little reminders.

my work isn't exactly stressful.
you know, in the sense that i am saving lives,
no one relies on me to produce a certain amount of sales,
the economy and people's investments aren't weighing on how i fair for that month...
but, like any job, i do have some stress.

i work a lot with the school system when it comes to children. (collaborating with large institutions isn't always easy...) when it comes to adults i work with folks that typically come from an income level under 10K per year. most of these adults were passed through high school for whatever reason, have undiagnosed learning disabilities, or reading was never a priority in their family life growing up.

whatever the reason may be, these folks come to our agency with aspiring hopes to learn how to read.

i'm still rather new to the agency so naturally that makes it more difficult. but it's been an overwhelming season as my children's reading program has overlapped with my adult program. in turn, making me run around like a mad woman chasing my tail to get things done in a timely manner. (thank goodness for one.day.at.a.time slogans. i swear it's kept me sane). during this stressful time, it's not hard to find reminders of why i do what i do.

i screen children around the age of 8 with some (what i tell them) "reading activities". i don't know if i can describe what it is like to see an 8 year old so nervous and trying so hard to sound out a word. one particular boy i screened was in the 3rd grade. the average words per minute for a 3rd grader is 110 wpm. this little guy read 16. how can you not want to take him under your wing, encourage him and say "keep it up! keep trying, you'll get there"?

a few weeks ago i screened an adult who wanted some 1v1 tutoring help. this man and i had talked several times until i had found a good match for him. mister man has struggled with severe learning disabilities, but i don't know if i have met anyone more motivated. he graduated college and had a job at a university for many years until they eliminated his department. he was told during his diagnostic test for learning disabilities that he would never improve his reading level and he should be happy he reads at the level he does. i found it aggravating that someone should receive such blase response especially when mister man is so motivated. i was happy to hear him tell me he knows and believes he can improve with some more help.

today i screened some more adults.
we have all ages 18-60+. what courage it takes for these adults to call for help and then to show up for help. one woman cried during her screening because she couldn't sound out words and she was so frustrated. you think it's hard to see kids struggle? wait until you meet an adult who can't read and become discouraged...
when i asked another woman what is the highest grade she completed she told me she hasn't been to school. i asked her how this happens- she informed me her mother was disabled and tried to homeschool her and her father had passed away. while growing up, there never was any priority for her to learn to read- the priority was to survive. if only reading was prioritized as a survival tactic.

while my life may seem stressful at times, it's musing on reminders like this, that my life is less stressful than those who cannot read. so when you read this, if you read this, pick up a book and read it to your child(ren).

...no one's story is complete, so don't judge a book by it's cover. some people have blank pages to fill.