The following represents only a tiny sample of the hundreds of messages we receive every year from grateful teachers, parents and students whose lives have been changed by Keda's work.  If you have comments, suggestions or simply 'good news' stories that you're happy to share, please send your contribution by completing our feedback form. Thank you!

Mature student at Leigh and Wigan College, April 2008

TBT in Singapore, April 2008

"I only wish I had found Toe by Toe when my son was at primary school"

"...You really have made a significant difference to Emily's life!"

"...we can never thank you enough"

"Toe by Toe tucked under my arm..."

                                David’s Story

Not quite tall, but dark and handsome, he had brows “like a gathering storm”.  Thirteen going on fourteen, he was like a bear with a sore head.  Grumpy at home, grumpy at school – awkward and obstinate at every turn, he was driving his parents slowly mad.  Since starting at secondary school, he had been really hard to live with.  They felt he was deeply unhappy, but he would not talk about it – he just “hated” school.

His teachers were saying that he would not pay attention.  He was lazy, a past master of avoidance tactics, yawning and fidgeting, dropping this, sharpening that and then, “Oops! That’s the bell!”  If he ever did have to put pen to paper, what he wrote was a mess, weirdly spelt, higgledy-piggledy and all over the place.  He couldn’t organise the proverbial booze-up in a brewery – it would be shut before he ever got started.  And yet he seemed “bright”, increasingly articulate – especially about what he did not want to do…  He could be very kindly within his family but he was picking on all and sundry at school; mocking, rubbishing, aggravating.  In other words, he was... dyslexic.

As so often happens, his parents “had been wondering”.  Other family members, in this and previous generations, “had problems with spelling”.  One had only found out as an adult that he was “dyslexic”.  David’s parents were desperate to help.  There was nothing they wanted to see more than their son smile again.

“Is there anything we can do to help?” they asked me.  “Indeed there is,” I assured them.  “If you can commit some time to him at home, we could work as partners to take him through Toe by Toe - a reading re-training programme which has been devised over 25 years, tried and tested to the point where it is now being acclaimed as the first real breakthrough in teaching dyslexic people – adults as well as youngsters – to read successfully.”

So we did.  And he did.  Boy!  How he did!!

His mum phoned me up after a few weeks, anxious because it was all making so much sense to him that he was wanting to do more, and more, and more every night.  She was worried that he was overdoing it.  We soon slotted in some written back-up phonics work for him to do as reinforcement so that he let his brain absorb just the right amount of new rules at a time and he settled down to a more sensible amount.

The family received something of a bombshell part-way through the programme, discovering that Mum was going to have another child after 14 years.  My heart sank thinking she would never be able to keep up her passionate commitment to her son.  But no, I was wrong…  She and David still managed to make time for “David’s reading”.  They sent me flowers.  She wrote me a letter.  “It’s so wonderful.  He’s like a different boy.  I can scarcely remember what he was like this time last year.”

David the Determined set himself a target.  “I’m going to have Toe by Toe finished within the year, before the anniversary of the date I started it.”

And he did.  And they did.  And I did.

And he smiled again.  Now he is tall, dark and handsome…

Sandra Affleck (Supp. for Learning), Webster’s High School, Kirriemuir, Scotland 

Dear Mrs Cowling,

I am writing to tell you how wonderful I think your programme, Toe by Toe, is.  I first used it in 1995 with a Brazilian/English severely dyslexic boy and was immediately taken with the careful, precise guidance it provides.  The joy of it is that parents can be involved, which makes managing the programme easier.  It also lets them see exactly the difficulties their child is experiencing, how hard he/she is working to overcome it and gives the parent the satisfaction that they are able to assist in the process. I have used Toe by Toe in international schools in three countries now, Brazil, Russia and Korea.  For most of my students, English is their second (or third/fourth) language; on top of that they have a specific difficulty.  I have already ordered some for Egypt!

I have now begun to use Stride with older students.  The great triumph this year has been working with K., a 17-year old German student who was identified, at his own request, as being dyslexic at the age of 14.  He received no help in Germany at all and so was not able to go on to higher education.  K. arrived last August with little English and his dyslexia.  It has been a huge mountain to climb but he is now getting B+ and A- in English transition (ESL) class and is about to start the International Baccalaureate.  He still takes about 4 minutes to read a paragraph of his history book, but he thinks he is invincible and I see improvement each week.  He was very indifferent to the programme to begin with but, after about eight weeks, he realised how much it is helping him, so is quite committed to doing it each night.

I write about this, as I want you to know what a life-changing impact Toe by Toe and Stride have on students.  I think every school should have both these publications, they are by far the most comprehensive and easy-to-manage programmes on the market. 

                        Suzanne Weekes - teacher at an international school in South Korea

Dear Keda Cowling,

In November last year I ordered your 'red book', Toe by Toe to help my son Jack who was 7 years old and who is dyslexic.  Last summer he had a reading age of 6.7 but he is a bright intelligent boy.  I began your red book on 25/11/95 and now 19/7/96 we are on Page 235 and Jack has a reading age of 10.6  I just had to tell you how pleased we all are.  It must have taken you a long, long time to structure this manual but it is an incredible worthwhile achievement.

We are so grateful for this 'red book'.  Thank you.

Anne v. D. (Lancashire)  Parent, July 1996

To Whom It May Concern:

This is a true story with a happy ending.

First of all, I will tell you about my son Scott.  He was born in January 1984 and his difficulties began with very late speech development.  After intensive speech therapy, he started infant school with an almost normal level of speech.  It soon became obvious to me that learning was not going to be easy.  From him being five years of age, I went regularly to school because Scott's literacy skills were making no progress.  I tried everything I knew to try to help him:  phonic blends, flash cards, reading to him and with him, paired reading and much more.  He made virtually no progress.  By the time Scott reached his ninth birthday, I was beside myself with worry and frustration.  I could see my son falling further and further behind and it was beginning to affect his whole life.  He became hostile, developed school phobia and sickness in the mornings.  Life was becoming a nightmare.

In desperation, in November 1993, I wrote to everyone I thought might be able to help my son.  My husband is unemployed, so private tuition was out of the question.  By this time, he was more than 2 and a half years behind with his reading and three years behind with his spelling.  I am an ordinary Mum with no teaching qualifications.  I was at my wit's end!

In March of this year (1994), my prayers were answered.  I was offered the programme Toe by Toe.  At this point, I was prepared to try anything.  Scott's low self-esteem was so bad that, to be honest, when I looked through the book my initial reaction was that he would never be able to cope with it.  However, we had nothing to lose.  So we started Toe by Toe on April 1^st.  Gradually, both Scott and myself gained confidence because the progress he made was remarkable.  On my part, as a complete novice, the simple and short 'coaching boxes' for each page were invaluable as they guided me every 'toe' of the way.  Sometimes reluctantly, Scott did the daily 20 minutes needed.  I am sure that – although he made excellent progress from the beginning – he always feared that he would reach a point where he would FAIL.  He had known nothing else.  However, as he progressed, he began to realise that he COULD master the words.

The nonsense words and syllable divisions were very important parts of the programme.  In my opinion, they greatly helped Scott with word attack skills.

We finished Toe by Toe on the 25^th August.  My son has moved from reading words of one syllable to words such as philanthropist and occipital as well as virtually any word combinations.  Toe by Toe is intended basically to teach reading but Scott's spelling has improved alongside his reading.  His self confidence has improved and he now has a different attitude to life.  I cannot fault Toe by Toe.  My son is reading David Copperfield.  I shall never be able to thank Keda Cowling enough for creating this scheme.  In fact my only criticism of Toe by Toe is that it was not available four years ago when my son began to fail.  If it had been available, my son would not have had to suffer the effects of ignorance, denial of developing literacy and sheer neglect of his obvious dyslexic symptoms.  This book should be promoted so that every parent and teacher knows of its existence.  No child should have to suffer as my son did.

Mrs Brenda F. - Parent, Barnsley 1994

Dear Keda,

Just a little note of thanks for devising a word recognition scheme that really works – Toe by Toe.  My son came up to Juniors, at the age of seven, being almost illiterate and a total non-speller – even he couldn’t understand what he had written.  The junior school had recently started on your scheme so he was invited onto it.  What a difference it started to make, even at the beginning.  The shy, reluctant reader started to read, slowly at first and then with speed and expression.  At last – not only could he use the Maths textbooks and worksheets – he understood the words – now he could access the whole curriculum.  He came into the scheme at 7 having been put on Stage One of the Code of Practice.  He finished the scheme about 2 months ago, sat the 11+ for the local grammar and passed!

So a big ‘Thank You’ to you.  You have certainly made a difference to this young man.

Mrs Sue P. - Parent, West Midlands 1999

Dear Mrs Cowling,

Further to my telephone call of today, I would like to express my delight in Katie's progress since starting Toe by Toe.  We started on the 10th December and Katie's confidence has grown so much.  All of a sudden Katie is getting things right and no longer thinks of herself as 'stupid'...

Mrs Jeanette R. - Parent, Merseyside. January 1999

"THE WAY I FELT"

The first day I saw the book I thought to myself: “This is not going to help me.”  At the time I was at the reading age of nine years old.  When I looked at first couple of pages my view was that it was easy and giving me this was making me feel more stupid than I really was.  The beginning of the book was like the work that you do in Primary 3 and 4 so I felt very anger and upset.  Then I start the book and it was hard and it took all out of me but I battled on.  I was not going to admit that it was hard because I still thought it was primary work.  As I got into it I felt it working I was reading more in my own time and I was not scared to pick up a book.  The words did get harder but I knew that I was getting better.  The paragraphs got longer and the writing got small but justed made me work harder.  I have finished the book now and it took five months.  My reading age was up to 12 years and that was before I finished the book.  This book did not justed help me to read but it build up my confidence.  Now you can’t stop me from reading and I don’t mind read in front of anyone. This book really works.

Pupil at Perth High School, December 1995

(Message to Catherine Tesoriero - TBT representative in Australia)

Dear Catherine,

My 10-year old son, who is dyslexic, recently completed Toe by Toe and the change in him is phenomenal.  He’s gone from being totally disinterested and distant in class to a willing participant!  We no longer have battles about reading and he is a much, much happier boy – and he adores Toe by Toe.

Regards,

Robyn Cahill - Northern Territory, Australia, January 2006

Toe by Toe in Canada

Dear Keda,

Today is a fabulous day.  The 5^th of February and today I finished Toe by Toe.  I am very glad that I finished.  I went from being a non-reader in Grade One then to a Grade One reader in Grade Three and now I am a Grade Six reader in Grade Five.  It has taken me a long time.  We had a lot of breaks but we stuck with it.  Now I can read words my friends can’t like philosophy and chiropodist and even my father learnt  that he had been pronouncing a word incorrectly for years… ophthalmic.  Thank you for your wonderful book.  We just have to work on my spelling now!

Max W. age 10, February 2006

Dear Keda Cowling,

I felt I just had to write to you to let you know the enormous success we’ve had with Toe by Toe.  Our youngest child has mild-moderate cerebral palsy.  As a result, amongst other things, he has a visual problem causing difficulty with scanning and has epilepsy which causes significant ‘blips’ in concentration.  There are also perceptual difficulties.  In spite of the school’s best efforts and assessment by the Ed Psych, my son failed to learn to read and, unless he learned soon, he would fall significantly behind in his schooling

At this point my husband saw an article in the Times Ed.  We asked at school if they would mind and they replied that anything was worth a try – were all slightly desperate at this stage!  So at the beginning of October our copy arrived.  To cut a long story short, 6 months and we were finished.  We are enormously grateful to your (formidable looking!) volume.  It has worked a real miracle with our little fellow and given him such a sense of pride.  Wonderful!

Our son’s teacher confessed to me after we’d finished that when she looked at the book she never thought it would work.  I felt a little the same myself – but clung to the reassurance that you’d never had a failure yet with this method!

Se we now have a 7-year old with good reading skills and word building skills too.  And, what’s most important, a little boy with a sense of pride and achievement, feeling good about himself.  Thank you!

Mrs A.C. (Parent) - Somerset  April 1996

Dear Keda,

We are delighted with Toe by Toe.  It is a highly accessible programme, easy to deliver, and affordable.  Most importantly, it starts at the very base of decoding units of sound and builds upon each skill set acquired.  Toe by Toe has provided a way for our daughter to improve her reading ability and boosted her self confidence and esteem.  The method of syllable division has been particularly useful, helping her to decode longer, more difficult words she would have struggled with in the past.  Thank you, Keda, for developing parent-friendly, affordable resources to address the needs of children who are often overlooked.  Our daughter's reading ability has improved considerably and she has developed a love of books.

L Wilson - Cornwall, May 2007

'How Dyslexia Feels...'

"I feel lost lonly and Im in a black room and now-one can hear me call out for help I have tried to fit in but i feel isolated.  I tried to make friends but it doos'nt always work"

Charlie (aged 12) - Portsmouth, October 2006

Dear Keda,

"I would like to thank the author of Toe-by-Toe for producing such an easy to use manual to aid reading. My daughter now enjoys reading for the first time in her life thanks to your wonderful book and managed to read a whole paperback in an afternoon!"

Karen H (Parent) - Kent, May 2007

Dear Sir/Madam,

“I never wanted to work behind a desk because I thought I could not do it, but here I am and I love it!  I am not always behind a desk.  I work with people and that I love.  I get a lot of help here too with spelling.  So I would like to say ‘Thank you’ again for Toe by Toe (my Bible).  It has made me feel so much better in myself.  If it was not for this I would not be where I am now.”

Louise K. (adult) – Notts, June 2007

Dear Keda,