Private Reading Therapist
One snowy January morning . . .
. . . at a high school in Anchorage, Alaska, I was lugging my briefcase down the hall, weary even before the day started. A voice called me from behind.
“Ms. Kennedy! Ms. Kennedy!” I turned to see Monte, running to catch me. “That Frederick Douglass book we’re reading– I know what it’s talking about! I can see it in my mind!” He was excited, eager, bouncing with joy.
I was just stunned. Monte was a disabled reader, 17, smart but stuck at a fifth-grade reading level. “That Frederick Douglass book” was at eleventh-grade level and written in heavy 1845 prose. In the fall, he’d barely been able to read “The Lost Boy” –easy adolescent fiction for desperate kids. Something had kick-started his brain for reading. It sure wasn’t me—I was a worn-out and aging English teacher with no magic left to give.
Could it be that new software, Fast ForWord, that Monte had been so absorbed in since October? Maybe. Just maybe.
I was floored again in April, when Monte topped out the school’s spring test with a reading level of 12.6. Hopeless no more, Monte was on his way to the community college. I looked at the other kids’ scores– every kid in that lab who had completed the “brain games” gained three to six years in reading level. I had my answer.
In a flash, I knew what I was going to do with the rest of my life.
I left my 31-year teaching career, sent my resume to the neuroscientists behind this little miracle, and begged to work with them. Their company, Scientific Learning, took me on, trained me, and let me inhale the brain-plasticity science that hadn’t existed way back when I was getting my degrees at UC Berkeley.
A heady thing, to discover brilliant mentors and to explore brain mysteries that are now opening up to humanity, but most exciting of all has been to see hope spring up among young people who had been struggling and frightened.
My mentors –neuroscientists Dr. Michael Merzenich and Dr. Paula Tallal, and professor of speech Dr. Martha Burns– are driven by the same excitement.
Over the next eight years, I trained staffs at over 200 schools from Anchorage to Austin to use this “dyslexia miracle” to lift the lives of young people. I’m most proud of the success of “my” teachers at small rural schools such as Ash Creek K-8 in Arizona and at large districts such as Clark County Nevada.
When the time came to retire, I couldn’t just stop. I worked with my granddaughter and my friend’s kids and a couple of aging adult friends who’d lost their edge.
In 2017, I launched Kennedy Reading Therapy (formerly “Reading at Last”). This is my not-so-hidden strategy for having kids in my life and staying excited and happy in these retirement years. (This strategy is working!)
Notes from a few happy parents ~~
“Great Teacher, very patient”
Karen K. has been an amazing teacher for my daughter. She is patient and motivating! In just the first lesson she was able to identify the key areas my daughter needed help with to get her excited about becoming a stronger reader. We are looking forward to working with her this summer and we are confident that my daughter will be ready for 7th grade! ~~ Paulette, Tucson
“Karen is Great!!“
Karen is wonderful. Not only does she know what she is doing, she is very patient. I have a 10 year old who is ADHD, SPD (Sensory Processing Disorder), High Generalized Anxiety and we never know what to expect from day to day. He often has trouble sitting at the computer and will be sideways, upside down, almost sliding off the chair, laying on the floor, covered in a blanket and goodness know what. Karen is good about this and works through it. She recognizes when it is time to “try another day.” Through it all, in a little over three months he has gone up one whole reading level in school, from a 2.1 to 3.1. I have seen his fear of books with just words diminish and he is now picking out books with words for himself. I am encouraged that we get him up to grade level in reading and this will help very much in school. ~~ Marta, North Carolina
“Knowledgeable and patient teacher”
We are extremely happy with Karen, she is kind, patient and very dedicated to her students! Karen has been tutoring my granddaughter with a computer program called Fast ForWord. Karen is extremely knowledgeable in tutoring and has extensive experience with this program. My granddaughter is truly enjoying her tutoring lessons with Karen. I recommend Karen to anyone who is in need of a caring and dedicated teacher. ~ Linda, Pennsylvania
Karen Kennedy Reading Therapy 