Do you have a struggling reader? A reader that may have dyslexia, ASD, or ADHD? Would you love to have a program designed for struggling readers and kids with a reading impairment? Then you want to read on to hear about BuddyBooks!

{I received free access to BuddyBooks by ObjectiveEd, and was compensated for my time in writing this review.  All views are my own and I was not required to write a positive review. Please see my full Disclosure Policy for more details.}

From the time my children were very little I always had books out and read to them multiple times throughout the day. They all read early and read easily. I know this is not the case for all children. In fact, my grandson has a much harder time reading, and has needed more creative ways to support his reading development. One of the newest options we have been using is called BuddyBooks.

What is BuddyBooks?

BuddyBooks by ObjectiveEd is effectively a computer buddy to read with. This buddy not only takes turns reading with your child, but it records them reading and tracks their progress in an easy to use Parent Dashboard. I remember finding a few books that were published in this buddy style reading with parent/child parts on either side of the book in the library when my kids were younger. They loved participating in the reading and found it easier to follow along. BuddyBooks does this for kids.

Once you have selected a book for your child, they can log-in to BuddyBooks and it will open directly to where they need to be in that book. In the Parent Dashboard you will have already decided whether they will be reading just sentences, or whole paragraphs. Then their buddy will read a section, and then they will read a section. The words appear highlighted on the screen so they can easily see them and know whose turn it is.

The program is recording them as they read. This is the input it uses to gather the stats you will find in the Parent Dashboard.

Review Mode

After their first log-in and reading session, the subsequent log-ins will begin with a review passage. BuddyBooks chooses a passage they struggled with from their previous reading session and brings it back for review.

First their buddy reads the passage, then it plays back the recording of your child reading that same passage, then it gives your child a chance to read it again. This allows them the chance to hear their mistakes and make corrections as necessary.

The Parent Dashboard

As parents you have access to a Parent Dashboard which you can log into separately from your child’s Student Log-In. Within this dashboard you can see your child’s reading stats and select books for them to read.

This dashboard allows you as the parent to see how long and how well your child is reading. PLUS you can see where they need help! This allows you to better create instruction plans around their weaknesses.

The Parent Dashboard Includes Things Like:

1. How Long They Read For – There are red, yellow, and green circles to indicate if they didn’t read at all; read, but not as long as the time you set for them; and read for the amount of time you set for them

2. A Place to Hear & See The Problems They Had While Reading – See sentences they struggled with and listen to a recording of them reading these sentences

3. Multiple Data Graphs – These include Progress on Book (which is the current book their are reading); Their score on reading certain Phonemes; Total Accuracy, and a graph that shows their Fluency

4. Books to Choose from & Books You Assigned For Your Child – Part of the dashboard is a list of books you have chosen to queue up for your child which also shows you which one is active. The dashboard is also where you can select books to add to your child’s queue

While BuddyBooks has their own book selection of hundreds of books for children of all ages (and are continuing to add more). If you have a child who has a qualifying diagnosis, you can have access to a plethora of books (over 1 million books – copyrighted fiction and non-fiction) through Bookshare.

A Note About The Book Selection: “BuddyBooks offers a money-back guarantee on the cost of NeuroLearning screening for parents who purchase BuddyBooks. If the tested child is not eligible for Bookshare, BuddyBooks will refund the $50 for the screening. If the child is eligible, the child would have access to the entire Bookshare library at no cost until the child is 18. Bookshare books can be accessed from within BuddyBooks by entering the Bookshare username & password into BuddyBooks. Bookshare books are also available using Bookshare’s web browser reading app, but that does not provide any of the features of BuddyBooks.

You can see all the details for this on the ObjectiveEd website here.

Benefits of Reading with BuddyBooks

1. Independent Reading

With BuddyBooks your child can read independently. You child and their buddy alternate reading sentences (or paragrahs based on the setting you choose), keeping them more engaged in the story than if they were simply reading it themselves. AND while they are doing so you will have access to the stats on how they are doing!

2. Helps Kids Correct Mistakes

At the beginning of every reading session BuddyBooks has them review a passage they struggled with. Not only to they get to hear it modeled correctly for them, but they get the chance to hear their mistake, and correct it.

3. Stats for Parents

BuddyBooks AI listens to your child’s reading and tells you how long and how well your child is reading and does so in an easy to use format within the Parent Dashboard.

Discount on BuddyBooks

From now through July 16th, 2023 you can get a HUGE discount on BuddyBooks so you can try it out for yourself. Using my unique coupon code JQ-SAE, you can get BuddyBooks for $99 instead of $199.99.

Summer Reading

As we head into summer be sure to check out all the ways you can make reading more fun this summer! Includes FREE Printable Books Lists By Age!

You can also grab my FREE Printable Reading Logs to keep track of all your reading! It’s fun for kids to color in as they go along!