Failure Free Reading,

Was founded in 1988 by Dr. Joseph F. Lockavitch, former classroom teacher, school psychologist, university professor and special education director. Throughout Dr. Lockavitch's career he continually searched for reading programs to help his students that tested in the bottom reading percentile (15-0%) virtual non-readers. He found that while there were several good programs for students that tested above the 15-20th% there was nothing for his students that fell below those numbers.


Through Dr. Lockavitch's research he realized that these students that so desperately needed help had three things in common: they were Environmentally Denied, Language Deprived, and Phonetically Deaf. More striking was that there was no reading program out there that took into account these characteristics of non-readers. So through his research Dr. Lockavitch created The Failure Free Reading Methodology. The Failure Free Reading Methodology reduces reading to its simplest form by controlling for the three instructional elements crucial to reading success: repetition, sentence structure and story content. It also takes into account the three characteristics of non-readers.


The methodology is designed to provide a highly structured language development lesson that teaches word recognition, comprehension and fluency. Failure Free Reading offers a wide range of programs infused with The Failure Free Reading Methodology, from the Failure Free Reading Online subscription, FFR's Rapid Response to Reading Intervention, FFR's CD-Rom version, and multiple colorful books that coincide with Failure Free's talking software.

CODIE Award Finalist two consecutive years from the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA). Best Educational Solutions for Special Needs Students.

As Seen on The PBS' NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.

Florida State University Approved by FSU as a Reading First Intensive Intervention.

  • Selected by a national reading research panel for inclusion in the largest reading research study in United States History - the Power4Kids Study.
  • The 2nd most approved Supplemental Educational Service provider in the nation.
  • Featured on PBS' NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.
  • Heard nationally on the Tom Joyner Radio Show.
  • 2006 finalist for the Software Information Industry's Codie Award for Best Special Educational Software for Middle and High School.
  • 2005 finalist for the Software Information Industry's Codie Award for Best Special Educational Software for Elementary School.
  • Designated as a "Promising Practice in Reading" by the Education Commission of the States.
  • Cited in the Chicago Tribune as one of the most effective SES after school tutoring programs in Chicago Public Schools.
  • Called "a valuable discovery" by researchers at the University of Conneticut for it's work with special education students.
  • As featured in the United States Department of Education's Office of Innovation's Policy Maker's Newsletter.
  • Approved by Florida State University as a Reading First Intesive Intervention.
  • Published in 7 peer reviewed international and national research journals.

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