there can be 99.9% two reasons only...
1. Your child is too young, so you need to try after a couple of months, OR
2. You are not following the book instructions properly, so read again the instruction part and focus on what are you missing out.