Hi Everyone,
Today we experienced two new firsts.
1. Corinne met Maureen (my evil twin)! The two ladies battled it out for the full hours car ride to Bryn Mawr. I’m happy to say, once they arrived, Marie and Corey exited the van to start another week of therapy…which by the way will now be referred to as “working out”.
2. Prior to our departure, Corey and I were browsing through her culinary arts text book during breakfast. I randomly opened to Chapter 4: Using Knives…for the record, this was before Maureen and Corinne met!
I asked Corey to read or point to whatever she could recognize. She began to read the largest font, however, when isolating a single sentence within the paragraph, she could also read the smaller print with near perfect accuracy.
We read for just 10 minutes continuing our conversation about the day, our breakfast, etc when I circled back to ask Corey if she remembered what we had previously read. She couldn’t initiate the response without a verbal que but once I gave her the first few words, she completed the additional two sentences. This is the first time she demonstrated retention in reading comprehension.
Corey agreed to take her Culinary book to Bryn Mawr. I thought it would be helpful for Kate to witness and utilize Corey’s textbook in her session. I asked Corey if she remembered what we read at breakfast. Initially she did not. I gave her the first 3 words of the two sentence paragraph and she completed the phrase with only one additional verbal que. This was huge! Corey read this piece 3 hours before she sat with Kate. She not only retained but recited new, LEARNED, information! In addition, she recognized the photograph of the knives. Prior to this morning, she could not recognize any 2 dimensional picture.
We were very excited to watch her demonstrate her reading ability but it did not come without a cost. It takes extreme concentration and unfortunately, caused another headache. Imagine how incredibly difficult it is for her to read and process what she’s read; 10 minutes and 2 full sentences…difficult? Yes, but she successfully overcame a task she couldn’t complete a few weeks ago!
Corey, you were very angry this morning at what you perceived as your multiple weaknesses. In regard to reading, your past frustration in not recognizing the letters of the alphabet could have given you cause to give up. It’s much easier to give in to your anger and frustration; but working to overcome your weaknesses actually allows your true strength to be unveiled. Dont get upset with your weaknesses. They are simply something new to work on, which will lead to small improvements, producing great success!
Never give up and never give in. You are on your way back to Culinary College! xoxo