Heartwarming Results From California, MD

This customer testimonial came into our inbox recently, and we can't help but share this parent's excitement and pride for her budding readers!

Dear American Reading Company,

I just want to stand on the top of a mountain and shout to all who can hear me, the American Reading Company reading program is the BEST READING PROGRAM ever!

I have three children, all at different academic ability levels. My 11-year-old is in a gifted and talented program; he was independently reading at age 3. My middle son, now 9, has shown signs of struggle since PreK and we have struggled alongside him until now. We have tried EVERYTHING we could think of or were told to do to help him read, but his gains were minimal and frustrating. We went to the library to get books and would check out 75 at a time, but NONE ever seemed to be right or at his level where he could read independently with confidence. I spent years reading to him because the words on the page were just too hard for him to read himself; he would cry and so would I, wondering if he'd ever be able to read on his own. Teachers told us to just keep reading, but that wasn't enough and it was not working. He was frustrated and so were we.

FINALLY, an answer to our prayer; we were introduced to IRLA in December 2015, and the program is AMAZING (and that word does not even do justice)! How every single school and library in the country does not have this is beyond me and unacceptable. The American Reading Company IRLA program is the ROADMAP to reading, it really does put the training wheels on the reading bike and gradually moves them up to a 12-speed AT THEIR LEVEL, AT THEIR PACE, until they are riding the reading bike with NO HANDS!

My son could hang in third grade reading with one-on-one instruction, but he couldn't read on his own. When we finally had him IRLA tested, his independent reading level was end of Kindergarten/beginning of first grade...we had NO IDEA IT WAS THAT BAD! He had school interventions, special education, and private tutoring for two years and gains were slow, but no one could tell us exactly where he was, let alone what he needed to do...no one! In December he tested in IRLA as a Yellow/1G level, crumbling at the sight word level (we did not even KNOW that he was struggling to read his sight words at flash speed), and after following the program each month he went from 1 Green to 2 Green (in one month), from 2 Green to 1B (in another month), to 2 Blue and then 1 Red by spring break. The program had books at HIS level that were fast, fun, and easy! He could read on his own as long as he stayed on his color or below. Best of all, I was no longer a frustrated mom trying to build my own home school curriculum; I knew what books he had to read and what words he had practice to get to the next level.

My stress over how to help him was taken away by this program, a true gift to me and my family. Best of all his confidence grew, and slowly he began to SOAR! He loved that it was on his iPad among his other video games; he was proud to get on Bookshelf to read 20 books a day and was no longer embarrassed like when he would pick up a book and it was too hard for him to read. He had a plan to move to the next level—there were goals and words he had to practice to get there. Reading was no longer frustrating, it made sense and like the sports he loves, practicing reading AT HIS ABILITY LEVEL was making him get better. In years of school, no other program or intervention had ever done what IRLA did. It was amazing to see him tested at 2B one month, watching him go from crumbling when he tried to read, to soaring through the exact same books and test a month later ready to move up to the next level.

So here he is and at the beginning of June, only 6 months later, he is reading 2R/White books (end of second grade/beginning of third)! Three years of growth in only 6 months! AMAZING is an understatement. He is closing the gap faster than any of us could imagine...he just needed the tools to get there. He used to be afraid of fourth grade, that it would be too hard. Now he knows it won’t be as hard as he thought! What IRLA proved to me and my family is that EVERY CHILD CAN READ WITH THE RIGHT BOOK! My son is proud and confident and motivated to read...he is no longer embarrassed, but driven.

Thank you, American Reading Company! Words cannot express our gratitude for your program, and I can't wait to see how his younger sister does with it. She has had speech issues her whole life and we aren't waiting, we started IRLA in December too, and I know that it will help her become an independent reader faster than any other program. She was frustrated at the beginning of first grade with books from the library or books given to her by her teacher that were too hard to read. Now she is soaring through 1G and 2G books and beginning to tackle 1 Blue books (a little behind from where she should be, but with IRLA in our pocket I KNOW she will not only catch up but rise to the top and be soaring too). The difference in her reading in one month alone lets me know that she is going to be just fine!

Let me close by telling you a cute story from this past weekend. My son went to a sleepover at his friend’s house—boys, basketball, water slides, sprinklers, video games, and fun. He came home and said, "Mom, guess what? I got bored playing my games on my iPad so I read two books. Let me show you which ones I read.” Enough said!

Loyally, Lori