Raymond was 15 when he left school, but he hadn’t been going regularly. His parents’ separation around that time was difficult for him.
Raymond worked in construction until he had a disabling accident on the job. He wants to learn to read and write so he can upgrade his education and get a sit-down job.
When his tutor writes down a story that Raymond dictates, he can read it back with little trouble. It is harder for him to read other stories, but he can manage if the topic is familiar. He uses the context to predict words, but he has difficulty using the letter cues. Often he can predict words in passages, but not recognize them by themselves. At first he was nervous about writing or spelling, but with encouragement, he started to spell words the way they sounded, and then to spell them from memory of how they looked.
Raymond is sociable and is interested in the news. He likes the outdoors and animals.
Norton, M. (1990). Preparing literacy tutors: A trainer’s manual. Cold Lake, Alberta: Lakeland College. ISBN 0-980683-10-X. Used with permission.