Overcoming Reading Problems

Imagine not being able to read. Your academic career would not venture further than high school, seriously hampering your chances of ever working your way up in the world. You could never apply for a job without assistance, being incapable of filling in an application form. You couldn't email your friends, read for pleasure or read road signs and maps on long journeys. In essence, you would be severely disabled in a reading world.

Unfortunately, reading problems are a reality. Many children battle to learn to read, and many never succeed.

Dr. Reid Lyon states that approximately 20 to 30 percent of school-age children have difficulties learning to read. The Institute for Global Education and Service Learning asserts that the figure is even higher, that 40% of American children have difficulty reading or learning to read, and as many as three-quarters of students who are poor readers in third grade will remain poor readers in high school.

Because reading is essential in life and making a living, reading problems at school can lead to great anxiety in parents, and can have destructive emotional effects on children.

Hope Through Audiblox

Dr Strydom "completely by accident" stumbled on to this educational treatment which involves placing colored blocks in various complicated sequences. He calls his system "Audiblox."

"My work began many years ago when I prepared my own children for school. I then did a master's degree in pedagogics and it struck me that what parents needed to help prepare their children in the intellectual aspects of school was a kit to use in the home.

"After thorough testing I produced one, and it worked very well. It also produced fantastic results when used with children with reading difficulties."

"I focus on two basic characteristics: that no human being can do anything he hasn't learned to do, and that the learning process is a stratified process — it proceeds one step at a time. If you miss out on one of the steps, you can't simply go on to the next and hope you'll understand that. You never will, until you retrace your steps and master what you've missed.

"A child who hasn't learned to count will never be able to add or subtract — it's as simple as that. The real consequences of moving on before a step has been fully grasped have never been realized. And just as some adults find learning to drive extremely difficult while others sail through their driving tests, so do children differ. They don't all learn the same thing at the same time and in the same way."

How does Audiblox work?

"There is no magic in this. It is a scientific method that works only with perseverance," says Dr. Strydom.

"It is important to note that reading is a skill, and that there are other supportive, preparatory, foundational skills that need to be mastered first, before it becomes possible for a child to master the skill of reading.

"Foundational skills like concentration, accurate perception, visual discrimination of foreground-background, form, size and position in space, and short- and long-term memory are all functions that form the foundation of good reading. Until a child has mastered these foundational skills first, reading will remain a closed — or, at most, a half-open — book to him."

Success with Audiblox

"I just would like people to know how wonderful it is to have something at last that works for the child!" wrote a mother in Washington State. At the time her three sons had been doing Audiblox for six months.

"We started Audiblox in June and already in the first 9 weeks of school they have increased over 2 1/2 years. Because their focus is so much better we have less homework and what we have goes quickly. Their spelling has greatly improved and learning new words has become a game, not the dreaded chore it once was. In November the boys both got to call me from their reading class, because Kameron read at 4th grade level at 175 words a minute and answered all the questions correctly. Kennon read at 4th grade level, 166 words a minute, with all the questions answered correctly. So they will get bumped a reading level.

"Bentley is 14 years old. He has always been an excellent reader but has had problems with focusing and getting the information from his thoughts down on paper in an orderly manner. There often was not enough time in one evening to get his homework all done, because he couldn't keep on task. Bentley started Audiblox this last summer. He was able to do all his work independently this quarter at school and with very little homework left. Bentley has noticed a great improvement in his balance. This has even helped him in riding horses."

Stock photo used and name changed.