Reading Kingdom Review

We have been reviewing Reading Kingdom, an easy-to-use online program for ages 4 to 10, for a little while now and to date, my student has enjoyed it. Starting out with a placement test, it ensured she was starting at the right level to eliminate possible redundancy in what she already knew or being over her head. The home page allows access to as many students as you have registered with a good summary of when it was last used, days per week, current level, percent done and performance rating. From that same home screen, one can adjust settings, see reports, review billing information, find out how to earn free months and access to help. I liked the site's login access being the e-mail and password you signed up with versus having to create separate user accounts. The customized interface is also nice allowing for a physical keyboard or an online keyboard and the ability to change program speed and response time. That is a huge plus for my student as we have experienced other programs that require her to work at a pace faster than she's able to. 

Other key features of the program that makes Reading Kingdom a good program for teaching reading are:

• Versatile as students at an early reader stage will learn as well as those that are accelerated readers and even struggling readers.
• It is not a phonics based program which is extremely appealing to me. Reading Kingdom explains why their program works and why the phonics based way is flawed which I completely agree with.
• Ability to redo lessons or to skip lessons.
• A summary icon menu next to each level showing status.
• Fun animated screens encourages the student to continue to see more and rewards for progressing.
• Constant interaction reinforcing each word being taught between clicking answers to typing answers.
• As the student progresses, the software keeps up with their needs and customizes to their particular reading needs.
• After she became accustomed to the program, she was able to progress without as much supervision and assistance helping her to feel more independent.
• In addition to the online reports, Reading Kingdom e-mails progress reports on a regular basis.
• On screen incentives to open next level passports.
• e-mail support is available along with a resource center that includes tutorials, FAQs and videos. 
• To complete all components, it should take around 12-15 months thus providing a full year plus curriculum.
• Social media access to further knowledge from Reading Kingdom from their blog to Facebook to Twitter.

Reading Kingdom is one of the first programs that allowed my student to be able to use it on her own without requiring direct assistance all the time. She was able to pick up where she left off and completed her lessons on her own. She also liked the program and the cute animations which is something not heard often from her! It was easy to use and fun for her which allows me to definitely give it a thumb's up. Providing only one new vocabulary word per level also helped give her time to learn the word without feeling rushed and by utilizing the words in the next levels, it reinforced what she already had learned. I wished I had had access to Reading Kingdom for my oldest student who would have benefited specially from the customized settings.

ASD Reading is another program available for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) for ages 4 through 10. There is a 30 day trial period.

Check out what others on the Crew thought about each program: