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Making Reading Accessible For Everyone

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A Desire to Learn

For years, Maurice carried around a heavy secret: he couldn’t read or write as well as he would have liked.

“I never got the attention I should have received in school,” he says now. “I was quiet. I didn’t cause problems. It was one of those situations where they just passed me along.”

Maurice loves to read, despite having a reading disorder.

After high school, Maurice began a career as a heavy equipment operator, which required little reading or writing. When he did have to write schedules or directions for his job, he did the best he could. Penning a personal message for something like a birthday card was a challenge.

One Accomplishment Missing

“I have accomplished a lot in my life,” he says, “but there was always something missing. . . I want to be a better writer, speller, reader.”

As an adult, he recognizes that he struggles with identifying letter sounds and putting those sounds together into words. The more he investigates his symptoms, the more he is convinced that he has dyslexia. This common learning disability is believed to stem from the brain’s difficulty in processing phonemes, the smallest units of speech.

Finally, in 2018, Maurice decided to get help. Because he had been battling leukemia, he had retired early from his job. He reached out to Oakland Literacy Council and received a free tutor.

“Working Really Hard”

Maurice meets his tutor Beth at a public library each week. “He’s an absolutely sweet man,” Beth says of Maurice. “He’s working really hard.”

During their lessons, they spend time on phonemic awareness, or the sounds made by letters. Maurice says he takes home about 20 new spelling words a week to study, and he takes a spelling test on them at his next lesson. Slowly, his vocabulary is expanding. Then he practices using the new vocabulary in writing.

Despite his trouble with words, Maurice says he loves to read. “For a person who has a reading problem, I love to read,” he says. Beth agrees. “He’s got a huge amount of curiosity, and he gets a lot of pleasure from reading.” He has particularly enjoyed a book Beth gave him called Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape our Man-Made World.

“Beth has helped me a lot,” Maurice says, “but it’s going to take more time” to gain proficiency. With his cancer in remission, he has the time. “I’m doing this for me,” he says. “It will make me happy.”

For over 37 years, the Oakland Literacy Council (OLC) has enabled adult students to achieve individual literacy goals through a partnership with trained volunteer tutors. OLC serves native-English speaking adults who need basic reading, writing, and math skills (adult basic education — ABE), and foreign-born adults who need English reading, writing,  or conversation skills (English Language Learners — ESL).

The Oakland Literacy Council is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 tax-exempt entity that relies on the financial support of individuals, businesses, community organizations, and foundations to fulfill its mission. Your tax-deductible financial gift can be made online, by mail or by Donor-Advised Fund. The Oakland Literacy Council also welcomes gifts of Stock and Legacy Gifts.

In celebration of Oakland Literacy Council’s 35th anniversary, we’ve invited students, former students, tutors, donors, and other advocates to share their stories. Read all of their stories here.

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OLCOakland Literacy Council
43700 Woodward Ave., Suite 20
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48302
(248) 253-1617
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