What if we told you there was a method of learning to read so good that the creator is at risk of being struck off as a teacher?

Learning to read is definitely one of the milestone life skills we look out for as parents. And while we may try to reassure ourselves that every child is different and progresses at different rates, we sometimes find ourselves researching ways of helping our children along.

There are numerous reading programmes out there, all designed to help your child to learn to read.

Jon and Robin from the DaddiLife team were given the opportunity to try and test the Reading Head Start programme on their three-year olds.

Check out our head-to-head review of Children Learning Reading vs Reading Head Start here.

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Overview

Reading Head Start is written by Sarah Shepard, an English teacher with 14 years of professional experience, who developed this phonics programme when her son was falling behind with reading at school.

The programme is aimed primarily at children between the ages of two and nine, promising that your child will have a reading level between two and four years above their peers.

That being said, Shepherd stresses that the course is suitable for any child of any age. She even claims that it has been proven to have prevented and even reversed dyslexia.

According to the website, “37% of children in the US enter Kindergarten without the (reading) skills necessary to begin their learning journey” and “children who are not reading at grade level by the fourth grade are four times more likely to drop out of school and 13x more likely to drop out if they also live in poverty”.

How it works

Reading Head Start is a 40 week course with five lessons per week. Each day (or lesson), you are provided with a video introducing the lesson, along with a lesson structure explaining to you in more detail what the objective of the lesson is and how you’re going to do it.

In addition, you’re provided with much of the relevant resources required to run the lesson effectively, such as picture cars. The only downside here is that you need a printer (and ideally card) to use them).

To support the core lesson structure, you also have access to ‘decodable books’; a selection of pages and short books designed specifically to help your child put into practice what they’ve learned so far.

The weeks are bunched into ‘levels’. Beginners and early readers are advised to start on weeks 1-10, while older children and more advanced readers can start later in the programme.

Each ‘level’ covers specific learning. For example, weeks 1-5 look at basic phonological awareness, by weeks 16-20 the focus is complete letter sounds and letter writing, and by the end you’ll be looking at irregular words and reading connected text.

Each lesson provides an overview of what to expect from that day’s teaching.

• Activity type (e.g. Introducing a word)

• Activity form (e.g. a game)

• Grade (K, 1)

• Length (5 minutes)

• Required Materials (ten counters, or 12 picture cards)

• Goal (separate a given sentence into words)

You’re then provided with instructions on what to do, and potentially some more videos for other sections. At the end, you can confirm you’ve finished the lesson to move onto the next one.

Our experiences

Now we’ve explained what the programme is and how it works, let’s take a look how we got on with the programme.

Robin and Dylan’s experience

I was interested in how Dylan would respond to this, as he is at the stage where he can definitely memorise some of the shorter sentences when we read to him: he says them with me as I point to the words.

We’re still early in the process, but Dylan is really enjoying the exercises, getting excited when I say it’s time to learn to read and generally gaining confidence. I think he’s generally pleased to have some extended activities to do with reading – he’s always veered between increasingly wordy stories, and pop-up adventures where we can create our own tales.

He enjoys the pictures – we had used picture-cards before so he gets the idea – but trying to get him to reallocate his attention to the words is making him think differently.

Jon and Eden’s experience

Eden loves books. Absolutely adores them. Whether it’s the middle of the day or bed time, she’s always got a book in hand.

However, as a very strong-willed young girl, she has taken to holding the book herself and insisting on ‘reading’ the story. While it’s lovely to see her make up a story based on the pictures (or recount the story from memory as best she can), it has stunted our ability to help her learn to read somewhat.

Anyone purchasing this programme should be prepared – and have the means – to print everything out. We don’t have a printer at home, but as a child of the digital age, I expected her to be fine with going through some of the lessons on my phone or laptop.

Unfortunately she just didn’t engage with picture cards and other materials on the screen. It was a real struggle to get her to sit with me and go through the lesson.

The transformation in her engagement is remarkable since I managed to print out a few lessons’ worth of materials. Now, I have no problems getting her excited and interested in the lesson.

Highlights

Clear instructions

It can feel a little daunting feeling that you need to become a teacher rather than a parent, but the videos that introduce each lesson offer clear instructions and certainly leave you feeling comfortable and confident.

Comprehensive lessons and structure

The programme is clearly well structured and certainly comprehensive. There’s a huge amount of detail over the course of the 40 weeks.

Short lessons

The programme advises lessons lasting 15 minutes, which is especially great for young children. The short timeframe makes it easy for parents to fit into the chaos and mayhem of day-to-day life, while it makes it more appealing to children. It doesn’t feel like a long chore for them.

Certificates

Certificates are also provided to help promote a sense of achievement for your child and encourage a love of learning and a desire to continue.

Supports reading in deprived areas

With Reading Head Start’s ‘Get One and Give One’ initiative, every purchase of the programme funds it for another children in a deprived part of the world.

Problems

Preparation

Some of the lessons require a fair amount of preparation, whether it’s printing extra resources or organising mini-games. This can mean the quick, 15 minute lesson can sometimes take up much more time than you expected.

Printer

For this course to be really effective, you need printed materials. Not everyone has a printer at home, or it can become expensive to buy the paper (or preferably card) and ink. When you consider the extra resources AND the decodable books, you’re talking about A LOT of printing.

Misguided sales tactics

While this isn’t related to the programme itself, we felt uncomfortable with some of the sales tactics.

The rather lengthy video on the home page focuses on negative connotations of not being at the ‘correct’ reading level, rather than the benefits of reading and joy that it can bring. Shepherd used phrases claiming that this programme is ‘something the school system DOESN’T want you to know about’, and ‘they’re doing everything they can to get this video taken down’. And she even talks about ‘the shame’ of finding out her son does not meet expectations in English.

It feels like she’s either trying to guilt or scare you into buying the programme.

Verdict

Both of us had some initial reservations over Reading Head Start given its sales tactics, but early indications suggest the programme is effective.

With a $1 trial and initial $37 (£30 at the time of writing) per month, it’s worth giving a go. Plus there’s a one-year money-back guarantee if you don’t see results in your child’s reading ability.