Great Leaps is the greatest reading program I have ever seen anywhere. In February of 2000 my youngest stepson came to live with his father and me. He had never attended formal school, having been home schooled when parents were married, and his mother made sure she kept up with his studies. However from age 9 years to age 14 years of age after his parents divorced he had very little schooling. By the time he came to live with us it was discovered his reading level was less than 3rd grade level.
I did my research and discovered the Great Leaps reading program and ordered the Adult reading program for him. Within two months our son was reading at college level. His motivation that summer was to be able to read Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, and when we finished Great Leaps, he went on to read the complete series. Today he is capable of reading technical manuals as well as pleasure reading. He is now 29 years old, enjoys reading, works as a linemen and has a wife and two lovely little children.
Lisa B.
Parent
Plano, Texas
I have been using Great Leaps Grade 3-5 with my grandson, who is in grade 4. He has a diagnosed learning disability and ADHD, and was a full two years behind in reading. When we started the program, he was reading about 70 correct words per minute, and could not read grade level material independently. After five months at five times per week, we are finishing the program. He has doubled his reading speed and comprehension, regularly achieving 140 correct words per minute on grade 5 level material, while also answering the comprehension questions correctly. I am so pleased with the program.
Although I am a special education teacher, I could not have achieved this success without Great Leaps. It's easy to use, all laid out, just add your time and effort.
Thank you for creating this program, and helping me help my grandson to make his "great leap".
Susan H.
Vancouver, Canada
We've been using the program for 2-3 months now & what we've witnessed with my son has been close to miraculous. His reading has taken off! I've recommended this program to many of my home-schooling friends, in real life and online. At least one of them has purchased the program. My initial contact with your company was a phone call to Ken. He spent an hour speaking with me and answered all my questions. That gave me a very positive impression.
Brenda Peter
Home Schooling Mom
The Yale University Dyslexia Program referred our son to Great Leaps when he was in the 2nd grade, 5 years ago. We worked on the program with him for a full year. He's now a straight A honor student, and found out just today that he achieved a perfect reading score on the FCAT examination, Florida's standardized test.
Neil Berliner, M.D.
Florida
When my daughter discovered that her subscription expired, she was shocked & dismayed. She grabbed a book, made me set a timer, and after her read she wanted me to write her a list of words and phrases. It amazed me how she’d gone from being convinced to include fluency work in her day to insisting on it!
Alicia Roberts Franks
Parent
Tumwater, WA
Dear Great Leaps,
I just wanted to share our experience and we are only 3 weeks in. I have a sweet, active 8 year old, little girl who struggles with comprehension. In my head, we just needed to read more and ask more questions. (This just frustrated her and me.) I had no idea there was more to comprehension than that. One of the many things that was identified which affected her comprehension was that she was not self-correcting when she read. I never picked up on that and didn’t realize that was playing a huge part in her lack
of comprehension. After just 3 weeks with Great Leaps she is self-correcting herself when she reads. This seems like such a small thing but when I stop and think about how it will help in her with comprehension, I am so excited for her. She loves doing Great Leaps. Neither one of us are frustrated at the end and I am seeing incredible growth already!
Jessica Howell
Parent
Florida
Dear Great Leaps Community,
I wrote an update about 4 weeks ago and just have to write another one! My 8 year old has been doing Great Leaps for 7 weeks now. We started at the end of the school year, had lots of family in town and went on a month long vacation as a family. Through all of that it has been so easy and fun to continue Great Leaps. It’s even more fun because of the results I am seeing in Elsie. At 3 weeks I was seeing her self correct. I was ecstatic! At 7 weeks I am seeing her finally pause at periods which allows her to actually make sense of what she is reading. We’ve also seen her begin to tell stories and they have a beginning, middle and end. Before she started Great Leaps I just thought “she’s not
a story teller. She doesn’t like to talk about her day. She’d just rather be playing than talking to me.” I honestly didn’t think too much about it and then this summer she is telling me what happened on a hike with her dad. She told me the entire process of how she made a keychain with her Grammy. Before when I would ask her a question about what she did or how she did something her response usually was, “I don’t know!” as she jumps up to go play. I don’t know if Great Leaps has just given her the confidence to say what she wants to say or if what she is learning about reading and comprehending, has given her the ability to recall and want to tell us about the things she is doing. Either way, I am so thankful for Great Leaps and the difference it is making in my little girl’s life!
Jessica Howell
Parent
Florida
Hi Lisa,
Just checking in to let you know (as you probably do) that my son has increased his fluency in the past 7 weeks by an unbelievable amount. Today
he read at 107 WPM! And the story he was only reading for the second time
and single word list for the FIRST TIME!!! We religiously do GL, every day for 10 minutes, and I don't know what the magic sauce is, but thank you for the encouragement to get started. He's so proud of himself.
April B.
Parent
California