In Part 1, I talked about my older son who had a reading difficulty. Now, I will talk about my younger son. He too had difficulty learning to read. Like my older son, Peter also went to Mommy and Me classes starting at the age of six months. At four, I enrolled Peter in a Montessori school which he attended for two years. Having a late birthday (October) I did not enroll him in kindergarten until he was 5 years 11 months. I gave him the extra year because he was not interested in the ABCs. Being a teacher, I had tried teaching him his letters. I tried doing it in fun ways but he was not interested. Having difficulty learning the ABCs is an indicator that a child may have difficulty learning to read.
In first grade, Peter could read the basal reader which was a whole language book (not phonetic). He could read those stories! But when it came to Hop on Pop he could not read it. He had memorized the stories in his basal reader. Peter was never very interested in school. In high school, he dropped out. We took him to a private school where it was one on one but he still was not interested. When he should have been a junior, he took the High School Proficiency Test and passed. Now, he could go to junior college. He did that for a couple of years but what he really enjoyed were computers. He had part time jobs starting at age 16 working at different computer places. At nineteen he got a full time job at Talend and then at 22 he got hired at Twitter. After two years at Twitter, he is now working for Books.com and living in the Netherlands. He very much enjoyed both Talend and Twitter and I am sure he will enjoy working for Bookings.com.
Both boys are now avid readers, especially Peter. He’s always got his nose in a book whether its fiction or a computer book. Steven always has his nose in a science book. The last two trips we went on: one to the Amazon rainforest and the Galapagos; the other to Africa, Steven brought a big heavy chemistry book that he was constantly looking at.
It’s amazing the adults your children become. Both of my boys had difficulty in school but now they are doing fine. I have seen the same with their friends who also had a rough time in school. Most of them are doing well. What’s the secret? I believe it’s parents! The parents who continued to give support to their kids through thick and thin, their kids are the ones who are now doing well.
Our series English Reading and Spelling for the Spanish Speaker is an excellent place to begin for Spanish speakers who need to learn how to read and spell in English. This series uses a very systematic and explicit approach in teaching the English speech sounds which are necessary in learning to read.
Visit our website at www.Fisher-Hill.com to see all of our workbooks for Spanish-speaking teens and adults.
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