Teacher

December 11, 2001

Dear Sara,

Thank you for your very kind letter of Nov. 26th. I did indeed enjoy and benefit from Dr. Johansen's presentation. I've had four trainings in auditory integration, and his was by far the best.

  I want to share with you my most recent "success story" because I'm so thrilled about the use of the techniques I've learned at MLRC. Early this Fall the Grade 1 teacher told me he had a little girl who seemed unteachable. Her family had put her in our school because she had "failed" kindergarten in another school, but she wasn't able to attend or learn anything. We tried her in out S.M.A.R.T. program, and she couldn't do any of the physical things well, and seemed uninterested in making any effort. The teachers referred her for assessment, and her father agreed to it. Dad is a Hispanic single parent, on disability, and A is the 2nd youngest of 4 kids, and was born 3 months premature, so her start is life was hardly auspicious. I did a Brigance Inventory of Early Development. She could hardly do anything- didn't know letters, except A and O, and could count, but if she got mixed up she didn't even know it. Visual perceptual skills were extremely poor, also fine motor, and you name it, she couldn't do it and didn't have it. The psychologist tested her and got a Full Scale of 47! She told me, "That's a profoundly retarded child." But in spite of everything, I never believed that, I just felt she was extremely learning disabled. Her speech was also quite impaired, she spoke mostly in 2-word utterances and as it's a mixture of Spanish and English, she was very hard to understand - I had to guess most of the time as to what she said.

  I started bringing her to my AVE room for her nap, and put her on the earphones with just the heartbeat and the generic Concentration tape. By the time she had had about 4 sessions like that, she began to show mind-boggling improvement. Today she had her 6th nap in my room, and is now expressing interest in her surroundings, seems to know letters and their sounds, and can even read a few words. She's still lively, but attending more, participating in classroom activities whereas before she sat quietly and watched everyone else or ran around quite out of control. Her teacher is really impressed. A is a very loving child, she hugs and kisses me, and yesterday she was telling everyone that I'm her sister. I said no, I'm grandma, but she wouldn't have that.

  A's speech has improved remarkably - she is using full sentences now and articulation is greatly improved - I can understand her most of the time. Today at nap time she put stuffed animals on all the other mats and covered them up, and later, when she got up, she said, "I forgot to bring back the aminals" (sic). That may be her longest sentence so far. In my little group of auditory discrimination, she is sounding out words, blending, and actually reading. I do musical things too, and she is catching on quickly. I feel sure that A will prove herself not to be mentally retarded at all, and I think over time she will get over the LD to a very great extent, at least if I have anything to do with it!

  I haven't given her much real instruction, but the AVE and Concentration tape seem to be working MAGIC! I'm thrilled beyond words, because I really love this child, and have even considered taking her to live with me for a year to see how far I could bring her along, but I fear she would miss her own family too much. Besides, just now I'm starting to work on getting my own charter school going her in Desert Hot Springs, and it's very time-consuming.

  I also got a 5th grader in September who was a virtual non-reader, but a very sweet boy and highly motivated. After 3 weeks of AVE and tape, his reading was about 50% improved, and by 6 weeks about 80% improved. He's not at grade level yet but continues to improve and he is so thrilled, as are his mom and grandma and ME!

Please share this info with Michael and Nancy and anyone else who might be interested. I so GREATLY APPRECIATE that MLRC exits, and feel so lucky to have found it.

  Sincerely,

  Kay Taylor

MLRC Site quotes from 00/01 HSAS program

   ?       "I really believe in this program. All of my students have make significant gains in the Auditory Processing and in thinking and reasoning. One of my students was accepted in the gifted and talented program." -- Marcia Pederson - Prairie View Elementary - Eden Prairie, Minnesota

   ?       "All five students involved with the HSAS program this past year have gained at least one full grade level in overall reading skills." --

  Barbara Astry - Forest Hills Elementary - Eden Prairie, Minnesota

   ?       "I've happily been part of 'the grant' for three years. I have seen several students increase their reading and spelling skills significantly. But another benefit that has been observed is an improved ability to process verbally presented information. I have a mother that was so impressed with her older son's reading/writing progress that she asked to have her younger son be a part of the HSAS program." -- Deb Johnson Heart of the Lakes Elementary - Perham, Minnesota

   ?       "   I felt very enthused to begin the program and wished I had more time to spend on it. I felt the students have improved overall, particularly one student who demonstrated a higher language and reading level than the Fall."   -- Kathy Ruemmele - Eden Lake Elementary - Eden Prairie, Minnesota

   ?       [From a mother's notes on a parent questionnaire from the Eden Lake Elementary School]

  Question: Does your child have difficulty with reading? Mom's response: Never.

  Wow! She sounds out words and truly enjoys reading!

  Question: Does your child find if difficult to find the words she/he wants to say? Mom's response: Occasionally to Never.

  She's improved so very much.

  Question: Does your child find it difficult to construct sentences accurately when speaking?

Mom's response: Occasionally to Never.

  She has improved tremendously here.

"I can't believe how much she has improved. I truly feel this program contributed greatly to her improvement."

   ?       "Subjectively, I have had reports from teachers and other school staff of behavior improvements including increases in staying on task, motivation, and attending abilities. I recently had a call from one parent who thanked me for having her son on this program. According to this parent, her fourth grade son is more cooperative at home and is doing his homework without the hassles they previously went through. She has seen an increase in his attending ability and his ability to stay with a task. Even more important to her was the information she received from her son's Title 1 teacher. Recent testing showed improvements in his reading ability. This improvement was significant, going from 2nd grade to 4th grade levels in oral reading: from a primer level to 3rd grade in silent reading, and from the 70%ile of 3rd grade to the 80%ile of 4th grade levels in word recognition."   -- Judy Wunch - Cromwell-Wright Schools - Minnesota

   ?         Excerpt from a letter to a State Representative: "B" is a bright, energetic 13 year old boy in 7th grade - going into 8th grade. He was a non reader. After 3 quarters of "listening therapy" (HSAS) and continued LD support, "B" is reading at a 3rd grade level and very excited about being able to read. -- Nancy Johnson - Deer River High School - Deer River, Minnesota

         ?          "We have had two second grade elementary teachers approach us on curriculum-based reading results after Christmas this year (2000-2001). Three second graders on the listening program have increased their reading levels from beginning reader to grade-level or near-grade level. The teachers were astounded by these results (as were we and PLEASED!)"   -- Mary Jane Hettwer and Merry Mund - Cold Spring Elementary - Minnesota