A Reading Accomplishment

Proud moment.  A trophy and two certificates

In early November of 2011, our family met Jeff Kinney.  He is the author of the popular Diary of a Wimpy Kid books.  He had a book signing in Decatur GA as part of the launch of Cabin Fever.  We bought the book and Brian read the entire thing on the drive from Atlanta to Illinois for Thanksgiving.  He was proud of his reading accomplishment. I recall him bragging about the completion to pretty much everyone that he saw.

One of the first post accident videos we posted was of Brian reading and doing simple math.  It was a huge deal.   We knew that if he was able to talk, read and do math that he still could have further cognitive recovery.   It was just a few weeks prior to this that we were preparing for Brian to never even be conscious again.   Reading a simple word like "wow" was gigantic.  It was a reading accomplishment that meant so much.  

Fast forward to today (May 22,2014).  Evansdale Elementary School had Honors Day.  Brian took home 2 certificates and a trophy.  The trophy was for the Literary Guild.  In order to get it, Brian had to read and pass an AR test on 27 total book from 17 categories.  Some examples:

• From Adventure, Brian read Turtle in Paradise  (Dad helped pick that one out - it is about Key West)
• From Classic Literature:  Brian read Five Chinese Brothers
• From Family/ Friends Theme he read The Mouse and the Motorcycle
• From a Georgia Awards Category Brian read Stinky Cheese Man - He loved that title
• A Classic Animal book was The Tale of Peter Rabbit
• From Folk and Ferry, he read St. George and the Dragon.  (This had additional meaning since St. George is the Patron Saint of Scouting.  Brian is now a Webalo Scout.  )  

He read 21 more 3rd grade books from 11 more LG categories. He also got a head start for next year by reading two books that qualify for 4th grade LG.  These are not the only books he read this year.  He successfully read and passed tests for 62 Accelerated Reader books. One of his certificates was a 100% AR Goal completion.  If it were not for ice days and the CRCT, I am sure he would have had more books. His other certificate was a Citizenship Award. 

When his name was called to come forward for the LG  trophy he raised it in the air and celebrated.  I am very proud of him getting this.  We had to give him a lot of nudging along the way.  It was worth it. He did it. He was very proud of his new reading accomplishment.  He pretty much told everyone he saw.  Just like when he finished the Jeff Kinney book.

With Special Ed Teacher Ms Wilt and Para Pro Ms Middlebrook  

With his teacher MsMcCullum

Proud Mom