Read Smart, Not Hard

A method that makes hard reading finally make sense.

CompreHelp is a method to improve reading comprehension, created around 2007 by Anastasia Gohari, a veteran Educational Therapist and Education Specialist. It has been successfully taught to students with Specific Learning Disabilities, Attention Deficit Disorders, Autism Spectrum Disorders, and other neurodivergent conditions.
Once you master it through our self-paced online course, it will be easy to transfer the knowledge to your child.

One highlighter. Seven steps.

No need to read the whole text.

Since 2007

In use by Special Education professionals

About a week

For an adult to master the method

Research-based

Orton-Gillingham, Krashen, ABA
What CompreHelp offers

A simple, structured set of steps — not more tutoring.

It allows a student with reading deficits to get through a typical middle or high school level informational text, and to demonstrate accurate comprehension of a text of any difficulty on any subject by answering questions to it.

The method works by teaching a specific sequential approach to informational text — extracting meaning and relevant information, and answering comprehension questions with a high degree of accuracy, without having to read the entire text.

As a result of mastering the method, students improve in reading comprehension, reading anxiety, test-taking skills, assessment results, and self-respect.

Since 2007 the method has evolved into a structured approach that helps students get through the volume, pace and complexity of general education materials with ease.

Answer with accuracy without reading
the entire text.

Seven steps, learned in two stages — here is how
they work.
The method, step by step

Seven steps, learned in two stages.

You start with the first four and always practise them together. Only once your child has mastered those do you move on to the last three.
1

Start from the end

The start-from-the-end approach to a text.
2

Identify keywords

Find the words that carry the answer.The start-from-the-end approach to a text.
3

Order of delivery

How the order of information relates to the order of the questions.
4

Scan and highlight

Selective scanning, and highlighting what matters.
5

Read for answers

Reading for answers, not for the information in general.
6

The logic behind grades

Understanding how grading actually works.
7

Calculate the grade

The minimum number of questions to answer correctly for the grade of their choice.

That is the CompreHelp method in a nutshell — minimum anxiety, maximum results.

On the page

This is what steps two and four look like.Seven steps, learned in two stages.

Read the question first, pull out the keywords, then scan the text for those words and highlight only what answers them.

The rest of the paragraph stays unread — and the answer is still right. That is reading smart, not hard.
The question

Where does water vapour go after it rises?

The text
Heat from the sun warms the surface of lakes and oceans. Water vapour rises into the cooler air above, where it condenses into clouds. Later in the season these patterns shift, and regional weather begins to change accordingly.
  • One sentence highlighted. Question answered.
Passing it on

Four gentle moves,
and the skill is theirs.

Step 1

Demonstrate

Show them the step yourself.
Step 2

Practice for them

You do it while they watch.
Step 3

Practice with them

You work through it together.
Step 4

Watch them do it

They take it on their own.

What you'll need

  • An erasable highlighter
    A reading helper
    Or on-screen highlighting
An erasable highlighter and a reading helper for hard copies of worksheets or workbooks. If the assignment is screen based, you'll use the highlighting features instead.

Three training components in every module

  • A skill practised with a regular text — something your child will be able to perform once you have taught them.
  • Game practice — the exercise your child will start off with.
  • Practice of the skill, to teach your child the step.
Who it's for

We work with four primary audiences.

  • 01
    Students with identified disabilities and those with reading difficulties, aged 10 to adult.
  • 01
    Students identified as English Language Learners.
  • 01
    Educational professionals: General and Special Education Teachers, Instructors, Speech Pathologists, Educational Therapists, Intensive Academic Instruction Specialists and Tutors.
  • 01
    Parents and guardians of students with disabilities and reading difficulties, and homeschooling families.
What makes it different

Effectiveness you can see, accessibility anyone can use.

Using your expertise and the online resources on our platform, you will see rapid improvement in the areas of:

Reading anxiety Reading comprehension Test results and consequently grades Motivation Self-management Self-confidence Self-respect Relationships with peers and adults

Accessibility

You do not need any specific prior training or academic knowledge. The course is designed to be easily mastered by any motivated adult with a basic middle school reading comprehension level.

Research-based

It draws on the Orton-Gillingham multisensory reading approach, Stephen Krashen's Theory of Second Language Acquisition, and the Behavioral Science concept of ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis).

New to the public

The method has been in use by Special Education professionals since 2007 and was never available to the general public until now.
Open now

CompreHelp Parent & Guardian Training Course

It's about mastering the sequence and steps needed to implement and teach the CompreHelp method with a high degree of success to your child.

A user-friendly format adapted to the independent learning level of adults without a specialized educational background — it only takes about a week to master in order to teach it directly to children, teenagers and young adults.

Self-paced

Online course format

About a week

To master the method

No background needed

For adults without specialized training
Why we exist

School should not cost a
family its evenings, savings
and peace.

Our vision

An affordable and effective solution for school-related frustration and anxiety, for families already carrying the mounting costs and time commitments of private tutoring, speech therapy and executive functioning sessions.

Our mission

A meaningful, inclusive educational experience for students with disabilities, learning difficulties and second language learners — and families empowered with a method that helps those students succeed in school and life.
CompreHelp not only gives struggling students the tools to succeed academically and socially — it also helps dramatically improve relationships between those students and their frustrated parents.

Who's teaching you

Two special educators with 35 years of classroom practice between them — one wrote the method, one walks you through it.
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Anastasia Gohari

Author of the CompreHelp® method

Master of Science in Special Education with a dual credential in mild/moderate and moderate/severe disabilities. Teaching students with exceptionalities since 2002, and a clinical supervisor for teacher preparation at UCLA, WGU and UMass Global. She built CompreHelp® around 2007 and has watched hundreds of students use it to gain confidence and lift their grades.

  • M.S. Special Education
    Teaching since 2002
    UCLA · WGU · UMass Global

Minimum anxiety. Maximum results.

Master the method in about a week, then hand it to your child — one step at a time, at their pace.
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