Josh, 21, was referred to us by The Foyer. He was described as “hard-working, consistent, diligent and has an IEP (learning-disabled) high school diploma, but he can’t read. He has had and kept several entry-level jobs for long stretches but can’t seem to advance beyond minimum wage because he can’t read. He is trying to get his disability diagnosed so that he can figure out how to solve it.”

When we met Josh last week, we did a very primitive test to see if he was dyslexic. We wrote down simple words and asked him to state the letters in order. He got them all right, so we knew he wasn’t dyslexic. Then we asked him to sound out the letters. He didn’t, however, get all of the sounds right. We concluded that he wasn’t learning-disabled at all, he simply had never learned to read. We ordered Hooked on Phonics Master Reader from Amazon for $150. It arrived on Monday. And Josh began using it on Tuesday morning (yesterday). He used it for 5 hours straight. Then we asked him if he thought the program would work. He responded: “It already has.” Not really understanding this response, we asked him to show us what he meant. He pulled out a one-page story, and read the whole thing out loud to us, perfectly!

We don’t shed tears here very often. Yesterday we did.