A Network of Users 

There is a network of people currently using the programme’s methods and materials, as well as people who have used the programme’s methods and materials effectively in the past. Some are parents, some are teachers and some are therapists.

Parents normally have a child with a learning or reading difficulty, who have found out about the programme through the internet, or through a person who has used the programme materials, or through a person who works with children, or through a person who does assessments. Many of the people using the materials are based in South Africa. Some are from other countries. This is possible as the materials are electronic, and are sent out by email.

How are assessment and evaluation built into the process of using the ebooks?

The programme is assessment and evidence-based. The initial ebook in the series is chosen based on the child’s one word reading, sentence reading, one word spelling and sequential spelling test scores. The use of the book is then workshopped with the parent and the child, by a person who is familiar with the methodology and the content of the series. This process can be undertaken through the internet, but is usually best conducted by someone with whom one can interact face to face.

Parents report that the methods used to work with their children are easy to learn. The evaluation procedures are also easy to use, as they are designed to record observable differences in the child’s reading fluency.

What materials are available?

The materials are phonically regular, large print reading fluency books which are made available electronically. Once the books are printed out and bound, they can then be used for developing reading fluency, as well as for teaching the child how to read and spell.

Detailed tutorial letters and manuals as well as workshops are available to support implementation of the  programme. There are also activity books which accompany a number of the reading fluency books at foundation levels in the programme. These have been designed for children who start in the programme as non-readers, and have been used successfully with children who have not learned to read using other methods.

What does this mean in practice?

The child is placed on an methods and materials as part of an individual learning plan (ILP) which is developed  based on assessment. The child’s progress is then evaluated by the parent, as well as by others who are working with the child, or teaching the child.

Based on the evaluation, successive ebooks are then chosen and either downloaded from the publisher’s webstie or sent to the parent by email. This is done with the aim of enabling parents, therapists and teachers to get materials at a level appropriate to improving the child’s reading ability. What this means is that the aim of the programme is for children with reading difficulties can be identified early and then placed on low cost, phonically based, large print reading materials which are either delivered by email or downloaded from the publisher’s website.

The initial two ebooks in the ILP are used to establish whether the methods and materials work with the child. After completing two  books there are normally observable differences in reading fluency. Once there are  observable differences, the trick is then persistence, as after completing between six and eight books the child is normally a fluent reader.

Once a child reads fluently, there are usually many other benefits in improved reading comprehension as well as more rapid rate of work in the classroom. At this stage, work in writing and spelling fluency is normally commenced. The methods and materials used for this are linked to additional books of materials which are then worked with by the parent and child.

Can schools also use the materials?

Both schools and reading centres are currently using the materials, and report that these are effective. Therapists and teachers are also using the programme’s methods and materials.

For a school or reading centre to use the materials, a low cost model for using the material is worked out with the person working in the school or reading centre, depending on the needs of children, as evidenced by their one word reading, sentence reading, phonemic and phonic skills, as well as their individual word spelling and sequential spelling needs.

How is access to the materials arranged?

This is done personally. Our aim as a programme is to get children right, at low cost to parents as well as low cost to others working with the children. The first step is to make contact with me by email at pottercs@gmail.com  The  second step is to to work with me or join a workshop so you can try out the materials, and see if they work for you.