True Stories of Success: Max, 11, & Thomas, 8

Why did I decide to have two of my sons to go through this program? Well,honestly, I didn’t know what else to do. I was desperate to getour 7 year old, Thomas, through his reading crisis. After 4 years of workingon him with supplemental phonics classes at childcare, Hooked on Phonicsat home (a wonderful program that worked beautifully for my other 3 children),and a fantastic kindergarten private education, he wasn’t makingmuch progress. I was convinced he had dyslexia or some other issue. Hecould identify the sounds of the letters beautifully. But when it cameto putting them together to make a word, he was really having issues.And he was frustrated too. Homework became a war of excuses and avoidance.He learned to make educated guesses about the words, like when we werepracticing a group of words that all sounded the same. Then, when he sawthe same words on a page of words that weren’t similar, he wouldget them wrong. I knew he wasn’t actually reading. He was learninga way AROUND reading. I had to break this cycle before Thomas really fell behind.

My daughter came home from UCLA for the summer, fresh out of her developmentalpsychology classes. She also sensed an issue. A Baltimore friend of ourshas a child with dyslexia who attends a special school. I figured theremust be some kind of program locally like that and so I asked my daughterto research it for me. She found educational psychologists and LearningRx.Well, I had already been the route of the educational psychologist inthe past. My oldest son had also had some reading avoidance, so I hadhim assessed in 4th grade. After $1500 for a 4-day battery of tests anda 1 hour session to summarize the findings, I was basically told thathis reading was “average” and that he should just practicereading some more. That was not helpful at all!!! There was a shelf fullof books in his room covering every possible topic a boy his age couldlike and there was still resistance to picking one up!

So, I called Learning Rx and set up the assessment for my 7 year old. Whenwe got the results, I thought, “yikes!” His short-term memorywas horrible. The testing confirmed everything I had feared. The thingthat convinced me to try the program was watching a trainer working witha boy about the same age as Thomas. They were practicing a drill whereyou read 4-letter nonsense words using what you know about letter sounds.He was doing great. I imagined how thrilled I would be if my son coulddo that. So, I signed him up. I also signed up my middle son, Max. Histests actually showed that he had an incredible memory and a phenomenalIQ. But his speed was slow and he sensed that. He complained about beinga slow reader and it showed in the amount of time he needed for homework.So, I signed them both up. I figured there would be less complaining ifboth brothers had to endure the program together.

One thing I CAN say without reservation is that every one of the trainerswe have had here was superb! They are dedicated to their jobs and to seeingtheir students make progress. They know how to make brain exercise funand just what reward will bring out that last bit of effort for the day.Thank you Betsy, Tamra, and Casey! You are my heroes!

Yes, it worked. Yes, I would do it again. Thomas is over the hump and isa bona fide reader! And I can see the confidence he has now when he picksup a book or we sit down to tackle his new word study list. He did greatin school! I had made his teacher aware of my concerns at the beginningof the year, so he was placed in the lower reading group for the class.Well, he has risen to the top of that group and is right on target! Heis tackling sight words with ease. We no longer struggle to get the homeworkdone and he is finding joy in understanding the story-line. He is recognizingwords on signs and asking me what things say on his own. Max is finishinghis homework in study hall at school and Dad doesn’t have to supervisehim anymore. He has earned his educational independence. His testing supportedthat his speed had improved.

Stacey, Max and Thomas’ mom