Submitted by e-mail: SmartReading & Dyslexia.
Bas’s story (10 years old):

Why we were motivated to follow the SmartReading training:

Our son, Bas, is a 10-year old fantastic little boy. He is in Group 6 of primary school and was diagnosed as having dyslexia. In group 2 the signs were already obvious, but he was too young to be tested. (I’m a trained paramedic and teacher. I was very alert in watching for signs of possible dyslexia due to the heritability from his father’s side).

In group 3 the reading process started off slowly.

In group 4, the school’s counselling service was called in. Bas’s reading abilities where at such a low level, that they started remedial teaching. After 20 weeks of RT by the school, Bas was diagnosed as being dyslectic.
Apart from the reading problems, Bas suffers from stuttering and anxiety. He also has a tendency to do everything very quickly, causing him to make many careless mistakes. All in all, Bas developed a strong aversion to reading. He was very late (around the age of 5) in developing his interest in reading (and thanks to his younger sister who loved to be read to out loud).

Up until the training, he did not read books, only the Donald Duck (a comic). In the course of time, he started reading the lines beneath the pictures little by little, instead of just looking at the pictures themselves. Bas had the most difficulty with the subjects he had to read the most for, like geography, history, biology, etc. On the other hand, he is very good at maths in which he scored high A’s from the start. He realizes that his development is different from that of his classmates and he often feels stupid. He works very quickly, so as not to always be the last to finish. This has its consequences. He is motivated to practice at home and understands the use of it. My sister informed me about the SmartReading Training. A colleague of hers and a psychologist, had her two dyslectic sons follow the training successfully.
My goal was to investigate whether SmartReading could be another reading/learning method for Bas, because I have seen too many adults who have suffered from the effects of dyslexia and I want to safeguard Bas from this.

How Bas experienced the training:

After the first day: firstly, it was such a long day for a very active boy, that I seriously wondered how much he would remember. However, during the course of the day, he became excited when he found out that he could suddenly read three sentences at a time. The next day Bas proved to me that he was able to explain in detail what SmartReading meant. During the intervening two weeks, he, with the normal level of resistance, read 3 books about gorillas using the SmartReading method. He even borrowed a storybook (Chameleon Junior) from the library for the first time ever.

During the 2nd day of the course he could make a pretty comprehensive mind map of the reading material. 2 days after the 2nd day of the course, he came down in the evening at 21.15 beaming: “his book was finished”. He had read 40 pages in a short time. “He did not know that reading could be so much fun, and asked if I had a book for him.”

Parts of the course are applicable in different learning situations at home (think of homework, exam preparation and so on):
Bas is given history and geography summaries to take home. We also use extensive summaries and practice tests via the Internet. We first let him read the questions and then the summary. Then he makes a mind map. Shortly after the training he got a 9 (out of 10) for his geography test. He usually gets a 6, so this was a major success for him. Lately, we have been practicing comprehensive reading on the computer because he had an E-score for his CITO test. He first reads the questions and then the text. He notices that the answers come more easily when he first reads the questions, although it remains difficult for him.
Last week, Bas had to hand in a book review. He used the Chameleon book. He was able to write a good summary, which is something he used to have difficulties with in the past.

The effects we notice to date:

More enthusiasm for reading. We do have to stimulate him constantly otherwise he reverts to reading the Donald Duck.
He seems to have more confidence in reading.

We do have to help him read two books a month using the SmartReading method.
He seems to accept my ‘guidance’ and support. We think this has to do with the fact that we followed the training together.
In the near future, we want to talk to the teacher, partly because Bas scored badly at the CITO test on the ‘speed reading’ and ‘comprehensive reading’. The teacher is very open to the SmartReading principles. From now on, Bas gets to take the geography and history books home to read, so he can create a Mind map before they discuss the chapter in class. The teacher is also looking into whether Bas would be allowed to first read the questions for the ‘comprehensive reading’ part of the CITO test.
Sincerely, Elise

Global Edutainment received this email, from a mother about her dyslectic son who followed the SmartReading training. Global Edutainment has her permission to share this email.