Christian Home School Conference, May 2009 (CHAP)

Our Experience Helping Homeschooling Families

A couple of weekends ago, I had the pleasure of attending the Christian Home School Conference in Pennsylvania. This was the first time that anyone from Reading Horizons has attended a home school conference, and our experience was wonderful. Even though there were hundreds of booths, there was a real need for what we offer. Many parents expressed relief at finding a program that could help them teach reading to all of their kids and especially help those who were struggling. Many of the homeschoolers knew about the benefits of an Orton-Gillingham-based program. They were looking for something that was multi-sensory and research-based. I had conversations with several moms whose children had been diagnosed as dyslexic, and one of the reasons they were home schooling them was to give them the individual help they needed. They had been looking for a program proven to help with dyslexia and other processing disorders and were thrilled to find Discover Intensive Phonics.

I spoke with another mom whose children were all partially deaf and had to use cochlear implants. I showed her the portion on the software that shows a video of a live, human mouth forming and pronouncing all of the 42 Sounds, which she loved. I also explained to her how a school for the deaf uses our program and has the students put headsets on their cochlear implants to hear the audio. Since our program represents everything auditorily and visually, even those with hearing issues are able to have great success. It is hard to describe how wonderful it was to help her, and I felt like I had given her something she could really use. It seemed like a burden had been lifted off of her and she was filled with hope.

I am so grateful to be a part of this and to be able to offer something that truly helps people and changes lives. Being able to empower those children with the skills necessary to become efficient readers and to empower the parents with the tools and training to do that was more than rewarding. We are anxious to attend more conferences and be able to help other parents and children find success.

- Shantell Berrett
Reading and Curriculum Specialist