How I learned to read

by Kip
(Los Angeles, CA, USA)

I was in first grade in 1941. The school system (one of the best in the country) adhered rigidly to the look say method. I wasn't reading while it seemed everyone else in the class was. My mother came to school to meet with the teacher. I remember very well her asking, "Do you mind if I teach him phonetics?" The teacher's response was, "Try anything!"

That weekend my mother began teaching me phonetics. In a very short time I remember thinking, "So that's what it's about." I do remember my mother becoming exasperated with me because I had trouble recognizing "th". Anyway, I very quickly began to read easily and caught up to the class.

I am now 80 years old and retired. I have a PhD in engineering, and split my career between teaching at an Ivy League university and as a researcher at a prominent think tank. I learned at an early age that individuals vary in the ways in which they process information and learn.