A Reading Miracle

By Richard McManus
Also published in the June 2004 Kidding Around

“Deb was really excited about Mike's progress and I guess his mother is beside herself.  I like miracles.”
—Will Burrow, Ph.D.

Mike S started last fall at Sabattus Elementary School in Sabattus, Maine, with very powerful advocates and very weak reading skills.  In September his teacher, Debbie Hobart, assessed his reading.  At that time he could read seven words correctly and three incorrectly in one minute.  He was making very slow progress in the Wilson Reading program—which he had been involved with since he was in kindergarten.  Compared to other children his age, he was falling further behind.  Deb knew that the program was not helping this bright little boy, but she did not know what else to try.

Last week Mike read 146 words per minute with no words incorrect!  This may seem like a miracle, but it is the usual outcome for children learning to read through The Fluency Factory approach.  Here’s how Mike reached this high level of mastery in five months. 

Deb Hobart is a marvelous teacher and knew that she needed more tools to succeed with Mike.  What made the difference was a trip to Hingham—and the Fluency Factory. Will Burrow, School Union 44 Director of Special Education, had visited the Fluency Factory a month before, and was convinced that we could help Mike.  Our mix of phonics, along with a system of assuring that there was solid learning at every step along the way, had deeply impressed Dr. Burrow.  Mike's parents wanted a neuro-psychology battery of tests.  They were skeptical of the value of a trip to Hingham, but decided to try—even though they were not convinced that the trip could work.  Linda Lincoln, Mike's classroom teacher, Deb Hobart, his reading specialist, and both parents drove 160 miles to Hingham and spent most of a day with one of our tutors, Dick Aubuchon, and myself.

Mike turned out to just love the Fluency Factory, as most children do.  Surrounded by adults, I asked him if he would like some of them to take a walk so he would not be so much the center of attention.  Mike allowed that he liked being the center of attention and it was just fine with him if everybody stayed.  And it was, as he worked very hard and mastered every challenge during his day "working at the Factory."

I worked with Mike and quickly assessed his current reading skills.  Mike was able to read only the very simplest pre-school words, and not very many of those.  Though halfway through third grade, he was essentially starting at the very beginning of reading.  I started Mike on the Teach Your Children To Read Well series that is our main reading program.

Mike quickly learned the early sounds, and sounded out words composed of those sounds.  Mike dictated a story about himself to me and I had him read the story aloud.  After several hours of work Deb Hobart was very pleased.  "This is the best I have ever heard Mike read!" Deb decided right then to start using the Fluency Factory approach, and went back to her resource room and duplicated what she had seen at the Factory.  Since that time she has helped Mike and many other students make rapid gains.

But she was not fully satisfied and wanted me to visit the Sabattus schools, observe her work with Mike and see what he could do now—and how to go forward.  She and Dr. Burrow asked me to train her aides and as many other teachers as possible.  Dr. Burrow obtained funding for the training and all of the reading specialists and most of the early childhood teachers attended it.  The results were dramatic, as Mike went from reading 50 words on a word list in one minute to his most recent achievement,  reading a story at 146 words per minute.  Throughout the District 44’s three elementary schools there are now "little Fluency Factories" where teachers are learning the same powerful techniques we use here at our tutoring center in Hingham.