- Hi, this is Lea Woodford with Between the Lines
and I am in beautiful Las Vegas with Dr. Suki Stone today.
Suki, thank you so much for being here.
- It's a pleasure to be here for you.
- Suki, your book "Rethink Reading Strategies",
what you're doing is amazing!
How did you even get into teaching children and adults
to read and in such a short time?
- Just in general, I have experience teaching Special Ed
for 30 plus years, 35 plus years.
And when I was working with my children, realizing
that the traditional programs were not being successful,
I had this thing that just came to me,
and I think it was God's blessing really,
that I needed to create something myself.
And I worked with a child who could not read her name
and she broke all my pencils and she did
all kinds of other things and got very frustrated.
And so I started her with a collage of pictures
that she really loved, passionate pictures,
and she started out with the bank.
And I talked to her about savings accounts
and checking accounts but everything was holistic.
And then she stopped me and said,
"But, Dr. Stone, there's another kind of bank."
And I said, "What other kind of bank?"
And she said, "Well, when you go fishing,
"you sit on a bank."
And I said, "How do you know that?"
And she said, "My father takes me fishing every weekend."
And I knew at that very minute
that their personal experiences
were going to teach them to read.
At that point, I didn't know
it was gonna be in 14 days or less.
- That is amazing! - Yes.
- Our public school system is failing children.
And for you to be able to find a way
to not only teach children but adults
in 14 days or less, what's your secret?
- Well, the secret is really
to look at their personal experience.
When I did some research and I did some research
from clear researchers but they're not really recognized
in our education system that Robert Sweet
studied at the National Institutes of Health and he said
that there's between a 25 or 30,000 word vocabulary
that a child comes to school with.
I used that vocabulary.
It originates from their experience in their family,
in their neighborhood, in just listening
to how people talk and the words they use.
- Well, we learn that as a child.
- Right, exactly. - You know,
our parents teach us words.
I love that, it's so basic!
- Exactly, and then I expanded though because when you have
an older child and he said that he likes baseball,
well, I ask for a new word so I teach them
the "Roget's International Thesaurus".
And we find out that the word like as a synonym,
predilection is the same as like
so his sentence now becomes,
I have a predilection for basketball.
So he's expanding his vocabulary and writing.
And the other thing that's very important is
I don't teach the traditional words and letters and sounds.
I teach that writing comes before reading.
So if they can write their story, they can read their words
and their words are very similar
to other words in other books.
- Interesting.
Now what was your inspiration for writing the book?
- The inspiration was, after I had been doing this
for 35 years, I wanted other people to know
that there was an alternative.
I don't diss the phonics programs.
They're very very good for children
that can understand the phonics.
But my Special Ed kids could not.
And instead of failing them, it was important for me
to let parents, teachers, and administrators know
that there's an alternative out there
for what's traditionally done.
And so I've worked with the children and the adults.
I majorly was working with children
because they don't have a voice.
And when they learn that their voice can be heard
and they have something to say by the stories they write,
then they can speak for themselves and say,
I don't need to get first grade words
because I'm a 10th grader or an 11th grader
and I know that I can learn to read.
- One of the things that I really liked about your book was,
well first of all, my daughter's a Special Ed teacher
and I know that a lot of these children, Special Ed children
have a lot of emotional baggage
that comes with being a special needs kid.
And I think your strategies are gonna be a great tool
for parents who are struggling with
how do you raise a Special Ed child?
And sometimes the public schools
are not so kind to Special Ed kids.
- Right, no, and what I do in having to write this book
was I wanted to alert parents
that what they're already doing
by introducing children to vocabulary
and explaining the vocabulary.
So when they go into a grocery store and they ask the child
if they want asparagus, they write the word asparagus down.
And the next day or next week,
the child goes to the grocery store and says,
"Mommy, can I have some asparagus,"
they've read the word that's been written down.
So that's a concept that is learned
before actually going to school.
- Now, Suki, how did writing this book impact your life?
- Well, it impacted my life a great deal
because I was able to express my true self
of being able to help a large group of people
rather than just the parents in my classroom
so that if I write a book and more people read it
that there will be other families
and other teachers that may incorporate
some of the skills that I presented in the book.
- How long did it take you to write the book?
- Well, should I tell you?
It really took me about two years.
It took me probably my 30 years of preparation
to really know that this worked well
and that it was something that would be well-received.
And so timing was an important thing
in deciding when to do it.
And then my mom came into play and she said,
"I'm not gonna be around very long.
"How far are you in this book?
"You better get it done."
So I finished it in what I call a short amount of time
over the last year that she was alive
so she was able to read it.
- Now, what was the hardest part
about writing the book for you?
- Actually the organization, the thoughts I had,
but to get it into the different chapters
and to be very focused on what it was that I was trying
to say and what I wanted parents and teachers to know.
So I just wrote and I also had
my brother had been an editor before
so he helped me edit out so that I wouldn't seem,
that my tone would be more not teacher-ish but more--
- Very conversational! - Yes, yes.
- That's what I loved about the book.
It wasn't textbook
but it was practical.
You know, that's one of the,
the flow moved great throughout the book but it is something
that parents and teachers can implement right away.
I mean, your strategies are so simple.
- Simple and basic but very necessary.
And another thing about my strategies
that was very much a key, they're intuitive for many parents
especially with their Special Ed kids.
Because once they accept the fact
that these children have their own knowledge,
that's when the children with some emotional problems
kind of like, they won't be as frustrated.
- You know, that was what I loved about the book, too.
I loved it as you shared the stories about the kids,
as they've come out and the confidence that comes
when a child learns that they can read
and, you know, when the light bulb comes on.
How fun is that, just digressing a little bit,
how fun is that for you as a teacher when your student,
you know, the light bulb goes on?
- Well, I have a very short story.
I don't know if I actually told it in the book
but there was a child that didn't want to go to college.
He wanted to attend a vocational school for putting in
management stuff for cars.
So he wanted to put in famous engines
like your Jaguar and really really high-end cars.
But he couldn't go to school because he couldn't read
and he couldn't read the manuals to help him do that.
And I was with him maybe first session
maybe 10 or 15 minutes and he started to cry
and I said, "Oh my gosh, are you hurt?"
And he said, "Oh no, Dr. Stone."
"I know that my tears are tears of
"not sorrow but tears of joy!"
- Suki, your book was so amazing and I know
that parents of special needs children,
there just aren't the resources in the school
and they're so frustrated and I love what you're doing.
I love your mission not only for the kids
but for the parents of special needs kids
because it's so frustrating and it's daunting
to go to the public school system.
So can you tell our viewing audience
how they can get your wonderful book, Rethink?
- It's on Amazon and I also have a Kindle version.
My goal is to actually train teachers,
retired teachers and aides, and I would like,
since I am non-profit, I'd like to go into businesses
and actually have Stonebridge Academies in businesses
and have employees' children and maybe some employees
that are struggling to actually learn to read
or improve their reading in 14 days or less.
- Imagine that, 14 days or less.
Dr. Stone, thank you so much.
Suki, what a pleasure.
- It was a pleasure to be here talking with you
and sharing my work.
- This has been Lea Woodford with Between the Lines.
Thanks for watching.