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

This book is a God send! An answer to prayer. Had many sleepless nights worrying, that my son would never read. I’ve worked through this book twice with my severely dyslexic son. The first time he was 8 or 9 and could only get through about half of it and then we were both crying at the end of each lesson so I tossed it and thought it didn’t work. He’s now 11 and has progressed beautifully and is consistently reading! He’s happy. Im happy. I promise it will work if you are consistent and your child is developmentally ready. It is so easy to implement and unbelievably straight forward. Only 35 dollars. All the other resources and programs for dyslexia are hundreds or thousands of dollars. If you are on a budget, definitely try this. Its amazing!!!

I started working with my child to teach letters and phonics around 4 yeras old. Once she knew her letters pretty well, I moved on to another book that advertises your child will be reading in 100 easy lessons. It simply lead to frustration for both of us. I moved on to a method that says there are no tears. (There were lots.) A method that is supposed to crack the reading code? Decoding is difficult for my child. (At this point, we started seeking evaluation for neurodivergence.) A tested multisensory approach that alligns with Barton? Nope. Orton Gillingham? Nope. Finally when she was 7.5, I came across a random recommendation for a book called Toe by Toe. What a weird name! But then I read about it some more and checked some reviews. Nothing else was working, so I figured it was worth a shot. This worked. It helped her learn basic phonemes, how and when they are used, how to separate syllables, and how to hear the word in her head before saying it. Toe by Toe was a game changer for us. At nine, she is reading independently for schooling, but also for fun.

I am homeschooling mom of four kids ranging in age from 6-12 years old. If there is one thing that I have learned, it is that every kid really is different and what may work for one child in learning to read may not work for another. I used The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading with my oldest child and it worked beautifully. My second child has hyperlexia and he taught himself to read (albeit with very little comprehension). Then along came my third child. My third child learned his alphabet well enough and so I tried, when the time was right, to teach him to read using The Ordinary Parents Guide. That didn't work hardly at all so I switched to All About Reading. That seemed to work until we got to consonant blends. Not only was he not able to read blends, he didn't seem to be able to even hear them. I tried to supplement with Explode the Code, both workbook and online. It has worked a little but not much past book three. I should add that he is a third grader with the reading level of a first grader based on standardized tests. I forget how I found out about Toe by Toe, but I am so thankful that I did. (I was probably looking up resources for dyslexia. It is not an official diagnosis but he has a lot of the markers). My son is actually able to sound out blends now. He is truly making progress. I have hope. I am stunned when I sit down with him and he is able to read through column after column of words. It is amazing to me that once he has read a word correct three times in a row (at least 24 hours between each try) it is in his long term memory. If you have a child with dyslexia or one that has trouble with blends, or just a struggling reader in general, I encourage you to try Toe by Toe. It has worked for my son when many other great reading curriculums didn't.

I am a mom of 3 kids, my 1st is Dyslexic, 2nd was a late reader and 3rd an early reader. I found this book when my oldest child was diagnosed with Dyslexia. I did a lot of research about a lot of costly methods, like orton gillingham, and found them to be not as effective as this little book. When I first sat down with her to do the book she tossed it across the room, when we finished the book a full year later, she could read on her own the most complex words, she will always struggle however because of this book she can decipher anything any text book can throw at her. My 2nd child was just a slow to start reader, 20 min a day and she was ahead of her class by the end of 1st grade. My 3rd just watched and listened me work with my 2nd and picked up reading on her own (three years younger). The price cant be beat, and 20 min a day this will give your child huge boost in their reading.

Very clear structure and easy to follow. I am confused however, why it's called a 'multisensory' program, no information about 'multisensory' strategies as such (besides writing and saying words/sounds). However, it will come in very useful and I look forward to using the program.

You need to be patient and work every day but ... it Woks!

We are half way through the book, but I wanted to write a review here and update again when we have finished. So far, we have committed to doing 20 minutes or more (there has been the odd day we have done 15) every single day. Weekdays, weekend, event on, going off to a sleep over - whatever it is, we do Toe by Toe every. single day. My twins are almost 12 and I did they Toe By Toe reading age test (I found this test you can do before and after you start through the facebook group, and then emailed Frank Cowling who kindly replied and sent the test document to print) my boys are at reading age 6.5 and 7 years old. We have a long way to go. I am very hopeful Toe by Toe will work for us, and can not wait to see how they test at the end of the book, I also plan to continue on with Stride ahead, once we have finished. What we have noticed so far, half way through. - No longer 'b' and 'd' reversal (or at least very very little) - self confidence and determination "I just read this word" points to 'consume' and 'content' and 'sympathetic' - Confidence to read things around them in the real world than ask others to read for them, more of a 'have a go' attitude - A feeling of accomplishment through strategic systems placed in the book, such as a rubber banned on what has been completed, and having the child draw a line across the page when it is done and saying "you never have to do that page again" they can see their progress. - wanting me to take a photo of a page they have read without any mistake and send it to their school teacher, feeling proud of themselves and seeing themselves as someone who can read. I will note, I do read over the 'coach' box before I do the lesson with them, and I watch the 'how to' guides on youtube as I am a parent and have no teaching skill what so ever, and we have always struggled with homework, but with the Youtube 'how to's' and the facebook group it helped and now I understand and feel confident. I also had my sons watch a video on the Youtube Toe by Toe account of a young boy describing his experience with the book, so my children did not feel alone when beginning and seeing the success of someone else before them. What else: So for my gamer boys, we have incentives/bribes they are Fortnite players and they get the battle bass bought for them on their nintendos (every 10 weeks) if they commit each night, it has become such a routine each day, and they want to be able to read so badly, that they do it without fuss. If I see them becoming a bit flat and bored as it is very dry, I write a little treat a few pages away and they know it's coming - for example at the half way mark a treat is written, and later in the book a treat for myself with them, I have written on one of the pages we are going out to our favourite place for dinner, so they are looking forward to completing lessons to get to that reward. It helps them to commit every single day. I will update once we have completed the book, but I read these reviews over and over myself, and if this review helps another parent, I figured I might as well share our experience with others who are facing the same struggles.

My daughter learned alot

This book will be help my child's knowledge grow in English.

Fantastic for my son with a reading disability. He improved drastically and felt really good about his progress! Highly recommend.