Institute of Reading Development

Very disappointed, had to cancel and couldn’t take class due to the fact we are now homeless! The supervisor that called me had the odasity to tell me «didn’t you know this was going to happen prior to the refund deadline?“Then told me no refund, and he can take the class anywhere though for 3 years. WTF! I felt humiliated enough with the situation and now MY money is being held hostage! Really how ethical is this! It was unforseen circumstances, and she didn’t ask for proof which I have just told me No! The worst part is I didn’t ask for a refund the woman that cancelled my son’s enrollment offered it. These people are piss poor on ethics and compassion. I will spread the word, help me do the same!

So very disappointed! My son took this class this past summer before starting his freshman year of collage. We both had high expectations that he would come away with techniques to increase his reading speed and study strategies to apply at collage. The customer service representative agreed that this course was perfect for my sons goals. This course cost over $ 300.00 and an additional materials fee. First, the only material was a paperback book that could be purchased on Amazon for less than $ 15.00. Second, he was taught one technique and it cannot be applied to text books. Third, no study skills were taught at all. Overall, I felt it was a waste of money and time and prevented my son from developing the skills needed for collage. I wish I could get my money and time back!

I homeschool 4 children. Three of them went to school at one point and I had to take them out as two of them were extremely underchallenged whereas one of them was struggling in school and was placed in Response to Intervention.
So last year I started IRD with the one who was always borderline academically. I had already homeschooled her for 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th grades and saw major growth and improvement and her test scores were decent but still borderline. So I wanted to see what it would be like for her to be in a classroom environment. We decided to try out a summer course through IRD held at Cal State Hayward. The facility was a bit of a pain to find parking and find the location of the room plus you had to pay for parking during the week.
She was nervous at first as she had not been in a classroom for about 3 yrs but
she did great. She was reading better than a lot of the kids in the room. I was happy to see we were on the right track. The curriculum seemed simple yet well organized. The teacher was engaging and very very enthusiastic. Materials included a white envelope holding the program guide and booklist which has a lot of useful information including homework and classroom assignments. I do think that it is strange that the classroom assignments are in the back and the booklist is smack in the middle of the book. The booklist has books I had never heard of before and may not have considered. It lists a wide variety. It also has the workbooks focusing on vocabulary for older kids, prefixes and suffixes and phonics skills. It includes an audio or DVD for assignments and stories or for watching people and kids discuss the books.
We did have homework for about four days a week. She read, watched DVD of a discussion about what they read and did tell back narrations. She worked in her workbook on prefixes/​suffixes I believe. The real test was how would she be at the beginning of the new school year when the homeschool charter school tested her. She scored HIGH and above RTI level! She remained HIGH all year for the whole 5^th grade. At home we did do MindPrime Idea Chain and Rewards multiple syllabic words program as well during that summer. So I do think the combination of all of that helped. It was a safe environment for my daughter to try out a classroom environment and she had fun discussing the books that she would never would have read in the first place on her own. Worth it… yes!
Now for my daughters enter 8^th grade, we tried out the middle school and immediately we realized they were not challenged. Their reading speed was already above 300 levels. So at the end of the class we were invited to try out the high school level class. So they stayed another 3 hours and tried that class out. That was the right fit for them. We were able to keep the books and materials for the middle school level so for the 5 weeks they did both class materials. They handled the high school level Lord of the Rings book and they read Banner in the Sky and did all the activities needed for both levels. My girls are shy and the teacher made a point of asking them questions as they would not normally raise their hands. I wished they had different high school levels. I do wish they had quick synopsis of each of the reading sections so the parents can tell if their tell backs were accurate. I will know how they do when they take the beginning of the year test when school starts again. I am hoping the skills stick.
Now my 6yrs old is taking the class. He has autism and he is taking the PreK class. One gripe is that the teacher announced it was a class for 4yrs old and that caught my son’s attention but he was in the right place developmentally and academically. They do require parents to stay in this class the whole time. We will see how this class goes as time goes on. Most of the information they are presenting are things I already do but then having him see other people use the techniques and watching other kids in a classroom respond is helpful as well.
I think these classes are great for homeschooled kids. It gives them a taste of classroom life and positive peer pressure yet it is in a safe environment. Short term exposure of classroom life without picking up some of the other unnecessary garbage. My kids left feeling content that they are homeschooled and will take what they learned in the class and apply it to their daily life.
I will update after my son finishes the class.

Class taken in Brooklyn, NY. My son is entering second grade. This program was billed as a division of Fordham University, but it was only on my credit card statement that I saw Institue of Reading Development. The class has about 12 kids with one teacher. The teacher is ok, but she is not very engaging and the students are bored. The teacher allows parents to sit in, and I was completely bored. There was no energy in the class. Additionally, the class in a mixed use building, and each week it has been difficult to get to the class. Every week people get lost trying to find the room, and the class starts late. So disappointed.

This is a total scam… I started the online training to be an Enrollment Coordinator and lasted 5 days. The online training was led by a motor-​mouth woman named Jessica Villela. Every time someone asked a question, she’d cut them off and start giving an answer. She seemed to be very stressed and caffeine laden. She LOVED talking about herself and how good she was at selling this scam. They lie about scholarships and you’re not even allowed to ask why. I knew from the first day that it was a sleazy operation but decided to follow through with the training and see if it would improve. Good thing I didn’t get on the phone with live people. I would have told them to donate the $ 300 they’re shelling out for the program to their local library. These scams are another way of sucking money out of people who can’t afford them. One suggestion they give to poor people is to go buy a pre-​paid credit card and call back to pay.
Some advice to Jessica: Stay off the caffeine! You are obnoxious.

Great program! As a parent, it helped me learn how to help my son become an independent reader. My son enjoyed the games (phonic and sight words) played in class — which kept him intrested and engaged.

We have a six year old daughter who really enjoyed the program. She was very excited to get started. We had good communication with the teacher via email. She was very encouraging and supportive. The books were good read. Our daughter really enjoyed them. The supportive material including the videos, kept her entertained and were educational.

My 4 year old loved this program, and could not wait to do «bookman» every night.
The tie back between an online program (the world she inhabits) and the physical books was terrific.

After completing the reading program, our son was more excited about reading when he entered school.

My son showed more interest in letters and letters sounds after taking this early reading program.

Excellent program!!! Both of my boys excelled and enjoyed it:-)

My 11 yr old took this course in order to help him pick up on his reading speed and gain some test studying techniques. He absolutely lived this class and I can already see the difference it’s made in his studying habits now that he has more knowledge on how to study better. I look forward to putting him in it again next summer as a refresher! Great class!!!

Excellent! My 8^th grader was balking at first, then came to me at the end of the summer and admitted to me that it was extremely beneficial for him. His school year is off to a great start and he’s feeling more confident than ever: D

The summer program offered by Loyola University of Maryland was perfect for our 8 year old granddaughter. The books we received were just right for her reading level and interest, and they became progressively more challenging for her as she read each book, watched the videos and did the lessons in the workbook. Our granddaughter loved all the books and she eagerly sought more books to read like them while we were traveling. Brianna, her Loyola teacher stayed in constant contact with us about our child’s progress.
The program helped our granddaughter learn how to decode long, complicated words by teaching her to recognize prefixes, suffixes, vowel and consonant sounds as they relate to the syllables of the words. She also loved the certificate of completion she received shortly after completing the program. We fully expect to sign her up again next summer! Thank you for such a GREAT program, Loyola!

My daughter and I enjoyed this reading class. It defiantly gave me new techniques and strategies to help our daughter get engaged and stay engaged for longer periods of time. Most importantly, my daughter was reading a little better. Her confidence increased slightly as well. Mr J was an excellent instructor. He was patient and came around to each child during small increments of independent reading. Fun games. Kept most kids engaged and had to take time away from class to help the others who were causing distractions, including mine. More teacher support wouldve been helpful.
Now, the downfalls. For the price I paid, I was expecting a lower teacher/​child ratio. There were about 9 or 10 kids in the class with one teacher. I could’ve got a tutor for what i paid and thats one on one. Sessions were rushed.
Weekly, Families would come in late, which causes distractions. Kids came eating during class, which causes more distractions, parents reading super loud to their child as if their the only ones reading in the room also causes distractions, etc. These distractions are preventable and more structured boundaries would’ve been helpful to receive ultimate use of this class.

This is an exceptional program. My son, who is entering 5^th grade, not only enjoyed the books, but his reading comprehension improved considerably by the end of the course. At the beginning of the course, he had difficulty describing what he had read; by the end, he could do so quite easily. His reading aloud also improved a great deal. He used the iPhone voice memo app to record the assigned passage. By the end of the course, he was reading aloud more smoothly and with more expression.

Good intro and overview of speed reading techniques. Covered far more than a prior book I had picked up on these techniques. It helps to have someone who can demonstrate the techniques and the instructor can read well over 1000 words per minute in some material. So she was well qualified.
On the downside, the class felt a little rushed at times, but evening classes are not my favorite regardless. There was a large amount of material covered and it would be good if there was some sort of follo

I think this class has great intentions and is well-​structured, but I do have mixed feelings about my child’s experience in this class. Our son initially found his grade-​level class much too easy, but it wasn’t until the 3^rd class that we realized it wasn’t getting any more challenging for him and he was becoming bored. We talked to his teacher & called customer service, and to be fair, they were very accommodating in getting him into the next level. However, it might have been too late for him to benefit, as there was a lot of catch up to do and it proved just too much for him to do within the remaining sessions of the next level.
I guess I had hoped there would be more individual evaluation /​attention up front by his teacher to ensure appropriate leveling. I also had hoped for more individual feedback rather than just getting a standard sheet with a single check mark next to his recommended reading level and nothing else (Seriously? For the almost $ 400 this class cost I would have expected more feedback than this!). And sadly that is the overall theme here: not nearly worth the amount charged.

Let me first say that I have filed a BBB report on this company as of today.
I signed my son up for this program on May 10, 2013 over the phone. This was for the City of Monterey Location. I paid $ 341.51. Location was at Barnes Park Recreation Center, Monterey Park. Class was to start June 22, 2013 — July 20, 2014 at 10:45am. I called back long before classes began to request a refund. I spoke to the Supervisor, Cheryl. When asked why I requested a refund, I explained that my son needs tutoring in Math, not Reading and that there was obviously a miscommunication over the phone on the initial call where the phone rep mislead me.
Cheryl the Supervisor rudely stated I cannot get a refund because I was 3 days late. Never was I told about a certain date when a refund would be cut off. All I was told was that as long as classes did not start, a full refund would be issued if requested. Obviously there is some shady practices at this business as I am told one thing so they can get my money and then told another when I request a refund.
Cheryl offered credit, but not a full refund. I did not want credit, I wanted a full refund as I was well within my time frame of requesting one according to the initial call.
I have been fighting this for a year now and keep getting the runaround. They refuse to let me speak to someone higher than a supervisor. The supervisors I speak to are rude and condescending and give the textbook sales speech. Each time I call, I specifically ask for a full refund as my son never attended any classes and I initially requested a full refund before classes even started. Each time I am basically told they cannot do anything and they cannot refund my money. This is a lot of money that I need for my son’s education. This business is a shady practice.
One of the supervisors I spoke to said no refund can be given because the money was pay for the teacher. If my son never even attended as I requested my refund PRIOR to the start of class, why would there be a need to pay a teacher with my hard earn money?
This business is a scam to lure parents out of their hard earn money. They give misleading guidelines over the phone and then change them once there is an issue. All I want is a full refund of my money in the amount of $ 341.51 for a class I asked way before the start day and that my son never even attended. Over and year they still still give me the runaround. I have just filed a BBB report with them due to their misleading information and shady practice.

UPDATE: After voicing concern to our local partnering school of higher education, I was contacted by IRD and given satisfaction for expectations which were not met. I felt that the gentleman who contacted me may advocate some real change to increase the level of programing and (perhaps) technology used for the program. I will be watching and hopeful to return to a tighter program in the future.
Paid $ 330 for a five week program with a first grade reading level. Our child learned about 15 sight words more and struggled through independent and guided reading of four ($ 3) books that were LOANED to us for the duration of class. The games we received I would value at about $ 10 (max) total. The workbook had about 20 necessary pages out of 120 i managed to do what this whole program does, look substantial but turn out to be 90% fluff.
Further, the last week they try to sell you an additional kit for $ 100 which based onmy knowledge here is likely $ 15 of product.
A better value would be:
Download four or five apps of sight words
Create blending phonic flash cards of your own (P) (L) (K) + (ick), (it) etc.
Read 1 hour a week with your child.