Toe by Toe: Highly Structured Multi-Sensory Reading Manual for Teachers and Parents

by Keda Cowling

Having tried lots of other ways to help my severely dyslexic but very intelligent oldest son, aged 8, I had almost given up. Having four young children my time is limited and so many other systems seemed to ask the impossible - and to blame you as a parent if you were simply unable to provide the sort of help that really only parents of only children can! This system is different. Yes, you do need a few minutes of peace a day, but even I can do that. There is no huge barrier to overcome - it starts with the letters of the alphabet and moves on not step by step but as it says toe by toe. After three weeks on the system my son gained nearly six months in reading age and better still he looked forward to doing his exercises each day. I showed him the end of the book and explained that reading that was where we were going to get to - together, toe-by-toe. He wantes to make it and he can see that he can do it - little by little. Now we are two months in - we haven't reassessed his reading age but he read a whole page of Harry Potter to himself recently, just like his friends do. Nine weeks ago he couldn't read the word 'dam' or 'set'. He seems six inches taller almost! This has a lot to do with the fact that the book also implicitly boosts self confidence - there are no huge gaps to fill, and the exercises are each only minutely more advanced than the previous one so there is a good deal of familiar territory mixed in with the new things. I simply have no criticisms for this book. As far as I am concerned this book is IT for dyslexia. Buy it and use it!Ha

Genres: Education, Reference

290 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1993

Reviews

[Just_me · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mind numbingly boring and extremely frustrating but it works. At the beginning of this book my 10 year old severely dyslexic son could barley put two letters together to make a sound, now with a lot of hard work and 3/4 of the way through he is reading paragraphs and dyslexic chapter books.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly excellent and original method to teach those who do not or cannot read to read. I have not had the pleasure of meeting many authors but I have met Keda several times. Her honesty and integrity is overpowering. What an inspiration to the many students this book has helped. If you need to help someone improve their reading ability then look no further than toe by toe.

[Rosa Foster · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential if you need to support a child with dyslexia.

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This had made all the difference in my daughter’s struggle with dyslexia!