I CAN READ, I CAN READ!

by Rene Armbruster
(Topeka, Kansas USA)

After 21 years of tutoring children with learning disabilities, I can tell you many success stories, ALL of them!

I teach children how to read using the Orton-Gillingham sequential phonics method. 50% of the children I have taught had a diagnosis of dyslexia, autism, Asperger's, or some other diagnosis such as brain trauma. These children were not able to learn to read in a regular classroom setting using classroom techniques.

I do not teach in a group setting but one-on-one. Parents usually sit in on the educational therapy classes so that they can learn what to do so that when they help at home it is consistent with the remediation technique I use.

I love seeing children's eyes light up when they realize that they have just read a page without any prompting from me. When a child comes to class and informs me with a smile that he read the book 5 times; once to each parent, once to the cat, once to the dog and once to his grandma over the telephone. Granted the book was a decodable reader and only had 16 pages with 2 sentences on each page. BUT the child accomplished something she had never done before.

When a 10 year old girl who was still struggling with the sounds of certain letters of the alphabet starts reading a decodable book, with no prompting, I jump for joy.

The secret of all of these successes is teaching one child at a time. Each child has to be taught individually at their own rate. Sometimes I may spend 2 class times going over the same material because the student was not able to grasp the concept that ai and ey both say long a. It is very important that the student has a solid foundation and knowledge of one concept before moving on to another.

For individualized success stories you can go to http://www.learning-disabilities-reading-tutor.com/reading-success-stories.html