Testimonials about RLAC

All it takes is courage and commitment to achieve our goal that all children can read; Phonics First™ is the key that is helping us achieve our goal.

You know you're on the right track when teachers are enthusiastically implementing what they have learned in the workshop and reporting terrific results! Firsthand training that includes skillful presentation, feedback and follow-up makes the difference.

Lexia software is used daily to reinforce the teachers’ Phonics First™ instruction with proven results. The combined power of the Phonics First™ instruction with the Lexia software has lead to tremendous gains in the children’s ability to read and decode words and the kids love it!!!

Our students showed remarkable progress and our MEAP state reading scores jumped from 56.2 to 82.5 after only 3 months of Phonics First™ Academic Advantage On-site Tutoring. I would highly recommend it to any [urban] school wishing to make significant gains in student reading ability. No school should be without it!

Since we began using the Phonics First™ model district wide, our state’s standardized test scores improved in all six of our elementary schools and special education numbers have declined. The governor named five of our six elementary schools as state “Golden Apple Award” winners due to the 60+ point increases in the state’s standardized testing program over the past three years. I believe the biggest single reason for our great gains in academic achievement and reading success is the implementation of Phonics First

I again want to thank you for teaching me the Orton-Gillingham method of teaching reading. It has been the best and most useful class I had in grad school!

The Monday I returned from the CEC Convention I immediately started doing core words, which cannot be decoded using "spelling on the arm". I was totally amazed! The kids were so excited to be able to read a story with "was" in it, (after two weeks of struggling), and the word simply spilled out like MAGIC! I also tried this technique with a little girl who has had the word "the" since September and can't retain it. She finally is able to read it by spelling "t-h-e...the" in her little books!!! My colleague thought I was a crazy person with my excitement....so did the kids, but they were just as excited at this new-found skill! I can't thank you enough for allowing me to purchase the notebook at the convention. I will stay in touch and keep you apprised of the successes we have!

My adolescent is dyslexic and Phonics First Orton-Gillingham method is just what she needs to build self-esteem and study skills. Also, the staff accommodates my athlete’s busy, ever-changing schedule.

Since coming to RLAC, my child can read.

I would like to thank you and your Team of tutor's in help my son Scott in his dyslexia and written disorder of expression program which was started back in 2004/05 and turned him around in the aspect of going to school and doing school work. He actually likes to go to school now and enjoys the learning experience, he still struggles with subjects, but we both know it's still a battle and will be for a long time. I writing this note as a thank you note and to pass on the great news of Scott's achievements at the end of his 5 grade year graduation (going to middle school now). He made the Honor Roll the 3rd and 4th semesters and unknown to us was nominated and selected for the Presidential Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement for his remarkable improvement from third grade to fifth grade! Once again thank you and your Team as you also have a part in his Award. Keep up the good work with the other children and know that you do make a difference in their life's!

Since coming to RLAC my son can now read!! Reading is a wonderful gift given to man by the Creator to come to know and take hold of the things of interest to mankind!

I started reading to my child while he was still inside of me. My son is seventeen years old and for seventeen years I have been reading to him and assisting him in reading with very little success. Unless you have a child who can't read or do math very well, then, excuse me if I say it's hard for you to understand the hurt, frustration, confusion, lack of understanding, tears, and emotions I have gone through for seventeen years. You have not heard the remarks from people who blame me, the parent, for my son not reading, or from the professionals (medical and educational) who say he might never be able to read.

To some of us, reading may seem like a small thing, but to me it is a promise to my son for his future. It's not been easy but, never once have I ever thought of giving up on the hope of my son reading one day. Since coming to Rlac, that hope has now become a reality. I now have tears and emotional feelings of joy, because at the age of seventeen, my son is finally starting to learn to read.

We are only at the beginning stages of reading, but I see a fluent reader in the makings. My son is also elated at the fact he can now read and looks forward to getting better at it. To hear my son sound out the words and get them, instead of just looking at the pictures makes one happy SON and one very content MOM.

Since coming to RLAC, my child, quite simply, has learned to read. And with reading, Mitchell has fallen in love with books. He loves going to the bookstore, or even to the magazine section of the grocery store, and simply thumbing through book that he finds interesting. He loves looking at books about movies, and has become quite a little expert at things like the Academy Award winners, directors, certain actors and actresses, and even costume designers. All of this is made possible because he has learned to read at RLAC, and is getting better and better at reading all of the time.

My tutor helped me with reading, spelling and writing. He taught me to read by practicing the three part drill. He helped me to spell by practicing red words. He helped me write by thinking of topic sentences. That’s how my tutor helps me. He is a good friend to work with. I mean it.

Shelley helps me with talking to people; saying my speech sounds correctly; articulation of words, phrases and sentences that make sense; slowing down how fast I talk; using appropriate volume when I talk; measuring my incredible progress and conversation skills. She is super terrific.

My tutor has helped me with many things. I can spell a lot better because I learned tricks for spelling words. I’ve memorized the blends and most of the vowel teams. My out loud reading has improved so much – so has my confidence. I am a lot better at memorizing ways to spell Red words. I like to come to RLAC because Shelley makes learning fun.

My tutor has helped me in many ways. He has helped me with my reading. I have got better at decoding and fluency. He has also helped me with my writing. I have got better at writing paragraphs and brain storming. Finally, he has helped me with my spelling. He has helped me by going through the three part drill, red words, and word chains. These are a few ways my tutor has helped me.

My tutor helped me with reading, spelling, and writing. Before I met Nick, I could not spell at all. I used to not even know how to spell “the” before Nick. I also could not write. I know that my writing looks bad but before Nick I used to not be able to write. My writing used to just look like I held the pen or pencil and just scribbled up and down the paper. He also helped me to read better too. I used to just look at the pictures in the book but because of Nick I can now write this entry form and not have a problem. Those are some of the reasons why my tutor, Nick, helped me.

My tutor, Mary, is special because she laughs and plays lots of games with me. She is patient with me too. She gives me candy every time and it is tasty too. Now I can be an awesome kid too. I make stuff in the sand and the next kid asked her what it is. It’s really fun to come there. I can’t wait until I get a word from RLAC. I’m so happy to be here too. I tell her what happened in my life. Thank you so much RLAC.

Mr. Gary is the first and only person who has really been able to teach me to read. And because of that, he has opened the whole world to me, which really makes him special.