'Toe By Toe' does it really work?

[NotInTheMood]

and is it worth buying my ds 7 he is finding reading painfully difficult. He has speech and language delay and a very poor memory. He is getting extra help at school in small groups for 30 mins on a twice a week and reading every day. I am convinced he is dyslexic and not just a slow reader although the school are reluctant to diagnose anything. I obviously help him with his reading and written home work at home but its so painful and frustrating some of it is very basic yet he struggle to retain it.

What else can I be doing or should I be doing? Is this book any gold and is there anything else you can suggest?

This can't be bettered. I speak as a parent and an independent researcher into reading. The fact that it is American will not make any difference.

Toe by toe is excellent my son used it at home with myself, have to make sure you do it every night, which helps with the poor memory.
I did start with www.starfall.com first, a very fun free site with lots of videos, start at the level you think your child is at.
After finding out my son was not reading to any great extent (at about 7yrs) I stripped it all back to basics. I also went back to Letterland book we had first getting him to follow the letters with his finger in the big picture and calling out all the things in the picture beginning with that letter, then "cat in the hat" books along side starfall. We then moved on to Toe by Toe when I was sure he had all the basic letter sounds.
When he was younger I tried to read with him, actually I insisted I did but he never connected with it like my older son (who loved to be read to and did all the expected responses like finishing the sentences of a much loved book, and then begging for another chapter). The dyslexic son would sit looking at the pictures, I don't think he actually took in the story and then would sweetly say "can I play now".
Good luck it is really down to you to get things moving I'm afraid to say.

Forgot to say he also had speech and language problems-expressive (word finding difficulties), and very poor memory he ended up with S&L help once a week for most of primary, but he really needed a dyslexia helper, but either way once a week help is useless. His memory his now fantastic especially visually which he discovered and uses!

I also let him run with his love of maths and science, he would spend hours playing his older brothers Maths CD-roms (e.g. Reader rabbit maths, age 6-8) form a very early age 4/5, loved it apart from the time game.
He is now 13 in set 1 for maths and science, set 3 for humanities. It's important to work on their strengths. He has turned out to be the most hard working and loveable character his secondary school teachers all love him :) .

I didn't find toe by toe helped.

School can't dx dyslexia. (Only an EP can) But even if you do get a dx it's unlikely to change anything.

Moondog's suggestion is good. Although not necessarily for a 7 year old. As (I think) it is aimed at younger kids.

I prefer 'dancing bears' or 'bear necessities' (depending on his starting level) to toe by toe. It's a very similar program, but just slightly better IMO

Don't rely on school to help. Be proactive and help him yourself.

If his working memory, auditory processing, or processing speed is really bad, than none of the 'learn to read' programs will work, and you'll have to work on improving those underlying difficulties first.

So, I would spend 6 months on a daily learn to read program (anyone, they're all much of a muchness), and if that doesn't work then I'd start to look at other things.

No it isn't necessarily Indigo.
It takes one to the standard expected of an 8 year old and there is a follw on programme called Headsprout Reading Comprehension.

So are the games designed to be engaging for a 7 year old?

The sample lesson looked very babyish to me - but then as I'm not 7 I could well be wrong as to what they find engaging.

What age would you say is too old for it?

The sample lesson is one of the earliest episodes, hence the simplicity of it.
Much depends on the cogntive level of the children involved.
I've had pre-teesn use it quite happily as have 4 year olds.