The Helping Hand & Word Cheers

Unlock  Your Child’s Reading Potential with the HELPING HAND

Teaches Students to Read with Confidence!


The Helping Hand is a visual and kinesthetic educational tool that gives students the confidence to find ways to help themselves read and comprehend text independently. It serves as a model to guide both students and teachers through direct instruction in decoding and comprehension strategies, promoting independent reading.

Engaging Learning Process for Reading Independently

Learning to read is a complex process that requires students to engage in the use of multiple cueing systems, or strategies, simultaneously in order to decode unknown words. In today’s educational environment there is a tendency to instruct low, medium and high readers differently, but with the Helping Hand you have one reading system that covers the basic core reading strategies.

Helping Hand provides direct instruction for how students can move through the various reading strategies including picture and context clues, chunking words, decoding to comprehension strategies and developing self monitoring skills – promoting independent reading.


What Experts Are Saying

“The Helping Hand provides a consistent reading practice that allows students o develop good-reading strategies – dramatically improving their confidence in their reading ability,” said XXX educational expert
“The Helping Hand provides a consistent reading practice that allows students o develop good-reading strategies – dramatically improving their confidence in their reading ability,” said XXX educational expert
“The Helping Hand provides a consistent reading practice that allows students o develop good-reading strategies – dramatically improving their confidence in their reading ability,” said XXX educational expert

Five Components for reading in one Helping Hand


The core reading strategies are correlated to five physical manipulatives or we call “sticks” on the Helping Hand. This multisensory technique works as a universal support for all students and helps them develop and transfer reading strategies independently.

The Helping Hand gives students self-awareness during the learning process of reading – a key component in any student’s reading development. When students use a strategy stick, they are made aware of what strategy they used to decode an unknown word. Several sticks can be used to solve an unknown word and students are aware that they used multiple strategies for one word. Self awareness throughout the learning process builds  confidence and independence.

The Helping Hand aids both teachers and students in the reading process.

Instruction through the Helping Hand provides students with powerful, engaging, limited direct instruction and  allows teachers access students progress and adjust instruction accordingly – from suggesting a particular strategy to merely observing a child utilize various strategies. Teachers can also use the hand strategies in a variety of classroom instructions including discussions during guided reading sessions and student utilization during independent reading.

What Teachers Are Saying

“The Helping Hand provides a consistent reading practice that allows students o develop good-reading strategies – dramatically improving their confidence in their reading ability,” said XXX educational expert
“The Helping Hand provides a consistent reading practice that allows students o develop good-reading strategies – dramatically improving their confidence in their reading ability,” said XXX educational expert
“The Helping Hand provides a consistent reading practice that allows students o develop good-reading strategies – dramatically improving their confidence in their reading ability,” said XXX educational expert

Creating an Individualized Program


The use of the Helping Hand coupled with text at a child’s instructional or independent level allows a student to have an individualized program that he/she can work through at his/her own pace, whether you have an advanced reader or one that struggles to read.

Many special education students who are challenged with reading have language deficits. The Hand is a strategy that eliminates the pressure to use language. There is also a correlation between visual processing problems and reading difficulties. The Hand is essential in supporting visual processing  deficits.

Engaging learning process for reading independently

Learning to read is a complex process that requires students to engage in the use of multiple cueing systems, or strategies, simultaneously in order to decode unknown words. In today’s educational environment there is a tendency to instruct low, medium and high readers differently, but with the Helping Hand you have one reading system that covers the basic core reading strategies.

Helping Hand provides direct instruction for how students can move through the various reading strategies including picture and context clues, chunking words, decoding to comprehension strategies and developing self monitoring skills – promoting independent reading.


What Parents Are Saying

“Magical! I didn’t know how to teach my children to read! The Helping Hand was a great tool for both guiding me and my kids through the different reading strategies! My daughter prefers to work independently and does not always welcome my instruction. The Hand allowed her to do this! When I first gave her the Hand she started “playing” with the shrinker and I was amazed to see her confidently attacking and reading”big” words, like, “interesting” and “fingerprint.” They no longer seemed to overwhelm her as she simply started shrinking them down into smaller parts that she could read!  Caleen Bolak, Ypsilanti – Homeschool mother of two
“The Helping Hand provides a consistent reading practice that allows students o develop good-reading strategies – dramatically improving their confidence in their reading ability,” said XXX educational expert
“The Helping Hand provides a consistent reading practice that allows students o develop good-reading strategies – dramatically improving their confidence in their reading ability,” said XXX educational expert