Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Awesome testimonial! Thank you!

I recently discovered this posting on the Canadian Down Syndrome Society's Online Community and wanted to share it with you. It was written by a woman who has been using the Out of the Box Reading Program (as you know, after the dissolution of that partnership I re-opened under the name of eReadingPro). I hope you enjoy reading this...

"Hello out there! I purchased the Out of the Box Reading Program in Nov '06 when my daughter was 5. It took me 8 months to get around to writing out the cards and getting them ready for her. Since the first day it has been a complete success!! .... I'm getting twice the mileage out of the program because it is helping both of my children learn to read!!" (click here to read the entire post).

It is by people like this sharing their stories that we can ensure that ALL children learn to read! I encourage any users of our reading program (eReadingPro AND Out of the Box Reading) to share their stories of success with other parents and eductors! Feel free to post them as a 'Reply' to this Blog!

eReadingPro Instructional Guide is now available separately


Another frequent request that we receive (especially at workshops) is whether our Instructional Guide could be purchsed separately.


Now that we have everything changed over from 'Out of the Box Reading' to 'eReadingPro', I wanted to let everyone know that our eReadingPro Instructional Guide is NOW available for purchase separately! The price is $149.95.


Enjoy!

Starter Kit now available!

People have asked us for some time to try and bring the cost of our kit down. Unfortunately, the bulk of the cost is in the printing of the book, images, and of course the materials.


To respond to this, we now have a 'Starter Kit' ($199.95) available for those who want to use the program but have access (and the desire) to cut their own cards. It will mean that you'll have to find your own card stock, cut your cards, organize them, and find a place to store them. However, it does bring the cost of the using the program down.


What I fear happening though is that people will purchase this new Starter Kit, save money, and then a delay will happen because they haven't found the right card stock, or haven't had the time to cut the cards. Either that or they will try and make the flash cards smaller to try and cut costs. Remember that the size of these cards is important - they need to be large! Ours are 4" x 20". Remember that any time there is a large delay in executing a plan of any kind, the less likeliness there is for success. It's kind of like a diet - "I'll look at it tomorrow". So IF you plan to use the Starter Kit, please promise yourself that you will get started cutting your flash cards and preparing your program right away!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Upcoming workshop in Salt Lake City, UT

Just wanted to let you all know that we have a workshop coming up in Salt Lake City, Utah on Saturday, February 28th, hosted by the Utah Down Syndrome Foundation. The 3-hour workshop will be held from 9:30am - 12:30pm at Murray High School.

Workshops attendees will learn:

· The importance of teaching a child to read early;
· An understanding of learning styles and learning strategies;
· Reasons why your child may be struggling with reading and how to help;
· How to set up a reading program;
· How to create flashcards and books;
· How to use flashcards effectively;
· How to progress with teaching your child to read single words, couplets, phrases, sentences and books using our program, and why this method is so effective;
· How teaching reading improves speech, language and memory development! (see: Teaching Reading to Teach Talking - Sue Buckley )
· How to teach reading to teens and adults. (see Reading & Writing for Individuals with Down Syndrome )

To register, click here. Hope to see you there!

Out of the Box Reading

I had a phone call a couple of days ago from a woman in Manitoba, Canada (we have a great number of people there using either eReadingPro or Out of the Box Reading program with their child or students). She commented that their school Psychologist had recommended using the Out of the Box Reading program, but that she tried to look it up online (outoftheboxreading.com) but was unable to find it. Therefore, I thought I might try and clarify things...

I was a founding partner of Out of the Box Reading. However, the partnership was dissolved almost a year ago, at which time I created eReadingPro. The actual eReadingPro Complete kit is based on the original Out of the Box Reading kit, with the program and kit content being exactly the same (except for the logo). With eReadingPro, we now offers more options as far as what people can purchase (for example you can purchase eBooks).

If anyone has any further questions, I would be happy to address them! Thank you :-)

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Another Great Read!

It's amazing how much reading can be done while you are sick! I am finally back up and working, but I wanted to mention one more book that I read during the holidays and while I was coughing, sneezing and nose-blowing.

The book is by one of my favorite authors - Bryce Courenay (he also wrote Potato Factory, which is a long time favorite book of mine!). The book is called The Persimmon Tree. It is a beautiful love story of a young man and woman that originates in Java 1942, when the Japanese were beginning an invasion. It is beautiful story that has no gender boundaries - could be equally enjoyed by both men and women, as there is much a soldier's story as their is a love story. It combines evocative surroundings with an engaging story line that will keep you reading all 500+ pages! I hope you enjoy!

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Happy New Year!

Well it seems that I've had quite a reprieve from writing in my Blog. Between preparing for Christmas, becoming engaged, celebrating New Year's Eve, and nursing a horrible cold that has hit almost everyone in the house, a great deal has happened in the past month!

Now that I'm back at it, I wanted to share a special blog with everyone. I came across it while reading another blog: My Life With Gabriel, which is a blog by a mom named Lianne and is about raising a young boy with Down syndrome, and is a lovely read. In Lianne's blog, she mentioned a blog called Daniel Drinker. Dan Drinker is a young man with Down syndrome, and his brother, Will, is documenting different times and experiences in Dan's life. It is truly enlightening! I urge you to pay a visit to the blog!