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My son Joey is in first grade, and with only a couple months left of school this year, he couldn’t read at all. He knew some of the consonant sounds and none of the vowel sounds. His teacher was great about trying to build his self esteem while helping him learn and was having him review letter names/sounds with the Kindergarteners. In December, Joey came home upset saying, “Mom, I can’t even help the Kindergarten kids anymore, I’m a dummy and I have to copy the kids on all my work.” (The Kindergarten class had moved on to sight words) Needless to say my heart broke. Being a teacher, I knew Joey was really struggling, and I had been asking the school for help. His father, grandparents and aunt all suffer from some type of dyslexia, and knowing it was genetic, I wanted to be proactive, but kept hearing that Joey was “too young” and may just not be ready to read yet. Bottom line, I did not want my Joey to have the struggles his father had and still has to this day. I knew I didn’t have the tools to help him, yet from my research, I learned there were reading programs that were successful w/dyslexic children and I decided to get trained myself, so I could help my son, others struggling at his school, and possibly, even help my husband.

After researching several programs, I decided to take a “FAST Learning” course taught by Steven Tattum. During the first morning I asked several questions pertaining to my son and his difficulties. Steve asked if I could bring Joey in and he would work with him and show everyone how the program worked, using my son as an example. Based on his age and grade, Steve thought he would be at a start 2 in his program, but after a quick assessment, it was quite obvious Joey needed to begin at start 1. In Joey’s own words, the only word he could read was “a”.

Steve began working with Joey using the FAST approach and he started to “get it”. For the first time he was sounding out words on his own. On the way home that day, Joey was sounding out words in the back seat, separating them into syllables and figuring out the letter start sounds. Joey returned the next day to work with Steve for about an hour, and he really started to take off. The mistakes were becoming fewer and he started to read a real book on his own!!! The books are written by Steve and designed to go with the program. He is successful because the books only used the two short vowel sounds he was working on. That night after working with Steve and me, Joey read a book to his dad. The pride in both of their faces moved me to tears!

Steve asked if Joey and I could attend the Arizona Dyslexic Convention that Saturday so he could demonstrate how the program worked using Joey. I couldn’t refuse, and was excited for Joey to get to work with him again. I found myself talking to everyone about how wonderful the program was and telling them Joey’s story. It is my goal that all kids struggling like my son can receive the power of the FAST program.

After only one day of my training (so far—more to come in a few weeks) I have been working with Joey almost every evening after school. He no longer fights me about practicing reading because he is successful every time. In fact the other morning, (after an evening we missed because of scouts) I asked if he would do a quick lesson before school. He gladly sat down and worked with me for about 15 minutes, until time to leave for school. This was incredible, as when he has extra time in the morning he is allowed to watch T.V. or play Legos (he is quite the Lego master).

FAST works--in just a few hours of this program, self esteem begins to return to a struggling child. They realize that this time they are getting it. I feel so lucky that I was led to the FAST program and Stephan Tattum. I am so glad this man cared enough to create this program, and I feel empowered that I now have the tools I need to begin helping Joey and others like him. I now know that Joey will be reading at grade level soon, and I am glad he will never have to struggle like my husband did, getting bounced around from teacher to teacher and school to school. This program works and works quickly—FAST. I would be glad to personally speak to anyone who has questions about the program.

Bonnie York/ parent & music teacher
Phoenix Arizona, March 2007

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