Dr. Martin,

This is a personal letter, one which I never expected to be able to write. My son, David, enjoys reading. This is his story. It is also the story of many children in our school system with one exception. David's ends happily.
In first grade, David was in the top reading group. By second grade he was in the lowest and being sent to resource for extra help. At age seven, this little one was forced to miss recess every day because he wouldn't complete his work on time. It was strongly suggested that I place David on Ritalin. Quiet, hard working, desperate to please, he was trying his best. In my heart I knew this wasn't ADD- there were no other symptoms other than his inability to do written work. At the beginning of third grade I took David to the Center for Dyslexia at ETSU. He was diagnosed as severely dyslexic with a high IQ. In third and fourth David had two excellent teachers (Beth Dalton and Cindy Putnam) who worked with him orally. He excelled in every area except reading. Then came fifth grade, middle school. David was placed in resource classes because he was unable to keep up with reading assignments, paper work, etc. Self-esteem and morale hit rock bottom. There were tears every morning before school with him begging me not to make him go. His reading at best was third grade level. Reading was tortuous for him - each word a challenge - no matter how many times he had seen it before. There was no comprehension in what he was reading, each word stood alone. With encouragement from several of his teachers, I removed him from public school, quit work, and began home schooling. That was three years ago.

We started over again with reading from kindergarten level. Progress was almost invisible. One word at a time was okay, but reading? No. Somehow I knew that what I was seeing and what David was seeing were two totally different things. He can read as easily upside down or sidewise as he can right side up. The best explanation I can give is that when he looks at a printed page, he sees it in 3-D with constant movement. In October I had David tested to make sure of our progress. The result showed a grade level 5.3 in basic skills and a grade level of 9.2 in Factual Knowledge Skills. Actual grade level at that time was 8.2.

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Then my husband read an article about Dr. James Miller and Ted Haselton in the Herald Citizen. Our first appointment was on October 11, 2000. The first test Dr. Miller did on David had me crying. David was asked what he was seeing - which were two circles a red one over a green one. What did I see when I looked? One purple circle!! According to Dr. Miller, after the test was complete, David's magnocellular pathways to the visual cortex were out of phase. When David completed one-month alternate flickering field treatment, a miracle had occurred. He was reading! With comprehension, with enjoyment, and with amazing progression from 3d grade level to (at this point, Jan. 12, 2001) his eighth grade textbooks. Since October, David has read eight books simply for pleasure. The latest was The Hatchet bv Gary Paulson, a book which a junior at Baxter High School wrote a book report on (article and photo were in the Herald Citizen).

Will this program work for every child with reading problems? Probably not. Is this program worth implementing in the Public Schools? Absolutely! If this program can save a single child from going through what David has been through it is worth it. Had David undergone this treatment in second grade I have no doubt his life at school would have been 100% different. Instead of a child with a Wechsler Intelligence Scale score of 119 (High Average Range- 90th percentile) having all of his scores on his last Terra Nova Achievement Test in the below average range and appearing stupid, we might have seen a truer measure of his knowledge. Standardized Testing is a whole different subject I would like to see changed, but I'll save that for another time.

One last point which I would like to clarify. I have two other children who never had any difficulties with reading. They flew through our public school system with no problems whatsoever. One is now a sophomore at TTU and the other is a freshman at UT, They are both hoping that, with Dr. Miller's help, David will be able to enter as a freshman at Cookeville High School this fall and enjoy everything they did while there.

Thank you for reading this, thank you for considering Dr. Miller's Program. If there are any other questions which you feel I could answer, please contact me.
Sincerely,

BG--Cookeville

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