Teach your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons by Siegfried Engelmann, Phyllis Haddox and Elaine Bruner

About Teaching Early Reading

Many people believe that every child should learn how to read at a specific age, expecting him or her to have acquired certain skills during a certain amount of time. However, most of these parents do not take into account something; we are all unique, having a different method and pace when it comes to learning anything. While some kids may still be unable to read after the first grade, there are preschoolers who are ready to make the jump.

In any case, the point which I am getting at is that there is no specific demarcation as to when you should start teaching your child how to read; it is up to you to take the initiative and start the learning process.

Naturally, teaching your child to read may be a bit of an overwhelming task because after all, most of us aren’t fit to be teachers. Fortunately, there are numerous guides which have been written by renowned experts on the subject, and in my opinion one of the most impressive ones is titled Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, and it was written by Siegfried Engelmann, Phyllis Haddox and Elaine Bruner; here is a look at what the book has to offer.

A General Overview of the Book

To start things off, let’s have a look at what the book has to say for itself, or its sales pitch if you will. Well, the book is basically a home version of the SRAs DISTAR® program, which is only the most successful beginning reading program used in countless schools across the entire country. This version of the book was made for parents who want to spend one-on-one time with their children, just teaching them how to read.

The book, as the title suggests, is divided into 100 different lessons, and you will only need to go through one lesson per day, each one lasting roughly around 20 to 30 minutes. If each lesson is completed successfully within the recommended time frame, by the end of the program your child will allegedly have the reading capabilities of a second-grader. The book itself is all you need; there are no flash cards or unnecessarily complex instructions… just your child, you, and the book.

Are These 100 Easy Lessons Actually Effective?

Well, the lessons have been arranged by difficulty and complexity, starting with extremely basic concepts such as sounding out letters and ending with relatively complex readings. Each lesson contains a concept which is to be applied through a few tasks.

This book was meant for kids who don’t know how to read yet, so if your child is already a capable reader he or she may not gain much from this. If however your child is just starting his or her journey into the fantastic world of reading, the lessons provided within will be extremely helpful in building a solid base of knowledge.

As for the book itself, you should keep in mind that it starts off kind of slowly and may seem a bit too easy and boring. However, I strongly recommend that you stick with the instructions; some tasks may seem to be pointless, such as sounding simple words out slowly, but in the end their purpose will become clear.

As a parent, you will also have access to scripts if you don’t exactly know how to go about teaching a certain subject. Also, instead of being presented separately the lessons actually connect with each other and sort of form a chain which holds from the first lesson to the last one. All in all, the approach to teaching is extremely balanced in this book and will help your child to build a very solid foundation for reading without boring or overworking them.

What the People Have to Say

Naturally, when looking at such products it is always important to know what those who have tried it have to say and if there are any outstanding complaints. Let’s have a look at the Amazon reviews: out of 750, 586 gave 5 stars, 81 gave 4 stars, 38 gave 3 stars, 24 gave 2 stars and 21 gave it 1 star. In other words, 89% of the people who reviewed the book gave it 4 or 5 stars, without any outstanding complaints.

Those who did complain about the book noted that the lessons aren’t advanced enough for their bright children(again, the book wasn’t intended for those who already know how to read), or that the teaching method in the book did not suit their child well. As I mentioned in the introduction, everyone requires a different approach to learning so the book is bound do displease some people, and in this case it is a tiny minority.

All in all, the book left most people satisfied, and if your child doesn’t know how to read yet and you would like to kick-start the process, then I recommend that you give this book a shot.

After looking around, I found that the best place to get the book would be from Amazon, where you can get it at a 43% discount for only $12.57.