Institute of Reading Development

I enrolled my son in this program because I saw Northern Illinois University’s name on a flier I saw in the mail. Unfortunately, I was not impressed. It’s a lot of money, $ 300.00 + for 5 weeks. While the class was informative and the reading lessons taught were fine, I really think the program could have been covered in one to two classes. Also, they required parents to be with the students during the class. Great idea. Parents should learn the program to continue teaching at home. However, it was long and the info very repetitive. The teacher sounded very rehearsed. Every class same info!
Before I enrolled my son, I talked to the program director and explained where my son was with his reading. I do not think he progressed as much as they promised. I thought this was a different sort of program. It is NOT affiliated with Northern Illinois University but with NIU“s outreach program (VERY DIFFERENT). Be warned that this company is for PROFIT. They want you to buy a set of books and games for $ 100.00 to continue the reading skills after the class is over. However, you can get the same books for free at the library and buy similar games at Target.
Save your money. If your child needs reading assistance and you have $ 300.00, get a tutor for the summer. One on One.
OR
just continue to read to your child every day, practice sight words and phonics.