Intervention Programs

At the beginning of November, we began a 60-day trial using ReadLive with small groups of students in Grades 6, 7, and 8 whom we identified to be reading two or more grades below their current grade level. We are so thrilled with the progress demonstrated by these students and their increased confidence and engagement with reading that we are now subscribers to the program. We appreciate the individualized nature of the program because it allows each student to work at his/her own reading level. The focus on non-fiction selections provides a wealth of fascinating topics that engage students with a variety of interests. We also find that our middle years students don't question the maturity level of the selections they are reading because they are non-fiction. We have readers at very early stages of their reading development, and it is essential for their engagement that they don't see themselves as reading "baby" books. The required practices that students must do to pass a selection are so important for them to build fluency and confidence. When they meet their reading goals (words correct per minute), they are thrilled. These are students who have not experienced a lot of success in the regular classroom, and they are blossoming as they get to taste success. The program focuses on accuracy, fluency, the development of vocabulary, and comprehension skills... everything that these students need. We are currently looking at ways that we can incorporate ReadLive with more of our middle years students because we can see the potential in this program and the benefit it can have for a much wider range of students.

As a teacher I have seen amazing progress in my classroom with my below grade level readers. The stories are appropriate and inviting and encourages the reading of Non-Fiction.

As a parent I have implemented the free trial with my eighth grader who is not motivated to "read for information" as our standardize tests require. I have seen tremendous improvement on her concentration and her ability to recall the story.

Overall an exciting program that kids seem to love.

Christine Thornton, ESE teacher, Tallahassee, Florida

Read Naturally has been an amazing life changing program. When my son was finishing second grade he was still a struggling reader despite our work with him at home and excellent teachers at school. He was a choppy reader that took a long time to finish a book. He could comprehend books read to him at a high level, we know the potential was there. My brother who taught in Minneapolis shared the Read Naturally program with me and I used it with Kevin for about 3-4 months over that summer and into third grade. He got over the hump and became a reader! He turned into a kid that walked around on the playground and read the Magic Tree House books during third grade! Our son was diagnosed with dyslexia around this same time, but the Read Naturally program helped him become a reader. He is now a successful college student!

Currently the school I teach at is adopting Read Live as an intervention for struggling readers in middle and high school. We're on our third week of using the program and many of the students are starting to show improvements already! The stories are engaging; students have an opportunity to build vocabulary and comprehension while becoming fluent readers.

I was first introduced to Read Naturally via the CDs when I ran a free community-wide after school homework program over 10 years ago. I found it worked well. Later when I began homeschooling my 11 year old niece I used Read Naturally as her reading program. She had great fluency but absolutely no comprehension. I was able to get her to grade level in about 1.5 years (she did one story a day five days a week and all 24 stories in a level). She started at Level 3.5 and was at grade level when she completed Level 5.6.

I am now working as basically the Resource Teacher in a small private school and switched from the CDs to Read Live two years ago. I have students with little to no fluency and/or comprehension. By using Read Live these students have progressed from 1.5 to 3 grade levels in a single school year. I prefer that they do a story at least three times a week and I have students who request more opportunities to read. With the increased ability to read, some of the students with behavioral issues have had a significant reduction in incidents. Most of the students are able to progress to the next level after only 12 stories. I have a small form that the students take back to class (with a second copy to go home) so the classroom teacher can see the title of the story and the cold/practice/hot read timings. The students particularly enjoy this aspect and are very proud of their daily work.

In working with the students, I have found it very useful that I am able to move students between the Phonics and Sequenced formats and to select stories based on the phonemic components. One student did very well in the sequenced series initially but once she started seeing words with long vowels and vowel digraphs she needed to move to the phonics series.

Although the program is geared to school age students, the stories are also very appropriate to adult learners.

Our school district recently moved from the CD version of Read Naturally to Read Naturally Live. We instantly noticed an increase in student engagement, accountability, and productivity. The students are asking their teachers when they get to leave the class to work on Read Naturally Live, they love it and so do we!