From Frustration to Fluency: We Finally Found Another Way
EBLI Unlocked My Son’s Love of Reading
If you had told me a few years ago that I’d become obsessed with phonemes, I would’ve laughed.
I first got interested when my oldest son, Donovan, was struggling to grasp reading in kindergarten. Donovan is bright and curious and loves stories — but when it came time to read, something just didn’t click.
By first and second grade, when he started bringing home his schoolwork, I was confused. I didn’t understand the worksheets. Many of them felt overly complicated — rules stacked on rules, color-coded charts, flashcards galore. When we read together, he guessed constantly, added random words, and got visibly frustrated.
Looking back, I now realize my mistake: I trusted the system. I assumed the methods being used in school were grounded in research. That assumption was, sadly, completely wrong. And the very expensive tutoring we poured tens of thousands of dollars into? A total waste. While Orton-Gillingham may work for some kids, it’s based on the same Wilson Reading approach he was already being taught in school — and it wasn’t clicking. Trying so hard for so long was breaking his spirit. He began to hate school, carried an enormous sense of shame, and his confidence crumbled. It was traumatic — for both of us.
In a moment of “wtf do I do?”, I stumbled on The Truth About Reading documentary on Amazon. That’s where I discovered EBLI and its founder, Nora Chahbazi. Nora is a trained neonatal intensive care nurse, not an educator, and her approach—born from a need to teach her daughter to read—is what finally worked. After a trip to Michigan to work with Nora’s right hand, Cricket McCarthy, Donovan was locked in.
The results? Donovan went from a second-grade reading level to a sixth-grade level in six months.
For the first time, he was taught to rely on his ears instead of his eyes. He learned to listen for sounds, connect them to symbols, and decode words in a way that finally made sense to his brain. The methods were clear and clean — no gimmicks, no noise — and the progress was fast. I watched his confidence rebuild almost overnight. That alone was worth everything.
The EBLI method teaches the brain to read the way it learns best. It’s structured, systematic, and based on decades of cognitive science. More importantly, it works — and it doesn’t create cognitive load (there’s no “i before e except after c” or rules that only hold 60% of the time). And once you see how it works, it’s hard to unsee the gaps in what’s typically taught.
Here’s what I’ve learned:
Reading is not natural. Speaking is. Reading requires rewiring the brain to connect sounds (phonemes) to symbols (letters or letter patterns). If kids aren’t explicitly taught this connection, they’re often left to guess.
“Sounding it out” needs to be taught, not assumed. I used to think guessing from pictures or context was part of the process. But that’s a coping mechanism — not a reading strategy.
Most struggling readers aren’t broken. They’ve just been taught poorly. This one makes me emotional. Because once I saw how quickly progress could happen with EBLI, I realized how many kids — my own included — had internalized a sense of failure they didn’t deserve.
Phonemic awareness is everything. Being able to hear, identify, and manipulate sounds in words is the foundation of strong reading skills. It’s not flashy, but it’s essential.
Explicit instruction isn't just for kids with dyslexia. It benefits every child. This isn't remediation. This is just good teaching.
The larger context:
According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, children who are not proficient readers by the end of 3rd grade are 4x more likely to drop out of high school and far more likely to end up involved in the criminal justice system.
NAEP data shows that 70% of 8th graders in the U.S. are not proficient in reading.
Even among graduating high schoolers, 62% of 12th graders do not meet the college reading standards.
And a new layer is emerging: even students at top universities are struggling. This recent Atlantic article paints a sobering picture of how many elite college students no longer have the stamina or skills to read full-length books.
The estimated cost of adult sub-literacy to the U.S. healthcare system is $106–238 billion annually.
If we improved literacy to a sixth-grade level across all adults, the projected annual GDP could increase by $2.2 trillion.
Yet despite billions in educational funding, our NAEP reading scores have remained flat or declined. We're investing more but not getting better outcomes.
Why? Because the science of reading isn’t being applied in tandem with the science of learning.
We know:
Reading is a man-made skill. It must be explicitly taught.
Learners need to hear the sounds in language and map them to symbols.
Instruction should reduce cognitive overload, build automaticity, and be grounded in real-time error correction.
EBLI succeeds because it applies both sciences. The results speak for themselves:
Struggling students often reach grade level in just 12–24 hours of EBLI intervention.
In one study, a 2nd grade class saw a 193% increase in composite scores.
High school students showed improved ACT scores after just two hours of instruction.
If you’re a parent who wants to go deeper, here are some of the most helpful resources I’ve found:
This is solvable. The science is clear. Our children (many of them given the numbers!) just need an alternative. If you have questions/thoughts/would like more info — please let me know!