Lynne Waihee
Reading Aloud: The Power to Heal and Create Memories that Last a Lifetime
Have you ever had a light-bulb-going-on experience that excited you so much, you wanted to share it with others? I heard these inspiring words in a TV special that aired on ABC more than 10 years ago. The show featured Jim Trelease, the read-aloud master teacher, who spoke about the importance of reading aloud to children. His message was simple but powerful. Reading aloud to your children every day helps them develop the skills (effective listening, expanding vocabulary, comprehension, and critical thinking) necessary to become good readers. Furthermore, reading aloud nurtures the bond between parent and child, increases the child's attention span, stimulates the imagination, and it's fun!
His message convinced me that reading aloud to children has enormous benefits that last a lifetime, giving children the opportunity to experience learning in a way they will treasure the rest of their lives. At the time, my husband was governor of Hawaii and I was First Lady. The timing of the show was more than coincidental. We were preparing to embark on a 2-year multi-media 'Read To Me' campaign, through a partnership with the Governor's Council for Literacy and the Rotary Club of Honolulu Sunrise.
During the campaign, I visited an intermediate school to read aloud to a group of children. While I was there, Geri Kunishima, one of the teachers at the school, told me a remarkable story about her son Steven, the youngest of her three children. When he was about a year-and-a-half, Geri and her husband Lindy were told their son was so severely impaired, he would probably never walk, talk, or understand the world around him. Crushed, Geri went into depression for about a month.
Finally, one of Geri's daughters said the family couldn't just give up on Steven or have him institutionalized. They had to do something to help him. So, a family meeting was called, and everyone decided to do whatever was possible to give Steven the gift of language. Even if he would never walk or talk, they would be satisfied if he could at least understand what was going on around him.
Lindy quit his full-time job as a graphic artist, opting to stay home and take freelance jobs instead. He took advantage of this more flexible schedule to learn how to massage his son's muscles to help them develop. Meanwhile, every evening while Geri cooked dinner, Steven's two sisters, Jennifer and Trudy, would read aloud to him. Initially, they had no idea whether Stephen could hear them, but they continued to read to him anyway.
One night, as they read to Steven, he struggled onto his stomach to reach one of the books that had been propped up against the wall. He swiped it off the wall, and opened it to a certain page. The next night, he did the same thing. Trudy excitedly squealed to Geri, "Steven's got a memory! Steven's got a memory!"
Although his progress was slow, eventually Steven began to walk, talk, and read. He recently received his GED at a learning center Geri established that helps students learn in a conducive, non-threatening environment. Geri believes that much of Steven's development occurred because her daughters read to him every day.
The Kunishima's story is an inspiring one of courage, faith, love, and the importance of reading aloud. Their story and countless others convinced me to carry on the spirit of the 'Read to Me' campaign by supporting a foundation dedicated to the message Jim Trelease preached in his television special. Today, the Read To Me International Foundation provides awareness campaigns and presentations to communities and conferences, and it inspires communities to read aloud to children, no matter what their ages.
If I could sum up what reading aloud is all about, I would say: "Reading aloud is that dance which keeps parent (or teacher) and child in step with the rhythm of words and of story. Through the magic of voice, words come alive, creating special memories that last a lifetime."
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