Learning Without Limits

Meet Lisa:
Lisa came to our Literacy Program in January with the reading ability of a preschooler. She knew a few words, recognized her name and had a stubborn desire to learn more. She is 35 years old.

We started out much like I did with my other students, with beginning level books, matching words to words with pictures, working with farm animals first. That’s when things started to get interesting. Lisa started to FLY. When I pushed her past what I thought was her limit, and asked her if it was too difficult she would say, “I like easy and I like hard. I like them both.” There was no technique or new reading game she wouldn’t try. She would work for an hour solid without batting an eye so I was kept on my toes coming up with things for her to do! By the third session, she was matching words to pictures, labeling each item with very few errors. Lisa was READING. We moved into some basic readers donated to us by a local school. I like these readers because the story lines are funny and they repeat a lot of the same words so each new book builds on the vocabulary of the last book. Lisa could look at each new book and see right away that she already knew a lot of the words. Two sessions ago, she read a book to me without any help and with full comprehension. When the story was funny, she laughed. She is reading and enjoying what she reads. I am so unbelievably proud of her. I know her loving mom and dad are too.

A few years ago, I would have met Lisa, learned about her situation and it would not have occurred to me that something could be done about it. That a 35 year-old with Down Syndrome is perfectly capable of learning how to read, but more importantly, that they NEED to learn. They DESERVE to learn. Now the thought of all the times she has looked around and not been able to interpret the written language we depend on absolutely breaks my heart.

But she is going to change that and I am going to do my very best to help her. She knows what she is capable of and it is far greater than what people see, what even I can see. So I’ll keep bringing the books and the flashcards, but I’ll let her show me what she can do because as soon as I think I’ve put my finger on her limits, she just surprises me again and again.

So once again, let me introduce you to my friend Lisa:

READER!