I have had the opportunity to review the new Touchtile Reading System by Learning Link Technologies for about the last month and a half. Lisa Harp is the creator of this learning system.
I wanted to get a firm grasp on what this program has to offer before posting the review, which involves the participation of my five-year-old daughter. She will enter kindergarten this fall. Learning Link Technologies was also very kind to allow me to also start reviewing their program to re-train the brain last fall.
The Touchtile Reading System has six levels:
- Level One – Consonants, vowels, and blending
Teaches the student all letter sounds as well as how to blend two sounds together.
- Level Two – CVC pattern
Teaches the student how to blend three sounds together with a consonant, vowel, consonant pattern. The system is designed so that the student will naturally learn phonemic patterns that are essential to reading success.
- Level Three – Blends and digraphs
Teaches the student how to blend four sounds together with an emphasis on blends and digraphs.
- Level Four -Long E
Teaches the student how to successfully use the silent e at the end of words.
- Level Five -Endings
Teaches the student how to add endings to words. Endings cause extreme distress to most poor readers, and they often leave them off of the word completely.
- Level Six -Multi-Syllable Words
Teaches the student how to blend multi-syllabic words. Multi-syllabic words prove to be especially challenging to struggling readers, and this system will help them successfully learn to sound out words with more than one syllable.
The Touchtile Reading System is to be done for about 15 minutes a day. This system uses a touch and slide method to help teach students how to read. The six tiles (levels) are downloaded and then printed out. You can laminate the activities or stick into plastic sleeves for daily use. I had laminated the pages and then you will need a bingo dauber or like we used, Do A Dot Art Markers.
Each level has nicely written instructions on how to carry out the exercises. I should have printed all six levels at once, but I was printing them out as I needed them. I ended up having printer issues along the way that caused some delay. Each level is between 30-83 pages with instructions included.
I was curious how my five-year-old would respond to the program. She has been working on some easy reader books, but had been second-guessing the letter sounds. She gladly picked up a marker and worksheets of the Touchtile Reading System. I was amazed at how quickly she improved with recognizing the letter sounds with just completion of level 1! She actually volunteered to work on level 2 and 3 at night before we do our usual nighttime reading to slide and sound out words.
Here is my daughter starting out with the letter sounds. It is interesting how the instructions are to use the right hand to dab on letters in the left column when sounding them out and the left hand to select letters on the right side.
My five-year-old loved the first level with how it started off with letters and images. Then you go onto two letter sounds and words, three letter words, four letter words with silent e, words with common endings, and then lastly onto multi-syllable words. 
Here to the left is an image of my daughter working on sliding across the letters to sound out words.
I think this system definitely does have its benefits for those who don’t learn from conventional methods and do a little better with more of a hands on approach to learning. My daughter and I have completed the workbook through level three. The Touchtile Reading System is currently $149 (value of $197). This system is designed to help your child jump 1-2 grade levels in as little as three months.
For a young learner, it may be a little more entertaining to have graphics/images further along in the levels outside of the beginning part of the first level. Like a image of “dig” or “pig” to go along with the word, but Touchtile Reading System still seems like a wonderful teaching tool. Check out the Learning Link website for its great resources for dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dysgraphia.
Disclosure: I received the Touchtile Reading System in order to produce this review. The thoughts and feelings expressed are my own. No other compensation was received for this review.
