About Us

Table of Contents

1. About Doreese B. Severe and the Evolution of See abc’s

Guess what?  

“When you are finished reading this brief story of how a Complete Early Education Reading Curriculum came to be, you will know that I am not joking when I say I can make a PROFESSIONAL Reading Teacher out of YOU too!  I will accomplish in these few pages what thousands of people attend a university for, without the time and the money.” 

I’ve included several videos in this section that demonstrate the books and games that I’ve tried to explain.  If you really want to understand what they do, then you can take the time to watch them.  The longest one is under 9 minutes.  

 By the time you’ve finished reading what I’ve written, and watching what I’ve taught, you will have enough training to know that, “YES! I can teach my OWN little boy/girl/children/students how to read and write!”

2.  Reasons Behind My Persistence to “Fix” Reading

The why for WHY it was so important to me to persist in figuring out a better way for children to learn how to read is because of my own life experience with it.

3.  Epilogue

NO Spoiler Alerts on this one!  But it is worth the few minutes to read the end of a story which begins in the above section.  Oops, I just told you that a story begins to take shape in my “Reasons…” section, and continues on in this Epilogue section for those of you who want to know… “But what happened after?” 

4. MUSIC Education = Whole BRAIN Learning

I didn’t plan on talking about this, but it is a very important topic, and it needs to be included in our children’s education more thoroughly.  

You need only read this if you are interested in Music Education.

1.  About Doreese B. Severe and the Evolution of See abc’s™

See abc’s is a reading curriculum whose time has FINALLY come!  I have had quite a journey with it since I first stumbled upon the idea that started it all in 1993-94 school year.  

I won’t bore you with the business side of it, other than I did figure out how to put my ideas into book form, and I did figure out how to start my own business in order to publish my new abc’s book myself.  I’ve tried a few things to market it and publish it.  Long story short, I’ve basically shelfed it since 2015 with the thought that, “Someday the time will be right and I’ll try again.  But first, I will have to be able to pour my heart and soul into it once again.”  But now the world is in need of help in a BIG way, even here in the U.S.A., with catching up so many children who have lost that formative year or years in learning how to read.  Because of COVID 19, some of their Governor’s decisions prevented children from going back to school much longer than others, which has put children at different levels of reading across the country.  Reading Scores and Literacy are at record lows, alarming many educators and parents.  And I know that I can help with that.  Please read about my journey in figuring out how to “Reinvent the Wheel.” 

And when I say “About Us,” I’m talking about me and the kids I’ve worked with who have helped me figure out how to meet the needs of children as they attempt to learn how to read and write one of the most difficult and ridiculous languages in the world, which resulted in my creating more books.

When you are finished reading this story of a Complete Early Education Reading Curriculum and the reasons for it, you will know that I am not joking when I say I can make a PROFESSIONAL Reading Teacher out of YOU!  I will accomplish in these few pages what thousands of people attend a university for, without the time and the money! I will lay out step by step just how I will educate you to become a Excellent educator.  Lori Bolan had this to say about the way I teach reading basics:

I went into the Elementary Education program at USU thinking I would learn how to teach a child to read.  After four years of classes and student teaching experience, I graduated knowing how to use a text book with a teacher’s edition.  I felt disappointed because I still didn’t know a process to actually teach reading.  I attended a pre-kindergarten course taught by Doreese Severe using her “See abc’s” books with my 4 ½ year old boy Cody.  He finished the class knowing ten times more about letters and sounds than he had learned during an entire year of pre-school.  And I learned an actual process to use in teaching a child to read.   – summer 1999

 Let me tell you, there is nothing more gratifying and exciting than taking your own child through the process of dramatically changing their whole world.  The instant that they read that very first word, YOU have changed their life forever, changing them from being a non-reader to a reader, and YOU get to be the one to see the thrill in themselves as they put those sounds that they have learned together to say a word.  Immediately their little light bulb ignites!  And they understand that, “Oh.  That’s why I’ve chopped off all of those sounds from those picture clues!”  And watching them progress word after word after word, skill after skill after skill is exhilarating.  It’s not hard; just baby step by baby step.

Here’s my story of how it all began.  You will see that it was a long time ago, which explains the difference in my appearance now and the me in my videos here!  

Come! Spend a morning, an afternoon, or an evening with me, and let me revolutionize the way you view learning and teaching the unnecessarily complicated reading and writing of the English Language.

Sometime midway through the 1993-94 school year, (Yes, that’s right, nearly 30 years ago!) my youngest child was in Kindergarten going through the difficult task of learning the alphabet. She had to learn: 

1. What the letters look like.  
2. Memorize a picture that goes with each letter which begins with the sound of that letter. 
3. Learn the sound of the letter.  

As you know, there are 26 different letter shapes, and 26 different picture clues that go with them.   Matching them up is not an easy task, and that’s just for the lower case.  ALWAYS begin with the Lower Case. They are used far more.  And then my daughter also needed to remember what the letters looked like before she could practice writing them.

One day I was working with her on learning the letter ‘s,’ and a thought popped into my head.  A very important, life-altering thought, though I didn’t know it at the time.  That thought was this:  “All 5 of my kids learned the letter ‘s’ fast and they never forgot it.  How come?  Because all I had to tell them with letter ‘s’ was, “It looks like a snake, and it sounds like snake.”  And that one thought sent my wheels a turning.  “That’s what I have got to do!  I will turn every letter into its own picture clue, so that as soon as she sees a letter, she will know what it looks like and that will tell her the sound it makes.

Well, it worked like Charm!  (A magic spell)  She learned every letter sound and the picture clue for it solidly in only 2 days!  And she had a blast doing it.  

I would write the letter on a piece of paper, and then I would draw the picture clue on it.  After she no longer needed the clues, I still went ahead and turned the letter into the picture as she watched, or rather observed.  After only a few days of doing this “fun game,” she got out a piece of paper and a pencil, and sat down and wrote the letters and then drew the picture clues on them herself!  And that magic I had stumbled upon had now just doubled before my very eyes; thanks to her… my 5-year old child.  What an amazing way to learn how to write, by drawing the letters.  And that’s when I knew for sure that, “I have got to do something with this.  But what?  A book.  But how?  How could I get children to visualize this plain letter becoming its own sound clue?  

After much thought, in 1995, I did get a little book made.  With a as an example, I put the letter with the clue on it on the front of the page, similar to .  Then I put the plain letter on the back of the page, a.  Just the letter.  When a letter is between slashes, it means to say just the sound of the letter. Many thanks to former BYU Prof. Lloyd Eldredge who gave me that very important piece of knowledge.

On the Picture Page, beneath , I wrote the name of the letter, its sound, and its picture clue:

a says /a/ like apple.  This one has a worm.

Then on the back of it was the plain letter a with the 3 key questions below it:

What do you see?  An apple (What is the picture clue?)

Where’s the worm?  The stem? (Make sure they are seeing it with their imagination)

Apple says?  /a/ (Learn to “chop” off the beginning sound of the clue word)

I learned through this process that you NEVER ask, “What does letter ‘a‘ say?”  Always ask them, “What does a look like?” (The letter itself.)  If they can’t remember, then show them, or coax  them by asking what they see in the circle, and the line.  They should say, “An apple and a worm.”  Then you ask, “And apple says?”  And they give you the beginning sound in the word apple, “/a/”.  A fun way to do a review and see where they need more help is to go through the book backwards!  Showing them the plain letter ‘ z ‘ first, and see if they can answer the questions.  Then show them the picture clue so they can see if they got it right.  You say, “Good job!” a lot.

This is why we work so hard to get them to learn what picture clue belongs to each letter shape; in order for them to get to the sound.  Later, when they can easily go from the plain letter to its sound, you can ask, “What does a say?”  But while they are needing those picture clues, stick with those clues.

Learning the names of the letters is very difficult, and very unnecessary.  You read right.  Names are very hard to learn because most of them have no association and must just be memorized.  For example: The letter name of B does say /b/, and D does say /d/, and is helpful.  But the letter name G says /j/.  Letter names F, M, and N all say /e/ as in elephant.  Once you realize that knowing the letter names has nothing to do with learning how to read, then you stop stressing out about it.  It’s the sound of the letter they need to know.  When they begin to blend letters into words, they will need to learn the names of the vowels because they are the LONG sound for the vowel.  So, you just keep telling them the name of the letter as you talk about it.  

I printed a few copies of my little book, which I had very simply illustrated, and sold to family, friends, and random people I bumped in to who had small children.  It was an easy sell.  It makes total sense!  This was nearly 28 years ago, and there was nothing on the market like it.  

 I had used heavy paper, but still it bothered me that when they were looking at the plain letter on the back of the page, the picture clue sometimes showed through making it easy for the child to “Cheat.”

After some more thought, I decided to have my book spiral bound.  This way I could put both the letter/picture and the plain letter side by side.  After going through the Picture Page, I could hide it from the learner by easily folding it back behind, thanks to the coil binding; showing only the plain letter, which I called the Imagination Page.  This put many pages between the two and was a great success.

This little book was clearly very visual, and it was also auditory as children listen to the teacher and then answer the questions.  I learned that the more senses you use to learn with, the more quickly and thoroughly you will learn it.  I had also learned that those who are tactile learners had the hardest time learning because they need to touch or do something with it; which made them the most difficult to teach.  So, I thought on that.  

My new little abc’s book involved both sight and hearing, but how could I also reach the tactile learners.  How could I make it a “Hands on” experience.  I came up with these 3 things:

1. Transfer the picture clue from the Picture Page to the plain letter Imagination Page.
2. Take an imaginary picture of the picture clue because it is going to disappear, and you need to remember what it looks like.  This forces them to focus on every part of that picture.  You can take as many pictures as there are things to remember!  This is super fun, again, for EVERYONE!  
3. When you get to that last question on the “Imagination” page, the child and the teacher use their “Choppers” to chop off the beginning sound of that picture clue. 

And now my book was Multiple Sensory.  It was oozing with it!  And it absolutely made a huge difference.  

I am going into great detail for this very first book because this very first step in learning how to read is what I have come to know is the very most important step in learning how to read; because it is their very first exposure to reading, so it has GOT TO BE FUN!  And it has GOT TO BE EASY!  And if you have those two things, then it is GOING TO BE EXCITING too!  Little kids are thrilled with themselves as they are able to answer those questions, and they like to see what the next letter is going to look like.  Oh, be sure that you begin with my “Imaginary Lesson” at the beginning of both the Letter and the Number books.  That’s what turns learning into a game!  Work on a few letters at a time, according to the attention of the child/children.  Even if your child will only sit through one letter a day, they will know the whole alphabet in less than a month! 

This little alphabet letter/clue book became the basis for ALL of the books yet to be invented.  It is the Springboard for the rest of the See abc’s™ Curriculum.  

If you’ve ever tried to teach a child the name, picture clues, and sounds of the alphabet, I probably don’t need to tell you about the great frustration most kids go through trying to remember what of those letter names they have been able to memorize by singing the ABC’s Song belongs to which letter shape.  For example:  a circle with a line by it for a.  A long line with a circle at the bottom for b.  Part of a circle for c.  And make sure that when they write them, they’re all facing the right way!  And this line with a curve at the bottom goes partway below the line, and be sure to put a dot above it for ‘ j.’  “Okay little one?”

Just forget about teaching them how to write with paper and a pencil.  My daughter taught me right from the start that learning the picture clues goes right along with writing them too.   Having known this, I decided to make a book to help them learn how to write.  This would be where I could introduce them to the Upper Case.

Of course they had to learn how to write numbers too, so I included them in this book and called it, “ABC’s and 123’s See How to Trace” (blue cover).  When I redid it with my  new number clues, I renamed it to “ABC’s and 123’s See How to Write.”  After creating this book, to make it extra tactile (which means FUN), I looked for a Rubber Office-type Fingertip to use rather than a long, thin pencil.  

I found the perfect one!  

* See the blue “Magic Finger” on my website, and the “How to” PDF for how to use it.  These two videos demonstrate how to use it.  You will see how much FUN it is to use, and the cute reactions and interaction little ones have with it from a 2-year old little  boy, and a 3-year old little girl.  Here are the links if you’d like to see them now:

Please excuse the amatureness of my videos.  I learned how to make them myself, and though they are old, they do an excellent job in demonstrating how to use my materials.  They are genuine and unscripted and unrehearsed.  And for right now, they are all that I have.

I used the same simple alphabet picture clues to make some flash cards and called them, See abc’s Alphabet Flashcards.  I made 3 sets.  One for the Lower Case.  One for the  Upper Case.  And one with the cases together, and connected the two with a simple story on the same card.   On the back of the cards are the plain imaginary letters.  Here are the cases connected.  It says, “This monkey can climb this mountain!”

I’ve also made cards for the long vowels, as well as for the “copycat c,” as in cent.  And the “copycat g,” as in gerbil.  And the “copycat s,” as in rose.  

* Go to the Flashcards on my site and watch the videos for ideas on how to use them.  You can also spell out simple words with them when they reach that point.  To see them now, go to:

What I later realized from this reading/writing picture alphabet was that they reinforce each other!  I knew that tracing over the large thick black lines that were “embedded” within the picture clue was very effective in reinforcing those picture clues.  But I also learned how valuable it is when these new little learners are trying to write a word.  It is called “Spelling.”  They must literally “Spell it out,” one sound at a time, and then write that one sound down.  Then they move to the next letter in the word and recall what that letter looks like before they can write it down.  Am I right?  

Now, here’s the beauty of using See abc’s.  I will take you through helping a child write their first word.  Let’s use the word, “hop.”  This would be tricky to write on lined paper with the dotted line in the middle.  The ‘h’ extends above the middle dotted line.  The ‘o’ can’t go above or below it.  The ‘p’ goes below the bottom line.  FORGET about all that.  Just “draw” your imaginary picture/letter on a piece of plain paper.  It’s hard enough just holding on to a long, thin pencil.  

Okay, let’s go:  

Parent:  How do spell the word hop?  What does the first letter say in hop?  (Emphasize the sound of h.)

Child says:  hop.  It starts with /h/.  That’s a hat!  (Child then proceeds to draw an imaginary hat.)   h

Parent:  That’s right!  Listen to the word again – hop.  What sound do you hear next?  

Child says the second sound:  /o/  like octopus!  (Child draws an imaginary octopus.)   o

Parent:  Good job!  Now listen for the last sound in our word – hop.  

Child says third sound:  /p/  like pig!  (Child draws pretend pig.)  p

Do you see the Magic in it?  The Miracle of it if you have been struggling to get your child to remember what of those 26 picture clues belongs to that sound, so that they can try to remember which of those 26 letter shapes made up of lines, circles and dots belongs to that first sound in “hop.”  

The other, even huger miracle of it is that it prevents dyslexia if used from the beginning.  And if a child is dyslexic, it will cure it in most cases.  Because of my personal experience working with 100’s of children, I feel confident in saying that. Preschool teacher, Amy Hilton, has also taught hundreds of children with See abc’s.  I recently asked her if she felt that it prevented dyslexia.  She gave me a strong “YES.”  I’m not saying that it is a flat out guarantee, but this illustration will convince you that it would help most who would have dyslexic tendencies. The pictures stick to the letter; they do NOT flip from one direction to another.

*Just a few minutes ago, I received a very timely new testimonial from Becky Eck of the Little Red’s Preschool.  She’s recently began using See abc’s,and I’d like to share with you what she said.

“One in four humans are dyslexic.  As a retired third and fourth grade teacher of 12 years, I recently began using Doreese’s early reading tools and strategies to help a few of my preschoolers who are showing definite signs of dyslexia.  Within a 6-week time span, I have seen them grow and become more confident in letter recognition, sounds, and number sense.  One little boy progressed rapidly and is thriving.  Two of my other preschoolers are gaining confidence and showing great  progress.  I can’t wait to begin my next school year with the See abc’s Curriculum.  Doreese is an inspired author with a huge heart.  I highly recommend all of her products.” 

Talk about a timely testimonial!  I greatly appreciate her validation of my conclusion that yes, See abc’s can PREVENT Dyslexia!  And I’ve come to think that that is a MOMUMENTAL achievement.  One worth my trying to let people know about. 

Well, moving on.  My sister, Sherry, tried my book with her young preschool son, and seeing how effective it was, wanted to help me market it.  So, I brought her in to be my marketer and partner.  She and I created  a numbers book for the numbers 0-10, based on the same concepts as the alphabet book.  She made the picture clue pages, and I did the imagination pages.  Sherry named it,  123 What Do You See?  

Sherry found an amazing illustrator, Maren Scott, who made beautiful letter/picture and number/picture illustrations.  

Long story short, with these two books and my new handwriting book in hand, I decided I’d like to help children and their parents with learning the alphabet and numbers.  So, in 1999 I put together a FREE Summer School for ALL the children entering Kindergarten at my local school, Sunrise Elementary.  I required a mentor to come with each child so they would know how to work with their child at home.  I involved the whole community!  And it was a huge success, all ran by volunteers.  I ended up doing this for 7 years.  I conducted my own testing for the first couple of years, which provided plenty of evidence to let my know that yes, they learned amazingly well with my Multiple Sensory approach. The ESL  (English as a Second Language) mothers were especially grateful for it.  I loved being able to help these little Pre-K children enter into Kindergarten on a much more equal level, hopefully making it easier for the Kindergarten teachers.  I had the Kindergarten teachers, as well as the Principal, come to do an activity at the end of my teaching each day.  I also had our city’s Youth Council help out with activities.  Local businesses provided snacks for the kids.  That first year I even had the Mayor come and present each child with a graduation certificate. It was awesome to have the whole community come together to serve our precious little ones.  The biggest help was the FREE Daycare provided so that the parents, usually mothers, could attend with their child.  Many thanks to Lori Bolan who took care of this for all 7 years.  Over the years, I shortened my school, and didn’t require as many helpers.  I went from teaching 3 days a week for 7 weeks that 1st year down to only 3 weeks the last two years – still 3 days a week; and was still able to teach ALL of the lower and upper case letters, and ALL of the numbers 0-10, in only 9 days. 

With learning the alphabet basics done, I decided to take my new ABC book and volunteer with 1st graders who still struggled with it.  This was fall of 1999.  It was then that I saw that some children have a really hard time blending sounds together.  I tried to figure out what their problem was.  It was this:  Once a child starts 

saying the first sound, he/she can connect it to the next sound.  But, if they drop the first sound, they lose the word.  And my thoughts were:  “These kids need a better way to blend these sounds together.”  Case in Point:

A little boy I worked with could say /c/ /a/ /t/.  But for the life of him he could not sustain that 1st sound /c/ to say c—-a—-t.  He said,  /c/   a—-t.  I thought, “How can I get him to attach that /c/ sound?”

So I thought on that.  And my wheels set to turning again.  And another long story made very short, my book, ABC’s See How to Chop and Blend became the final result of my journey to figure out this next step of reading.  The most important magic in this book is at the very beginning.  I learned from the children that they need to have a step added in before they  start putting 2 sounds together.  They must be able to hold on to every sound long enough to connect it to the next sound.  Therefore, the first thing that they need to learn is how to “Read” each and every sound on its own!  So far as I know, even though my  blending book was written over 20 years ago, no one else begins their reading program this way.  I call it, “Choppy, Smooth, Smoother.”  

They must learn how to say each sound “Choppy,” which they have already done in ABC’s See What They Say.  

Then they must be able to hold on to the sound twice as long as that, which is “Smooth“.

And then they must be able to hold on to it twice as long as that, which is “Smoother.”

You see, No one ever told me that this could not be done with some sounds, so I just went ahead and figured out to do it for them all!  I learned several months later that some sounds are called short and some are long.  The long ones are held out and the short ones are not, and that is where the issues come from.

*  You can go to this video of a 4-year old boy doing “Choppy, Smooth, Smoother” if you’d like to see how reading one sound at a time is done. 

His next step is to start “reading” the vowels twice; once with the short sound and then again with the long sound.  Except for long u, which has two long sounds!  I think I’m the only one who teaches this.  

Now, I had a pretty big hurdle in front of me.  I knew that if little kids were going to be able to do this easily, my letters in the book would have to have picture clues on the them.  That’s right, I literally sat and wrote the clues onto the letters by hand in my first books.  It didn’t take long to realize that I was going to need to make special fonts that had the clue already on the letter with one stroke of the key!  Boy, was that ever a journey, but so worth it.  

I have heard some authors of “How to… ” programs say, “This book right here is the BIBLE of learning how to __________.”  Meaning that it contains all of the CORE knowledge, or the BASICS that you need.   If my reading system were to have a “BIBLE,” it would for sure be this book,  ABC’s See How to Chop and Blend – a Recipe for Reading  (green cover).  

Originally I had it as two books.  One for teaching the CVC words (consonant – vowel – consonant) with both the short and the long vowels; as in sun and home.  And the other for teaching Consonant Blends such as:  bl, dr, str, etc.  and then the Digraphs such as:  ch, sh, th, etc.  But wanting to be sure that the kids would continue on to learning the Blends and the Digraphs, I put them together in one complete book so they would be able to read ALL words that have just one vowel sound.  Hey!  I just now realized that it is kind of like the Bible in that way too – which was put together as it is now perhaps because of the same reason; where they put The Old Testament and The New Testament together in just one huge book.  But, very seriously, once you have taken your child through this book their foundation for learning how to read will be pretty much cemented in them.  They will also greatly increase their vocabulary, if you take a few seconds to teach them the meanings of all unfamiliar words.  And all that YOU need to do is learn how to do the individual sounds, and how to blend together the very first word in the book; and then you’ve got the whole book!  All of the words are done in this same manner.  So, do not be intimidated by it.  You can see that the first two lines have the picture clues on it, and the last two lines do not, which of course is very important. 

 * These two videos are of a child’s first lesson in blending sounds into a word.  Normally you would not read “bat” and go on to “bed.”  Follow the outlined order of reading.  For the purpose of teaching you how to blend, I had both this 3-year old little girl, and the 4-year old little boy blend with two different vowels.  If you’d like to see how it’s done now, go to: 

I felt really good  about my blending book after using it with quite a few local children.  It worked beautifully in getting kids to blend all of the sounds together with ease.  Now I could easily teach the alphabet and how to use it to read simple words, 100’s of them!  Blending with both the short and long vowels.  Over 400 different words!  Plus 54 little practice phrases at the end of each section.

*Watch the short videos of a 4-year old little boy blending 2-3 sounds together in front of a vowel in the words:  Snap, snake and Sprint, from Level Two.  At this point, they are now reading up to 10 different vowel sounds on one page!  And it is easy for them!  YES, the Preschoolers.

Not long after I had been using this book, I thought, “But… the next step for them is to start memorizing lots and lots of sight words.  Not so easy for quite a few kids, especially when they are forcing children to know how to read so young, and many are not keeping up.”  After much thought, I thought, “Well, Look at all the words they are able to read now with just the basic sounds of the letters.  And at ages 3 and 4 even!  But what could I do to help them get a good, positive start with actually reading something.  “Could I write some short stories without any sight words?  Like I’m talking ZERO sight words at all.  I determined that I’d have to just try it and see.  I already knew that I couldn’t use the words ‘a’ and ‘the’ because both of the vowels say the short ‘u‘ sound of umbrella; or do and to because they both use the long u sound.  (I do not use the double oo in my method).  So, I knew it wasn’t going to be easy.

A sight word is any word where one or more of the letters do not make the sound that it’s supposed to.  Pay attention when you’re reading to get a sense of just how many of our words have to be memorized.  And why?  For the sake of being able to read and spell them.  But at some point, they will have to be able to recognize hundreds of words that are… SPELLED WRONG!  And they can!  But if they want to be able to spell them, they will have to memorize them.

So, I sat down and tried to write up some very short stories.  But the little kids would be very excited to be able to read 2-3 sentences and think they had read a story, because they had.  A story that is just their size.  

I ended up coming up with 40 of these!  I found that usually I was able to come up with a different way to word things instead of a sight word.  I quit at 40, and then went on to write 20 short stories that have a few paragraphs in them.  I was excited to get it done, and called it Stories See What They Say (purple cover).  It took me a long time to figure out these stories, and a long time to type these stories.  I had to keep switching between the fonts I’d created. One for just the plain letters.  And one for the letters, upper and lower case, with the picture clues on them.  The clue for silent letters is that they are smaller and thinner.  Nothing is quite as frustrating as trying to sound out a bunch of letters that don’t even say anything.  So when they read my books, they see the silent letters, but easily glaze over them – voicing only the letters they need do.  I’ve come to know that their very first attachment with reading a word will often times stick.  

Here’s an example of a “Very Short Story” from this book:

I did include 3 well-know Stories:  The Little Red Hen, The Gingerbread Man, and The Three Little Pigs.  

* To see it now, here’s a cute little girl showing how it’s done: 

I had my reasons for making them read each story 3 x’s.  There’s a PDF with this book on my site explaining it.

Well, at this time, I was volunteering in another elementary school with Kindergarteners several weeks after school began.  I offered my help with any children still struggling with their alphabet.  The teacher was glad for my offer and sent 10 or 11 children to me in a room across the hall from her.  It took from 1-2 weeks to get all but 4 of them caught up.  The teacher was very impressed.  She had me continue to work with those four, which I did til the end of the year.  I got them through the “Chop and Blend” book and had gotten this new “Stories See What They Say” book finished a few weeks before the end of the year, and tried it with them.  They could do it!  And they were reading words that none of the other kids were reading.  But it was more of a struggle for them than I wanted them to have.  I determined that they needed a step  between the Blending book and this Stories book.   Something that even preschoolers could do.  

And so…  I came up with my “Phrases See What They Say” book (orange .).  You see, the “Stories…” book only has  picture clues on the letters that make more than one sound.  I removed all of the picture clues from the consonants, other than ‘c’ which also says /s/, and ‘g’ which also says /j/, and ‘s’ which also says /z/.

Remember, these 4 cute kids I had worked with were the ones who struggled.  They had  made great gains through doing my blending book, which is ultra tactile, as you saw in the videos.  They read with the help of their index finger the entire book!  This keeps ALL who use it very focused.  It is extremely hands on, as well as visual with the clues, and auditory by talking out loud – the flip side of “hearing.” YES, it oozed with multiple sensory learning too! This was towards the end of the school year, giving me a couple of weeks to use Stories See What They Say with them.

That summer, I began to create my Phrases book, with 4-year olds in mind.  Simple enough for them to do after learning the skills in the Chop and Blend book.  I came up with 48 very short phrases.  Only 3-6 words long.  The words are much bigger.  And I put picture clues on every letter.  And I stretched out the words on the page, similar to what they had done in the Blending book. (They’re reduced here.)

In the second half of the book, I repeat the very same phrases but have removed the clues from all of the consonants.  They won’t remember having read the phrases until after they have figured out the words, if at all.  But repeating the phrases would be helpful for them, I thought.  It worked like a charm!  

Pre-Kindergarteners, age 4-5, could easily do it.  See the example below of the same Phrase without the clues for the consonants, or stretching them out.  It looks quite a bit different.

 

I was quite certain that after reading this 2nd half of the Phrases… book, they would be able to handle the Stories… book even as preschoolers.  I was right.

Both the Phrases book and the Stories book are POWERFUL books in learning how to read.  When creating them, I decided that I wanted to be sure and use ALL of the letters, upper and lower case, and the 3 copycat letters multiple times.  The letters which are used in only a few words, were used fewer times.  I made sure to use ALL of the short and ALL of the long vowels, and ALL of the vowels that are silent.  I also made sure to use ALL of the consonant blends, and ALL of the digraphs multiple times too.  And I wanted to make sure that I used all of the consonants both at the beginning of words and at the end of them too.  This greatly added to my ZERO Sight Words challenge!  And, YES, I actually kept track of how many times I used each letter in all of these ways.  And those that needed to be used more became the basis for making up a phrase or story wherein I could use some of those letters.   In the Stories… book, I just couldn’t work in some of those rarely used letters often enough for my liking, so that’s why I put in a “Power Words” page.  

I believe it’s because of these things: Zero Sight Words and repeated usage of ALL the letters saying ALL of their sounds in ALL positions in the words, that children are able to go on and easily read ALL kinds of words.  

The icing on the cake for both books is in teaching them how to put expression into their reading.  I felt that this would be more important to focus on rather than making them memorize sight words.  I decided to do this after tutoring a 5th Grader who was struggling with being able to read fluently and therefore had poor comprehension.  He was reading with a monotone voice – one tone for everything.  And he didn’t pause between sentences, they just ran together.  So, in both of these books, I added a way to make the children use expression, and I left extra space between the sentences.  I also included Punctuation Marks to teach them.

And now, Whew!  I finally felt at peace with having a solid reading program that would bring kids to a much more solid and confident place before they had to start tackling those pesky sight words.  

Oh, how I wished that I could do something to make that easy, but I could not think of what.  Until… one day I did!

The following video was made by what is now the Bridgerland Technical College.  Many thanks to Rex Nethercott.  I invited some mom’s to come with their pre-schoolers to help me make a video of how to teach children the alphabet by using ABC’s See What They Say.  After working with the kids, I briefly told the mother’s about the rest of my reading program.  How it builds on itself; one step leading to the next.  

This section of video is where I explain what I did to overcome memorizing sight words.  Then my sister tells about her adorable Gumfounded™ Environmental storybooks that used my new invention, I guess that’s what you would call it.  (These books are no longer available through See abcs™.  We had partnered up with both my company, See abc’s LC, and her company, Gumfounded LLC.  In 2015 we decided to split and each pursue our separate interests.)  Be sure you listen through to the end of this little video to hear from two mom’s who had used my complete program with two of their young children.  I considered these results to be nothing short of miraculous.  And two average mom’s did this!  Became Professional Reading Teachers!  And you can see how rewarding it was for them to be able to give their own children the gift of knowing how to read, and see the joy of it develop in their children along the way.

Their testimonials are probably the most telling for the value of the “See abc’s Reading System.”  Just a few weeks ago, I realized that it works as a system.  The Methodology and Techniques of See abc’s actually work together as a System beginning to end.  The Curriculum is the Material within that system.   It is all linked together through the same strong thread of  IMAGINATION – using the same picture clues as needed step by step.  But I’ve also created each book to be able to “stand alone”, meaning that you can begin wherever your child is at in their learning, and go from there.  I now welcome you to the world of… Imletteration!  

Explanation of Imletteration given to moms.  Two mom’s, each with two kids, share their experiences.

As you saw, I DID come up with a way to eliminate sight words.  How?  By making everything phonetic!  

I decided to call my new process “Imletteration,” which I also used for the title of my newest and final learn how to read book!  (red cover)  Through the use of Imletteration, children can sound out… EVERYTHING!  

I can not even describe the impact of such an a-Ha moment.  Let me see; um, nope.  Can’t do it.  To say it was Amazing doesn’t cover it.  Nor does Wonderful.  Nor does even Incredible describe the magnitude of this A-HA Moment.  No words, but this image just came into my mind of that instant when I had the thought that I could just put the same clues I had made onto different letters that could make that same sound.  And that little light bulb that goes on when someone has a good idea when on… and immediately EXPLODED!!!  Then my very next thought was, “ESL.  E S L !” – English as a Second Language. 

I was so, SO Excited!  I couldn’t get over myself.  And I thanked GOD.  He had done it.  He had brought me to the next step – taking care of sight words.  I knew who had brought me every step of the way.  But that’s a different story, actually a short story… short, but very special.

When you sit down with your child to help them read a book of their choice,  it is very  much worth taking the time to write down a word they don’t know and imletterate it for them.  Again, as with the alphabet, let them “see what it says” applies to full words too.  And, let them see what it does NOT say!  It is much more productive to do this than for you to just tell them the word and move on.  Or you are apt to tell them the same word over and over.  To see Imletteration in action, watch this next video where I show how to implement the knowledge from the book and apply it to any book.  

As you watch this, you will understand that the main objective here is NOT to get the book read, but to learn how to read it; the trickier words in it, the better.  This adorable little girl is enjoying the process, and not worried about being able to read it.  I had told her I looked for a book that has some tricky, hard words in it that I can Imletterate for you.  So, she doesn’t feel bad that she’s unable to read something.  That’s the intent – when you’re trying to help them increase their abilities to be able to read on their own.  So, it’s exciting for them when they are able to easily read a difficult word after you have imletterated it for them, because they know that they weren’t able to read it at all without it.  Plus, they have digested why.  “Oh, that letter says something different than it’s supposed to.”  And “Oh, that letter doesn’t say anything.”  Reading this way isn’t even about comprehension at all.  You can read take the time to read back to them what they have stumbled through.  This is a STUDY of the language.  You want to look for books that have challenging words.  It’s pretty amazing how fast they get at being able to figure out the tricky stuff.  You can also write them in a note book instead of flash cards.  A small notebook where you write the words and imletterate them on one side, then write them on the back of the page without clues.  Then every few days, spend time either your own lists or flash cards, without clues first.

I want to reiterate what I said before; I’ve come to know that their very first attachment with reading a word will often times stick.  Must be because they have imprinted that into their memory bank first.  So, it is very  much worth taking the time to write down a word they don’t know and imletterate it for them.  Let them see what it says… and what is does NOT say!  It is much more productive than for you to just tell it to them and move on.

Another wonderful benefit of using See abc’s™, besides helping with Dyslexia, are the SPEECH Lessons that are embedded within all of the books.  Especially the first two, the Alphabet one and the Blending one.  Two mothers of Pre-K children I had worked with told me that my books cured their child of their speech problems where the expensive, time-consuming lessons they had been paying for at the local university could not.  

Whew!  I had done it!  I had completely revolutionized reading!  I felt certain of it.  To be sure, my husband and I met with a Patent Attorney to see if my reading methods would be patentable.  After I showed it to him and explained how it works, he thought about it for a little while, and said, “Yes.  This could be Patented.”  I was thrilled to hear that.  I could not afford a Patent, but it was important for me just to know that I had indeed “Re-invented the wheel” for how to teach reading!  See abc’s is much more than just learning how to read.  The learner is very involved with the books; they must DO something with them.  The books are interactive.  The learner DOES things while using them.

After you have looked through my “Reading System” here on my website, I believe that you will agree that See abc’s™ is Revolutionary!  Nothing about its methods had been done before.  Who could have ever imagined that you could teach children, and anyone who struggles with reading how to read by teaching them how to use… their imagination?  And easily teach them how to write by using their… imagination too!

Now that it’s 2023, I can say it was nearly 30 years ago that I invented this new combined letter/clue form of teaching.  There was nothing like it that I could find.  In fact, it was 5 years before I saw anything similar to it when I was invited to be a presenter at a “Light on Literacy Conference” in Provo, Utah.  Sherry and I also had a Vendor’s Table, and there was a woman there from a company that she said they had some-thing similar.  She showed it to me in a manual.  They were tiny letters, with tiny clues, and it made me feel good about my picture clues in that they weren’t the same.  The woman told me that they are called “Embedded Letters.” She also told me that she liked what I had done better.  That was a validation that helped me a lot.  It was a long time after that before I saw some embedded letters anywhere else.  Even now, I still think it to be a novel idea.   

These 3 books have a Progress Chart in them.  Once children fill in a few boxes with a sticker or a check mark, they arrive at a circle.  This means they have earned a prize!  Earning a sticker is Progress, and they feel good about it.  Earning a Prize is an Achievement, and they are ecstatic about it!  Don’t believe me?  Just watch this:

(There isn’t a Progress Chart for the “Alphabet Basics” books, but you could make one up if wanted.)

Bringing you up to date with what I did after See abc’s and Gumfounded split up.  I didn’t do anything for about a year.  Then in 2016 I decided to redo both the alphabet and the numbers books.  My sister had told me that I could do my own numbers book if I wanted to.  Being able to read numbers is a vital part of learning to read, so I thought on that.  

First, I set out to create my own illustrations for my alphabet book, which took a very long time.  I still want to tweak it here and there.  Then I did rewrite a numbers book that teaches the numbers from 0-100.  Most of the teaching is done with numbers 0-10.  Then I use those same picture clues to teach 11-20. Numbers 21 – 100 is done based on the number 10.  I also teach the terms 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and so on.  This book also took me a very long time, and I titled it, 123’s See How Many.  

Then in 2017 I decided to create my See abc’s™ Blackout Alphabet Game.   Also, a TON of work.  I did not use a template for the BINGO cards.  That was an undertaking, to say the least.  It’s great for the whole family.  Regular BINGO is played by people of ALL ages, and it’s only numbers.  So, the only difference here is that it is with letters, and there are only 16 spaces on the cards.  I’ve called it See abc’s Blackout because the goal is to get them to learn the alphabet.  In order to get the most learning out of it, you need to BLACKOUT!  Now, this is important… like regular BINGO, it’s most fun with prizes!  And little ones are thrilled with just a fun pencil.  A nickle, or dime is exciting to them.  A little bouncy ball, or something cheap from the dollar store.  A sucker, or other treat is fun to get them for every BINGO they get!  Or, they can call out “LETTERS” instead.  Everyone can have a marshmallow with each BINGO they get.  And once they get a BLACKOUT, it’s a prize.  

*This cute family is playing See abc’s Blackout for the first time.  See how to use it with little ones.

Warning:  With preschool kids, they need to know in advance that everyone is going to get a prize!  

I have never attempted to do any marketing since 2015.  It is only due to the strong urging from an amazing pre-school teacher and friend, Amy Hilton of The Owl Tree, who has used my curriculum for many years – taking her students clear up through much of the blending process, that I began to rebuild my website from the ground up.  That’s a short story made long!  I did not notice any renewal notice for my website hosting.  And I hadn’t used it for a long time, but I tried to keep my hosting fees current.  The short story is that they deleted my entire site!  The long story is that I’ve literally had to start over.  My current webmaster has been very patient and helpful.  He put something barebones together – for just the books.  No descriptions or videos or pictures.  It’s taken a few months for me to rewrite all of this new information, and gather pictures and videos for it.   Plus, I’m trying to get some fun things to share with you using my new materials.  And this is where I’m at now, my “About Us” page.  Once it is complete, so will be my website!

Thank You for taking the time to learn about me and my journey with how and why I took the time to figure out how to solve the issues that I saw which faced our little ones in trying to learn this ridiculous English Language. Most kids and adults who struggle do NOT have reading issues.  Let me repeat:  They do NOT have reading issues; they have a language issue.  Our language is chuck FULL of issues!  I sure do wish that more educators would acknowledge that the problem isn’t the children, it is the nonsense language.  And it does not make it better or easier on them to force them to learn how to read so much when they are too young  to comprehend it all, unless they use See abc’s™. 

If you have stuck with me to this point, it is YOU that I am reaching out to.  

I NEED HELP!  Your help!

I need help getting the word out about See abc’s™.  I am the sole Employee of See abc’s LC.  I am its sole Publisher.  I am the sole Marketer, sole Accountant, sole Author and Illustrator.  I guess you could call it a one-woman business, that’s not really doing any business.   I’ve grown used to doing “Business” this way –  LOL       However, it is now finally… Ready to Roll, as a Solo act. I do not have an advertising budget, and this is where you  could help me, if you see the value of my work.  I simply need help to get the word out there through… WORD OF MOUTH to get it to those who are in need of it.  And to keep it simple for myself, I’m using only one source as my store – My Website:  seeabcs.com

Suggestions for how you can spread the word, and the letters!

1. Share my Website, seeabcs.com with all who you think would be willing to help YOU help ME get the word out about See abc’s™.   They may not need it personally, but would be good channels of getting the word circulating.  Or, they are grandmas!  Teaching your own grandchild how to read is a true blessing.
2. Share one or more of the videos from my website on your Social Media page, or through texts and emails.
3. Have Preschool Teachers and Literacy Groups that you know check it out.  
4. Please let parents you know of who have children ages 2-8 know about it.  It’s also great for anyone who are struggling with reading, handwriting, spelling, comprehension, sight words, and fluency.  Each book works independently, and so parents and teachers can get what their children need.  But it’s just a whole lot of fun for ALL children, and I believe it will get them reading faster than any other method.  I have an amazing story about two little 3rd graders, and one of  a 45-year old woman who my local city’s Literacy workers gave up on.  
5. Recommend it to people who are trying to learn English as a Second Language, ESL.  ABC’s See How to Chop and Blend and Imletteration are excellent for them to learn ALL the sounds that the letters can make.  

See abc’s – the Miracle

When it comes right down to it, there are only two books  that are necessary in order to learn how to read.  No, I’m NOT fooling!  Two simple books.  I call them, “The Bare Essentials.”  ABC’s See How to Chop and Blend and Imletteration.  That’s right.  These two simple books are ALL the tools that you need in order to TEACH someone how to read!  And students only need to learn what is in these two books in order to be able to read.  

The other products I’ve created are merely supplements to these.  It’s beautiful.  And it’s day is here – finally.  Again, many thanks to all who have helped me get to this day, and to all who may be able to help me spread it out and about.

This concludes my “About Us” story of the evolution of the See abc’s Reading System.  However, if you would like to know why I was so persistent and obsessed with trying to figure out a better way for kids to learn how to read for every step of the way that I went, then I have added my Personal Whys here below.  And I do sincerely appreciate you very much for taking the time to learn about me and my work.  And I DO sincerely acknowledge the GREAT good in the world that those of you do who work to increase literacy.. one or more persons at a time.  YOU make a difference!  After all, isn’t the literacy rate a number that is attached or unattached to Individuals as combined educators work to make that number go up?  In fact, I believe that See abc’s™ is an “Illiteracy PREVENTION Program.”  (Once in a while, it is a Program.  We have multiple Literacy programs out there.)  As I pointed out earlier, it does prevent children from having to deal with the dyslexia that they were prone to.  I don’t know of any other program that is credited with preventing dyslexia.  And it certainly can cure it!  Of course, I can’t guarantee it for everyone.  But logic alone, would give it a chance.

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2.  Reasons Behind My Persistence to “Fix” Reading

The why for WHY it was so it was so important to me to persist in figuring out a better way for children to learn how to read is because of my own life experience with it.

My DREAM for my program is two-fold.  First of all, I want to greatly reduce the illiteracy rate.  But, even more important than that, I want to make children LOVE reading!  There’s a huge difference between learning to read and loving to read, and I am speaking from personal experience here.  When you love to read, the world is yours.  When you know how to read, but hate it, you have no idea of what you are missing out on.  Of course I would not even have this perspective if I still have never read a book just for my own enjoyment.

When I reached the 6th grade, I discovered that I wasn’t as good of a reader as I had thought.  

When I was growing up and learning how to read in 1st through 5^th grade, I learned how to read like all the other kids… or so I thought.  I could read fine.  I understood what I read fine.  I could spell fine.   I could take or leave reading.  I did it at school, but I never read a book just for fun at home.  Then in the 6^th grade, something happened that dramatically changed my attitude towards reading.  

That year we began this new reading program called SRA where they had a lot of small books in a box.  They were color-coded according to level of difficulty.  You started with the Brown section  (books had a brown cover).    You would take a book from the Brown section, read it, and answer questions about it, then go and exchange it for the next book from the Brown section.  When you finished all of those, then you went on to the next color which is a bit more challenging.  But luckily, nobody ever turned a stopwatch on me.  We were allowed to go at our own pace.      

I got through a few of these brown books and one day when I went to return my book and get the next brown book, there was a line of kids in front of me.  I watched as one child took a book from the Red books, I think it was, which was after the Brown books.   Then I saw a girl reach way back to the Aqua colored books.  I can not even tell you the shame and embarrassment I felt in now trying to sneak back my Brown book and take another brown book back to my desk.  I didn’t want anyone to see how far behind I apparently was.  

 I distinctly remember trying to force myself to read those words faster – “and then I’ll get caught up to the others a bit.”  I would try to read faster and do better, but I just couldn’t go any faster and my attitude towards reading began to decline.  That is when the surprising realization came to me that I was a poor reader and I began to develop

the attitude that, “I don’t like reading.”  Day by day, I actually grew to Hate it; a pain I kept hidden.  But, it became very, very embarrassing for me to have to go and get my little book, no matter what color I was in, when everyone else was ahead of me.  I thought, “Please don’t see my little “far behind” book.  And, I continued to try to hide it.

 (Ugh, I’m gonna make myself cry right now if I don’t stop dwelling on it.  I’ve learned that powerful hurtful memories will ALWAYS conjure up powerful emotions when relived.)  Anyway, it labeled me right then and there as a bad reader.  True, I wasn’t the farthest behind, but that was NOT my goal!  From that time forward, I HATED reading!  You see, I equated my being a slow reader to mean that I was a bad reader; that I wasn’t good at reading.  SRA left a very bitter taste in my mouth; It tasted… sloowww.  I don’t know what the solution is to situa-tions like this, but there’s got to be something better than doing that to kids; singly them out because they are slow.

And I never did read anything I didn’t have to for school.  Not even when I got to college.  Never picked up a book for FUN.  Never just sat down and read a good story.  I had no interest, zero desire to do that.  My life was full, and reading would have been the last thing I would think to fill my time with.  

I never wasted any of my precious childhood moments after school with being forced to do something that made me feel so bad – being forced to read a certain amount of books at home and having to be tested on it.  After school time for kids when I was growing up, and when my own children were growing up was for… childhood!  When I was a little girl, I got to start taking Dancing Lessons, which I LOVED.  A few years later I wanted to learn how to play the piano.  And so after school, I enjoyed learning how to READ notes, and how to play songs; though I never got real great at it, it was an enjoyable pass-time for me.  And I did a whole lot of running around and playing outside, in autumn leaves, piles of winter snow, or on windy spring school days with my siblings or the neighborhood kids.  

One thing we learned when parents had to become school teachers during the COVID 19 Pandemic was that kids had plenty of time for… childhood fun; though be it indoors and with no one outside of their family!  It was still more fun than excess studying. 

Note:  Many studies have shown the importance of learning how to read music and play a musical instrument when young.  This is another message I’ve been wanting to get out, and this seems as good a place to do it as any.  Because there is a huge correlation between it and learning.  So I will address it more at the very end, if you are interested.  I know that  many parents go through trying to make that decision about music, usually piano lessons, the most popular instrument to learn, because you have the entire orchestra at your fingertips – not just the high violin notes, nor the mid-high viola notes, nor the mid low cello notes, nor the low bass notes.

I knew that it took me longer to do my homework that many.  I won’t say than “most” because I believe there are a lot of slow readers like me, who put in the hours to get the work done.  Anyhows, I continued to read only what I absolutely had to to get the good grades, which I did.  I surprisingly ended up with  a 4.0 all through high school and a 3.95 through college.  But, I  never read anything for pleasure.  Finally, after reaching my late 30’s and having 5 kids – long story short,  I talked myself into picking up my first book – and I read it.  And Guess  What?  I was still a slow reader… but it didn’t matter.  No one was timing me, or testing me, or grading me, or judging me.  I could go at my own pace, and I did; just one page at a time – like everybody else!   And I began to enjoy it; even look forward to it.  And it was long book too!  I finished that first long, big book and felt good enough about it that I started the next big volume, and the next, and the next and realized that YES!  I, Doreese Severe, could  finally say that…  I LOVE to read!  By the end of that first book, I understood why people would want to sit there and just read, read, read.  And I went on to read many books.  

Each time I sat down to read, it took me a bit to get going in order to get in to it.  Sometimes it seemed overwhelming, if I thought of how many pages were still left in the book.  But after going through a few pages, the story took over and I paid no attention to page turning.  Sometimes I amazed myself at how much I had read during one sitting.  And those times made me happy.  It made me feel good.  

And I was so sad to realize all the years of fun, drama, mystery, suspense, and inspiration that a good book can give you that I had missed out on for all those years.  I think the main reason I hated to read so much was because I equated that being a slow reader meant that you were a bad reader.  Well, I am here to tell you that I am a GOOD reader, or I could never have pulled off those grades.  True, I did have to work harder and longer than others, but I still understood what I was reading and did well.  On the flip side of that, we equate fast readers as being good readers, and I don’t believe that it is always the case.  I believe some fast readers hurry through so fast that they are. missing important things through just “skimming” their way along.  I could be wrong.  What is your opinion of that?

Do you think all fast readers are good readers?  That’s something I will never know, having no personal experience with reading fast.  

So, knowing what I have missed out on for so many years of my life just because of my attitude towards reading,

also made me persist in trying my best to do all I could to make sure that that doesn’t happen to kids any more either.  

Now, can you see why even though it had been slow trying to get the word out about my program, I just had to continue diligently trying to get it out there.  Because I knew that I could make a difference for all the kids like me.  And for those who were dealing with struggles far worse than mine of just being slow.  But as nobody has ever heard of See abc’s outside my own circle, tells you how successful I’ve been with that.  And that’s enough about that.  

But, it’s too much work for me to not give it one more shot.  I’ve invested thousands of hours into creating it all, and hundreds of hours using it with hundreds; which was more than enough to convince me that it IS worth my while to try to mainly let parents and pre-school teachers know about it, as well as parents who are the teachers.

With kids today, they still must read certain books and answer questions, which is important.  But what is not fine nor important is to expect that all “Brown book” readers must be brought to the same level of the “Aqua book” readers.  I call this “The Cheetah/Snail Syndrome,” which I tell to parents of non speed readers.  And if given the chance, I would try to explain to the educators who don’t seem to get it like this:  Should a Cheetah and a Snail be in the same race?  In other words, not ALL children are Cheetahs when it comes to reading.  In other words, not ALL kids are Sprinters where reading books is concerned.  But even a snail can finish the race, but at its own pace.  You see, the Cheetah determines the length of the race.  It is over when the Cheetah knows he will run out of steam;  much like the speed readers run through the book and then it’s done.  The snail, moving along the best he can – can still enjoy the race, so long as he does not give up… on HIMSELF, by feeling completely defeated and like he isn’t even capable of making it to the end… which seems so very, very far away.  

I have never taken my explanation of the Cheetah and the Snail to this extent, and just now paused to think, “How would I end it if I wrote this analogy as a fable. ”  I just visualized how this story would end.  It quickly came to mind and has put tears in both my eyes.  I’d like to share it with you.  The little snail’s story ends like this:

Finally, the little snail arrived at the finish line.  He was worried that the cheetah was going to make fun of him and call him names in front of everyone.  But, when he crossed the line, he saw NO cheetah there.  He looked up – because the cheetah most certainly wouldn’t be lower than him, not even at eye level.  So, he lifted his little head up as high as he could while wearing a big, heavy shell on his back; and he looked all around him and there was no cheetah… anywhere.  This also made him feel bad because now the cheetah would not even know that he had persisted clear to the end – to the finish line.

But…  he thought that he could hear something.  Something which got louder, and LOUDER, and stronger and STRONGER, with more and MORE little… voices???  Yes, it was words he was hearing.  Lots and lots of them!  And he lowered his head and looked around, and could see no one.  But he heard the voices shout out ALL together, “Turn Around.”  

He turned around to see… hundreds of little snails like him COVERED the ground behind him.  He caught hold of some of the things that they were shouting at him (All with one voice so he could understand), and he bowed his head low… and cried.

This is what he heard:  “We are PROUD of you!”  “We noticed you along the way.”  “We did our best to stick with you.”  “You’ve gathered OUR support along the way!”  

And then, all went quiet.

Sensing what this strong, very tired little snail must be feeling, all of the snails stopped shouting and pulled themselves towards him.  And quietly too; which is one thing about snails – they are very sneaky.  They can sneak up on anything!  They surrounded the valiant snail.  

He wondered what happened to all those snails. Why did they all of the sudden go silent?  Having gained some composure, he lifted his head to see a bunch of snails directly in front of him, and it startled him so, that he had to laugh in spite of his exhaustion.  And those in front of him, could not help but to laugh back at him, because that was the last reaction they were expecting!  Then our strong snail got ahold of himself and stopped laughing in time to hear the laughter of his fellow snail fans ripple past both of his tiny little ears all the way around, and he slowly slid himself all the way around in a circle to see more snails than he could ever imagine he would see in his lifetime.  He was so overwhelmed with joy, on top of being overcome with exhaustion and the disappointment of the absence of 

his competitor, that he let out a HUGE sigh, “uh Huh” (One that none of us would hear).  And he relaxed at bit and slumped down a little into his shell; which now was not a burden but a support for his head.  

Sensing that he was about to speak, every snail there became silent.  And this is what they heard the valiant snail say, every one of them leaning their head his way:

He looked up and meekly said to this silent crowd… “Will you all please be my friends?” Shouts rose up of, “I will!”  “Of course!”  “For sure!”  These replies continued on and on, and on through-out the crowd until each one of them felt like their reply had been heard by their… HERO.  

The MORAL or MORALE of the Story thus far is this:  “Though I still have not figured out a way to make kids read faster, I can tell them that… they do not have to.”

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Hero.  I say that  because that is how all of those snails had treated their new friend.  Once all declare their friendship to the valiant snail, they all fell silent once again.  Their little strong, humble, and valiant snail felt an uncontrollable, involuntary twitch at the corners of his mouth.  It felt as though they were pulling upwards.  That’s right.  He couldn’t help himself.  The corners of his mouth were expressing his inner feelings of happiness.  The crowd, with all eyes on him; and Yes, that’s possible with snails!  They can literally raise their eyes right up from their head and stretch them this way and that.  And the smaller snails had gotten upon the shells of the larger ones in order to see; sometimes in stacks of three!  And our hero, wanting to see them all too, slowly turned round in place again, so ALL saw that miraculous grin becoming higher and wider, until it had set a new record for being the largest Grin that this snail – or any snail, had EVER grinned.  (This was according to all who had seen it.)  It meant that this little snail – I never knew his name; was very, very GLAD – the complete opposite of SAD.  And this was with his mouth… shut.  

Then an odd thing began to happen.  Someone in the back uttered something that couldn’t be heard well enough to be understood.  But then another voice joined in, and the two of them said it again.  Still not loud enough.  But then those surrounding these two joined in with them, and still little snail was unsure of what they said.  Something like, “You’re my   garble garbled  … what?” 

At lightning speed, the chant circled round to all; and with one voice they chanted loud and clear, “You’re MY Hero!  You’re My HERO!   You are Our HERO!”

It took a bit for this little snail who still was so exhausted, hungry, and thirsty from his long, LONG ordeal of pulling his little self up and down a few mountains (mere bumps in the road to the cheetah), round a few fields (patches of grass to the cheetah), and the final bend with no Cheetah at the end… to ingest what had just been said.  And he thought, “Hero.  I am a hero?  Is this what they said?  I am a Hero?  Me???”  

You see, he had never been a Hero to anyone before.  Being caught off guard with the thought of it, he involuntarily let out another big sigh – “uh Huh.”   And as he did so, his wide grinning mouth opened… into the biggest, hugest SMILE his little face had ever smiled!  And he again turned in place to see all of those snails.  Upon seeing that huge, sincere, authentic, record-breaking smile; the very souls of all those snails who saw it was filled with a sudden burst of… JOY!  Boy, Oh Boy, talk about JOY!  The same joy they saw in the face of their new Hero.  They saw it in his smile.  They saw it in his shiny glistening eyes.  And they saw it in the way he now held his head high and proud – as compared to the dejected and sad little snail whose head hung in embarrassment and shame when they first came upon him.  That’s the difference a friend can make.  They can take you from a Zero to a Hero!  

And that day, anyone who may have been observing this very special event would surely know it too; that on that day they went on to say, “We are very, VERY Proud of YOU!” 

The MORAL of the Story is this:  Next time a Cheetah and a Snail decide to race, all the snails decided that the one who puts the most time into it will come in…  in 1st place.  

The End… or so I thought

3. Epilogue 

It turns out that the Cheetah has now come forward with something to say; because… that race that the snails had put forth… well, it DID come to pass one day.  

In this most unusual Race of Races, the Cheetah would have to wait to begin the race until the snail was at least one paw length ahead! 

Well, the Cheetah did his best to win this race by doing his best to NOT to get very far ahead of the snail.  And my, oh MY, by doing this, he did grow to LOVE this little snail as he went along the path of the race while walking in the trail of the snail (Snails do not have footprints.)   He saw how the snail labored to go up, over, and down the “bumps” in the road.  And he saw how he went way out of the way of the path to go around  the patches of grass.  And it was very hard for him to wait and watch as the little snail tried to cover the same path that he does in mere leaps and bounds.  

They chatted.  They laughed.  And finally the Cheetah could see the end of the path, which forced him to face the end of their race; which of course the snail would not see for quite a while yet.  This gave the Cheetah some time to think.  What to do, what to do?  Because he knew that his new pal had really been trying his best to win this time, and it seemed that for him to leap across that finish line this would be a crime and a shame, and he would be to blame… for crushing the little snail once again.  He wondered, “Would the snail actually try to beat him at his own game… by trying to go even slower that he, the speedy Cheetah, could possibly go and still keep moving forward?  Oh, he just didn’t know what to do.

Then all of the sudden, he heard the valiant snail exclaim, “I won!  I WON the race!”  

“Say what now?” said the Cheetah, being snapped out of his train of thought.  “I WON.  I came in last!  Which means I took 1st place!”  The Cheetah looked down at the ground for the first time in a while having been caught up in his head, and without even realizing it, he had inadvertently stepped forward, ahead of the snail, which for the snail was just swell!  And the Cheetah’s worries for how to play out the end of this odd race were over.  And it never felt better to come in last place, by crossing the finish line 1st.

There was quite a difference in the two of them there.  The Cheetah was not even out of breath this time around, and the snail was more exhausted than before.  How come, do you think?  Have you ever tried to chat when you were giving something all the physical effort that you have got?  If not, then try it sometime when you are doing something rigorous (that requires energy) with a pal.  So, after declaring himself the winner, he collapsed with exhaustion back down into his shell.  But it was okay, and he knew just what he’d say when he regained the strength to do so, and he hoped that the Cheetah would stick around a while.  

The Cheetah was worried.  Wondering if the snail needed medical help, he said, “Are you okay in there?”  To which little snail was able to weakly say, “Just give me a minute.”  And the Cheetah learned another interesting thing about snails right then and there.  That even time itself is much slower for a snail.  After a while he said back, “Take all the time you need cause I’m going to do the same thing and relax a bit too in the shade, because I’ve taken the same long time as you!  With a yawn, he laid down and both fell asleep.  

The Cheetah felt something on his paw which awakened him.  It was the snail, and he needed to tell the Cheetah that he had to turn around and head back for home.  He bid the Cheetah lean down, so he could whisper in his ear and not have to exert more strength than he had to.  He said, “Thank you for letting me win today, and I want you to know that you are my HERO in every way.”  To which the Cheetah replied, “Let you win… nothing!  I absolutely did not do that.  You won me fair and square.  I got caught up in my own little thoughts and completely forgot about staying behind you.  YOU are the Hero of the Day!”  

“Well, I’m sure glad that you’ve let me know that.  The win now is sweet instead of sour.  And your perseverance in staying behind me nearly every tinesy bit of the way is certainly worth a Medal of Honor.  It was a heroic, very honorable thing  that you did, and was certainly quite unexpected when you took me up on such a challenge.  But, now my new friend, I must be heading back, for soon it will be the dinner hour.”  

The thought, just the thought of this most amazing snail EVER… having to turn around and cover the same ground was much more than the Cheetah could handle now…  now that he understood how much harder the snail worked, and how much longer it took for him to do what was just moments for a Cheetah.  And a brilliant idea came to his head, and he gave the snail this suggestion instead:

“Little Snail, I want you to know that you are my newest BEST Friend, and I’ve got an idea for how this perfect day  must end.  I’ve walked the path of life with you, and learned what it’s like to be a small creature.  You think it to be slow and dull, but I’ve NEVER enjoyed such a walk in my WHOLE life!  I’ve seen things that I have never noticed before.  My goodness!  I’ve never even known they’ve existed…  Until YOU pointed them out along the way and taught me about things only my claws could see.  My world is completely different living with my head way up here.  My views are from above, and I’ve just realized that you have no clue what it’s like to be me.  And so… I’m going to give you… a very, very Speedy ride home!  

The snail just sat there and looked up into his eyes in utter disbelief.  “What?  You’re going to give me a ride home?”  He just melted, and could not hold back the tears.  He could be home in a matter of minutes instead of hours?  With so many emotions going on inside of that little shell from the heart of the snail, it’s no wonder that the Cheetah was beholden to a tiny miracle that no one had ever seen before; and he pointed it out to his little buddy, and whispered reverently, “Look down at your shell.”  He did so carefully.   He saw that his fairly tough shell was aglow.  And it freaked him out so!  

…He had NEVER, like EVER seen any snail shell glow before, let alone his OWN!  At this huge thought and astonish-ment, that glow just burst forth and flowed out all over and around him.  Well, the Cheetah didn’t know any better and asked, “Does that happen to you often?”  All he heard was, “/u/  /u/  /u//u/  oh dear,  oh my,  /u/ /u/,” and he replied, “So what you’re saying then is that it isn’t normal.”  And no words were said by either of them.  The glow seemed to envelope the two of them now and bound them together in a most special way (that is shared with reverence by all who tell of it still to this day).  And they just basked in the warmth of it until it gradually, very gradually, went away.  And getting back to the task at hand, of getting little snail back home again, the Cheetah bowed his head low to the ground and told the “Beloved” to climb up onto the very top part of his head.  Well, that was definitely easier said than done.  But he did get up there, knowing it would take much less time than trying to get home creating his own slime.  

Awe, it was soft up there, and he could not even believe what he saw when he looked at the path through the eyes of the Cheetah.  How far away it was!  He was terrified!  But the Cheetah calmed him and assured him that he was not going to go at top speed, but would lope gently and evenly along to give the snail plenty of time to take in the scenery from high above the ground.  And then little snail settled right down.  

He marveled at the mountains he had climbed as the Cheetah stepped over them like mere bumps in the road.  And he marveled as he saw all those fields he had to go around were now just patches of grass that the Cheetah stepped upon.  Words cannot express what this trip home meant to the Snail, but to this day, thousands have tried to just imagine what it would have been like for him sitting way up there, moving with ease with a gentle breeze provided through the fur he was surrounded by.  And once they arrived at the snail’s humble home, the Cheetah lowered his head, and our little snail’s family was filled with pure dread… thinking they were about to be his meal for the day.  But how perplexed and relieved they all were when seeing that something was moving through the fur on the top of his head… which let them all know they had nothing to dread.  Their little HERO had finally come home.   

And this Epilogue was shared by both the Cheetah and the Snail… for the very first time.  But certainly not the last.

The “Lesson” for this Epilogue is that ALL kids, from the fastest to the slowest, will LOVE learning how to read and write their letters and numbers through the “Multiple Sensory” techniques of See abc’s!

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Author’s Note:  One thing that I’d dare say nobody knows about me is this:  that I am fiercely competitive with… myself.  And that’s why I have this reading system.  And that’s really the only thing that anyone really needs to be concerned about.  Self-improvement!  And it’s always great when improving yourself includes doing something good for others too.

*I  have just decided to make a special certificate that will be waiting at the end of the finish line for those who finish going through the See abc’s™ Reading Series, which includes the books with the: green, orange, purple and red covers.  I will include it with the book Imletteration™, which is at the end of the learning how to read race track.  It’s an unusual race.  There is only one competitor – the person who’s running that race, the one who’s learning how to read.  They simply must get farther than they were the last time they read with you.  

You, the teacher, determine how fast they go.  You can help them to run right through it, if you spend 20-30 minutes a day to help them.  

Make a big deal about it for your child, or children.  Let them know what reward awaits them when they finish a reading goal.  It’s all about motivation, or in other words, Bribery!  Not sure about that?  Be sure to watch my “Progress Chart” video.  See how exciting it is just to earn a sticker, knowing that that sticker is getting them one sticker closer to earning a Prize.  But the grand prize of it all is getting to the end of “Imletteration.”  So keep encouraging them from one book to the next.  Once your child has finished the See abc’s™ Reading Series, they are a See abc’s™ Graduate!

 And the greatest prize of all is that you have given them the gift of being able to read!  YOU changed their life for the better… FOREVER!

And YOU will know that I’ve not lied by saying that I CAN make a Professional Reading Teacher…

OUT  OF  YOU

To end this section, I just want to reiterate my “Personal Why” part of my story.  I very much want to get the word out to all of those children who are learning how to read, as well as to any adults who may feel the same way about it as I did – for the same reason.  

It wasn’t until I was  married and had 5 children that it occurred to me that, “No.  I’m not a bad reader.  I am a slow reader.”  After all, I did graduate from High School with a 4.0 GPA through all of my years there, earning a scholarship which I used at Utah State University and graduated from their with an Associate Degree and a 3.95 GPA; and so can your child!  And that is why I share my grades here.  Don’t allow your child to give you the excuse for not being able to read good enough as a reason for under-performing, if they are a “GOOD” reader.  It’s all about application.  Teach your children how to “Apply themselves” to the things that they set out to do, and they will do well, because there are multiple ways one can “Apply” one’s self.  In other words, “What works for some doesn’t work for all.  But don’t miss the Prize for simply not doing the work.”

And there you have it; I guess I’ve ended my own story with a Moral too.  Just strive to be the BEST YOU!   

For that is the BEST that you can do.  And please remember this, I do LOVE you, the educators of…OUR  FUTURE

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4.  MUSIC Education = Whole BRAIN Learning 

Many studies have shown the importance of learning how to read music while playing a musical instrument.  This is another message I’ve been wanting to get out, and this seems as good a place to do it as any, because from many years of being a “Piano Mom” and a “Piano Teacher,” I have gleaned my opinions on the matter, and they are at least worth tossing out there.  As with any opinion based recommendations, you may choose to take it or leave it, as there are MANY schools of thought on this topic, just as there are on how to teach a child how to read.

Children would do better once they’ve learned how to read well, to spend their excess time at home in learning how to read and play music. Then after you’ve done your music homework, you can read more storybooks if you have time and would like to.  You see, once you have learned how to read well… well then, you know how to read!  Music provides a thorough whole brain learning experience like nothing else can do.   This simply means that your right hand is controlled by the left side of your brain, and your left hand is controlled by the right side of your brain.  And when you play both hands doing something different at the same time… somehow, all those synapses going off charge up your mind!  Studying music increases the brain’s ability to do math and science.  But most importantly, it increases a child’s self-esteem!  So, if you want children to continue to study reading after school which improves their knowledge abilities, push them towards reading music instead of reading storybooks that are beyond what is necessary.  

I’m also speaking from experience on this point.  Before I ever got  married, I had pre-determined that an added gift I wanted to give my children was the “gift” of music by having them learn how to play the piano; so that music would be a part of them for the rest of their lives.  And once I had children, I held true to myself.  I FORCED my “gift of music” upon every single one of them.  I considered it to be the “homeschool” part of their education, much to their complaints at times.  I viewed it as another “subject.”  I would no sooner allow them to NOT do their piano studies than to NOT do their math studies.  However, there was MUCH more enjoyment from studying the piano than some of their other homework.  It is too bad that, despite music experts urgings, still most children are NOT taught how to read music at school.  It’s a crucial part of having a full life.  But, for like for me with never reading a book for enjoyment, I never knew that it could greatly enrich my life.  Music is good for the soul.  It is where true JOY lives.  And now you’ve got my advice as for one type of reading verses another when it comes to the use of a child’s after school time.  I will tell you that to this very day not one single one of my 5 children has ever told me this:  “I’m so annoyed that you FORCED me to learn how to play the piano as a kid.”  (Although many days it was fun for them, especially once they had learned a new song!)  In fact to avoid hearing the opposite from them is one reason I made them stick with it.  I have heard from many adults that they are mad at their mom’s for letting them quit!  They say it’s their mom’s fault that they don’t know how to play the piano.  And sometimes it is.  I’ve heard too many parents approach it like this when I child expresses an interest in wanting to learn how to play the piano:  “We’ll gladly pay for piano lessons as long as YOU be sure to practice and do your best to learn.  But if you fight us on it, or won’t do what your teacher tells you to, then you will have to quit taking piano lessons.”  

I’m taking the time to tell you this because I know that many of you are going through this right now, or you will be at some point.  For some reason parents have the false notion that learning how to read music comes much easier than learning how to read a book.  Yes, it is easier.  It does not require hours a week at school spent on it, plus more time at home every day.  But it’s not as easy as parents, and the child,  must think.  It still is difficult!  It still requires parental involvement, and a lot of it.  But I considered it precious time when I sat down at the piano bench with each of my children individually during the beginning years of their development.  I started my kids out with the Suzuki Method which starts children at age 5, because I loved the concept of it.  It made sense.  

Dr. Shinichi Suzuki had the idea to use the same approach as with teaching children music that is used to teach them how to speak before they have to learn how to read the language.  They learn how to play music before they learn how to read it.  It made all the difference.  And they could do it!  By age 7 they were playing Minuets, and age 9 they played Sonatinas.  And they loved playing music like that!  But, that would never have happened without ME.  But I LOVED it too.  

That reminds of the other requirement of using Dr. Suzuki’s “Mother Tongue” Method is that a parent must go to lessons with their child when they are young, otherwise the child won’t know what to do.  

And that’s what made all the difference.  It didn’t take long for me to see the wisdom in this.  As they got older, Even when some of my kids took piano at the University, I still sat in on their lessons occasionally to make sure that I understood what they were supposed to be working on… and to make sure that my children understood that I  knew that too! I mean, think about it; How come parents can help their children with learning how to read?  Because… they themselves know how to read!  [I think it may be a good idea for parents to attend school with their kids once in a while nowadays too.  Get a good sense for what they’re really supposed to be doing, and what they are actually learning about.  If fact, if there were more presence from parents, maybe some of the many homeschool parents would allow their kids to go back to school.  If a school district wanted to know how they could improve their schools for their students, find out all the reasons why those not attending are being homeschooled – and then address them.]

It takes having a vision of your child’s future to keep parents going.  I think the most used reason given to a piano teacher for their child quitting is that the parent “I just can’t handle all the fighting any more.  Ruining our relationship just isn’t worth it.”  I never really understood that.  As I KNOW that some of you will be pushed to this point, I’ll share with you how I approached practicing in hopes to help you through it.  

You see, it takes 2 to fight.  So as the parent, don’t fight back!  Like with any fight, I’ve heard it said, “Just walk away.”  And when they are done with their practicing (which should not be anything beyond what they can handle), they can do something else –  like go out and play, or have dinner.  Remember, YOU the parent hold ALL the cards!  I only share how I dealt with it because I know that 1,000’s of would-be little musicians will try to play this game with you to whine and carry on, cry, etc. until they realize that if they want to go play or have dinner, they just as well sit down and be grateful for this “Gift of Music” that you are trying to give them!  When they realize that  you’re not playing along, they’ll quit the act.  And keep telling them, and yourself, “One day, you’ll thank me for this.”  And they will!

I also want you to know that I do not condemn parents who, for whatever reason, cut their child’s music education short. But as the piano teacher it is my job to do my best to help them to push through the hurdle that is in the way of their child making progress. But I can also tell when to let it go. I know that only the parent knows what they can take on, and what they have to let go. If you have more than one child who needs to practice and only one piano, then time can be the deterring factor. Cheap Keyboards are great if you have multiple kids practicing, plus they also have a volume button!

None of my children went on to become a Concert Pianist.  That kind of commitment would have had to come from them.  But all of them did go on to learn a second instrument when they joined the Band at school, which also provides a cool experience.  To study what seems a random and weird tune, unless you have the melody, and then play it together with all of the instruments.  It seems it would feel magical to hear how your part makes the complete song come together. 

I know I have no influence over school curriculum, but I’ll just put this thought out there:

I know that they have music programs at school, but I do wish that they would train children in how to at least be able to read the type of music that is in a HYMN book or Barbershop Quartet type – meaning four different tunes going on at one time.  Something where they would learn how to read notes in both the Treble and the Bass Clefs.  For that, they do need a musical instrument, and they’ve all got one!  It’s called… a VOICE.  To begin with, all of the children can learn how to read and sing a melody line.  And then go on to learn how to read and sing the alto line, so long as it’s not too low.  As children, both boys and girls would have to raise their voices an octave to learn how to read and sing the Tenor and Bass parts in the Bass Cleff.  At some point the boys will have to drop down an octave.  

But they need to start when they are young, and not as inhibited by doing it – singing.  Imagine the class choirs by even 3rd grade!  I believe everybody should be taught how to sing, and not feel embarrassed or ashamed by it!  What better way for them to learn how to read music?  And of course, they would be given a “Participation” grade.  No Solos, unless someone wants to.  This could really change a school, and kids would grow extra “smarts” in other areas.  Surely there are talented would be vocalists and musicians in every class who never know it, because they were never exposed to it.   And their desire to learn an instrument would be greater, and it would be easier for them because they already would know how to “Note” read.  A real Music Education has been an add on for those who can afford it.

I will conclude  by telling you why I recommend that you start with learning how to play the Piano.  It’s quite simple, actually.  Because you have the entire Orchestra at your fingertips!  Let me explain it to you like this:  The Violin can play the highest notes.  The Violin can play the mid-high notes.  The Cello can play the mid-low notes.  The bass can play the lowest notes.  But the Piano can play ALL of those notes, and at the same time!  Same with brass and wood instruments.  They can play just one line of music at a time.  As a solo instrument, they would have to learn to play the “Melody” line, or the “Tune” of the song.  On the Piano, if you only want to hear one tune at a time, you can still do that.  

YOU’VE GOT THIS!  Give your children plenty of opportunities to… “Show Off,” and watch them shine!