specialized reading programs that had worked with so many of my other students. A normally happy child, Julie broke ALL my colored pencils. She cried because she was trying so hard, but nothing seemed to be working. Finally, a thought sprang from my natural intuition. "Why not encourage Julie to work with familiar things that she passionately loves?"
So, Julie cut out pictures, and among them was one of a bank. I carefully printed the word "Bank" under that picture in the booklet where Julie had put it, then briefly discussed banking and financial concepts with Julie. What amazed me was that before moving on to discuss her next picture, a balloon, Julie remarked, "But, Dr. Stone, there's another kind of bank!" That took me by surprise, and I answered, "Julie,
what kind of other bank?" Then, emphatically, Julie spoke, "When you go fishing, you
sit on a bank!" Stunned by the child's sudden enthusiasm, I was inspired to ask: "How do you know that, Julie?" to which she replied, "My dad takes me fishing, every weekend."
At that epiphany moment, I knew that I could teach Julie to read. She did indeed have knowledge -- personal knowledge from her own experiences. And soon afterward, we jointly turned that knowledge into something Julie could relate to, a learning path that she would remember and could recall, long-term. So, from thence, the READING-RIGHT program was born. And, like Julie and myself, it has grown!
Shortly after that day with Julie, she quickly developed reading, writing, and spelling skills. She never ran out of ideas to share with me and twenty-six amazing stories and dialogues later, Julie began reading at full grade level.