Overcoming Learning Disabilities:
Two Success Stories

Adam’s Story

Adam from the USA did Audiblox while stationed in Kuwait. His mother, Sherri Brow­ning, reported on his progress:

“Adam had so many learning difficulties when we first began with Audiblox that all I could do was hope, with all my heart, that this would finally be the program that would help him.

“We had struggled for so long; and I have to say we because he has always been taught at home and it has been a long arduous process teaching him to read, write and do basic math. Since none of our other children had the difficulties with learning that Adam displayed I knew he needed special help; help that I did not know how to give him.

“Thank goodness for the Internet because that is how I found Audiblox. Adam was already 16 years old by then and well aware that he had learning difficulties (why wouldn’t he, when his younger brother was ahead of him in subjects like math and reading). When I told him about the Audiblox program he was willing to give it a try so we ordered the Customized Program and the journey began.

“At one time his reading was slow and halting. He would skip words and sentences and had difficulty understanding what he had just read. Reading used to be so much work for him that he didn’t enjoy it and only read when he had to. Now he reads with ease and confidence. As a matter of fact, he enjoys reading so much that it isn’t unusual to see him reading for pleasure now. The first time I heard him say he was “going to bed a little early so he could read before going to sleep” was music to my ears!!

“His handwriting used to be very difficult to read. Now, when he writes, the letters are smaller, more uniform in size and are legible enough for anyone to read. He even commented recently that ‘it is so much easier to write now and my hands don’t jerk like they used to.’

“His math scores have made a dramatic improvement. He is in a combined Geometry / Algebra course and lately his scores have been in the 90’s or above on his daily work and tests. And for the first time ever he is ahead of his younger brother in their math lessons.

“Adam has come a long way over this last year. Even he comments on how much easier reading and math are for him now. In his words ‘I can think faster now and my thoughts don’t get jumbled up like they did before.’ He has worked very hard. He learned early on that ‘attitude’ was ninety percent of the battle. If he was determined and committed and did his best during the sessions, it made all the difference in the world. Yes, it was long and hard and at times boring. But anything really worthwhile takes time and effort. We both decided to stay committed and see it through. We are so grateful we did.”

Sean’s Story

Sean in Michigan started with Audiblox on August 26, 2002. His mother Cindy reported on his progress on several occasions. Below are her first and last progress reports:

October 13, 2002:

“Since Kindergarten we have had problems with Sean. The teacher upon meeting him thought he would be one of the advanced ones because he had very good speech, however, he had a great deal of difficulty paying attention and completing tasks.

“This continued into 1st grade, but when 2nd grade came school just became impossible for Sean. He could not read, write or do math well enough to keep up with the other children. After being tested they found that he was at a kindergarten level or 1st grade level on most things they tested him for…there were several different categories.

“It was frustrating, because Sean always had a good understanding of concepts such as for science and he had good reasoning skills, as long as it was all done verbally. According to the tests they concluded that he had a learning disability in reading and math so he ended up in special ed for a couple hours a day. It wasn’t of any real help, just easier work.

“This April to end of July 2002 we did vision therapy with Sean, after finding he had vision problems involving slow focus change, and the ability of his eyes to work together. Mainly his right eye seemed to be the most problem. He even favored his left eye, and sometimes would cover his right eye when trying to read. He had a sneaky way of doing this; I did not notice it until it was brought to my attention.

“After vision therapy was done Sean did have some improvements, but they seemed rather limited. He still struggled with math, and writing. Reading had improved for the main reason he could now not loose his place, yet he was still about a year behind.

“It was suggested to me to try Audiblox. It became interesting to me because I saw that it worked on visual memory and sequencing — two things that I knew were problems for Sean. With some advice from Susan I could see that these skills were not just going to develop even though his vision was very good now.

“We started Audiblox August 26, 2002. After six weeks the improvements were very obvious. For one he is actually doing 3rd grade math, which for him is amazing. His reading speed has improved, plus he doesn’t get stuck on nearly as many words. He was also incapable of writing any of his thoughts down, and now he is starting to be able to do this with some help, while before his writing was totally unreadable unless I told him letter for letter how to spell the words. The neatness of his writing has improved too. His attention span and attitude have also improved. He is getting so much more done than before. Since we have only done this for six weeks and are already having good progress I am now wondering what will Sean be like in a year?”

October 17, 2003:

“When I look back on the year it’s really amazing the amount of progress Sean has made. Looking back on it the subject that improved the fastest was math. At about 3 months into doing Audiblox he had suddenly caught up to grade level. He’s been doing math at his grade level ever since. Over the summer we really didn’t do much math, but when we did return to it he didn’t need much review. For him that’s a drastic change.

“Reading: Sean’s reading level was pretty much stuck at a high first grade level last year. Not only that, if I took a break it seemed his reading would slip back even further. But now he can read at a beginning 4th grade level. I can even let him read on his own, and he enjoys picking his own books to read. He still is learning more of the larger multi-syllable words, and the difference here is that he is retaining them.

“Writing: Before Audiblox Sean could only spell a few words correctly, and I couldn’t read his writing at all. Now he can spell many high frequency words. It’s great to be able to take a break and not worry about him having to relearn them all.

“In general he can get much more done than ever before, and he is a lot easier to teach because he learns new concepts much faster. He’s definitely come along way this year.”