A Mom Finds Hope By Mike McKenna

Sarah Irvin had a secret she wanted to hide from the world. Despite being a fairly articulate mother of four, Sarah could barely read.

For years, she’d managed to hide it. She did what she could to survive her school years, including becoming adept at cheating. “It was one of the ways to cope. I didn’t get the help I needed. I had an impairment that you couldn’t visually see. I felt like I was dumb,” she said from her home in San Antonio, Texas. “I have a fairly good vocabulary, but the written word has always been a challenge for me.”

By the time Sarah became an adult, she had developed just enough skills to get by. Reading her scriptures and listening to audio books helped, but she avoided reading anytime she could. Her borderline illiteracy was a struggle she prayed her four boys would be spared. She didn’t want them to have to go through the pain and challenges of not knowing how to read.

As soon as she became a parent, Sarah started searching for something to help her, but she couldn’t find anything for adults that made a difference. “I’ve spent hundreds on everything I could try and nothing worked,” she said. “It was awful.” But it was when Sarah began to try to read to her children that her struggles became truly unbearable.

“It’s very discouraging to struggle while trying to read to your children,” Sarah said. “It was awful and painful and terrible. I never wanted to read to my kids.”

After discovering that her third child, Drew, was having challenges reading, her sister-in-law told her about the Nardagani reading program. The program not only turned out to be a godsend for her son, but for Sarah, too. “I didn’t want him to have to go through what I did, the pain of not knowing how to read,” she said.

Shortly after beginning the Nardagani reading program, both Drew and Sarah began to improve their reading skills. The flashcards and the sounding system of Nardagani instantly clicked for them. “I could hear the sounds and it helped me read and spell better. There’s a power in being able to sound things out. I could quickly tell a huge difference for myself, and for my third child, reading became much easier, too. It’s been really, really great for my family,” she said. “It was heaven sent.”

Sarah would recommend the Nardagani reading program to folks of any age who have trouble reading, and she wants to remind people who struggle like she once did that they’re not alone.

“The English language is hard. I don’t know why we have to make it so complicated. For some people, there’s logic to it. For others, like me, it’s tough, but coming to terms with that helps. It doesn’t mean you’re dumb.  It just means you have a challenge and you need some help. And Nardagani can help you,” she said. “It’s just such a beautiful program. It’s so ingenious. It’s not too overwhelming. It’s not just for kids. It works for adults, too. It freed me from the mindset that I couldn’t read,” Sarah said.

Sarah and her boys continue to use the Nardagani reading program. It helps her happily read her children bedtime stories, no longer worried that she’ll struggle with the words.

“Reading to your kids is very important. It helps make them lifelong readers. It’s so wonderful that I can now read to mine,” Sarah said, sharing the joy and self-confidence that the Nardagani reading program has brought into her life. “I have that confidence now of, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m reading.’ It’s awesome!”