Case Study: How The Reading Doctor and Reading Eggs Combine to Support Struggling Readers

When Deborah Salisbury founded The Reading Doctor in 2012, she had no idea that a casual mention from one of her students would lead to finding a digital tool that perfectly complements her teaching approach.

Today, her network of specialist tutors partner with Reading Eggs, our online reading program for schools, providing 700+ students in the UK with additional support for their reading journey.

A perfect pedagogical match

The Reading Doctor specialises in one-to-one reading intervention for children who have struggled in mainstream settings.

When Deborah first investigated Reading Eggs – after a student's enthusiastic recommendation – she immediately recognised its alignment with her teaching philosophy and intervention methodology.

"I really liked how it aligned with our way of teaching," explains Deborah. "It's not timed and that's really important because I work with a lot of children who are neurodiverse and the moment they feel like it's a test, they start to get anxious."

This non-pressured approach proved crucial for her students, many of whom had already experienced reading failure. The program's emphasis on repetition and consolidation to ensure mastery perfectly complemented her intervention methodology.

“There's lots of overlearning in Reading Eggs, so you don't visit one skill just once – there's lots of repetition and consolidation to make sure they master each thing," she notes.

The program's mistake-friendly environment also aligns with her teaching philosophy:

"We really promote that it's OK to make mistakes because you can just have another go. And that's all built-in as well."

Personalised support with digital enhancement

As The Reading Doctor expanded from Deborah's individual practice to a franchise network seven years ago, she decided to include Reading Eggs as a bonus for students.

Every student now receives a subscription alongside their specialist tuition, with the program's placement test serving as a useful additional assessment tool:

"Each child is on a personalised program, and I really like that," says Deborah.

The Reading Eggs placement test complements their own initial assessment process, providing tutors with extra insight into where each child should begin their learning journey.

What makes Reading Eggs particularly valuable for struggling readers is its balanced approach to literacy instruction.

While many intervention programs focus solely on phonics, Reading Eggs integrates multiple components of reading instruction that The Reading Doctor has found essential for reading success:

"It's a nice balance of reading for meaning, comprehension and phonics," Deborah explains. "Most of the children we work with are just doing phonics... they need those other elements too, and they need reading to feel meaningful and fun and interesting."

Engaging reluctant readers

Perhaps nowhere is Reading Eggs' impact more evident than with The Reading Doctor's students who've developed negative associations with reading.

The program's gamified approach and reward system prove beneficial for these reluctant learners:

"They like the rewards... if the word 'reading' is a trigger, we can say, 'We’re just going to look at your avatar' and it doesn’t feel like work," Deborah shares. "It’s like they're playing a game."

This approach has supported some remarkable outcomes. Deborah recalls one student who first came to The Reading Doctor with an intense dislike of reading.

The combination of The Reading Doctor's specialist intervention and Reading Eggs proved effective. When the student graduated from their program at a solid reading age of eight, he asked to keep his Reading Eggs account so he could continue working through activities he wanted to complete.

"It's not just Reading Eggs on its own and it's not just our intervention – it's how they complement each other," Deborah reflects.

Supporting home learning and family engagement

One of Reading Eggs' greatest strengths for The Reading Doctor network is how it bridges the gap between tutoring sessions and home practice.

Unlike traditional homework, which can feel punitive to struggling readers, the program provides a positive, independent learning experience.

The program's library of over 4,000 levelled eBooks also gives students plenty of engaging content to explore at home:

“We can give them the parent letter from Reading Eggs and say if you want to do something at home, your child can have a go on the program and they'll know exactly what to do," Deborah shares.

The Reading Eggs multilingual parent resources are also particularly valuable for The Reading Doctor's diverse student population, ensuring families can support their children regardless of their first language.

The program creates what Deborah calls "a nice transition from the session to home which is a positive experience." This is especially important for children who "have had a really negative experience of learning to read."

A trusted addition to specialist teaching

After more than a decade, Reading Eggs remains an important part of The Reading Doctor's specialist approach. As Deborah explains:

"We rarely use anything external because it's not quite aligned, but Reading Eggs really is, and I know if I took it away from my franchisees, there'd be uproar – which tells us everything."

For a franchise network built on specialist, evidence-based intervention for struggling readers, this speaks volumes about Reading Eggs' value as a truly complementary digital resource.