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How would YOU teach an adult to read?


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Background: J, a 30yo man at our church was brought up in inner city Detroit. Both parents were drug dealers. They claimed to "homeschool" their kids to get out of bringing them to school.  :crying: Dad died when he was 14. Mom entered rehab when he was 21 and became a Christian. Now all 3 (adult) kids and Mom are totally different people; they moved out of Detroit to our city to get a better start. J is a great guy, smart, and a hard worker...but he can't read, so has no GPA or drivers license. 

We have people in our church willing to teach him, but not sure what book/program/curriculum to use. 

Would any of you lovely ladies have some suggestions or advice? Thank you!!  :grouphug:

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 I suggest you begin by checking to see if your local  Public Library has a program.  Years ago, I would frequently go out for Breakfast and there was a couple I spoke with many times who were also in that restaurant.  After he passed away, to my astonishment, one night on the local TV station, there was a story about her learning how to read in the Public Library. She was about 60 or 65 years old.  I believe it is common for adults in the USA not to know how to read and that is a tragedy for them.  

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I suggest you begin by checking to see if your local Public Library has a program. Years ago, I would frequently go out for Breakfast and there was a couple I spoke with many times who were also in that restaurant. After he passed away, to my astonishment, one night on the local TV station, there was a story about her learning how to read in the Public Library. She was about 60 or 65 years old. I believe it is common for adults in the USA not to know how to read and that is a tragedy for them.

It's not common, but it certainly happens far more often than it should in a developed nation.

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Start with a standard phonics based program like those mentioned above.  If a standard phonics based program doesn't work, then he may need something that breaks the process down even further, like Barton Reading and Spelling.  In the meantime, could he listen to audio books?  He may do better learning to read if he also has exposure to more vocabulary/grammar/story structure/background knowledge.  Maybe start with a topic of interest to him.  If he had access to a Kindle Fire and headsets he could listen to audio books more easily.  Very portable.  

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Yes! He is listening to audio books and trying to learn on his own. 

 

Start with a standard phonics based program like those mentioned above.  If a standard phonics based program doesn't work, then he may need something that breaks the process down even further, like Barton Reading and Spelling.  In the meantime, could he listen to audio books?  He may do better learning to read if he also has exposure to more vocabulary/grammar/story structure/background knowledge.  Maybe start with a topic of interest to him.  If he had access to a Kindle Fire and headsets he could listen to audio books more easily.  Very portable.  

 

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