Jake, a dyslexic student, struggled to learn how to read. At the end of second grade, he still could not read. It seemed no matter what approach his teachers and parents tried, he just could not get it. Over the summer, Jake learned how to read without help from his teachers or his parents. On the first day of school in his third grade class, much to his teacher's surprise, he proudly read out loud in front of the classroom. Jake went on to become an exceptional student and graduated high school with honors. What happened over that summer?
Upon investigation, it was discovered that Jake's five-year old cousin had taught him how to read. When she was asked how she taught him to read, she replied, "I was just patient, that's all. Maybe you guys just weren't patient enough. You give him the words, I don't." Everyday over the summer, Jake and his cousin Michelle played a game where she was the teacher and he was the student. She sat him at a table with a book and insisted that he read it. When Jake struggled, she prompted him to keep trying. Jake told his teachers that his cousin Michelle was a fun teacher and since it was just a game, he did not feel nervous about learning the words. Through a fun game of teacher student re-enactment, Jake had learned how to read.
