Blake Beats the Reading Battle. Loraine
Harding Testifies

Blake battled so much with reading at school that it affected his self-esteem, making him an uncontrollable, miserable child, much against his nature. He was labelled “dumb” by his fellow students, who did not understand his struggle.

I contacted Edublox, where he was diagnosed with a reading impairment. Blake’s average reading speed was 40 words per minute, which was less than the required 90 words per minute for an eight-year-old. Blake started at Edublox in May 2011.

In the past, Blake could not read without using his finger, and he had no recollection of the story as a result of his reading disability — he could not tell you what he had read within a span of two minutes. Blake also had a tendency to simplify his words. Instead of saying “gebruik”, he would just say “bruik”. He unfortunately started spelling phonetically, meaning he spelt words like he said them.

Now Blake’s reading speed has improved to 95 words per minute. His vocabulary has improved, and he obtained full marks for the last two spelling tests of the semester. He is reading fluently without his finger. Blake also moved to a private school in July this year, where the standard of education is a lot higher than the government counterpart. Despite all the changes and challenges, we have a sunny, happy child again, confident in his schoolwork. He received an award from school for dedication and hard work and is going on to Grade 3. Blake can also read and spell English, something he was not able to do. He has really soared out of the spelling and reading slumps.

Blake sometimes still spells phonetically, and tends to shorten his words, but he is very aware of it, and makes an attempt to rectify it immediately.

Loraine Harding
December 2011