I have just completed the program "First Steps" you invited me to trial. It has been brilliant for Leah and I have been amazed what she could achieve. The methods you use were ideal for her needs and she succeeded really well.
The girls loved the Steps software I took home last night. Our eldest daughter had to be dragged away from the computer to have dinner and was very proud of her gold and silver medals. She also liked the idea of being able to bring home words from school that see is focusing on and add them to the software. Our younger daughter was watching over her shoulder, and has booked in her turn after school today. It is great when they are so keen to learn.
I did download the steps programme onto our computer last night and couldn't get him off it - he just loves it and was so proud of himself getting some gold awards and then finding the cool games. I think it’s going to be a real winner so can't wait to have the books alongside it.
I am just having the most amazing success with my 14 year old. He read through all the passages in Step one and didn't falter. This is a child who wouldn't read to anyone bar me and now he'll read to anyone. He does have severe learning difficulties but the progress while working with your programme has been fantastic. I can't thank you enough. I'm going to move him on to Step 2 but will do a lot of revision.
My daughter uses your product at school and couldn't wait to use it at home last night. Your product is a fantastic learning tool and it works very effectively.
LOVE the training videos, have learnt alot & given me a ray of hope, just what I needed to hear & see. I'm now more confident about helping my son at home and not intimidated or worried about teaching Jesse the wrong stuff. Your videos have shown me that the support is all their and it will be easy for me to follow & help Jesse and I don't need to be a teacher. Scott & I can give Jesse extra support at home with confidence... :)
I have a nine year old son who is behind where he should be with his reading and spelling. We are trying to do as much as we can with him after school. He has been getting extra help at school as well. A friend of mine's son uses your programme at his school and she was raving about how much his reading etc has improved since uses the Learning Staircase.
I would like to thank you so very much for recommending Steps for Ben. It is a really great program and is much more suited to hs age group. We are really enjoying working through the program. Thank you also for pointing out the optional word lists. They have opened up a whole new side to the program and Ben is enjoying these very much.
I just wanted to say thank you for everything. My daughter has been struggling for years and she had got really negative about her learning. She was refusing to read and saying that she would never be able to read like her friends in class. I had to persuade her to look at Steps. She didn’t want to have anything to do with a ‘reading program’. But now she’s completely different. As soon as she saw the games and found she could do the activities and she started getting medals, she was a different child. Her teacher rang me up and asked what on earth I had done with her! Now her school is using Steps too! Thank you so much!
Just thought that you would like to know about some success I am having with the 14 year old boy at College using your “get out of jail spelling method”. He has learning difficulties in all curriculum areas and a reading age of about 7 years.
In February last year using essential spelling list words lists 2-3. He had a score of 43/80. Yesterday he had a score of 76/80. His self esteem and self confidence has soared. I see him twice weekly and the first thing he asks me is “Please can we do the jail words first?”
Many thanks for introducing me to this method at one of your courses.
We are thrilled with the Learning Steps programme at Maungawhau School. We began the programme part way through term two and reassessed all the students at the end of term. Some students had moved over a year in less than two months. The results are amazing but more importantly the students are loving the programme and enthusiastically attend sessions. When we began running in class groups other students were really keen to be included as it is such a fun and motivating way to learn. In my withdrawal groups students race to get to me first so they don’t miss out on anything. At the moment we are keeping things simple and only using the workbooks and computer software but once we have found our feet we will be keen to include the games also. The programme is very comprehensive and helps to fill the gaps identified in psych reports e.g. memory and processing difficulties without us having to buy a range of different software and specialist services. It is incredibly user friendly and it is easy to closely monitor students’ progress and particular areas of strength and need and to tailor it to meet these specific needs.
I have been a SPELD tutor for around 8 years. In term one of 2011, I was about to start tutoring a dyslexic 7 year old boy whose reading age was well below his chronological age when I was invited to a tutorial given by Ros Lugg the developer of The Learning Staircase. The mother of the boy also went to the tutorial. We were both so impressed with what we heard and saw that we decided that this was the material we should use for his lessons.
Now at the end of the year I can tell you that it has been worth it! The boy is now reading at his chronological age and actually enjoys reading! (He didn't before we started) His sight word knowledge and reading speed have increased dramatically and he now has word attack strategies that he didn't have before. He has stopped his random "pulling words from the sky" approach when confronted with words he doesn't know.
I have found the planning for lessons and the setting of homework for my pupil has been so much easier to do since I have been using the Learning Staircase material. It has saved me so much time. It is the most user friendly and practical course I have come across. I just wish I had found the learning staircase material earlier as my bulging book shelves carrying previously bought, now dusty "dyslexic" teaching resources, would have been less laden and my purse more full!
I strongly recommend using the Learning Staircase material because it is so good! I believe the trained teacher and non trained can both use these resources confidently and effectively with those who have literacy difficulties.
I am a registered teacher with more than twenty years experience teaching students to read. I now own an after-school tuition centre, working with a wide range of ages and abilities. I can honestly say that the STEPS program forms the backbone of my literacy teaching. It brings together and refines some of the best literacy teaching and learning strategies that I have encountered during my time in the classroom and at university undertaking professional development. The technical support provided is outstanding. The program is challenging, user- friendly and effective – and kids love it!
Since I began my teaching career, 50 years ago, I have worried about the students who have struggled with the process of learning to read and write. I have embraced all the “new” ideas, done all the training and followed the advice from the experts. Until now, I have still experienced the anguish of feeling that I was failing to “find the key” to help many students.
In my experience as RTLB, the discovery of the Steps programme from the Learning Staircase has been thoroughly exciting. Participating in this programme, students who have been struggling from their beginning days at school, who have had intensive support including reading recovery, have been able to make massive gains in reading, writing and spelling. It is thrilling to see students who have been thoroughly ‘turned off’ reading, become excited and enthusiastic learners.
I am now confident that students with serious literacy learning difficulties can be supported using this innovative and creative programme.
Thank you for the new resource & Teacher's manual books which arrived in the mail just a couple of days ago. Already we have begun using the new supplementary sheets!
The students at our Kip centre (Taupo) are pleased with the new computer games! One of our students has beaten the Steps guy twice! He was so pleased with himself.
Thank you for creating such a great programme. We think it is such an asset to have in our Centre.
Keep up the good work.
I've been working in the area of literacy support for some time now and have been using a mixture of resources, mainly Joy Allcock stuff which is fantastic. However, your Steps to Literacy is so well thought out, thoroughly developed, and easy to use that I have decided to purchase it as well. I like the way it combines dictation, speed reading and proof-reading with phonological and orthographic knowledge, as well as visual discrimination, visual, auditory and working memory. This greatly reduces the work load of combining a number of resources to address these needs.
First of all thanks to STEPS we have a child who has made limited progress for 4 years who is now feeling great about learning getting 1-2 words out of jail a week and getting many silver and gold stars. H e is beginning to speed up his processing and can now read the short stories on lesson 3 book A First steps. This has taken us 8 weeks but we are doing well slowly. The change in attitude is fantastic.
I am using the Step 3 books with successful results with my more able year 8 group. To be honest I thought they might view some of the activities as a little below them but they love it. Because I've been in the game awhile I was getting a little stale with my resources and your stuff has really got me going. Can't wait for the roll out of more stuff, keep me posted!
Thank you so much.
It was very exciting to see the new range of products you are developing! I am very pleased with the way my two youngest students are handling book one of Steps to Literacy. One of these students has a significant developmental delay as well as having quite significant behaviours particular to the autistic spectrum. I think he particularly enjoys the structure and the high success rate of the work.. My other young man is just seven and is a bright kid but failed at Reading Recovery after being very delayed when starting to read. I work with him four days a week for reading and do his SLD work separately (sort of!) Although only just developing fluency when reading he loves the challenge of speed reading and decoding unfamiliar vocabulary. Using word families has been critical to his reading progress.
I have already ordered and received my Steps 2 thanks. As I said, I love it. We have had such success with it, across all learning disabilities, including slow learners. I have had 5 schools come in and have a look at the program and numerous parents have purchased the program for home use. I think actually I should be on commission!
Another comment – it’s fantastic to use a resource that actually works.
We have rooms full of resources which we hardly use, but we use your resources every day.
I have the Kip McGrath Centre on Waiheke Island and have been using your Steps software for the past term.
I am very impressed with it and have had some excellent results; and most importantly the kids love it.
So thank you.
I work with Chris at the Pukekohe Kip McGrath and attended your presentation in Auckland. I am very impressed with your Steps programme. All the children love it (some of them aren't really doing it but like to have a "look" at it when they've finished their work instead of playing a game), The ones who are on it are doing very well. Congratulations to all of you. By the way I find the manuals really useful, manageable and concise.
Just to let you know I have been using the STEPS programme with a little boy at Churton Park School who has APD and is just 6 years old. I showed the teacher how he was going with the balloon short vowel game.
She was amazed at how he was sounding out the words and able to now know which sound he was supposed to find. He can’t do all the activities but does word flash, pick a word and memory which is really good.
I would like to give appreciative feed-back to yourself and David on the Steps programme. We have been using it for the last 7 weeks with a selected group of students - some fully dedicated and some a hybrid of Steps and some Kip work. The results of both groups is exciting and the staff are delighted and the parents are giving very positive feed-back on the progress they are noticing at home, school and even with sport - being able to listen and follow instructions etc.
Today I got the Learning Staircase software installed. 3 kids used it tonight. Wow! One has required an enormous amount of work to motivate – everyone in the building knew he came at 3.30 on Wednesdays and we all psyched ourselves up for it! Lots of hard work. Today he stayed on task, kept saying how much he loved the program and got lots of work done.
Then we had a 5 ¾ yr old whom I’d assessed recently. Someone else was away because they were sick, so when dad dropped his older brother off I asked if the little one would like to stay and we’d see if he could handle the program, and help us learn where it all started. (had to get a cushion!) And he ripped into the lowest level . Just need to find a slot now so both can come at once.
The third has already got a dyslexia label, and we have struggled along with slow progress. He’s already fallen in love with the program.
Thank you Ros!
Since I have been using The Learning Staircase Programme, I have found it to be highly successful. The way it is designed with the books, the resources, games and re-enforced with the software programme makes it not only a very effective literacy programme but it is also very motivational and enjoyable for the child. I have worked with over 70 students (one-on-one) who have learning difficulties and have found it to be a fantastic program that delivers amazing results! It is also encouraging too when the students enjoy it so much that they always ask me when their next session will be. The students have not only improved their spelling, reading, comprehension, writing and much more, but it has also improved their self-esteem and given them a huge confidence boost. I would highly recommend this programme to any parent, teacher, teacher aid, or tutor so you can see the amazing results for yourselves.
We have started using STEPS at our Auckland-based language school with great success. We have noticed immediate improvement in the areas of literacy and vocabulary retention by our Saudi Arabian students. The students are engaged, motivated, challenged and looking for more!
This is a fabulous programme and we at Pukekohe Kip McGrath really enjoy using it and seeing the benefits.
I've been working in the area of literacy support for some time now and have been using a mixture of resources, mainly Joy Allcock stuff which is fantastic. However, your Steps to Literacy is so well thought out, thoroughly developed, and easy to use that I have decided to purchase it as well. I like the way it combines dictation, speed reading and proof-reading with phonological and orthographic knowledge, as well as visual discrimination, visual, auditory and working memory. This greatly reduces the work load of combining a number of resources to address these needs.”
Thank you for your wonderful program. I have always struggled with reading and spent a lot of time hiding my problems. Since I have started using Steps, I have been able to remember words. I used to learn them, but never managed to remember them for long. For the first time in my life, I have read a real newspaper and I don't feel embarrassed at work any more because I can't read forms properly.
My daughter is a university student at Otago University. She is very bright but has always struggled with spelling. She was diagnosed as being dyslexic some years ago and gets help through the University. One of her friends had heard about your program on the radio and suggested that she had a go. Now she puts all of her complicated terminology onto Steps and learns it that way. I think she is also working through one of the courses. She finds it very user-friendly and adaptable. Thank you!
We have started using STEPS at our Auckland-based language school with great success. We have noticed immediate improvement in the areas of literacy and vocabulary retention by our Saudi Arabian students. The students are engaged, motivated, challenged and looking for more!
Email: info@stepsweb.com
