I knew something was different about the way Makay was reading since he was 4 years old. We both struggled. I asked questions about his challenges but I didn’t ask the right questions to find help until he was in 4th grade. By then I thought it was too late to fill in the many holes in his literacy. We were both willing to do whatever it took to try. We met Shelley in October of his 4th grade year. She gave us so much hope and made him feel like a super hero. We actually backed off at home reading because he needed more tools for independent reading and it had been a negative experience up to this point.
We drove across town to the DCU two times a week before school and through summer break for 24 months.
DCU programming was just what he needed. It was fun for him to finally have some fluency when reading. He loved both of his teachers and they left a huge impact in his life. Everything started coming together and at the end of 6th grade he finally tested at grade level for reading and had all the confidence to head into 7th grade at a new school.
K.M.