Yesterday I wrote about a nurse’s aide I met during one of my surgeries who came to me to help with the problem she has reading books. She is literate but can’t follow the narrative storyline in books.

I agreed to help.

She had Googled me and discovered I was a writer, and with her husband’s encouragement, she decided to come to me about her inability to understand what she is reading.

She is highly motivated to overcome this problem, she very much wants to read books.

I should say I was a literacy volunteer in New Jersey for five years and worked with specialists to help many people overcome emotional or physical learning disabilities and read books.

I also came to believe my learning troubles were my fault, and that I wasn’t bright. I also struggled to read until I was diagnosed with Dyslexia and learned how to overcome it to write, read and blog.

I am not a doctor or a trained specialist in reading disorders; it is up to the aide – I will call her Cindy (not her real name) –  to decide when and if to get medical help. I’ll make sure she has some numbers to call.

I don’t tell people what to do.

But I will try to help. I’ve got six successful books in my literacy class and at the Mansion, where I’ve been working on reading issues with the extreme elderly until the pandemic.

I remember one woman in the class, a newly arrived immigrant from Asia, who was convinced she couldn’t read anything in English.

I took her to a supermarket and read the meaning of the food labels – the favorite foods of her family. On our second visit, she remembered each label and was able to buy her own food.

Congratulations, I said, you can read. And she did.

The first step is to try to see if the problem is emotional. She made many references to having been treated as “stupid,” as if her reading issues came from lacking intelligence.

She can’t retain what she sees in a book text but can otherwise read and absorb letters, signs, and posters.

I’m starting with “Breathe and Be,” a collection of mindfulness poems by Kate Coombs.

I’ll ask Cindy to read this page: “I breathe slowly in, I breathe slowly out. My breath is a river of peace. I am here in the world. Each moment I can breathe and be.”

I’ll ask Cindy to read the passage aloud and then silently tell me what she can recall about the verse and its meaning. If she can follow it and retain it, this may undermine her conviction that she isn’t smart enough to read.

This is reading, I’ll point out. You broke through.

If she can read and remember a verse, she can read and remember a book. The idea is to build her confidence in her own intelligence, drive, and ability to absorb what she is reading.

If this works for her, I’ll give her five more books to take home and read along with her supportive husband. If this works, then I’ll go to the next step, books written by trained professionals to help people with reading blocks (including Patricia Polacco’s much loved “Thank You, Mr. Falker.”)

If she is still blocked or unable to follow narratives in these books, I’ll take a step back and suggest that she see a neurologist or specialist and get tested for learning disabilities.  I’ll have the numbers on hand.

The challenge is to encourage her and break down her fear if that is the problem. I won’t pressure her or push her past her comfort zone. I will project absolute confidence in her ability to read and understand what she is reading.

She was not aware this was possible for her. I think she is terrified to approach the issue; she is terrified that someone will tell her she is not smart enough to read.

I am always mindful of my limits and supportive of trained professionals. I am good at encouragement and empathisizing.

I know how to work with her and help her overcome the idea that she isn’t bright or that somehow, these reading issues are her fault.

I’m good at finding and buying support books.

And I am willful. She is blessed to have a loving and supportive husband who refuses to let her believe that she is stupid and who insisted she come and talk to me.

I’m the start of the process, not the end.

I hope to get it going and do what I can to help. Today will offer a good start; the books I’m bringing have helped people with diversgent emotional and biological issues learn to read.

More doctor-and-psychologist recommended books are on the way.

There is lots of help these days. Thanks for your caring, but there is no need to send me books or articles on learning disorders. I have plenty, and they are current.

I’m going to see Cindy this afternoon. I’ll report on the progress we are hopefully making.