Is this what you see when it's time to read?

It doesn't have to be.

Find out what your child needs with a free 20-minute phonemic awareness assessment.

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Is reading a nightly battle?

Does the mere mention of reading makes your child mad or frustrated?
Does she seem anxious or sad when it's time for school?
Is homework is a nightly battle?
Does it take hours instead of minutes to complete assignments?

Do you think that if you were a more patient person, your child wouldn't be struggling?

What if your child were missing a foundational skill that is under-taught in almost every classroom and curriculum?

See How It Works

What is Phonemic Awareness?

Phonemic Awareness (or “PA”) is the ability to identify, separate and blend individual speech sounds (known as “phonemes”) within spoken (not written) words. If you can't hear and isolate the sounds in spoken words, how are you supposed to connect them to the letters that represent* those words?

PA is the skill most commonly overlooked in early literacy, because it doesn’t look like “reading." It’s not about books, spelling, sight words, or even letters... it's about sound.

While most reading programs emphasize recognizing the first sounds in letters, it's the ability to ability to separate all the sounds in a word that is the foundation to fluent, automatic reading. It's not necessarily hard, but it's definitely all "natural." And it is the foundational skill that is underdeveloped in the dyslexic brain.

Fortunately, it is totally learnable!

*if that connection was never made, you might think that written English is totally illogical and random, and think you have to memorize everything. Can you imagine how exhausting that would be?

Scarborough's Reading Rope

Scarborough's Reading Rope is the conceptual framework behind what’s known as The Simple View of Reading, which informs what's often commonly referred to as “The Science of Reading" — a body of research built over more than 30 years, and strengthened by increasingly sophisticated brain-imaging evidence.

The key idea is, (appropriately) simple:

Take the free phonemic awareness assessment

Two very different ways to teach reading

Structured Literacy

ExplicitSkills are taught directly
Systematic & CumulativeThe alphabetic code is taught intentionally as a coordinated system
MultisensoryIntentionally links handwriting, pronunciation, and phonology
Diagnostic/FlexibleInstruction is based on the learner's mastery, not on a prescribed curriculum

VS.

Traditional Reading Instruction

ImplicitSkills are expected to be inferred
Incidental/non-sequentialThe alphabetic code is introduced as it appears in reading materials, not in a cumulative sequence
Print-focusedEmphasizes whole-word recognition over handwriting and sound–symbol understanding
Curriculum drivenInstruction follows a scripted program, moving on even when gaps remain

The Active Reader Difference

📖

Structured Literacy (aka "Orton Gillingham")

A research-backed approach endorsed by the IDA, Center for Effective Reading Instruction, and ALTA builds reading from the ground up, step by step.

Gold standard for literacy instruction

🤝

Expert Instruction + Human Connection

Dyslexic kids need different help. Students learn the skills the dyslexic brain struggles to develop on its own, taught by a real human who knows them, and who makes sure they're alert and engaged.

Passive learning doesn't work.

Designed from the ground up to be delivered online.

🎮

Hand-picked Video Games

Customized for your child. Games that reinforce the specific skills that need to be developed in your child.

These are skills that are overlooked in almost all literacy programs.

Hear From Families Like Yours...

Hi! I'm Kate.

I’m The Active Reader.

I like big words, small dogs (well, my small dog), and punctuation.

I’ve been teaching reading for over twenty-five years, to

students of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds. I’m a certified Structured Literacy Dyslexia Therapist, trained

through IDA-accredited programs including Lexercise, Lindamood-Bell, Words in Color, and F.A.S.T. Phonics.

After graduating from Smith College and spending some years writing screenplays, waiting tables, touring with a pop band, and generally being convinced I was going to “change the world,” I found myself teaching English in a failing middle school in Compton. To my surprise, I discovered that while I could talk about books, stories, and word origins 'til the cows came home, what I couldn’t do was teach a classroom full of kids how to actually read when they were already behind.

I get how hard it is to be a classroom teacher.

Later, I worked for a small company that (incredibly) taught four-year-olds to read using systematic, incremental instruction. Although four years old is arguably too young for reading instruction, that experience did teach me that the signs of dyslexia can be discerned very early— even before preschool, and that has made me passionate about effective screening and early intervention.

I’m also a certified yoga instructor, and while I’m a terrible meditator, I’m an excellent breather. I've used that training to help my students manage their anxiety, settle down, and perk up. (I have yet to find anything more energizing than doing a headstand, and believe it or not, I often do them with my student, even over Zoom.)

Someday, I want to start a middle school where all academic content is taught through the science and business of food and cooking.

But for now, I just want to teach kids how to read.

As many as possible.

"When you're reading fast and you're understanding, it's like you're flying."

Sam, aged 10

The research is clear:

40–50%of readers require code-based, explicit instruction to become proficient.
10–15%need explicit, systematic instruction with many repetitions.
This is the profile of a dyslexic reader: not only do they need skilled instruction, they need more of it.
One of the key deficits dyslexic readers struggle with is weak phonemic awareness.

Take the free phonemic awareness assessment

More Testimonials

With the Active Reader, your child will gain a full grade level in 12 weeks — guaranteed.

Relationship + Deliberate Practice = Lasting Results

1Relationship

Weekly one-on-one live sessions
Opportunities to meet other students
Parent office hours

2Practice

Custom video games are sequenced intentionally to build understanding layer by layer, building the pattern recognition needed for fluent, automatic reading.

Leaderboards keep things interesting while repetition and variety work together to make reading easier.

3Results

Struggling readers fall further and further behind because they don't even want to look at text, in or out of the classroom.

Active Readers naturally engage with the text that's all around.

Learning becomes self-reinforcing as skill and confidence grows.

Dyslexia Doesn't Fix Itself

Without the right support, difficulties can compound over time, undermining confidence and self-image

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Insufficient school support

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Reading difficulties intensify over time

💔

Emotional and psychological consequences

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It's not too late!

Wherever your child is right now, there's still time to help.

Start catching up now

Kim's Story

This is conversation I had with parent (who happens to be an attorney) talking about how she learned dyslexia was at the root of her son's behavior struggles. I asked to record it because I knew how much other parents would appreciate hearing her story.

Hi! I'm Kate.

I’m The Active Reader.

I like big words, small dogs (well, my small dog), and punctuation.

I’ve been teaching reading for over twenty-five years, to

students of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds. I’m a certified Structured Literacy Dyslexia Therapist, trained

through IDA-accredited programs including Lexercise, Lindamood-Bell, Words in Color, and F.A.S.T. Phonics.

After graduating from Smith College and spending some years writing screenplays, waiting tables, touring with a pop band, and generally being convinced I was going to “change the world,” I found myself teaching English in a failing middle school in Compton. To my surprise, I discovered that while I could talk about books, stories, and word origins 'til the cows came home, what I couldn’t do was teach a classroom full of kids how to actually read when they were already behind.

I get how hard it is to be a classroom teacher.

Someday, I want to start a middle school where all academic content is taught through the science and business of food and cooking.

But for now, I just want to teach kids how to read.

As many as possible.

The Active Reader Difference

Structured
Literacy
(aka "Orton Gillingham")

A research-backed approach endorsed by the IDA, Center for Effective Reading Instruction, and ALTA builds reading from the ground up, step by step.

Gold standard for literacy instruction

Expert Instruction
+
Human Connection
Dyslexic kids need different help

Students learn the skills the dyslexic brain struggles to develop on its own, taught by a real human who knows them, and who makes sure they're aleart and engaged.

Passive learning doesn't work.

Designed from the ground-up to be delivered online.

Hand-picked
Video Games
Customized for your child

Games that reinforce the
specific skills that need to
be developed in your child.