Cracking the Code

The most exciting thing going on in our house these days is that Grace is learning to read. Scratch that...last year she was learning to read. Grace is reading! I cannot even find the words to express how major this is. If I could find them, I'd write them down. And then you could read them. Once she is reading fluidly, worlds will open to her of which she currently is not a part. If she can read, she can learn to cook. If she can read, she'll never be lonely, even if she doesn't have many friends. If she can read, it will bring her endless joy, knowledge, and wisdom. This really is huge. It's huge for any child, but it's extra huge for Grace.

She can't ride a bike, but she can read. She can't tie her shoes, but she can read. She can't write her first and last name, but she can read. She can't button a button, but she can read. She can't catch a ball, but she can read. She's socially awkward and gets on her peers' nerves, but she can read. She's not wired like many of us are and faces great difficulties just making it through each day, but she can read.

Grace is an example of how integrating three techniques of learning how to read really work: memorizing high-frequency sight words, sounding out words based on the sounds that the letters make (phonics) and using context clues to figure out a word that might be baffling apart from a particular sentence.

Grace reads everything she sees these days and the louder I sing praises, the madder Johnny gets. He'll come around, because he'll be reading before you know it. Grace has a long way to go to become fluid and a really good reader (she exhibits signs of Lysdexia fairly often)---but what's she's already learned will never be taken away from her and away she'll go from here.