Some time ago we featured a story that Edward had written, now we want to tell you a bit more about Edward’s reading and writing journey.
Edward struggled with reading and writing at school and college and whilst going through a tough time in his personal life decided he wanted a fresh start and learning to read and write was a good starting point.
Edward asked another CLASP member, Barbara P, if she could help him, something Barbara was more than happy to do. Edward knew Barbara had helped at local Scout groups for many years, and was a good reader herself. Edward felt not being able to read and write as well as he wanted was holding him back so together, he and Barbara started reading basic books at the CLASP coffee shop sessions.
Today Edward is enjoying reading the Goosebumps books during CLASP sessions with the CLASP volunteers and at home. Goosebumps, by R.L Stine could be described as scary books that are also funny. This a considerable achievement with quite complicated words and sentences. More importantly though Edward enjoys reading the Goosebumps books.
Edward and Karen C (CLASP Volunteer) reading at Coffee Shop
It’s not only his reading that has improved but also Edward’s writing. He’s writing longer sentences and understanding how to structure a sentence. He would like to write a story but feels that he still needs a lot of help to do that. Edward has worked hard to get to this stage, so a story is just the next step in his fulfilling his reading and writing ambitions.
Reading and writing has given Edward more confidence and he hopes that being competent at reading and writing will enable him to do more and make the most of opportunities. For example, one day he’d like to work in an office.
The last word though needs to go to Barbara P who started this reading and writing journey with Edward, and that is ‘Happiness’. This is both how Barbara felt helping Edward learn to read and how Edward feels now that he can!