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Toe by Toe: A Highly Structured Multi-sensory Reading Manual for Teachers and Parents by: Keda Cowling, Harry Cowling

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Publisher: Toe by Toe
Release date: 30th November, 1993
Media: Paperback

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Rating: - Use In School

Fantastic book. Went on a course from the school I work in about 4 years ago, on how to use toe by toe and stairway to spelling. Very easy once you get in to it. I use the programme in school for children with dyslexic tendencies, and generally for children struggling with reading. We use it throughout school, and its great for parents to use at home. The best thing is, the children seem to enjoy it too.

Rating: - There is no substitute

Our daughter had severe difficulties at school. When she was in "special needs", she learnt nothing, when she was in mainstream she was easy meat for the bullies. While we were fighting this, we believed what the teachers said ("English - good, arithmetic poor" and so on). When we asked "What can we do at home to help?" the answer always sounded like "well, not a lot. You can trust us to do the very best for her. But, you understand it is difficult" "Are you sure we can do nothing?" "No, really, don't worry"
This went on for years.

One day, about the age of ten (! yes, I had to check it, too, but we signed the book and dated it, so it must be right), she came home so pleased with herself. "We learned lots of new words today". So I asked "What were they?" Answer - "Elephant, Underground, Umbrella". "Hey that's really good. Show me". So she did, and she could read all the look and say cards for that day. Which would have been the end of it, except one of them was upside down. That seemed a bit too good to me. So I changed some more around. She could read all of them them upside down and sideways. At this, I became very suspicious. She could even read the three long words in a mirror. Well, I can only read upside down because of long experience negotiating across a desk with colleagues, and I can't do mirrors much myself, so that was really strange.

So I wrote down "Ground" and asked her to read it. Complete blank. OK. How about "ground" (small 'g'). Still blank. How about "Under" Still blank. So I said to my wife "This doesn't make sense" and we went through it all from the beginning. She could read "mat" (with great difficulty) and "cat" and "dog" with ease but "The cat sat on the mat" took minutes to puzzle out. "Janet and John" was simply impossible for her. So we all became very unhappy (my wife became angry "What on earth have they been teaching?")
But, cut it how you like, for all practical purposes, she had a reading age of 5 (not 6).
At that point, secondary education looked like being a bad joke.

So I asked about for advice and eventually a friend of ours recommended "Toe by Toe". Now, it did seem expensive (nearer £30 then, and we did not have so much spare money) and it looked like it would take forever. But there was no alternative, so when it arrived we started right away.

The first two lessons were a trial for both of us - she was embarrassed at being unable to pronounce some single letters and short words. And I had no teaching experience at all. But we thought it would get better. So we carried on. In the third lesson, some of the letters and words had collected the magic "three ticks". I said "Yes, according to the book, you really know these words". She was immediately sold on it, took the book to the kitchen to show mum and said "Look, I really can read all this". At that point we all cried a bit. It seems so small a step now, looking back, but from that point on, her confidence grew day by day, then week by week, then month by month.

Within a year she was reading more or less normally, and her reading ability no longer held her back. She is now studying criminology, but I am absolutety sure that, without that year on "Toe by Toe", she would even now be quite unable to read the word "criminology", let alone the rest of it.

One big advantage of the book is that it is almost impossible to guess at words. So the student really has to read phonetically in english in order to move forward. And the balance of long term and short term memory means that lessons stay stuck (unlike the look and say approaches which so many schools stil cling to). And the comprehensive teachers notes allow almost any reader to act as tutor to any student who cannot read.

If your child has a problem reading - or you want to help at home anyway - then you really should get this book. Just follow the instructions and watch your student's confidence grow. It really is worth the effort. And it can make you cry.

Rating: - Excellent reading tool

I bought this book to to help my partner who is dyslexic and has always struggled with his reading. We are nearly at the end of the book now and not only has his reading improved but also his confidence. I would highly recommend this book to both children and adults.

Rating: - willing to learn

Six months ago my 9 year old dyslexic daughter and I started this manual with a dedicated 15 minutes a day (with an occasional break on weekends and an odd day off during the holidays). Her reading has come on leaps and bounds. Yes, you do have to put in the work and on occasion you will have a blip but we haven't had any tears or the old mantra "its hard", merely a request sometimes to stop before our allocated time slot is up (so as not to go onto a new "chapter" until the next day). From a demoralised child who hated reading and would never pick up a book, I have a child who is making in roads and her confidence is shining. For the first time ever she is attempting to read words on packaging. A recent trip to the library found her browse and select a Horrid Henry book, move to a quiet corner and proceed to read the book to herself - a first. I cannot praise Toe by Toe enough and it was well worth the money spent.

Rating: - a miraculous transformation

My son went into year 2 unable to recognise the letters of the alphabet, never mind read sounds and blends! A very bright and articulate boy he was becoming increasingly demoralised and suffering from very low self esteem. He described himself as 'stupid' and 'rubbish' and claimed he was bottom of his class. When his new teacher took me aside and told me he had failed to write anything in herlesson, I turned to her and said 'he can't read never mind write without assistance' - and he goes to a very highly regarded primary school. He is not dyslexic but is short sighted and as this wasn't picked up until year 1, he had just been left behind.Teachers today are just far too busy to offer the extra help to slower pupils and we had to take the initiative or see our son fall between the cracks of an inadequate state education system.
We bought this book for him and allocate just 20 minutes, 5 days a week when we slowly work through the pages. Each individual word is rewarded with a tick and the child can see instantly how well they have done. Every word is repeated daily until it has been correctly read on 3 consecutive days and the child is then able to move on to the next exercise. Words they have difficulty with are returned to day after day until they have correctly read them for 3 consecutive days.
The results we have achieved are nothing short of miraculous. Within 6 months, he has gone from pre nursery reading level to above the national average for his age, what's more his confidence has risen dramatically he is also now in the top maths group and received an award for the most improved pupil at the end of the year. He moved into year 3 in September on an equal footing to his peers which is a major achievement in such a short time. We cannot praise this book enough nor thank the author for the gift of hope that she offers to all parents of children who are struggling to read. This book should be recommended to all parents when their children start school and made available to every child in school who has reading difficulties.

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