Update: One Minute Reader Live is now included as a component of Read Live. The One Minute Reader iPad App has been discontinued.

To look into the eyes of a young person and see that he or she is struggling is difficult for anyone—but it’s especially difficult for the child’s parents. Students who struggle with reading often feel frustrated, tired, sad, angry, embarrassed, and a whole host of other emotions. The parents of these students often feel many of these same things. Many want to help their children but don’t know where to start. “What if I don’t have a background in education?” “What if I don’t have enough hours in my day?” “I know nothing about literacy instruction—what if my efforts to help end up confusing the child even more?” “There are so many programs claiming to help struggling readers—how will I choose the best one?” These are just a few of the many questions that can overwhelm a struggling reader’s parents. To these parents, our answer is simply: Let us help.

Read Naturally programs have helped countless struggling readers achieve literacy using a groundbreaking strategy that is highly effective, efficient, and enjoyable. Our research- and evidence-based strategy has been the subject of many reputable research studies that confirm its effectiveness. (An inpouring of teacher and student testimonials confirms it too!) All Read Naturally programs were developed by teachers who have worked with thousands of struggling readers and who have done extensive research into literacy and learning.

These teachers are also parents. From the beginning, the educators on the Read Naturally team have understood that offering home access to high-quality tools that help struggling readers will improve outcomes even more. That’s why we allow students who use Read Naturally Live (our most popular, web-based program) at school to use the program at home during the summer at no cost.

We have also designed programs specifically for use in the home—some of which we offer for free. These easy-to-use programs are available to anyone, even students who do not use Read Naturally programs at school. Students work independently, relieving parents of the pressure to provide instruction.

Our at-home programs include:

  • One Minute Reader
    One Minute Reader utilizes the research-based Read Naturally Strategy to improve fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary. Students use this engaging program independently and are motivated by exciting, short reading passages, instant feedback, cool progress graphs, and more.
     
  • One Minute Reader Books/CDs
    Each One Minute Reader book includes five high-interest stories that are the right length to encourage readers to practice without feeling overwhelmed. Each book also comes with an audio CD featuring recordings of each story at various speeds as well as all glossary words, graphs for progress monitoring, comprehension quizzes that students can correct themselves using a “joke jumble,” fun facts about the topics, and more. One Minute Reader books are written at different reading levels so readers can find the level that fits their ability.
     
  • Splat-o-Nym Vocabulary iPad App
    Vocabulary acquisition is a key component to literacy, and it has never been more fun. Students play a vocabulary word game that includes over 7,000 synonym questions, 1,000 antonym questions, and 600 meaning-from-context questions. A Lightning Round provides an exciting review. Levels 1 through 4 are included in the free version of the app, and you can purchase all 24 levels for just $4.99.
     
  • Word Nerd Card Games
    High-frequency words account for up to 75% of the words students read. Becoming automatic with these words is a critical component of attaining reading fluency. The Word Nerd games—inspired by old favorites like Crazy Eights and Go Fish—can be used anywhere to help students develop automaticity with high-frequency words. The words on the cards are printed in the OpenDyslexic font, a special font designed to increase readability and reduce letter confusion for readers with dyslexia. (Note: Word Nerds Card Games are no longer available from Read Naturally.).

Parents have also implemented our highly successful subscription-based program, Read Naturally Live, at home. This program is typically used in schools. Students work mostly independently, but teacher support is crucial. 

Seeing your child struggle is hard enough; not knowing how to help makes it so much worse. The good news is that parents of struggling readers can help their children, and they don’t need to be experts in literacy instruction to do so. Just get in touch with us here at Read Naturally, and we’ll go from there.