Overcoming Reading Difficulties

Pierce is a great joy to us. He brings so much joy and laughter to our family. He is very intelligent, highly motivated, quite physically gifted and has a great personality. However, learning to read has been a major challenge. At 10 years old, simple Dr. Seuss books were very intimidating. We tried a variety of methods, some designed to help children with dyslexsia, with little success. Meanwhile, we kept reading quality literature to him and giving him books on CD to listen to. This has been one of his great pleasures and has helped his vocabulary and knowledge to expand without reading. Early last summer, we were told about Diane Craft, who works with kids who struggle academically. Her theory, very simplified, was that some children have trouble getting opposite sides of the brain to pass information back and forth. Through various exercises and a different method of learning, Pierce began to learn very quickly. By the time the fall semester began, he was able to read a simple chapter book, although very slowly. Last week we rejoiced (almost to tears) to see him reading a J.R.R. Tolken novel. Now it's just practice, practice, practice. Praise the Lord!

Rumplestiltskin

Pierce recently completed 20 performances of Rumplestiltskin. He has done two performances with the California Theatre Conservatory, but this was his first professional play. He played one of two woodland creatures who refuse to crown Rumplestiltskin King. We got to see the final performance and were thrilled; he did a great job! It was great to see his acting ability improve. The thing that impressed me most , however, was his maturity and humility. He was very responsible in learning the part and in the way he behaved at rehearsals and didn't let any of this go to his head at all. He's a great kid; thank you Lord.

Here are a couple of videos of Pierce (signing autographs!) and the rest of the cast, which were taken after the play.