Students were almost frenzied in their demands to hear more and more of these secret explanations for words and sounds that had never made sense to them before, and these are the kids who act like they couldn’t care less 99% of the time! Just watching their faces light up as everything started to come together for them was incredible. What a FIND the Secret Stories are—if only I’d had them years ago! Every child deserves to know the Secrets!

Edie, Fourth/Fifth Grade SLD & Intervention Teacher in Massachusetts 

We had a third to about a half of our students reading at or below grade level at the beginning of the year. Within three months, 90-to-95-percent are at or above grade level…. the Secret Stories is the only tool that has proved a success…When kids cannot decode words it makes learning pretty much impossible because they’re concentrating on decoding instead of comprehension. Once they can decode, we can teach to learn, instead of teach to read.
Alana, Elementary Principal in Nevada

I just wanted to say THANK YOU! I have 12 RTI tier 2 & 3 kinders in my class. We have struggled ALL year trying to learn the letters and sounds with our county’s curriculum. During the winter break I finally said “Enough!” and went searching for some other way for my “other” learners to be able to understand the letter sounds. I decided to purchase the vowel pack and downloaded the sampler. I printed them and introduced them. I added the Better Alphabet song to my morning calendar routine. I can not begin to tell you how amazed I am in the number of letters and sounds my kids have picked up in the past 4 weeks! They have learned more letters and sounds this past month than they had learned all year! Even my teacher-friend next door to me is starting to use it in her class because she’s seen such a difference in the kids she is tutoring from my class!

Kim, Kindergarten Teacher in Alabama

One week into the Secret Stories and I have already seen a difference in my sons learning! I’m amazed. He read to me without struggling and getting frustrated and even sat down and wrote out sentences for his classwork without asking me for help on how to spell a word!!! I can’t wait to see what happens over the next month! His confidence has soared and he’s sounding out word after word after word. I’m crying by the way! One month ago he crawled under his bed crying and calling himself stupid for not being able to sound out words. Today he is looking around to see if there’s a word he can try to sound out!  Thank YOU!!!!

Jill, Parent in Idaho

I purchased your program and can say that I HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE HAPPY WITH A PURCHASE FOR MY CLASSROOM!!!!!!  I got moved up from kindergarten to 1st grade this year and thought there was NO WAY that I would be able to move my kiddos to a level J at the end of the year. Well, it’s only December and of my 15 students, 8 are already there, with the others right on track to be there for sure!

I know that I could never have made this much progress without the Secret Stories. I have almost taught them all by just following the natural progression of curiosity in my students, and it’s been amazing to see how much they could take in. While my students use the Secrets on different levels, they ALL know the stories, and as they are ready, start applying the sounds to read words.

I was recently approached by the Reading Recovery coaches at our school who pull some of my students for intervention. They wanted to know what I was doing in my room.  Of the five 1st grade classrooms they service, my students stood out as “amazing decoders” in their ability to use decoding strategies to read unknown words. As a result, they are ready to be released from Reading Recovery, having successfully “recovered” to grade level! 

Without having had the Secrets in the background to help them read, I know that this would not have happened. They are now going to start using the Secrets with their other intervention students as well. What a powerful reinforcement that my colleagues are coming to me for answers!! Especially our Reading Recovery “gurus” in the district!

Sorry for the long email, but I am just so excited to have found this resource for my students. They are amazing kids and are so excited to spot the Secrets wherever we find them!
Lisa, First Grade Teacher in South Carolina

My intermediate teachers were amazed at the common sense of the Secret Stories- to explain away all of the inconsistencies in our language by simply telling learners the ‘secret’ behind the pattern. It’s just so simple!”
Barbara, Reading First Literacy Coach in Pennsylvania

Students were almost frenzied in their demands to hear more and more of these “secret” explanations for words and sounds that had never made sense to them before! (and these are the kids who act like they could care less 99% of the time!)  Just watching their faces as everything started to come together for them….What a find your Secret Stories are! These tools should be a part of curriculum everywhere. What a gift to our children’s future!
Edie, Fourth-Fifth Grade SLD Teacher in Massachusetts

This book changed our life. I taught my dyslexic daughter to read using the Secret Stories, after trying the regular phonics programs, and finally having it recommended by our homeschool support group. We didn’t have to give up learning phonetically, despite my daughter’s auditory processing problems. We would sit down with her favorite book and she would immediately begin pointing out all of the Secrets she knew!  Her brain was finally able to retain not just words, but the phonics patterns and sounds within them, as she was able to reapply the same patterns and sounds in new, unknown words, as well!  With the Secret Stories, we finally had something she could work with! I’ve now begun using Secret Stories with my severely language-compromised son, and he giggles as we make the stories out of his Theraputty (another great product) and make the words come alive. I’ve also used the Secret Stories in a fun way at our homeschool group – I made little capes with the Superhero Vowels sewn onto the back to wear when they “say their names!”

Anna, Parent in Kentucky

I knew that my primary teachers would love all that I brought back from your session at ILA, but I was thrilled to see the intermediate grade teachers using it, as well! They were so interested in the cognitive research and common sense approach to explaining all of the inconsistencies in our language.

Barbara, 3th/4th Grade Intervention Teacher in Pennsylvania 

Ten years ago last October, I suffered a major stroke which left me with aphasia.  Through therapy and much hard work, I now feel confident conversing with parents.  A friend of mine is a 6-year survivor of a completely different kind of stroke.  She is experiencing aphasia, but I’ve also noticed some gaps in her reading-ability.  Working with her using your “Secret Stories” has started to make a major difference in her reading-ability, and I am requesting a parent set of your program to allow me to work with her.  I will continue to update you on her progress as well as that of my students.  Thank you, Katie, for making this program so readily available and so easy for teachers like me to grasp.  It adds an entirely new dimension to my program and to my friend’s life as a stroke survivor.

Follow-up email—

These Secret Stories are enabling my lowest readers in third grade to crack the codes, learning to read and write each word better every day,   Thank you! As I mentioned in a previous email to you a while back, as a 10 year stroke survivor myself, I frequently get together with a friend of mine who had her stroke 6 years ago.  My friend had a different type of stroke in which she had completely ‘lost’ the ability to read.  I worked with her using the Secret Stories and saw much progress – she is able to read parts of words, and your stories help her pick-up on skills she had lost due to the stroke. I will pass this program on to other stroke survivors with your permission. What a difference this has made in so many lives!The reading specialist at my school lent me her copy of the Secret Stories to use over the summer with an LD student that I’m tutoring.
Pat, SLD Teacher in Nebraska

The reading specialist at my school lent me her copy of the Secret Stories to use over the summer with an LD student that I’m tutoring. Your program is amazing, he loves the stories, and I can finally see him actually “getting” the whole decoding thing. Therefore, I’m personally purchasing the program! Congratulations for creating a decoding program that finally works!
Carla, Reading Specialist/Tutor in Wyoming

My son is in grade two and is not reading. He has a diagnosis of high functioning autism. When I asked my son’s doctor last week what I could do to help my son with reading, the doctor said, “He has autism, he might never read.” It feels that I am getting the same message from his school.I struggled in school with a severe learning disability. The learning disability was not discovered until I was in grade 8. I spent many years, sitting in classrooms and not knowing what was going on. When I was diagnosed in grade 8, my parents were told I was “mentally retarded” and that I would never be able to succeed in the local public school. My son told me that he sits in class and just looks at his work sheets for the entire class. I have spent many nights googling different ways to teach my son to read. I am a single mother and it seems hard sometimes not to have another person to share my worries with.  I just stumbled upon your method yesterday and I printed out some of your stories and read them to my son and showed him the pictures. He remembered the sounds right away. I have been watching your videos on YouTube and they have been unbelievable. This is the first time in along time that I have felt extremely hopeful.

(Follow-Up Email)

I can’t thank you enough for your book. My son has started reading! He loves the Secret Stories. He thanked me last night for getting the Secret Stories for him. Last night, I asked him to read the word “cookie” using what he learned from the Secret Stories. His first response was, “I can’t read such a big word.” I told him to try. He sounded out the word right away. He then said, “Mommy, I read the word cookie! I can’t believe I read such a big word!” Katie, your program is unbelievable. It really should be used in all schools to teach kids reading. Happy New Year!
Parent of Autistic Child in Canada

They are really helping my students. I teach first grade and wanted to share the following letter sent to me by one of my parents about their child’s progress……”I see a huge difference from last week and this week in David’s reading. I know that this may seem extreme, but we went over his vocabulary words yesterday and he got everyone right except for 1 or 2 that he needed some help on. When he was trying to figure the words out, I could hear him whispering some of the “secrets” to figure them out. This is amazing since I am usually ‘sweating it’ on Thursday night to still try and get him to comprehend these words. Something that I thought might be helpful to me and the other parents is if we could have the “secrets” at home too, so we are all teaching the kids in the same manner. They have already made an impression on my child, as I am seeing results already! “I tell everyone I know about your book.  My oldest son has had a hard time with reading and The Secret Stories have made a world of difference with him.
Ashley, 1st Grade Teacher (sharing parent note) in Alabama

I tell everyone I know about your book.  My oldest son has had a hard time with reading and The Secret Stories have made a world of difference with him.  My youngest son has learned to read because of the stories.  Thank you so much for what you have done!”
Carolyn, Literacy Facilitator and Parent in Roanoke, Virginia

The Secret Stories are sooooo easy, even for me, with an intermediate-background! I love how it fits with whatever I am teaching, in any subject, even though I teach 4th/5th grad.  I truly believe this is not only helping my students tremendously in reading, but in their written expression, as well! Such effective, and yet easy-to-use tools!
Elise, Fourth Grade Teacher in Florida