Let’s Read in Tempo
(The Boy Who Didn’t)
Bryce’s Reading Success Story
Bryce was my music student, a boy with lots of energy and enjoyed life.
He had a difficult struggle with reading in school which changed his
whole disposition. He didn’t enjoy reading and trying would
automatically change his mood which affected his other learning at
school.
He tried very hard but the mainstream programs didn’t work for him,
Unfortunately, by second grade he fell further behind. He would cry and
feel upset when his mother worked with him on his homework. In third
grade his parents made the decision to go to a private school thinking he
would get more help but it was not an advantage and didn’t work. He
was already below the average reader in his class. This compounded the
problem. One teacher tried to help by spending extra time with him but
that didn’t help.
His parents found a different private school. He was tested and they told
us they couldn’t do much so we gave up. When he turned 11, we heard
about Dan Whitley and his music program. As he was learning to play
the drums and read music Dan discovered that his left to right vision was
impaired which revealed his reading difficulties.
Dan has a linguistic reading program “Let’s Read in Tempo”. His parents
suggested that we try it. We began to notice improvement and something
began to click. His musical skills were applied to his reading. He played
his drums to a metronome beat and then read the words as well to the
same beat. Eventually he could increase the speed of his playing and
reading.
During the first month of reading and playing music, he was able to
leave the lessons with a smile on his face. He joined Dan’s ‘Notable
Youth” jazz band and loved the interaction with the other kids. He
found an old suitcase to put in his drumsticks and pad next to his Reading Book. Then he started to practice his lessons as Dan sent him
home with a CD to practice with his own voice. His mother said he was
finding a new place in his brain to store music and reading together. It
made sense to him for the first time.
Soon he was reading short poems and did a video called “Those Who
Teach”. That led to a poem set to music called “The Boy Who Didn’t”
available on YouTube.
He was getting used to the sound of his own voice. Each lesson was
given 100% when properly completed and a trophy awarded at his
recital performance.
This is an inspired program that really will be key for many others.