All About Reading for Dyslexia: An Honest Review

What All About Reading Gets Right

All About Reading (AAR) is one of the most popular structured literacy programmes among homeschooling families, and for dyslexic learners there are genuine reasons why. It uses multisensory instruction aligned with Orton-Gillingham principles — colour-coded letter tiles, phonogram cards, and fully decodable readers that contain only the patterns a child has been explicitly taught.

The programme is fully scripted. You open the teacher manual, follow the word-for-word prompts, and teach. Daily prep takes about five minutes: pull the review cards, set out the tiles. A lesson runs 20–30 minutes. For a parent with no teaching background, the low barrier to entry is a real advantage.

The decodable readers are the standout feature. Unlike Barton's text-free approach, AAR includes stories at every level that use only mastered phonics patterns. For children who associate reading with failure, having a real book they can actually decode builds confidence in a way that flashcard drills alone cannot.

Where It Falls Short for Dyslexia

The ceiling is low. AAR's four reading levels cover approximately a third- to fourth-grade decoding scope. A child who starts at age 8 may still need instruction in advanced syllable types, Latin roots, and morphological analysis after finishing AAR; pace varies by learner. You may need a second programme (Barton, Logic of English Essentials, or a bridging curriculum) to get them to grade-level independence.

No built-in nonsense word drills. Nonsense word reading helps monitor decoding separately from real-word recognition; DIBELS Nonsense Word Fluency is not a dyslexia diagnostic test. AAR does not include systematic nonsense word practice. For a child with moderate-to-severe dyslexia, you can add DIBELS Nonsense Word Fluency probes alongside AAR to track decoding progress.

Reading and spelling are separate purchases. All About Spelling (AAS) is a companion product with its own 7 levels, currently about $50–$70 per level. While the programmes share phonogram card formats, you teach them independently. The level materials for AAR (Levels 1–4) plus AAS (Levels 1–7) currently total about $1,065, before shared tools, tax, and shipping.

Placement: Where to Start

AAR includes a free online placement test. For a dyslexic child, err on the side of starting lower than the test suggests. Dyslexic learners often recognise words visually (compensatory sight-word memory) without being able to decode them phonemically. Starting one level below the placement result ensures you are filling genuine gaps rather than building on a foundation that has cracks in it.

A child who cannot reliably blend three-sound CVC words (cat, pin, mop) should start at Level 1 regardless of age or grade. There is no shame in this — the lessons are engaging enough that older children tolerate them.

All About Spelling: Worth Adding?

For a dyslexic child, the answer is almost always yes. Spelling (encoding) lags significantly behind reading (decoding) in dyslexia — a child may decode at a third-grade level while encoding at a first-grade level. AAR teaches reading; AAS explicitly teaches the encoding side with the same tile-based, multisensory approach.

If budget is tight, start with AAR alone. Add AAS after the child demonstrates solid decoding at the current AAR level — once they can read the words, they are ready to learn to spell them.

Who Should Choose AAR and Who Should Not

Good fit: Children ages 5–9 with mild-to-moderate dyslexia. Families with limited daily time (20–30 minutes). Parents who want a gentle, scripted, low-prep programme that their child will not resist.

Not the right fit: Children with severe phonological deficits who fail the Barton Student Screening. Children over 10 who need faster-paced, more rigorous intervention to cover ground before secondary school. Families who want an all-in-one programme covering reading, spelling, grammar, and morphology in a single curriculum (Logic of English fills that niche).

AAR is a solid programme for the right learner — the key is knowing whether your child's profile matches what it offers. The Dyslexia Homeschooling Blueprint includes a programme decision worksheet that maps severity, age, co-occurring conditions, and budget to the curriculum most likely to work for your specific child.