“This is the piece I’ve been missing! This is the piece I’ve been missing!”
“I wish the letters would stop racing off the page!” my ten-year-old student exclaimed in frustration.
“What?” I questioned.
He replied with a sigh, “I just wish the letters would stop racing off the page when I’m trying to read!”
I took a quiet deep breath and trying to keep concern out of my voice said, “I’d love for you to tell me what you see when you are reading.”
I listened with amazement as this kindhearted, hardworking boy began describing what it’s like when he looks at letters on a page and tries to read the words and sentences.
“The letters are in a race,” he said. “They run to the left side and then disappear off the page. It’s as if they ran through a portal into another dimension.
“I have to try to read really fast to try to catch the second word. Sometimes I just catch the beginning of a word. Sometimes I can catch a few more letters. That’s why I guess a lot.”
He paused and continued, “Suddenly the words in the sentence will grow or pop back on the page in the same spot.
“Then I try to quickly read more of the sentence. I might be able to get to the third word, but then the fourth word might move up a line and then the fifth word might move down a line.
“I have to try to read super-fast the first time I read a sentence. I usually have to read a sentence 3 to 5 times to be able to slow down enough that I can understand what I’m reading.”
He thought for a moment and continued to share, “Black letters always used to race off the page, but since I’ve been tutoring with you and learning the colors, the colors stay hooked to the words like rubber bands. The rubber bands pull the words back onto the page.”*
I asked, still in a state of surprise, “You said black letters always used to race off the page, but now the colors help. How often do the black letters race off the page now?”
He gave this question some thought and then answered, “Oh, I’d say about 30% of the time. It’s a lot better now!”
He was beginning to feel safe and comfortable and wanting to share more about what reading is like for him. “But it’s not good to have the letters in bright colors like they are in books sometimes, because the letters will jump, explode and then come back. That makes reading take a long time, because I have to wait for the bright letters to come back.
“I like to read comic books and graphic design novels. The speech balloons help keep the words in the white space, so they don’t race off the page.
“And, I don’t like the words mixed in the picture, because the words will jump off the page for sure.” **
This sweet boy was on a roll. He continued to think of things he wanted to share. “Oh, Mrs. Jones, you know the yellow highlight handwriting paper*** that we use to practice my spelling words?”
I nodded, “Yes.”
“When we first started using it, the yellow part would stretch up taller and taller if I was writing a word that didn’t have any tall letters in it, such as “can”. I’d have to refocus several times. It’s better if a word has at least one tall letter in it, such as “cat”. The more I use it, the better it’s getting though.”
I thought of his progress over the past several months. “Yes, I have seen a lot of improvement in your spelling and handwriting since we began using that paper,” I replied.
The more he shared the more he thought of things he wanted me to know, such as how extremely frustrating it is for him to try to read highway signs, street signs and store front signs when he is riding in a car. “The letters race off the signs too quickly.”
Let’s stop here for a moment and imagine the daunting task this young boy faces each time he tries to read anything. Imagine how frustrated he must feel. Imagine the effort he puts forth just to read a word. Imagine . . .
This wonderful boy began tutoring with me and Silent Elephant “e” 14 months ago when he was in the 3rd grade and has preserved through biweekly tutoring sessions.
At age nine, when he began tutoring with me, he had not mastered phonemic awareness and did not have a clue about how language works.
After two weeks of instruction in phonemic awareness he exclaimed out loud, “This is the piece I’ve been missing! This is the piece I’ve been missing!” I smile when I think of that moment 14 months ago, I knew he was on his way to becoming a confident reader.
It only took him 5 months to reach complete mastery in phonemic awareness with Silent Elephant “e”. He now hears the individual sounds within words giving him an understanding of how our language works.
Since beginning tutoring with me with Silent Elephant “e”, his word recognition and comprehension skills have gone from a Primer Instructional reading level to an 8th grade instructional reading level! That’s a 7-year advancement in 14 months of instruction (just 2 hours/week) with Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”! He’s now a strong confident reader headed into 5th grade this fall!
I know that every time this remarkable, hard-working boy reads, he confronts a huge mountain to climb, but thanks to Silent Elephant “e” the letters are staying attached to the page more often and reading is becoming easier and more fluent. He still gets frustrated, sometimes more than others, but he continues to press on. He has felt success and wants more of it.
I’m so proud of him—I can’t begin to tell you how much! My heart fills with joy!
*Silent Elephant “e” teaches phonics using colors for vowel diacritical markings, consonant digraphs, consonant blends, roots and base words, prefixes, suffixes and syllables.
** This comment reminded me of my husband, who is also dyslexic. He worked hours with me after we received my illustrator’s rough draft for my picture book My Awesome Grandma. Many times, he could not see letters on a colored background and he definitely couldn’t see letters that flowed into the picture. This was a real eye opener for me. I had known for years that I could only write him a shopping list on white paper using blue or black ink, but I had not ever understood exactly why this was until we worked together on my book.
***I use Abilitations Hi-Write paper. There are several brands available.
If you are questioning whether someone in your life is dyslexic and you’re not sure what to do, feel free to contact us.
Linda Katherine Smith-Jones Nina Henson