Toe by Toe by

Keda Cowling and Harry Cowling

5th edition

I was made aware of this book as a suggestion in one of my Fb book groups. Someone raised the discussion of having difficulty with reading as an adult due to dyslexia and could anyone recommend anything to help. A very kind lady suggested this book, as well as a link to the associated webpage (please look on my 'Links' section to find the weblink for that webpage.)

In the meantime, my own son, only days after discovering this book, was diagnosed as being dyslexic - I couldn't believe the coincidence.

I purchased "Toe by Toe" waiting for an appropriate time to start it - lockdown had just been enforced, accompanied with home schooling - we were therefore struggling to find a moment to go through this.

I noticed my son was desperately struggling with the work he was being set from school for his phonics and reading. I must point out here that the work set, was a nice managable amount not too much and very straightforward, but I could see my son getting more and more frustrated with not being able to complete the work and it started to have a detrimental affect on his psychological well-being. 

In steps the trusted "Toe by Toe"...... I decided to replace his phonics class and reading, with "Toe by Toe". The results from this was completely mind blowing. The happiness and excitement eminating from my son after several weeks of starting this book, was just phenomenal. We were all so very, very proud of him and his rapid progression in his reading skills. He went from not being able to correctly blend the sounds together to make a word, to reading fluently from a page, with a beautiful flow, no stuttering or stopping, pronouncing each word correctly.

When he returned to school after lockdown, my son came home each afternoon, grinning from ear to ear as he had been allowed to put another 'marble in the jar' for his excellent reading that day - his teachers had noticed his rapid improvement and progression, not only in his phonics, but also his reading. They were extremely suprised the huge impact of following "Toe by Toe" has had on our son.

The good thing about Toe by Toe, is that because of its design, as in it's teaching structure, the book can also be used by adults who have low reading ability to improve their reading and vocabulary - and the book is self-explanatory, with simple and very easy to follow instructions. Furthermore, people whose mother tongue is a different language and are learning English, this book is also an excellent resource they would benefit from using.

I honestly cannot recommend this book enough, for all ages and all reading abilities.

Stride Ahead by

Keda Cowling and Frank Cowling

"Stride Ahead" focuses on the comprehension and understanding of what the reader is reading.

As I have discussed in my blog, this is the element of dyslexia which heavily affects me the most and is quite debilitating, espeically when reading something very important. I can very easily misinterpret what it is I am reading and think something completely else is being said. Embarrassingly this has resulted numerous times in a faux pas that could have been avoided, had I been able to interpret what it was I had read.

My son and I haven't yet started this as we have it ready to start upon the commencement of the six weeks summer holiday. I am exceptionally keen to further develop my sons reading skills whilst we have our minds  already focused on this.

"Stride Ahead" can also be purchased through the link I have put up for the "Toe by Toe" book.

Stareway to Spelling by

Keda Cowling and Kelsey Cowling

"Stareway to Spelling" focuses on spelling and is designed for both children and adults to use. 

The beauty about all three books that I have mentioned here is that you do not need to be a qualified teacher, or even have any teaching experience whatsoever. They are all ever so easy to follow and understand, meaning that the accessibility of these resources makes them even more appealing to parents and those who lack confidence in wanting to better either themselves or their children.

This book addresses the problems associated with words that are not phonetically easy to spell, such as words with a silent letter at the beginning such as "knead" or "knew", as well as words that you cannot blend the sounds of each letter together to formulate the word such as the word "said".

If you would like to purchase a copy of any of these books, please follow the weblink on my links page.