SUCCESS STORIES
NEIL’S READING SUCCESS
AND MANAGEMENT OF DYSPRAXIA
Neil was born congenitally delayed in two significant ways. He had severe intellectual delay and he had moderate dyspraxia. His IQ of 40 standard points compared with the average of 100 points, meant that Neil could never look forward to an independent job, or life without care.
Neil’s dyspraxia meant that he couldn’t shape the sounds in words accurately. His voice sounded muffled and incoherent when he spoke. Medical professionals recommended Neil’s parents place him in an institution or as a ward of the state because, as they put it, “he was little more than a vegetable.” Neil’s parents were fiercely protective of him. They loved him unconditionally, and they wanted to dedicate themselves to enabling Neil to have the best opportunities available and the best quality of life possible.
Neil was 8 years old when he came to the I Can Read Centre in Campbelltown in 1999. Neil had real difficulty articulating. He would look at a picture of a cat, and say something quite unintelligible, but it was clear that he was struggling to say the word. We noticed that whenever he tried to say ‘cat’, however, he made the same sounds, which was very encouraging, and which meant that he had a vocabulary that his parents had learnt to understand, a language all of his own.
Our challenge was to teach Neil how to read and how to enjoy reading. We were keen to work with Neil because although he couldn’t articulate ‘cat’ clearly, it was apparent to us that he understood that this word was a sequence of coarticulated sounds, and even though he produced a sound unlike the word ‘cat’ as you and I say it, his verbal representation of the word was consistent. As it turned out, Neil had excellent phonemic awareness, and after a year of our support he was able to decode sequences of letters and consistently articulate strings of letters in the same way. We were about to move to Singapore at that time, and Neil’s parents almost followed us: they were so grateful that Neil could now read words up to two syllables, had access to storybooks and had some control over his learning. Neil’s story shows that anyone can learn to read, given the correct instruction.
PARENT TESTIMONIALS from DEE WHY
“My daughter loves the I Can Read program. It is great to see how she has improved over the term, and I love seeing how excited she is when she gets answers correct. She always looks forward to her class every week because she knows she will learn something new. She has become a lot more interested in spelling and sounding out words and she has even started to read words herself, by sounding them out. She is always using what she learns at I Can Read and I couldn’t be happier with her progress!”
Nicole, mum of Sophia
Nicole, mum of Sophia and Northern Beaches Mums Business Manager.
“Both my daughters have attended I Can Read Dee Why and have benefited greatly from the program. They both enjoy attending their one-on-one classes, and are now interested in reading the classics. We are currently reading Black Beauty! I would highly recommend the program to anyone wanting to further support their children with reading and writing.”
John, parent of two children attending ICR Dee Why
“My daughter started with I Can Read’s Pre-reading program and is now attending the Advanced Language and Literacy Skills program. She really enjoys and looks forward to her one on one sessions. They have over the years opened a whole new world for her!”
Jeanine, parent of daughter attending ICR Dee Why
PARENT TESTIMONIALS from BURWOOD
“We were worried about my son’s speech delay and took him to speech therapy for 2 years. We went to I Can Read Burwood for an initial assessment and enrolled him in the I Can Read programme, prior to starting school. We as non-native English speakers, were pleased to see that he improved in his speech and reading skills within months. Now, he is in Kindergarten and received his Semester 1, 2020 report with an outstanding result in English. He is now a very keen reader.”
E&C, parents of student attending ICR Burwood
“My girls have been attending “I Can Read Burwood” for many years now since Kindy. Both are good readers and I think the reading programme has been great in helping them learn their phonics at a young age. The teachers are fantastic and the groups are small to ensure the kids get attention. Highly recommend.”
Thi Thran, parent of two children attending ICR Burwood
“They helped my daughter gain her confidence in her reading. Would recommend to anyone looking to help their child read.”
Jenna, parent of student attending Burwood
PARENT TESTIMONIALS from BANKSTOWN
“Just want to say how amazing this centre is and how much my son has achieved since attending I Can Read Bankstown. The teachers are very professional at what they do, they put so much effort in their teaching skills. They are amazing teachers. I’m thankful that I got to know the teachers and grateful to have my son at this centre”.
Kawsar, parent of student attending Bankstown
“My son has been with the Bankstown branch of I Can Read for about 18 months now and in this time he has improved his reading immensely from a level 19 at school when he first started to a level 27, which is great for year a 3 student. The teachers are professional and are to be commended for their efforts during COVID-19.”
Rebecca, parent of child attending Bankstown
“Wonderful and caring staff! They are quite knowledgeable in their area and know how to get the best work from my child. Highly recommended.”
Sara, parent of child attending Bankstown
WHY CHOOSE THE I CAN READ SYSTEM?
Parents choose I Can Read because it is the one stop system for all skills related to fluent reading and writing.
Taught by qualified teachers specialising in literacy, it is a proven system which has never had a failure!
Digest our research and reports.
For further information, just give us a call – we love talking literacy…
