“ I Could Read the Signs”

I would like to introduce you to E.R.I will use initials throughout to protect identities by law.

I met E.R. in our local detention facility when he was seventeen and a half years old.He had rotated in and out of this facility since he was twelve years old.He even told me once that it was a safe and secure place to come to get off the streets!He was very personable and outgoing.He was very street wise and seemed hesitant at times to trust.I had been told that the judge would no longer release him into family or a halfway facility. He had run away from every situation into which he was placed.E.R. was to be incarcerated until he was eighteen, which is the legal age for discharge. So, I grabbed the opportunity to tutor him with his reading.I met him twice a week for 3-hour sessions.

I am a mother myself and was so saddened for him.I couldn’t imagine turning away my own son in such a way!I was standing outside the courtroom at the time he was told by his social worker and parole officer. He had asked me if I would come to his court hearing that day and tell the judge how hard he had been working on his reading.I agreed.The intervention method I was using was partnered in a California detention center and the results were very encouraging.

When I initially screened E.R. for services, he was word calling at a ‘first grade, ninth month’s level! He was very respectful and wanted the opportunity I think to escape his cell for a bit.I began by assessing his phoneme awareness and then added letter symbols.Every session we worked on learning ‘sight words’ starting at the beginning with pre-primer on up to third grade plus.We always finished each session reading a story and I was able to build his vocabulary and comprehension.

It was the policy of the facility that if an inmate was behaving, they were taken along in the detention van to buy lunch for the staff and themselves.This was a reward.E.R. qualified often. One day when I went into the booth where we studied, I noticed E.R. was pacing.I had learned that at times he just wanted to talk and wasn’t interested in practicing his reading.I decided to ask him if he wanted to speak instead of starting right in with his reading.I was really concerned…pacing, he turned to me and recounted how he had gone in the van to a Burker King the day before.He reported to me how surprised he was with himself…”I could read the signs!” he told me.He was beyond surprised and excited!

I will never forget those words.They meant so much to E.R. BUT he had no idea how they impacted me!By the time E.R. was discharged, he was word calling at an eighth year first month level.He still had a long way to go but his confidence had been so increased!Unfortunately, so many of our youth go on to adult prison and I am hoping this was not the case for my E.R.!

Reading lasts a lifetime and we can all learn if we don’t give up and are not given up on!