Today, I get to share this wonderful update that makes my heart sing!!
It’s from Jennifer, the mom of my student Rebecca, who graduated from Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™ 9 months ago.
These are Jennifer’s proud words:
“All the extra hours of studying and practicing and tutoring paid off! 104%!! When Rebecca started spelling in first grade, it was so stressful for her that she took her test alone and untimed. Now Rebecca understands phonics and why words are spelled the way they are, and she tests with the class. She just did three weeks in a row with 100%, 102% and now this 104%! She gets the twenty-word spelling list to study, but the extra credit ones are a surprise on test day.
People with dyslexia CAN spell. They just need someone to teach them how and to believe they can!”
On another day, Jennifer shared an experience Rebecca had during the past week in school. Rebecca had a reading assignment to circle all the words on the paper that had 3 syllables. When she was working on it, her teacher stopped by her desk and said, “You forgot to circle ’temperature’.” Rebecca politely replied, “Temperature has 4 syllables, so I shouldn’t circle it. Every syllable has one vowel sound. You need to say it correctly to spell it correctly.” She truly has learned phonics!
Rebecca’s grandma, a retired teacher, said, “I am so grateful that Jennifer insisted that there had to be a solution and then researched until she found Mrs. Jones and Silent Elephant "e", LLC ! Rebecca is amazing !!!”
This is even more joyful news when you realize that Rebecca is profoundly dyslexic.
When she began Silent Elephant “e”™ with me as a first grader, she didn’t have any phonemic awareness and was failing in reading, writing and, as Jennifer shared above, spelling. Rebecca’s school had staffed her into special education with an IEP. To that point, nothing that had been tried had helped her learn.
School was painful for her, and Jennifer set out to find someone who understood her as a dyslexic learner and could teach her the way she learns as a dyslexic.
Skipping ahead to today, Rebecca is a completely successful 5th grader reading on an 11th grade level, writing amazing creative stories and poems, and as you saw, understands spelling because she KNOWS and UNDERSTANDS phonics because she was taught phonics the way her brain learns.
She is free to happily explore her world, and she is.
I’m so proud of her!
If you have a child who is struggling with reading, writing or spelling, please contact me.
If you know someone whose child is struggling, send them this email and encourage them to contact me.
No child should struggle with reading, writing or spelling.
In Jennifer’s wonderful words, “They just need someone who can teach them how and believe they can.”
With Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™ YOU have the HOW to teach them the WAY THEY LEARN, and you are the one who loves and BELIEVES in them.
Contact me here silentelephante@gmail.com
Keep a song in your heart!