|
Mary Ellen Maunz
- Montessori International, Corwin Springs, Montana, USA :
Reading Master is a unique blend of effective methods, produced
in an outstanding format. The quality of information and lovely
illustrations make these books a must. In our 25 years of developing
programs and combining the best of the best, we discovered that
Doman flashcards with Spalding phonics makes a great combination.
Reading Master made the same discovery. back
to top
Mrs Rosemary Wilson - Early Childhood
Centers: Thank you for the excellent
publication called Reading Master you have designed and are promoting.
We are starting to use the series in our childcare centres and
find them very helpful in teaching young children. We use the
books in conjunction with our theme as they fit easily into our
program. They are also part of our language learning activities.
We have a number of children where English is their second language
and little children who are picking up language for the first
time and these books give comprehensive instruction on the correct
sounds of the letters. We really appreciate the format, the durable
presentation and the colorful illustrations. Thank you for giving
us the opportunity to comment on this excellent product. back
to top
L. Tangihaere - Centennial Park
School: I
would like to commend you for the Reading Master and say what
a marvelous resource it is. I am a mother and caregiver of 9 children,
5 of whom are still at home. My youngest is 2 years and 8 months
and I have been using the Reading Master since March this year.
I cannot express enough how familiar and fluent he has become
with the Flashbooks, Horses, Cats, Whales, etc all to the amazement
of myself and others. In our school we have 3 Te Reo (Maori) and
4 mainstream classes and I take daily lessons with a small group
of Te Reo children using the Reading Master to assist with their
English transition. Their teacher has commented on the great progress
they have made with spelling and reading since using the Reading
Master. back
to top
Patrick J Lynch - Executive Director
Catholic Education Office NZ: “Congratulations
on the production of the Reading Master System which is excellent
and timely, especially when teachers are looking for better ways
to teach youngsters the basic of literacy. I am happy to promote
the material among our Integrated Schools and Schools generally.”
back
to top
Catherine Holdom - Parent and Teacher:
When my two children, Samuel age 5 and Chelsea
age 3, first saw Reading Master they were transfixed for at least
an hour if not longer. They both found it very easy to navigate
( the CD-Rom) and obviously absorbing for they went back for more
later that day and the next. At one stage I noticed Chelsea had
taken control of the mouse and Samuel was happy to sit back and
watch and listen. back
to top
Colleen Williams - Director of
Special Programs- Pakuranga Heights School:
In February our school purchased a Reading
Master Kit, after viewing a parent copy and receiving favorable
comments from other school parents who were using the kit at home.
They particularly liked the initial sound series and ease of reading.
The nonfiction animal series of booklets were very popular with
them as well. Our staff were attracted by these aspects also.
In particular, we noted that one of our pupils who we had expected
to need Reading Recovery help this year, was reading far better
than expected after the long Christmas holiday break. We could
only attribute the unexpected progress at a time of year well-known
for its negative effect on children with reading difficulties,
to the use of Reading Master at home over the holiday period...
We have begun to use your program with a small group of Special
Needs pupils, aged 6 - 8 years who work in class under Teacher
Aide supervision. We have chosen children who are either on a
waiting list for Reading Recovery, have English as a second language
or who have completed Reading Recovery and still require reading
support. ..... Our initial impressions are, that the kit is very
well designed and highly attractive to children. The use of auditory
effects encourage children with attention span difficulties and
we are impressed by the effective use of color in presenting story
sequences. Our Junior children enjoy their sessions and are keen
and interested to return to the program. After only a few weeks
usage we find it suitable for children needing remedial help in
small groups and can be used effectively with Teacher Aide supervision....
Thank you for all your help. back
to top
Cindy Young - English as a Second
Language Teacher -Broome, Australia:
I am working as an adult literacy and numeracy teacher in Broome
Western Australia. I have had a mixture of clients, mainly men
in their twenties, thirties and forties wishing to improve their
skills so they can find employment. Half of my clients are Aboriginal,
for whom English is a second language. They have been to school
but have never understood how the English language works. Their
languages are spelled phonetically and they say much in few words.
Totally opposite to how we, the English speaking world, functions.
Being in a remote area, approx 2000kms from a capital city, resources
up here are scarce. I had purchased your program as I was completing
a Grad Dip in Ed at Notre Dame University in Broome and I had
to teach in a remote Aboriginal community for three months. Sometimes
resources in communities are scarce so I decided I would take
my own! As it turned out I ended up teaching adults and I have
used it for them. What I like about it is the clear way phonics
are explained. My Aboriginal clients, once showed that the English
language doesn't make sense soon learn how to master it. I think
they thought the whitefellas would have worked out a better system!
The adult clients have enjoyed the factual content in the readers
and we have learnt lots together. I have surprised my contemporaries
by using this system but I find it very effective and I would
certainly recommend it as an excellent learning tool for all age
levels and abilities. One of my clients who left school as a nine
year old to join the shearing team with his family has gone from
being totally illiterate to surfing the net and having enough
functional reading skills to survive in society with in two months.
It has increased his self esteem immeasurably. It was good read
the other testimonials as I am the only person I know who was
using this program with adults! I hope you can use this information
I only wish I knew about it or it existed when my children were
small. They are now 18 and 20 but I will be recommending if for
grandchildren that's for sure! Cheers Cindy Young
back
to top
Janine Tyler- English as a Second
Language Teacher, Australia: I
have been using the ReadingMaster for the past year to help teach
English to Asian students on a one on one basis. Because the ReadingMaster
goes through all the sounds in English in a systematic way, they
have found it very enjoyable and useful. The videos have been
helpful because they can watch the sounds and words being spoken
by Denise as well as see the actions mentioned in the stories.
We then move onto reading the books with me correcting their pronunciation
and follow that up with students listening to the stories again
and repeating the sounds on the CD_Rom. I think the program is
excellent! Janine Tyler back
to top
Elizabeth Hutton- English as a
Second Language Teacher, Papua New Guinea:
I am involved in Salem Training School in Goroka, Eastern Highlands
of Papua New Guinea. The main purpose of this eight month school
is to help
train and equip people from different denominations who teach
in our public schools Religious Instruction Classes. Our school
also provides training for people involved in Sunday School teaching.
Many of the students
who attend our training school, English is their second language.
Most student find it easier to speak in Pidgin English or in their
local language. (P.N.G. has over 800 languages). All students
attending Salem Training School to be accepted for the course
must have at least completed their education at grade 6 (form
2) but we do prefer students who have completed their grade 10
(5th form) because of the programme and teaching books being in
the English language. We do get many students who have only gone
as far as grade six in their education and they do struggle with
reading English. For this reason I purchased the English Reading
Master produced by Denise and Grant Ford of the Parent Company
and this year for the first time we trialed this in our school.
After ten one hour sessions we have noticed
a definite improvement in our students.
Their reading of English improved and also they have so much enjoyed
learning new words. Pronunciation of words has also shown improvement.
This year we had 6
students doing theReading Master and they looked so forward to
each session. This programme I believe is helping them to understand
better the English Books that they are preparing their lessons
to be taught to the children in the schools. I
certainly recommend the programme of 'READING MASTER' because
in the first year of our using it, the good results alone are
proof in itself of the value.
I have also had enquiries
from ex students about the possibility of them
being able to purchase the Reading Master to use in Preschools.
Yours sincerely Elizabeth
Hutton. back
to top
CORPORATES
Laurena Moore - Employee Development
Manager - Mercury Energy: “Over
the past few weeks I have been evaluating “The Reading Master
CD-Rom to as ascertain its applicability for New Zealand’s
largest Energy Company. It has been decided that it has a place
in the Open Learning Center to assist in addressing adult literacy
needs of our staff and will be available to be used by their family
members. I highly recommend this professional and innovative product
as a tool for dealing with literacy issues for all ages.”
back
to top
Peter Kerridge - Personnel Consultancy
Partner and Corporate Trainer: “Thank
you for producing the amazing Reading Master series of books.
Our five-year-old Sally loves them, and has wanted to read almost
nothing else since we bought them three weeks ago. The books are
beautifully crafted works of art. They teach about the real world
and develop reading skills at a rapid rate. Reading with Sally,
I have also learned a lot about whales, planets, and many other
interesting subjects and about the process by which children learn.
Well done. The work you have done is inspired.” back
to top
PARENTS
Debbie
Ross - New South Wales, Australia:
When
I first heard of the Reading Master program, my son was 2 1/4
and his speech was minimal and not very clear. I had spoken with
several health professionals including the speech therapist. All
of them advised me that in time he would improve and boys were
always slower to develop speech than girls.
As a mother I found
this very unsettling and was at a loss of what to do. I had already
established my son's problem was not one of comprehension - as
he easily understood and carried out complex instructions. The
difficulty for him was being able to say words that were comprehensible
to the rest of the world, including his mother. I had visions
of him struggling at school and then being ridiculed by the other
children.
Like any parent I
had bought books and read to him from an early age. I had read
all the parenting texts available to see what I should be doing
to assist my son with his learning. He owns enough books to start
his own library. I felt that I had created the right environment
to encourage speaking and reading, but the success was very limited.
It was then a girlfriend
saw the Reading Masters Program advertised on television. It seemed
it was developed to treat the very problems that I was having
with my son. I phoned to find out more information and I felt
that it was worth a try.
Once I received the
Reading Master Program and my son began watching the videos and
reading the books, I wished that I had heard about it long ago.
He showed signs of improvement within the first 2 months of receiving
it. I was very grateful there was a manual for me, explaining
exactly what resources were appropriate for each age and how long
to use each book, video and CD ROM.
My son seemed to be
quickly gaining confidence with speaking and he soon spoke a lot
more clearly. He very rapidly started to locate and say the names
of the books that were a part of the set. He was able to recognise
the words and say them. When left to his own devices he was repeating
the words with the video. His favourite of all was the Macaws.
He would squeal with excitement whenever he saw them. I cannot
even begin to tell you how relieved I was.
I had also purchased
the Maths program. My son would watch the video and is now able
to count to 20 without difficulty. I was also surprised that he
was able to do simple adding. His confidence had grown dramatically.
The CD ROM that is
also a part of the program is teaching him basic computer skills.
He is fascinated with the noises and loves the start up with the
macaws and birds flying around. He refers to the CD ROM as the
'Macaws'. The sense of independence this gives him is invaluable.
Not only is he learning valuable computer skills, but his ability
to recognise letters and simple words is also a bonus.
I am very grateful
for the Reading Master Program and feel that is worth every cent
that we spent on it and more. The reassurance that I have gained
as a mother is priceless. I no longer feel that my son will not
have the skills to be able to cope with school. I am also pleased
to see that my son is no longer frustrated with not being understood
and is constantly chattering all day. He would never have tried
to talk for long periods prior to the Reading Master program.
I am so pleased that
Denise and Grant developed this program. I would highly recommend
this program to all parents as a "must have"........
it is a small price to pay for the results that it achieves.
My youngest son is
now also fascinated with the videos and the CD ROM pictures. His
favourite is the cat books. I am glad that I will not suffer from
the same anxiety with him, as he was introduced to this program
at a much younger age.
Thank you for helping
me in ways that you could not possibly imagine. In years to come,
I will always be grateful to my friend for seeing the advertisement
for the Reading Master Program, and to you both for developing
it.
Regards, Mrs Debbie
Ross back
to top
Ross
and Vanessa Tayler - Pahiatua:
We
have been using the Reading Master over the past year. It has
been a great resource as we home school our children. Our daughter
and son have learnt all their phonics using Reading Master and
their spelling has improved in leaps and bounds. Our two year
old is now beginning to speak and learning new words from the
videos and CD. We can't say enough to recommend Reading Master.
Cassandra, at eight
has had her reading reinforced and improved her spelling, no end.
She often reads the books to her brothers and teaches them the
sounds.
Callum knows
every breed of whale, and has a great fascination with tornadoes,
having got an interest from the Reading Master books about whales
and weather. He knows most of the planets and zoo animals. His
drawings are very detailed and have to be just so. He knows about
300 words and has a wide interest in many books, which he reads
by
himself. He has just turned four.
Quinlan, at two
and a half, is just taking an interest in speaking and is
learning his phonic sounds. He watches the videos and speaks along
with the CD. He knows about 10 words, using the sounds. He likes
looking through the books and pointing out the pictures and saying
the sounds. All three play the videos and use the CD so much,
they are showing signs of wear and tear. The Reading Master has
been such a valuable tool, we cannot recommend it enough. - Ross
and Vanessa Tayler back
to top
Aidan & Trish Smith
- Australia :
I am writing to thank-you or the Reading Master series. My wife
and I bought Reading Master's 3 years ago, and have used it regularly
since. Our 4-½ year old is now an exceptional reader, and
can easily make out the sounds of words. He sits with me as I
read my novels and points out words that he knows, and has a fair
understanding of what it is that I am reading.We also have a 16
month old that drives us mad wanting to read Ducks, and Cats,
he can recognize a few words, and we are sure that our reading
to him so often is improving his speech, and he is learning words
that he ordinarily would not have picked up in our day to day
lives. Unfortunately, our youngest child is a lot rougher than
our eldest ever was, and he has torn some of the books and now
they are made more of sticky tape than ink and paper. If it would
be possible to buy replacement books we would be very appreciative.
As we look forward to our child learning to read and the confidence
and knowledge that comes with that. We have recently ordered the
Maths Master series, and my wife is very excited, and has read,
and reread the on-line parent guide, showing me the maths signs
and the other interesting features such as the 3 dimensional blocks,
and the various games. So we look forward to receiving that in
the mail any day now. Again, thank-you for helping us to encourage
our Childs learning, we have had a great time, and we have all
learnt a lot on the way. Sincerely, Aidan & Trish Smith
back
to top
Sarah
O'Flaherty - Australia: Mckale
is enjoying the videos and the flash books. I had a friends son
who is 10 stay the other night. He read a couple of the flash
books for his homework. After a few pages he stated, "I'm
learning something from these books!" He said it with such
suprise. And we both enjoyed reading them together. The next morning
we looked out side to see who could identify which clouds were
in the sky. I am really looking forward to when Mckale starts
to talk. back
to top
Eric
and Kathy - Auckland:
Sam has just finished his first year at school, he turns 6 on
the 13th of January 2000. We couldn't have asked for a better
school report he has done consistently well in all subjects. With
having the head start that the Reading Master gave him it has
also given him the confidence to do well in other subjects as
well. I believe it is of the utmost importance that children start
school with a can do attitude and a belief in themselves that
they can achieve anything. Our daughter Hannah is also well on
the way with a good understanding of phonics she will start school
in October next year. Kind Regards, Eric Swindells. back
to top
Debby Shaw - Auckland:
Well it has been five months since I spoke
to you both on the phone. At the time my son was fifteen months
old and not saying a lot but was very alert in other ways particularly
with identifying what pictures and words belong to what book.
He now says many words and will flick through all the five SoundsFlashbooks
and SoundsReaders without much help at all. I now tell people
my son reads words. I am very proud of what Daniel has achieved
and am finally reaping the rewards not only from my own personal
commitment but having an opportunity to work with such a wonderful
product. back
to top
Mrs
H. Mistry - New Zealand: Dear
Grant and Denise, The Reading Master system has indeed been a
blessing for our family. We purchased the system as an investment
for our children when our son was approximately 4 years old and
our daughter was just over 2. What seemed a slightly expensive
selection of books ended up being a priceless investment which
has and will continue to impact on our children's futures. Both
of our children, now 6 and 4 years of age, are excelling at reading.
Our son was reading confidently at kindy to the amazement of teachers,
fellow parents, and peers alike. On commencing primary school,
he was assessed at reading level 21, a much higher level compared
to other children in the class. Our daughter, now 4, only started
making out words after turning 3. She is now confidently reading
and also has a better comprehension of her reading. Quite similar
to your children in the past Reading Master commercials, her brother
has often sat with the books and read both to me and with her.
To my regret, when the children were toddlers/babies, I did not
read to them frequently. The Reading Master videos were a life
saver, the children watched them daily and within days were reading
along with them. It was the same case with the CD ROM, I supervised
as they absorbed. Reading Master was terrific as my two littlies
are somewhat visual learners. The most amazing thing that I have
to confess to is that they learnt all the above with very little
effort from me. Reading Master deserves most of the credit. My
husband and I are so glad we invested in Reading Master. The entire
system is obviously an incredibly well designed and well researched
system developed by you. It clearly achieves what it was set up
to do. We recommend it to other parents and at this point we'd
like to thank you sincerely for helping us develop a strong foundation
for our children. Yours sincerely Mrs H. Mistry (A Reading Master
BELIEVER) back
to top
Ingrid & Nick
Turpin - North Shore City: Our
2.5 y.o child Ben loves to sit at the computer in the early evening
and selects the books from the 'read to me' section and watches
with intent. He especially enjoys "Fluffy the Showcat".
He enjoys reading the sounds books 1 to 5 with us and it's just
amazing what he has absorbed in such a short time. The Reading
Master and Reading Master Maths were gifts from his grandparents
who live overseas and they are wonderful gifts. Ben has recently
started Montessori Pre-school and you would be impressed to see
just how many Reading Master school bags there are in the bag
area - great bags too! We unfortunately haven't begun with the
Maths Master yet but we won't be too far away. Thank you very
much. Regards Ingrid & Nick Turpin
Alan O’Sullivan
- Auckland: We have two children,
one aged 4 and one aged six years old. We loaded the Reading Master
CD-Rom for the first time a few weeks ago and unlike many CD-Roms
we have viewed, this one not only occupied the boys for several
hours, but it kept my wife and I interested as well. The boys
really enjoy the CD-Rom and have to be limited to 5 minute turns
at a time to let the other one have a go. We really like the interactivity
of the CD-Rom and how every time you click on something it doesn’t
just do something cute but takes you where something else is added
to what you were learning. We also really like that every image
and sound in the Reading Master CD-Rom is how it looks and sounds
in real life. back
to top
Kevin and Fiona
Mould -Hamilton: We purchased
the Reading Master system one month ago. Our daughter Olivia (11
months) has already developed the ability to connect pictures
with sounds. In fact, after only two days, Olivia sounded "ck"
and the very next day she said "duck". Olivia appears
to absorb and enjoy immensely the clear illustrations and associated
sounds or words available to her and the connections she makes
with the outside world are becoming more apparent every day.
back
to top
Rae Camons - South
Africa: Our daughter Kimberley
has been playing with the Reading Master CD-Rom for about 4 months
now, and I have got to tell you that her teacher took me aside
the other day and asked me what we had been doing with her. She
has really leapt ahead in her reading . We would like to purchase
another copy of the CD-Rom to donate to Kimberly’s school.
Kimberly regularly spends 30 to 40 minutes using the CD-Rom and
her general knowledge is accelerating at the same time as her
reading. We are very pleased with the progress she had made.
back
to top
Lisa Thompson - Queensland,
Australia. Our
children have achieved so much as a direct result of using the
Reading Master phonics system, not only the ability to recognize
the phonograms but also general knowledge of the world around
them, a subject many of us deny young children. At 2 1/2 Liam
already wants a telescope to see the planets he loves so much,
again as parents we were trying to give him details we believed
to be age appropriate. We now know there is no such thing as Liam
can name all planets, how many moons and their names too and most
of the general information about color, temperature, etc. At 18
months, MacKenzie is not far behind. In the 5 months we've used
the system her vocabulary and language skills have grown ten fold!!"
back
to top
A & T Dalton
- Hamilton New Zealand:
We have
found the ReadingMaster is of great value, as we bought this just
over one year ago when our daughter turned one. Her first words
were "duck", then "star" as Jessica can relate
these objects to her farming life. Today she can tell us the different
planets, whales and cats due to ReadingMaster. I too have found
it useful as my schooling was further behind than normal and now
I have enjoyment in reading to my daughter and other children.
I would like to thank you for creating a great learning system
in reading that has given our child a head start in life that
I never received. Kind regards Andrew and Trish Dalton
back
to top
Naadi
Thomas - New Zealand:
Three years ago we decided to purchase the
Reading Master system to teach our children to read. We had seen
all the ads and were very impressed with what we had seen. We
have eight children, and thus had always struggled with the usual
school systems of teaching our children to read. In fact we had
first hand knowledge of how easy it was for a child to slip through
the school system, and over the years we had spent what amounts
to a small fortune on getting reading tuition for a child that
was failing to master reading in the school system. This was a
real struggle and worry for us as parents, and we had got to the
point where we knew that there must be a better way. At the time
that we got our reading master system, we had a three year old
and a baby, our older children being 21,17,15,12 and 9 years of
age. And we still had one more child to be born. I remember the
opening of the reading Master as being a very exciting time for
all. It seemed to catch the attention of even the old children,
who in turn could see that they too would be able to help their
younger siblings on the road to reading. As the main care giver
of the children I was initially a little concerned about the time
that would be required, as with such a large family ,time is a
precious commodity. I was however very encouraged and empowered
by my first reading of the parents manual. Any sense of doubt
that I had had about my ability to teach my children reading ,
went right out the door. I found the parents manual is full of
ideas that I had not thought of as means to help my children read.
We love the way that the Reading Master really relates to our
world ,and that the children find that they can relate what they
read in the books to what they see when they are in their normal
daily routines. We have found the Reading Master a pleasure to
work with. We have not needed to be constantly encouraging or
pressing the children to read, as they themselves tend to constantly
crave the learning. It is not uncommon now for us to be woken
in the morning by having a book poked in our nose , and a two
year old saying "read Mum". The child that was three
when we first got the reading master is now six. His reading age
the month before his sixth birthday was that of and eight year
old .The first line of his first school report reads and I quote
"Roman started school with many reading skills and has continued
to build upon these"as a parent this just gives me the greatest
thrill. Roman now reads fluently to his brothers from the reading
master series, and enjoys being able to help teach them too. We
have just been absolutely amazed at the ease, speed,and interest
that the reading master has brought to the reading experience
of our still very young boys. With the success that we have experience
with our first reading master child ,who had the reading master
only from the age of three, our minds are completely in awe of
how the reading experience is going to be for our youngest son
who has had the reading master since birth. I would also note
that the reading master videos rate higher in our house than Thomas
the tank engine or even The Teletubbies. Reading Master has truly
transformed our home. Books are now a far more important feature
than the TV. The Reading Master books have no special place now
as they are just simply everywhere e.g., they go to bed with them
, we go shopping with them ,we go to Grandmas with them. We simply
cannot thank you enough Grant and Denise Ford Yours Sincerely
Naadi Thomas. back
to top
Rebecca Bain - Christchurch:
Dear Grant and
Denise, I just had to let you know how the girls are going with
Reading Master. Eleanor (she was 2 on Feb 13) shrieks "Master"
every day and dives into her reading book box all the time. She
loves the books and the videos. Yesterday we had one of Darryls
clients over for dinner. Eleanor went and sat next to him and
opened her New Zealand Birds book and proceeded to turn every
page and name all the birds! Hearing her little voice say "Morepork"
nearly had him fall off his seat!!! She was very pleased with
herself and we are delighted with her enthusiasm and the rate
at which she is learning. The cat book is also a great favorite
and she does a great wide eyed impersonation of a Devon Rex. Felicity
is enjoying the CD and has been reading all the story books avidly.
She loves the ones about Magda and horse riding. You have come
up with such a wonderful learning tool and I am so delighted I
met you at the Tradenz awards, otherwise I might never have bought
ReadingMaster at all. Best regards Rebecca Bain.
back
to top
G. Jackett - Glen
Eden Auckland: Sometime
ago we purchase the Reading Master program for our grandchildren
The program has helped immensely with our eldest grandchild who
is now six years old. At the beginning of his school year, he
was only on level two. Low in comparison to other children in
his class. The Reading Master in combination with other school
initiated programs, helped him improve his levels. He is now at
level ten and still improving. The Reading Master provides his
main source of development in this area outside school hours.
I thought this letter may be useful feedback for you. Regards
Geof Jackett. back
to top
Mrs T.R. Judd -
Woodville New Zealand: Dear Sir/Madam
I have been using the Reading Master system for approximately
2 years now. We find it very helpful, educational and great to
read as I have a 5 year old who now appears to be flying ahead
in her reading through using the system, and a 2 1/2 year old
(not yet talking properly due to health misfortunes) who is in
the process of using the system proving positive results. From
another successful family with positive results developing. MLr
T.R. Judd. back
to top
Mr G Thompson:
Hi Denise,
Yes I am happy to endorse your Reading Master. I sent it to my
grandson (aged 2) in Australia. It has advanced his capabilities
to where he is outperforming 5 year olds. He is enrolled with
Kumon schools and has attracted the attention of a psychologist
at Brisbane University who, I understand is studying his performance.
This is in large part due to your excellent Reading Master. Sincerely
Graeme Thompson back
to top
I. & L. King
- Report on Caleb by a Teacher: Mr
and Mrs King (Ngati Haua, Waikatato)have shared that their son
Caleb, who was two years old in March and whose exposure to Reading
Master began when he was three months old, has the following language
attributes now -he picks up words easily from it -he enjoys learning
from the pictures other spin offs from his early exposure -he
speaks four word sentences -his diction is very clear -people
understand him and have commented on the clarity of his speech
-he takes in what he sees and hears -he loves reading books -he
identifies lots of objects in his environment. Recorded from Lissa
and Isaac King by Denise Leota (teacher)
back
to top
EDUCATORS
Dr Cynthia Thrush
- PHD Education (in Cognitive Science):
"I've
spent 30 years of my life with children in schools and in all
those years I have never seen a program that successfully combined
phonics, whole brain learning plus accelerated learning techniques
and music and color as the Reading Master does.”
back
to top
Barbara Prashnig
- Director of Training & Research Creative Learning Company
Ltd. “As an author as the
links between music, brain functions, and learning ability, I
have been really impressed by the way Reading Master has been
using the latest research and development in this area.”
back
to top
Beverley
Davidson - Special Needs Teacher: My
interest is in children with disability. I have worked in this
area for 40 odd years, my most recent work being with children
with multiple disability. For the
past five months I have been using Reading Master with one student
and I am impressed with his progress in the areas of word and
letter recognition. I use the books, videos and CD ROM and find
them all beneficial. I am particularly impressed with the use
of baroque music in the videos. I find this has helped tremendously.
Reading Master is a must for these children.
back
to top
Robyn Smith, Wife, Mother
and Homeschooler:
Dear Denise,
As a homeschooling Mum my time is devoted to my children's needs
and education most of the time. My eldest child is Michael.
He is 5 1/2 years. He loves reading and maths and is doing
extremely well in both.We only bought ReadingMaster when Michael
was four years old, although he was exposed to it at age 2
1/2 by a friend of mine who lent it to me for a while to show
to my husband. Michael had speech delays as a result of a
traumatic accident at
age 17 months. He totally stopped talking, only communicating
through crying and hand motions. We were told this is quite normal
after trauma and told not to worry, but after a year I was starting
to get sick of people asking me if he was deaf. We borrowed the
programme for a week and after a couple of days watching just
the video, probably three times a day, he started saying the words,
"bubble", "duck", etc. By the end of the week
he was talking in sentences. We had of course continued reading
to him several times a day throughout his silence as it was his
first love. When he was three, I made flash cards of family members
names and familiar words, and started to show these to Michael
every time he asked for them. He had learnt about 20 sight words
by four, which I felt was wonderful considering his delays in
speech. We got ReadingMaster when he was four. He absolutely loved
it, especially the stories about your son, Michael. He started
to imagine he was having adventures and doing what Michael was
doing. He couldn't read yet, but he could recite the whole book
word perfect most times, and started to ask the most fascinating
questions. At 5 1/2 Michael has about 200
sight words, and if he doesn't know the word will try to work
it out by sounding it out.
Christian,
now 4 years old loves books also. He has been confident
in using books from an early age and has always been very gentle
with them. He wasn't very interested in us reading to him until
he was about three. He would take the book off you and say "I
read it", and sit on the ground and leaf through the book
himself. He loves Maths, and is especially captivated by the ReadingMaster
Maths programme. He has learnt all the shapes from the first set,
has mastered counting to twenty, which is all I have worked on
him with at present, and had mastered a wide range of colours
from an early age. He loves jigsaw puzzles and has been doing
puzzles since he was 18 months old with ease. For his third birthday
he was given a 60 piece puzzle which he mastered easily. His love
for Maths is evident when I am teaching Michael.
I will give Michael an oral maths problem and before
Michael has a chance to answer it Christian has
already given me the answer.
Evelyn
is 2 1/2 years old and is enjoying the ReadingMaster videos
very much. She is using the flash cards and is always eager when
they are out. When asked what story she would like will often
go to the bookshelf and choose a ReadingMaster book. She is an
articulate speaker and talks with very descriptive language.
Isabel
is 17 months old and is already in love with books. She will often
muscle in on story time with her own choice of book insisting
that hers be read. She is using common phrases often in speech
and compared to our other children is speaking well for her age.
I can't give
you a reading age for Michael as he has not been
assessed, but compared to his other friends he is reading as well
or better. Their love of learning, however, is apparent in everything
they do. Last term we studied weather and the Weather book was
used often especially during cloud spotting, and as a reference
tool for Michael for how to spell words if I was
unavailable. I would highly recommend ReadingMaster and ReadingMaster
Maths to anyone considering homeschooling. I have found that the
language used and descriptions capture a child's attention and
build creative and adventurous imagination. Both programmes are
an integral part of our Homeschool and I have found them an invaluable
asset. Thank you for your time Denise . I am also interested in
finding out more about your values
books as I think the idea is wonderful. Could your please
give me more information.
Yours sincerely
Robyn Smith
Wife, Mother and Homeschooler. back
to top
Reshmi Singh - Bucklands
Beach Auckland: I
am a true believer of the ReadingMaster System. A year and a half
ago my only child Sanjay was diagnosed with mild
Autism. As
any other parent would feel, our hopes and dreams came crashing
down as we all have high hopes and expectations of our children
being able to succeed. At the time of diagnosis Sanjay was three
years of age, his only language skill of saying, "Let's go"
and "Dodo" ("milk" in Hindu). As parents we
found it very hard communicating with him as he had very little
verbal language skill. Everything ended up being a big fuss and
a whole lot of tears for both Sanjay and myself. One thing Sanjay
did do was watch the ReadingMaster ad on television religiously.
When the ad finished he would cry and cry. One day I sat with
Sanjay and watched the ad. The phrase "Your child knows best
so just go with your child" really stuck in my mind. I knew
what Sanjay wanted. I bought ReadingMaster a month before his
4th birthday and gave it to him. His eyes just lit up with so
much excitement. We showed him the videos first, then the ROM
and then later the books. Within 3-4 months Sanjay had managed
to cram in 27 books into his mind complete with sound effects
of the animals from the CD ROM. This was a big leap from the 2
words he used to say! He gained so many new words. There are 27
books in ReadingMaster and so many words!!! My partner and I were
left wide eyed and amazed, and still are now. Sanjay goes to kindy
now. We have better knowledge of his learning style (visual) and
are using visual card systems for his wants and needs along with
his day to day activities. I have had a lot of help from Sanjay's
psychologist, the SES worker and the kindy staff. They are all
pleased because his learning has to be consistent. ReadingMaster
was the key for us to know that not all our hopes and dreams have
been shattered. It has taught us that Sanjay can learn and be
successful. It's just a whole new way of doing things. I still
use ReadingMaster with Sanjay. I mainly read him the books. He
still loves it. We are very interested in your new book with its
coverage of special needs. Our group would love to have you come
and talk to us about it and how else to help our children. Thanks
a whole bunch Grant and Denise. You have definitely created a
fantastic product which has influenced our life for the better.
Really words cannot describe how I feel when Sanjay says words
to me. Yours faithfully, Reshmi Singh. back
to top
K. Thorby - Auckland,
New Zealand: I have been using
the Reading Master with my children for about 4 months now and
it has made a huge impact on not only my elder son's reading but
also both of my children's pronunciation and vocabulary. This
is especially important in our household as my eldest little boy,
Christopher, who is 4 1/2 copes with autism
and has only been speaking for 8 months.
Both of my boys love the videos and the books. Chris always asks
me for Sounds 6 and I have to explain it only goes up to 5! We
are very pleased with your product and can see the ongoing educational
value it will have in our household as the boys progress through
the readers. I am so impressed that I have been passing the word
on to other friends. back
to top
IJ & NK Hagan
- Waiuku New Zealand: We have
a daughter with an Autistic Spectrum
Disorder and I don't know if you
remember me but I am on your current Reading Master add. I would
like to say that Sherilyn is now reading way above her age and
I can happily say it is totally due to this wonderful reading
program. Sherilyn has been at a main stream school from the beginning
and we chose a small rural school thinking this would be the best
option with small class numbers and well funded. But this has
not been the best and we have struggled for two years with this
school telling us its our parenting and not allowing teacher aid
time and also allowing other children to bully and torment Sherilyn
on a daily basis. This is why Sherily so badly needed the Reading
Master as he was not provided with the specialized teaching she
required. We even had to fight them to allow Speech Language Therapy
and help from an Educational Psychologist. So last year we decided
to change schools. This is a much larger school which has quite
a few children with special needs and learning problems. This
is not a rich school but since Sherlilyn has started they have
bent over backward to help her in every way and are providing
teacher aid hours out of their own pocket. Sherilyn loves the
Reading Master books and it would be brilliant if she could use
the same program at school as well. Is it at all possible for
our school to get a set of the Reading Master This would not only
benefit just our daughter but all the children with problems with
reading in the school. And please let the Fords know how wonderful
the ReadingMaster has been for us. Sincerely Mrs Nina Hagan
back
to top
Mrs Annette Adams
- Canterbury New Zealand: Dear
Sir/Madam I purchased the ReadingMaster system for my grandchildren,
and my husband who is dyslexic.
After 12 months I am extremely impressed
with the results and would recommend it to anyone with problems.
Thank your for reading this letter. Keep up the learning tools
and books for children. They are a blessing for our future generation.
Yours faithfully Mrs Annette Adams. back
to top
Timothy G.Spokes
- Australia: My name is Timothy
G. Spokes. I would like to share with you a story, one I will
attempt to make brief, but one that shows the importance of programs
that you have written. At the early age of Grade three it was
thought I was "slow" at school and needed to be placed
in "remedial" or "special" class as I had
a great deal of difficulty in writing and spelling. I hated reading
as the words made no sense at all in the way they were constructed.
I could not understand how "f" would make the same sound
as "ph". The result was a young man leaving school earlier
than possibly normal. At age 15 years I left school on the advice
of my teachers as they felt I would never get a job and should
take the first job that came my way. That's what I did. As I grew
up in the "real world" I rapidly saw the application
of English and Math, something I was far from in the classroom.
I worked damn hard and entered night school studying to improve
my education when an Auntie saw that I was not as bad as teachers
had described. I completed year 11 and 12 in the same 12 months.
I entered university only to meet a Psychologist who recognized
that I was slightly dyslexic
and had not achieved a reasonable English
education with a very slow reading ability. In the space of two
months, while attending normal classes during the day and structured
classes at night to become interested in reading, I slowly improved.
Today I hold 2 biology diplomas, 3 science degrees and a Master
Degree in Nursing. I work for the Royal Flying Doctor Service
as a Trauma Nurse Consultant. I am now making application for
entry into Medicine: Sucker for punishment. If only your program
was around when I was young I may have already been a Doctor.
There is no question that the delay in my reading development
delayed my progression in education. I can only recommend your
programs Reading Master and Reading Master Math. I am delighted
to say they are now prominent tools in our house. Thank you for
doing the research and constructing the aids for parents like
myself - my three girls will benefit for certain. Regards Timothy
G Spokes MRCNA Rn Rm M Ning. (Clinical Nurse Consultant: Trauma)
back
to top
Sharon Sutherland - Brisbane
Australia: The
most rewarding experience for us as a family, and the most surprising
for his teachers, is the knowledge our oldest son has shown with
the concepts of reading, and sounds. At the age of 4 and half
our son was diagnosed as a selective mute
and for almost 2 years the teachers at his school had not heard
his voice ...
with the constant use of your programme (mainly CD Rom - he could
do it
himself) they were amazed with the depth of knowledge he had for
reading.
Now, at age 7, our son is at an above average level with his peers
of the
same age. My husband and I are very pleased with the outcome.
All our children have been given a wonderful head start, thanks
to your fantastic programme.
back
to top
Jo
Wilson - Gisborne NZ (27 July 01): Dear
Grant and Denise: Thank you very much for the Reading Master Maths
kit that you sent us. The kids love it!!
I thought I should
tell you from the beginning what happened to Connor.
Connor was a planned home birth, and was born 10
days overdue. The pregnancy was fairly normal with nothing startling
occurring that would have made us unduly worried. He was born
on the 4th October 1997 on our lounge floor. Just prior to his
entrance, the midwife was unable to find his heartbeat. He arrived
with the cord wrapped twice around his neck, but not tightly,
just looped there. He refused to breathe, but thankfully he had
a heartbeat, and a fantastic midwife team. He was rushed to hospital,
where they said that he wasn't
expected to live. His little head
swelled, and the doctors were unsure why he arrived into this
world flat and unresponsive. He originally was given an
APGAR score of 0 but this was revised to
2. Connor
had problems with his heart also, a valve refused to shut properly,
and his heart would start beating very fast for no reason.
Connor
fought, he started breathing on his own and we changed to a more
positive Paediatrician. We were told that he would live, but would
probably have a 90% chance of being
severely brain damaged.
He remained in intensive
care for about 4 weeks. He had seizures, and his muscles in his
limbs were contracted - he looked like a frog. There were that
many machines there, monitoring everything about him. He came
off oxygen a few days prior to him coming home, and his older
brother turned 5 years old. It was great to be home in time for
Joshua's first day at school.
Connor's
upper limbs were still very tight, and he was extremely sensitive
to touch. We didn't know what the future was going to hold for
our beautiful little boy. The doctors couldn't tell us what the
extent of the damage would be, or why it had happened. I decided
that we would do everything in our power to help him. I am a trained
health professional, but I had never worked with children before,
so my knowledge in this area was very limited, and what little
I did know, scared me. I rang all my friends from training, and
started everything I could with him. Sensory Integration, Bobath,
anything. I used to change him on different fabrics, like a towel
and then a silk scarf. We listened to music constantly, I would
move his limbs in normal movement patterns and daily massages
were now part of our routine. I surrounded his cot with everything,
pictures, toys, and mobiles. For a while I was worried I was over
overstimulating him.
Joshua
was struggling at school. (He has since been diagnosed with
dyslexia) We
saw an advertisement for the Reading Master on television and
decided to invest in our children's futures, even though at that
stage we were struggling on one income. I soon discovered that
whenever I put the CD or the video on, Connor would
watch it too. I would sit in front of the computer with
Connor, several times a day, and play on the reading master
CD. He loved it!!! I didn't realise how much he was taking in.
We started this when he was 4 months old. It became a party trick
with Connor when he got older and family visited.
From about 7 - 8 months old we would turn the sound off, and he
would say all the words to the pictures as they flashed up. He
used to call the Reading Master his "Birdies" because
of the sound that it made when it started up. Connor
used to drive us nuts, demanding that it be played over and over
again, every day. I was astounded at his vocabulary and the correct
use of it at such a young age. At 1 year old, he was stringing
together proper sentences. He absorbed everything, every word
being said around him. He has amazed everyone who knew him at
birth. Connor was reading by the age of about 16 months,
just simple words like duck. He memorised whole books, and would
recite them, page by page. He made us cry.
Today, he is a very
healthy, happy 3 year old little boy. He attends Montessori preschool,
and absolutely loves it. He has no increased tone in any of his
limbs, and can climb trees like he was a monkey. His heart difficulties
seem to have resolved themselves over time. Connor
has the funniest sense of humour for a child so young, and boy
does he have rhythm!! He can dance and just loves any sort of
music. (In fact his favourite activity is to dance to music and
take his clothes off!) Connor has confidence in
himself coming out of his ears. He is constantly mistaken for
being older than his 3 3/4 years of age. He is terribly interested
in everything around him, and has just recently been learning
all the names of the bones in his body. Connor wants
to know, and his learning is driven by him. We were told by a
teacher, (who then knew nothing of Connor's past)
that we should be careful what school we sent him to, as he was
very, very bright, and that he needed so much stimulation. When
I heard this, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry!
The Reading Master
system is still so much a part of our lives with the children.
We have since had another child, Aleisha who is
a happy healthy 2 year old. She has also been brought up on a
"daily diet" of the Reading Master. It is interesting
seeing the difference between the two youngest children who have
had this experience from a young age, compared to our eldest.
Their vocabulary and pronunciation of words has astounded us and
family. With the use of this system and additional tutoring, Joshua
is now about level for his age with reading at school, and has
grown in confidence.
We have been impressed
by how easy the system is to use, and for us and our experience
with Connor, it played such an important role in
his rehabilitation. I do not think that one thing in particular
was the key to his recovery, but more a combination of approaches.
Most importantly to us, was the fact that we never ever gave up
hope, and we surrounded ourselves with positive people. I cannot
sing the praises of the Reading Master highly enough. Thank you
for allowing us to share our experience with you, and the one
thing that comes out of all this is that no matter how terrible
things look, we learnt to always have hope.
Yours sincerely,
Connor's mum,
Jo Wilson
Footnote from Grant Ford; Denise and I have a couple of educational
heroes that stand out for us above all the others we researched
in assembling the ReadingMaster system. We are reminded of Maria
Montessori and Glenn Doman in Connor's amazing life-story and
particularly Doman's pioneering work with rehabilitating brain
damaged children, a methodology we built into the ReadingMaster
System - he tells of many successes like Connor's. Now thanks
to Jo and Paul we have a whole new family of heroes. All credit
to Jo and Paul for believing, understanding and doing something
with that understanding and belief and to Connor for doing what
children do best - reward us with inspiration and hope!
back
to top
|
