Student Success Stories

Take the opportunity to meet some of our students.

Read their success stories.

Then visit the rest of the website to find out how they learned to read and write.

Michael

Michael has autism.
He has a great sense of humor.
He loves superheroes of all kinds, especially Power Rangers.
Michael was 3 years old when we first met him. He wasn’t able to say many words and he didn’t yet know how to read. He used a few signs and PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System) to make basic requests, but he was frustrated that he couldn’t express himself more fully.
Watch this video to see Michael at 4 years of age (after approximately 12 months of instruction, 1 hour per week). He is reading a book about a Robot Dog.
His literacy skills significantly exceed those of his typical peers.
He is now using speech as his main means of communication.
Visit the rest of the website to learn more about how Michael learned to read and type stories.

Jackson

Jackson has Down syndrome.
He is full of energy and is always smiling.
He loves animals of all kinds, especially sharks. And he loves Curious George, Clifford, and Lightning McQueen from the movie Cars.
Jackson started literacy instruction when he turned 4 years old.
Here he is, just after his 5th birthday, after approximately 14 months of instruction (45 minutes a week). He’s reading a personalized book about his favorite characters.
He is using speech and signs to communicate.
Jackson is ready to enter Kindergarten. He is already a reader. His literacy skills are significantly ahead of his typical peers.
Visit the rest of the website to learn more about how Jackson learned to read books.

Sandra

Sandra has cerebral palsy.
She uses speech, gestures and a communication book to communicate as well as a computer with speech output (a DynaVox MT4).
Sandra is very outgoing and loves to interact with other people.
Her church community and her family are very important in her life.
We first met Sandra when she was 13 years old.
She was very motivated to learn to read, but she had never had the opportunity to participate in literacy instruction.
After approximately 8 weeks of instruction, Sandra had learned to decode regular words. She was able to use these skills to participate in shared reading activities.
In this video, Sandra is talking about the impact of literacy on her life.
Visit the rest of the website to learn more about how Sandra learned to read.

Krista

Krista has multiple challenges, including a hearing impairment, a visual impairment, and a motor impairment. She also has a tracheostomy.
Krista has a dynamic personality. She makes everyone smile.
Like many of her peers, she loves Zac Efron from High School Musical and Zack and Cody from the Suite Life of Zack and Cody.
She uses sign approximations and a computer with speech output (a Mercury with Speaking Dynamically Pro software). Because of her hearing impairment, she does best when others sign as they talk.
We started to work with Krista when she was 8 years old. At that time, she was in a special education class at school and was not receiving literacy instruction.
Watch this video of Krista at 9 years of age. She is independently reading a personalized book about a summer adventure with Zac Efron.
She is so excited to be a reader!
Visit the rest of the website to learn more about how Krista learned to read stories independently.

Bren

Bren has autism.
He loves music and enjoys watching YouTube videos on the Internet.
Bren was 12 years old when we first started working with him. He was not able to use speech to communicate and he had not had the opportunity to learn how to read or type.
He had used a small number of PECS (the Picture Exchange Communication System) in the past to make basic requests. He had a speech generating device with approximately 12-15 symbols, specifically favorite foods or toys that he could request. His communication was usually telegraphic – just one word/concept at a time.
This video shows Bren at age 13 (after approximately 40 hours of literacy intervention).
He is reading a book about a family vacation at the beach. Click here to see a picture of the book that Bren is reading.
The instructor points to the words in the sentence, one at a time. Bren reads the word and then chooses the picture of the word from the picture choices provided.
At this stage, Bren is reading all of the main content words in the sentence “Bren bounces on the ball at the beach”. The instructor helps by reading the small connecting words - “on, at, the”.
Although he is still in the early stages of intervention, Bren has already made significant gains learning to read words, understand letter sound correspondences, and type words.
He has made significant gains in his language skills as well by expanding his vocabulary and learning how to combine words /concepts to express more complex meanings.
Visit the rest of the website to learn more about how Bren learned to read and type.

Gareth

Gareth has cerebral palsy. He has a tracheostomy.
He uses a computer with speech output to communicate (specifically a Mercury with Speaking Dynamically Pro software). He also uses a communication book with Mayer Johnson Picture Communication Symbols (PCS).
Gareth is a big fan of Star Wars.
He has an awesome semi-recumbent tandem bike that he loves to ride with his dad
We started to work with Gareth and his parents to teach him literacy skills when he turned 3 years old.
In this video, Gareth is 5 years old. He is reading a book about Clifford independently and is answering questions about the story.
Gareth is ready to enter Kindergarten as a reader. His literacy skills exceed those of many of his typically developing peers.
Visit the rest of the website to learn more about how Gareth learned to read.

Anna

Anna has autism.
She loves Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse. She also loves Sesame Street, especially Elmo.
Anna was 3 years; 10 months old when we first met her. She wasn’t able to say many words and she didn’t yet know how to read or type. She used a few signs and PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System) to make basic requests. She was very frustrated because she was so limited in her expression.
This video shows Anna when she is 4 years of age (after approximately 60 hours of literacy intervention).
She is writing a story about her dad. She looks at the photo of her dad, who is hugging their dog Toby, and then spells out the sentence “dad hugs toby” using letter cards.
At this stage, Anna’s literacy skills significantly exceed those of her typical peers.
She has made significant gains in her speech and language skills as well.
Visit the rest of the website to learn more about how Anna learned to read and type/ write stories.

Ellie

Ellie has cerebral palsy. She is included in a regular grade 1 class.
Ellie is always smiling and loves to laugh. She has a magnetic personality and loves to interact with others.
Like many of her peers, Ellie likes Hannah Montana. And she loves to go to the mall and shop!
Ellie uses speech and a computer with speech output to communicate (an MT4 from DynaVox).
We started to work with Ellie when she was 6 years old, the summer before she started grade 1. At that time, she knew some of her letters and sounds but she was not yet reading words.
In this video, Ellie is 8 years old. She is reading a book about Minnie Mouse independently and is answering written multiple choice questions about the story.
She is so proud to be a successful reader.
Visit the rest of the website to learn more about how Ellie learned to read.

Last Updated: February 16, 2019