Barton vs All About Reading: Which Dyslexia Programme Should You Buy?

Two Very Different Approaches to the Same Problem

Barton Reading & Spelling System and All About Reading are the two programmes that dominate every dyslexia homeschool discussion. Both use Orton-Gillingham principles. Both are fully scripted for parents with no teaching background. But they differ sharply in intensity, cost, daily time commitment, and the severity of dyslexia they are designed to address.

This is a non-affiliate comparison — neither programme pays us a commission.

Cost Breakdown

Barton is expensive upfront, but resale can offset the cost; market data estimates about $215 returned per level sold, though actual net cost depends on condition and resale price. AAR costs less overall but requires purchasing reading and spelling as separate programmes.

What Each Programme Actually Does

Barton is clinical-grade intervention. It was designed for severe dyslexia and covers 10 levels spanning basic phonemic awareness through advanced morphology (Latin and Greek roots). There are no storybooks, no illustrations, no games. The child works with colour-coded tiles, follows scripted drills, and reads controlled word lists. Every lesson includes encoding (spelling) and decoding (reading) together.

Before purchasing, you must administer the free Barton Student Screening. Children who fail Part C (auditory discrimination and segmentation) cannot start Barton and must first complete the Foundation in Sounds programme.

All About Reading is a multisensory programme designed for a broader audience — struggling readers, children with mild-to-moderate dyslexia, and neurotypical early readers. Each level includes decodable readers with actual stories, letter tile activities, and phonogram card reviews. It separates reading instruction from spelling instruction (All About Spelling is a separate product).

Which Child Needs Which Programme?

Choose Barton when:

• Your child has been formally diagnosed with moderate-to-severe dyslexia
• They cannot reliably segment or blend phonemes in spoken words
• Previous programmes (including school interventions) produced no measurable progress
• You have 45–60 minutes daily to devote exclusively to reading instruction
• The child is in grade 3 or above and needs intensive, accelerated remediation

Choose AAR when:

• Your child has mild-to-moderate reading difficulties or suspected (not confirmed) dyslexia
• They can blend and segment basic CVC words but struggle with accuracy and fluency
• Daily instruction time is limited to 20–30 minutes
• Your child resists drill-heavy programmes and needs stories to stay engaged
• The child is under 9 and you want a gentler starting point

The Complaints Parents Actually Report

About Barton: The most common complaint is boredom. Children describe lessons as "boring" and "ugly." The absence of stories, illustrations, or variety wears on both parent and child over months of daily sessions. Some families power through because the results are undeniable — but others abandon Barton after two or three levels despite seeing progress, switching to AAR or Logic of English because the daily resistance became unsustainable.

About AAR: Parents report that AAR's physical tile setup becomes tedious — pulling tiles, arranging cards, managing components across a table. The more substantive complaint is the ceiling: AAR tops out at a third- to fourth-grade decoding level. Families who start AAR with an 8-year-old often find themselves needing to transition to a second programme (frequently Barton) once the child outgrows Level 4.

What About Logic of English?

LOE Essentials sits between Barton and AAR in intensity. It costs less than Barton ($100–$180/level), integrates spelling and grammar into a single programme, and targets the analytical older learner who wants to understand rules. The trade-off is higher parent prep time (15–20 minutes) and longer daily lessons (40–60 minutes). It is a strong choice for children who find Barton too austere and AAR too simple.

The Bottom Line

For severe dyslexia, Barton is a well-documented option for intensive word-level intervention. For mild-to-moderate difficulties, AAR offers a more sustainable daily experience. There is no universal best — there is only what matches your child's severity, your daily schedule, and your family's tolerance for drill-heavy instruction.

The Dyslexia Homeschooling Blueprint includes a programme decision worksheet that walks through these variables step by step, including how to read your child's screening results and when a hybrid approach (Barton for new concepts once a week, AAR for daily practice) makes more sense than committing fully to either one.