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

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.

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 waited for several years before jumping in and assisting my daughter with reading at home in addition to the support she receives at school. In the meantime, I researched several different options and everything seemed too cumbersome and difficult to employ on a daily basis with our busy, inconsistent after school schedules. British friends of ours recommended Toe By Toe while we were living overseas and it sounded just awful; the exercises and "ticking" system sounded almost offensive and certainly something my daughter would never buy into. I finally decided to go ahead with Toe by Toe this past February (2018) after my daughter was receiving inadequate support in her fifth grade classroom. We are now four months into the program and I am so very grateful for the structure and consistency it provides. Not only am I seeing dramatic improvement in my daughter's decoding/word attack skills, I'm able to recognize patterns and isolate specific skills that need improvement. I'm so impressed with this program that so adeptly weeds out the gimmicks and games inherent in most of the other reading support programs and utilizes our students' time so efficiently. My daughter cried and threw fits for the first month, which were often driven by feeling "stupid" when she would miss the more elementary skills. I recommend standing firm and sticking to 10-20 minutes per day. Your student will come around when they understand that Toe by Toe is not negotiable and realize that the time spent each day is short and worthwhile. I've even used the Toe by Toe method to create a multiplication facts exercise that has helped my daughter fill in her math facts gaps within a month. Toe by Toe is a game changer.

My daughter is dyslexic and was not diagnosed until the 5th grade, at which time she tested at 3rd grade, one month reading level. Someone recommended an online program that was $300 which she did independently. She resisted it so much that it began to be a problem, but she did get to 4th grade reading before it fell apart and I stopped fighting her about continuing - we moved to a new state and middle school became a nightmare so there was no time or energy to work on a program that she detested. This summer I stumbled upon Toe by Toe (after making the decision to invest in an extremely expensive special school this year), and made the investment of the equivalent of one restaurant meal for two. We started working 10 - 15 min a night and the results were amazing. She started out over 2 years behind and jumped 10 months in less than 20 sessions. She has been reading 4th grade level books since the 4th grade and now she is reading adult level books. Her fluency is exponentially better, she attacks words without fear now, and she remembers rules that the other program taught her that she never really learned, like the silent e that I honestly never thought she would get. I haven't tested her again - we are working very slowly due to school and after school activities, but she has still been progressing along. The biggest difference between TBT and the other is that I can gauge exactly where the problem is because I can SEE what the struggles are because I am doing the guiding, and that makes all the difference. If you follow the procedures, it sticks. We got sidelined for a month because of sickness, etc, and I backed up many pages to review, and quickly stopped that because even though it had been a month before she breezed through everything that I was reviewing. If I had known about Toe by Toe in kindergarten (and more importantly, known what the problem was that early), I would not be spending $15K on private school - she would never have gotten so far behind and developed such anxiety. If you have a child, no matter the age, that does not read fluently and struggles with phonics and sounding out unknown words, buy this book and then do it. Then join the Facebook group for the support. You will not regret it. Your child really can learn how to read at grade level with this program. And you don't need an expensive OG tutor to make it happen (because you know your school can not do it either). This book should really cost substantially more than they are charging - there really is no amount of money that most wouldn't spend to get their kid up to their peer's level!

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.

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 spent the summer using this book with my 6 year old. He went from a below-average reader to an above-average reader with just 15 minutes a day. For the price, it is unmatchable! Nothing is perfect, so here are some additional comments: First, it is very boring for a young child; there is no visual interest. Second, the "three tick" rule is frustrating to a youngster. While I understand why these features exist, I want to prepare parents with a reluctant learner. (I spent more time coaxing my son do his 15 minutes than the 15 minutes lasted!) Third, the spelling is British and the explanations are, too. If you are an American, you will need to skip over a handful of words that are spelled differently in the US, and you may need to spend a bit more time deciphering a few of the instructions. All in all, though, this is a minor inconvenience. Bottom line: If you have a youngster who is struggling to learn to read, you may want to consider this tool. There are better (meaning: more complete) ones, but they cost (literally) thousands more (Barton, for example).

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.

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.