Product Description

Reveals the phonic program by which preschoolers as young as two begin reading at the Sidney Ledson Institute for Intellectual Advancement. This light-hearted, yet scientifically advanced, method permits parents, schoolteachers and even babysitters to quickly teach children of all ages to read.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25343 in Books
• Published on: 2004-01
• Released on: 2006-07-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 242 pages

About the Author
Born, London, England, 1925. Raised in Toronto's east-end from 1927. Served in the RCAF during WWII as an electronic technician, then attended the Ontario College of Art.

Art Career: A complete description is to be found in A Dictionary of Canadian Artists (1971), by Colin MacDonald. Paintings hung in the Royal Canadian Academy, the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolors, the Canadian National Exhibition, The Royal Society of Portrait Painters (London, England), and the Annual Paris Salon (France). Lectured for the Art Gallery of Ontario. Executed many portraits of prominent Canadians and film stars (in both Hollywood and England) as well as commercial art (advertising, magazine and newspaper illustration).

Music career: Played alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones, clarinet and flute in various dance bands and small combos (1945-1955), dance-work and jazz, in Canada, U.S., and Europe.

Acting: Little Theatre work in Ottawa and private productions working with the then-unknown Rich Little and Dan Aykroyd. Stage hypnotist at military bases in Europe.

Incidental vocations: munitions assembly tech, photographer, sales rep (life insurance, real estate, Encycolpaedia Britannica, Fuller Brush, automobiles, advertising and printing), short-order cook, taxi driver.

Literary career: Wrote five stage plays, a comedy TV series (Back-page Challenge, aired on Ottawa cable-vision: produced, directed and starred), feature articles for the Ottawa Citizen, magazine articles, press releases and promos (as Information Officer for two federal government departments), radio reports (as a CBC freelance broadcaster). Books published before formally entering the field of education: The FUNdamental French Language Program, and Grammar for People Who Hate Grammar (this latter published in both England and Canada).

Educator: Created a phonic reading program employing games to teach my own children, then ages two and three. The quick success of this venture prompted a study of reading technology to learn why similar quick success was difficult in schools. I subsequently wrote Teach Your Child o Read in 60 Days. The book remained in print 23 years and sold an unprecedented 35,000 in Canada plus U.S. sales. A boxed version of the reading program was then produced, requiring me to make several promotional tours across Canada and the U.S.

I then learned of the proven relationship between early literacy and heightened intelligence. So, on completing a study of past intellectual titans, and of manufactured geniuses, and of conclusions reached in the fields of psychometrics and epistemology (which deal with the measurement of intelligence, the conditions that advance or retard it, and establish its limits), I wrote Raising Brighter Children.

Finally, on deciding to provide for others people's children in intellectual advantage I had inadvertently given my own, I established a center in 1980 offering a special program designed to stimulate intellectual growth. Results confirm that in three years (or fewer) of attendance, children's intelligence rises to genius-level (IQ 140-145).

Education was never my chosen field. I began as an amateur. The subject fascinated me and propelled me to begin a study of the mechanics of learning, and to do so without thought for an eventual income or educational stature. I was enthralled by the notion that learning could be speeded or slowed (a spin-off from B.F. Skinner's pioneer work with teaching machines in the late 1950s). This helped me to understand my own aversion to public schooling and my decision to leave school at age 16.

Customer Reviews

Not as user-friendly as I wanted
This book is full of good information, but I was looking for something more in the lesson plan style, rather then just prose. It makes a good compliment to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons by Siegfried Engelmann, which I purchased at the same time and have found very effective with my children. Engelmann's book is more pre-structered, where this book gives more of basic guidelines and turns you loose. Great together, if you're just looking for one, I'd suggest choosing based on which way you feel comfortable teaching.

The best program available! No more sightwords, guessing, and boring repetetive books!!!!
The program presented in this book is better than the others because it is pure phonics. The kids learn to read and then memorize sight words by reading them in context without even realizing it. The backbone of the program is a fun little game that encourages children to practice decoding words. They play the game for tokens, stickers, treats, or privileges. I had to limit it for my kids they liked it so much. The book also encourages puppets as fellow students to add humor. Both of these tactics made the program a blast. I made a list of the 32 sounds to introduce, hung it on the wall and we started playing the game. We added a new sound whenever my child got really confident on the old ones.

How fast does it work?

In three and a half months my 5 year old daughter went from knowing most of the alphabet and sounds to being able to read like a second-grader. She spent an hour a day the first three weeks and about 20 minutes a day thereafter. I never taught her sight words, but she passed all the kindergarten sight words off the first day only struggling on "said" and "been", she had inadvertantly memorized the rest from reading so much.

In three and a half months my just-barely 4 year old son who knew only one letter and no sounds has graduated from level one of the Sidney Ledson program, He can read 120 words easily and has the building blocks for hundreds more if they were presented to him. I think that puts him at late kindergarten or early first grade reading level. He spent about 5 minutes a day about 5 days a week. At this rate, (5 minutes a day) he will be reading on a second grade reading level when he starts kindergarten.

Pros of this method

*Don't have to memorize a single sight word (my kids can't/won't do that).

*Kids never think of learning to read as any more difficult than learning the alphabet song.

*Kids don't develop dislexia (disordered reading), this is one of only two methods I have found that addresses this issue and what to do about it.

*This method helped me spot reading problems that had been invisible with my daughter while she tried whole word method unsuccessfully and tearfully.

*When kids graduate from this program they don't have to read boring repetitive books that insult their intelligence. Repetitive books are whole-word method, my kids can really read and aren't limited to books with 30 or less words.

Cons of this method

*you use treats and candy to get them started, which have to be weaned away eventually (not too hard).

*because it is easy, it is soooo tempting to rush a child through the program too fast, keep telling yourself "easy and fun, don't push too fast"

*the program doesn't have lesson plans. That is because you don't need one, the program is really simple and basic, but some people see this as a negative.

The Fun Is A Bonus
This book was great for its clear directions, great ideas and good advice. I was amazed by the complete acuracy of how the suggested activities would take place. Not only will you learn how to teach phonics, but how to instill the fun of learning. On cue, my three year old responded to the "lessons" with giggles, laughter and begged for more. This book is great for anyone that wants to see the joy and delight of any child as they learn to read. The challenge will be to keeping it to only ten minutes a day.