Reading Kingdom ~ Review

Over the past several weeks, my seven year old daughter has been using Reading Kingdom to help her read better and at a faster speed.

Reading Kingdom is an online program that is designed for children ages 4-10 who are beginning readers or struggling readers. The program was developed by Dr. Marion Blank and uses a six skill integrated method.

This program allows your child to use the keyboard and mouse if you are using the program on a computer or laptop. The child needs to be able to click on letters of words using a mouse or they need to be able to find the right letter on the keyboard of the laptop to make words. My daughter had used the mouse before but had not typed out words before. She picked up where the letters were on the keyboard quickly since they only introduce a coupe of letters at a time. You are also able to use the program on a touch screen or tablet.

My older children picked up reading  quicker than my seven year old and while I have tried various programs to help her with her reading, I think she has found this one to be the most enjoyable. I think she learns better having something that is more visual.

I had my daughter start at the beginning of the program instead of taking the assessment. Since she had been struggling, I wanted her to start at the beginning to build her confidence with reading. She enjoyed it and while some things did come up, I tried to get her to use it at the recommended four days per week during the review period. It is also recommended that only one or two lessons be done each day. The first day (and all the other days) when her second lesson was done and it told her she should take a break, she was upset and wanted to do more. She has loved going through the program and doing her lessons and gaining confidence with her reading.

Each lesson is a short 10 – 15 minutes long and each lesson builds on the prior lesson. The words start out simple and progressively get more difficult as the lessons go on.  At first, she disliked having to type out the words, but I just told her it was good for her to learn where the letters were on the keyboard and she started getting better at it and started liking it more.

During the lesson, there are several different games where the child needs to identify the letters in the word and also identify the word itself. I think her favorite game was having to choose which word would make the word she was learning (there would be four words with letters missing and she had to choose which one would make the word she was learning).

After the first couple of lessons when I knew she knew how to use the mouse and keyboard, I did not sit with her. I think she did a lot better without someone there with her. I was still able to go into the account and see how she was doing and how much she had accomplished. You are also able to download a report that will tell you what words the child has learned, what their comprehension is on the word, and their Lexile score after completing each book in the level.

Overall, both my daughter and I like this program. She likes that she gets to play on the computer ad I like that she is learning.

Check out other crew member’s reviews  of this program and the ASD Reading Program.