Testimonials

AtoZeasy pilot at Feltham Community College

 

A successful pilot program at Feltham College, UK

Listen to the comments by Gill Smith, Head Teacher (Feltham Community College, UK), following the 2011 pilot run by Gertrude Garrow, for 16 SEN students aged 14 years of age. Sue Hughes, Educational Psychologist, monitored the pilot. Report below.

“We chose students with a range of difficulties ranging from behavioral problems to non-attendance…”
— Gill Smith, Head Teacher (Feltham Community College, UK)
 

Feltham Community College Trial

 

Pre Test

Report by Sue Hughes, Educational Psychologist, for the pilot run by Gertrude Garrow at Feltham Community College, UK. for 16 students aged 14 from a special unit for illiterate children with serious behavioral problems.

In the first session with each student, I was disconcerted to note the very high level of emotional instability and behavioral problems.  This was the case with more than half of the students and even in the one-to-one they were difficult to manage. They tended to be surly and aggressive and all were hyper anxious.

The majority were quite rude and uncooperative, some were abusive, some ran away, one needed a familiar adult to sit with him throughout the testing. Nearly all were late by at least 30 minutes. Most did not want to do the tests or did them reluctantly and all my efforts and skill were required to get the results.

There was a mixture of other conditions such as Apparent Language Difficulty (shown on the WASI) and English being a second language (EAL). One boy’s English was very poor indeed and who used only little names not sounds.

S. Hughes, Educational Psychologist

Post-Test

I noticed a big difference in the attitude and behavior of the pupils between the first and second session.

All arrived on time and sat down calmly and waited to be tested.  I had no need to manage or encourage and all were confident, purposeful and polite.

Not once did any one of them give up on a word. They made determined and repeated efforts to decode them.  Some were annoyed when the NARA rules meant that I had to tell them the word after they had tried for a few seconds and said,  “I could have done it, Miss.”

They all conveyed a sense of mastery and ease and were very self-assured.

When I asked what they felt about the project, all were enthusiastic and all would have liked to do more if they could.

What People Are Saying

“We chose students with a range of difficulties ranging from behavioural problems to non-attendance… At the end of the course, the comments the students made were amazing. They described the course as “… brilliant… fun… exciting”… they loved the music and colour.”
— Gill Smith, Head Teacher (Feltham Community College), 2011
“It’s brilliant… if there’s this difference in two weeks, think what could be achieved…”
— S. Hughes, Educational psychologist (London Borough of Hounslow), 2011
“Totally different… so quick… it works! I’m shocked! Everybody is amazed! We want to use it (AZRS) with every young adult we have coming in here…”
— Fiona McKinley-Wilson, Course Leader, Adult Basic Skills Course (London), 2011
“The most successful educational invention since the discovery of chalk and the blackboard. Children’s reading ages improved by over ten months in hours.”
— Anthony Glassberg, Educational psychologist (Harley Street), 2011
“I feel much more capable now of reading…instead of…getting frustrated and just giving up, I can get myself motivated to sit and read…I love it! Just to be able to read a book. Now I can read and write, it changes everything.”
— Katie aged 18 years (totally illiterate), Katie was employed as a receptionist by a car hire firm following 30 hours of teaching. (London UK), 2008
“Ian had 12 hours of teaching, but said that he was capable of teaching his sister and mother to read after this time.”
— Ian 16, totally illiterate, traveler (London UK), 2008

Student Stories

  • “I feel capable now of doing it…instead of…getting frustrated, just giving up, I can get myself motivated to sit there and read…I love it! Just to be able to read a book. Now I can read and write, it changes everything.” (Katie (age 18 years), London, England)” Katie was employed as a receptionist by a car hire firm following 30 hours of teaching.

  • Ian 16, a traveller left after 12 hours of teaching time, but came back later to say that he had taught his sister and mother to read.

  • 14 year old, Fiona had reading gains of 10 years in 20 hours of teaching. Fiona had been having private tuition from the age of six, but failed to read.

  • A class of sixteen, 13-14 year-old SEN students, experienced reading level gains of up to 2-3 years after only 12-hours of AZL teaching. A 13-year-old boy SEN student who had been attending a special school from the age of six, is now attending a regular school after only 30-hours of (AZRS) teaching. Three-year-old children reading phonetically after less than 10-hours of (AZRS) cumulative teaching time.