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Summary: This seems to be a great book.
Review: This seems to be a great book. It shows you how to teach your child basic reading facts that DISD didn't. I especially like that it shows you step by step what to do and say. I am not a teacher and that helps a lot. My son and I started very recently and he is willing to work with the program so far. I feel we will make great progress.
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Summary: One of the best choices I've ever made
Review: Using this book, I taught my four year old to read. By the time she was four years and four months old, she was on a second grade reading level. I then used this book to teach my next child to read when she was three and a half. Before her fourth birthday, she too was on a second grade reading level. My children are now 8 and 6, and neither child has suffered any damage from the early reading experience, (despite warnings from well-meaning but misguided relatives!)And they love to read. They even come to me and report when they've had too much television! My children are not geniuses. Rather, this method is easy and fun. It does require a commitment to follow through, though, because it uses an altered orthography that is not extinguished until about lesson 80 or so. It is noteworthy that this method is literature-based and comprehension based, so you needn't worry that your child will only learn to "call words." Rather, this instills an early love for books, and early neurons firing in the language center of the brain! But if your kids will go to public school like mine, only use this if it's your idea of fun. If it's a burden, it's better to wait for the school to teach your kids to read. Also, be prepared for some negativity and criticism from the school staff. But if you can deal with that, have fun! It's extremely gratifying to teach your child to read by this method, and it's very economical too!
UPDATE - I just finished teaching my son using this method. He's exactly 4 years and 3 months, and is now at a second grade reading level. I expected it might be harder for my boy than my girls, but he sailed through it. He was certainly ready, and it was nothing but fun. He adjusted to the removal of the diacritical marks and the altered orthography without batting an eyelash. I do think, after using this method with three children, that success or failure can hinge on the parent's ability to be flexible, "intuit" when help should and should not be supplied, and a general awareness of good teaching methodology. I might go so far as to say that this is a good method for just about any kid, but not for every parent. You could turn off an otherwise ready four year old if you're not careful. Given that, this is a fantastic book, and I'm all the more in awe of how carefully and systematically it was devised to insure success, given that all other conditions are right.
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Summary: Perfect Resource for your Preschooler
Review: At the age of 2 1/2, my daughter had mastered the alphabet and was ready for more. I borrowed a copy of "Teach Your Child to Read" from our local library, and she easily made it through 3/4 of the program. However, once the lessons transitioned to regular printing without the visual clues (around lesson 75), she was unable to complete the lessons. When she turned four, I brought the book out again, and this time she sailed through the program without a problem. She is now 11 years old, and has been an avid and accomplished reader as long as she can remember. I used this program with my younger daughter when she turned four, and she also completed program easily and successfully. Like her older sister, at age 9 she takes great joy in reading.
I highly recommend this program for parents who have preschoolers interested in reading and who want to go beyond the basics of letter names and sounds. Even though the stories have been criticized as silly, my children loved them and looked forward to the stories and accompanying pictures each day. As the parent, I liked the ease of following the scripted program, eliminating guesswork and saving the planning and preparation time involved with other reading programs.
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Summary: solid foundation in reading and comprehension
Review: My 5 year old son is on lesson 73 and reading well. I would recomend this book over any other reading program I have researched or experienced. He reads fluidly and comprehends all that he is reading. He can't sit still long enough for the slow paced phonics worksheets. He just wants the meat of reading then he's off to play in the dirt with his cars. It amazes me at how little repitition is required before a child understands. I think most other programs bore a child into hating reading. I'm very thankful we found this program!!!!!
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Summary: A "Must Have" for Your Book Collection
Review: Previously, I used a more expensive phonics program that did not prove to be as enjoyable as this book. I like the fact that there are no additional materials needed (other than a paper and pencil).This books explains the process of learning to read in an understandable way that produces the desired result, a happy and confident reader! It is wonderful to find a product that delivers what it promises. I recommend this book to any parent who wants the joy of teaching their own child to read.
Rating: 
Summary: it works, but it's not perfect
Review: I wanted to give my otherwise super-bright five-year-old a little boost to his reading/verbal skills, so I borrowed this book from the library before I bought it. I think we were into the 20s before he stopped fighting me about the lessons; but, then he really started to feel confident about his skills, and now he does the lessons (two each week day) enthusiastically and cooperatively. A few things about the book really bother me. Some editorial errors are really glaring in a book that expects you to use it as a script. For instance, sometimes the script doesn't match what the child is looking at. In a later lesson, items were not circled that were supposed to be. So, the adult really needs to be on his/her toes when going through the lessons. A second problem was the pronunciation of certain words. Regional differences (and personal standards, I suppose) could require different pronunciations (a, the, walk, talk). I chose to teach some of these differently to my child. A third problem, in my eyes, was the content of certain stories and the stupidity of some of the questions accompanying the stories. I thought some of the questions were insulting to the intelligence of the child. I guess you have to decide for yourself when/how much you want to stray from the program. Despite these concerns, I have to admit that the program does work (we just completed lesson 73 and I don't think there's much he can't read now). I have tried other books (like, Wow! I'm Reading!), which really aren't substantive and don't give such quick and significant results.
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Summary: Get this book!
Review: Although the title could be improved, this book has been a godsend for me. It is a bit imposing at first (the parental instruction part), but if you can get past that, you will be thrilled. My 4 year old daughter gave me a hard time until lesson 13 and then a light went on! Now she runs around the house trying to read and asking when we will have a lesson again. Sometimes the book can be imposing for the child. Often, I pull the book away and try the exercise without it. Just an idea. This is a fabulous tool that teaches reading the "old fashioned" way. I recommend it highly.
Rating: 
Summary: Very good
Review: This is a good book and very useful, although it's so big a bit overwhelming for the child - very good methods so if you just use some of the info you will benefit greatly.
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Summary: This worked for my 2 year and 10 months old daughter
Review: Since my daughter was born, my husband and I have been reading to her every night. At the age of 2 1/2, there was nothing she would rather do than being read to. Also around that time, she started getting frustrated, because she couldn't say her favorite sentence "I can do it by myself!" regarding to reading her books. And she would frequently ask questions about different words she saw in books, picture cards, TV, etc. At that point I thought that, although a little younger, she might be ready to start learning some basics of reading. After doing some research and finding so many favorable reviews of the "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" by Engelmann, I bought it, and started doing the lessons with my daughter. After just three or four lessons we quit, because she was was getting bored and could not do the rhyming sections, where after I said a word (e.g. "eat"), she was supposed to rhyme with a letter such as "m", and tell me "meat". Also she had a hard time doing the last section of every lesson, where the child is supposed to write two or three particular letters as an exercise. The love of learning is inherent in every young child who has not been discouraged in some way or another, and I do believe we should encourage them, but never push them. As a parent you know when your child is not enthusiastic about learning something or is getting bored, and for me that's always been the gauge to stop. If they are not having fun with a certain activity, then they should not be doing it, even if that means learning to read. Four months after having quit the reading lessons with my daughter, she started whinning again that she did not know how to read, and I decided to give it another try. Now we are in lesson 8 and yesterday for the first time, she read the words "mat" and "set" by pointing at and sounding out each letter. There were striking differences this time around, where now she asks me eargerly every day when we are going to do the "reading game". Few days ago, she also got the hang of what she was supposed to do on the rhyming sections of the book. For the letter writing section at the end of the lessons, I will prewrite the letters in dots, so she just has to fill them herself, while she says the sounds out loud. Also what might have helped her is that for the past few months she has been doing more activities with letters and words at her Montessori school, and also she has perfected her pencil hold whenever scribbling something in a piece of paper. We are not in a hurry to finish each lesson, and sometimes we spend two days in a lesson. Before I had to use bribes such as stickers or candies for her to join me for the lessons. Now I use lots of praise, hugs and high fives, and whenever she shows signs of boredom, I stop and ask her if she would like to continue the following day. Sometimes she says yes, other times she tells me she wants to finish the lesson. Besides the obvious wonders of having a child learning to read, also this "reading game" time has given my daughter and I a joyous bonding time together. I work full time outside my home, and I can't think of a more efficient and joyous way of using our precious time together. BTW, there are two other things I would recommend to complement these lessons: the "Bob Books First" (Maslen), where the simple black and white pictures will not distract a child from the real meat of the books which are the wonderful stories; and the award winning PBS Kids show "Between the Lions" and the show's website (http://www.pbskids.org/lions/), which contains lots of fun reading games for children just starting to read. Good luck to everyone.
Rating: 
Summary: Kids didn't enjoy this one
Review: My kids did not enjoy this book, I'm sorry to say. I liked it because of the scripts, and I'm sure for some, it may work well. But my kids found the lessons to be too long and boring. Went back to my Bob Books and to Phonics Pathways by Delores Hiskes. They seem to enjoy these much more -perhaps because both books have some creative art work - maybe my kids are more visual than most?
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