We have been working with Cade for 3 and a half months, for over an hour every day, on his reading skills. He has struggled and whined, but fought through the tough times. We even started the reading program at Kumon, as he doesn't qualify for reading intervention through school. As a result, Cade has been completing 20 extra pages of reading homework 7 nights a week. Excessive, you say? Well, I might agree if I were looking at this from the outside. Our boy, though, needs to fight and succeed on his own in order for his confidence to grow. We know this as his parents, so we have purposefully set the stage for his battle.
On Monday evening, out of complete desperation and my need for time with our other two boys, I sent Cade to his room to read in bed independently. I had absolutely no expectations. I knew that he would probably just look at the pictures on the pages and maybe glance at a few words, guessing at their meaning by their first letter. I assumed that I'd ask him about what he'd read and I would hear nonsense as a result of his non-reading. Boy was I ever wrong!
After 15 minutes or so, I had read to the baby, put him to bed, read with Carter and tucked him in. I went into Cade's room to find his nose happily in his book. He smiled at me with a special, very different kind of twinkle in his eye. I took the book from him, quickly read through the 24 pages that he said he "read" and I asked him to tell me what the story was about. He proceeded to tell me every detail of the story, in order, from the beginning. No way, I thought. This can't be true. He must have been able to figure this out by looking at the pictures alone. So, I proceeded to ask him questions that he could only know if he had been able to read the words themselves. Guess what? He knew every single detail. Could this be for real? I then chose a few pages for him to read out loud. I purposely chose pages that I thought would be challenging for him. For the first time....EVER...Cade read fluently, seamlessly, without hesitation or error. My eyes grew to the size of saucers and I threw my arms around our boy. "You did it," I squealed enthusiastically. To say that I was shocked would be an understatement. I was awed. I just witnessed something spectacular.
The light switch was flipped on and Cade was thrilled. He didn't want to go to bed without finishing his book. Where I would normally say, it's time for bed, I instead went with the enthusiasm and allowed Cade 10 more minutes of reading as a privilege. Reading....a privilege???? Yes, that's how Cade feels now. Praise God!!! It's a miracle!!!
After 10 minutes, I went back into Cade's room and he had read 15 more pages. Again, I tested him and he knew every detail. We are so proud of Cade's persistence, tenacity, and success. Life is good....really, really GOOD.
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