Reading Reflex: The Foolproof Phono-Graphix Method for Teaching Your Child to Read

This is a wonderful book. I bought it two years ago and only recently began to use the methods of teaching reading that are outlined in it. I found it very helpful and students who had very little chance of reading anything are now saying that they can read. I would reccommend it to any parent or teacher who is finding the methods currently in use not to be working. Try it, follow the lesson plans and watch the student grow in confidence. Colette

We have two different versions of this book. We lost one in a move, and I reordered it. It has been a HUGE help with both of our kids learning to read, but especially our son. The different sets of cards we made can be pulled out for short sets of spelling and reading games where ever we are. We do them a lot when we go out to eat, between the time we order and the food actually getting to the table. That's usually about ten-20 minutes, and that's more than enough time to "do" a set of the cards. They have really and truly helped both our kids with reading, and our son, who was over 8 when reading seemed to start clicking with him, really made progress with these. Simple and fun.
You do have to make the cards, but it's really easy, and it doesn't have to be fancy. I keep a set or two in an envelope in my purse to pull out whenever we are waiting for something. Amazing how much time you spend in life waiting. They really help pass the time, and in a way that the kids are learning something they need in the process. And the kids actually enjoy it.
I highly recommend this book. The only improvement I'd make is have it come with laminated cards already made, or if you could buy them already made. If I could purchase those cards already done, with a wipable surface, for a reasonable price, I would've bought those instead of making them myself.

This is an excellent book. I recommend it above any other program for reading instruction.

Unless this book had a major revision in its illustrations from the time I went through training, to use it in my varying exceptionalities classroom, it would not be acceptable to use in a group setting. What happened is that I had a girl who was overweight. The word "fat" was illustrated with a chubby little girl. Of course the boys in the classroom gave the picture a "name", and the girl was mortified. That was not the only picture the students could not identify correctly. Several had British meanings, but not in American use. I quickly shelved the book, along with many other teachers in our school. (It was purchased with school district funds.) The concepts, including the phonics chart - a good one - were some I had already been using, by creating my own materials. So I am not opposed to the entire book, only some of the illustrations used.

We're not doing all the exercises, because frankly I didn't want to cut up the book, or go to the trouble of scanning and cutting all the cards. That was a little too time consuming for the amount of time my daughter took to complete the activities. HOWEVER, reading this book DID make me do quite a bit of thinking about exactly what troubles my daughter was having. We are doing the Hooked on Phonics system, but if that doesn't cover all the bases, I will come up with some additional activities to get the phonemic "pictures" that she needs, and I will probably turn to this book as a resource in doing so.

By the way, I figured out that my daughter's BIGGEST problem was that she would look at a couple of letters and guess the word. This was pretty much what came of our school's method of "looking at the pictures for clues" and memorizing entire words. So I am having to break a bad habit!