it turned his stomach into knots,
his eyes to tears,
and his emotions to rage.
No matter when that would be he was given full freedom to never read again unless it was his choice. He only needed to agree to following along when I read.
A covenant was made.
Matthew’s grade 3 year started with that covenant in place. I read everything. He watched the words as I read.
He started to relax and enjoy stories, magazine and newspaper articles, even advertisements.
It had taken four and a half months of liberty for him to fall in love with the written word and to want to read again.
“You know how I got good at reading?”
“I watched the subtitles on movies and video games.
I learned to read better by listening to the narrator tell me the story while I followed along with the words.”
"I had given Matthew the Covenant of Subtitles."
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