Welcome to our National Literacy Month series of podcasts, presented in partnership between the Be Podcast Network and Reading Is Fundamental (RIF).

• How schools have turned off millions of kids from loving reading.
• “We escaped a train wreck because of my son”
• Balanced Literacy 3-cueing.
• Explicit and systematic way to sound out words.
• Kenneth Goodman - founder of whole language, which is what balanced literacy is based on.
• Observational study on how children learn to read.
• National Reading Panel - convened by congress in late 1990s.
• Emily Hanford - Sold a Story Podcast
• Why don’t we have computers teaching our kids to read.
• Kids just press buttons.
• Teaching a child to read is remarkably easy
• Teaching a child who has been taught incorrectly to read is not easy.
• Samuel Orton - Orton Gillingham method of teaching reading.
• Is it the child, or is it us?
• Phonemic awareness is not an inheritable trait, it’s a skill that can be taught.
• Do you teach or let the child discover on their own? Teach the basic skills
• Steps To Reading

About Irene Daria

Today, Irene Daria is a cognitive developmental psychologist and reading tutor to the stars, including the children of Kate Winslet, Tom Brady and Cate Blanchett. Her new book, I Didn’t Believe Him, takes you behind-the-scenes to witness exactly how schools across the country are failing to teach students how to read. At the time of the story she shares in I Didn’t Believe Him, Daria was a graduate student and "just" a mom thrilled that her son had been accepted to one of the most esteemed schools in Manhattan. Sure that he was on the path to a venerable education, she did not listen when her 5-year-old told her that he-like millions of other children-was not being taught how to read in school.

An entire, very painful school year passed before Eric got her to realize he was right. Follow along as Daria begins a perplexing but ultimately empowering journey to save his academic life. She finds herself pitted against well-intentioned teachers and administrators she would have loved to trust if only they weren't so misinformed. The more Daria tries to get the school to see that it-like tens of thousands of other schools across the country is teaching reading all wrong, the more the school insists there is something wrong with her child and not with its teaching.

Although I Didn't Believe Him is about a disturbing topic, it is a joy to read. Its pages overflow with the tenderness and love a mother has for her child and the trust a child has that his mother will make everything right. In addition to sharing her personal story, Daria takes you behind closed doors at a top-rated school to witness how flawed teaching methods are causing millions of kids to struggle with reading. You will see how a child's struggles in school affect the entire family. In an entertaining who-dun-it way, you will learn about the horrifying history of reading instruction in our country and the absurd way reading is currently being taught in many schools.

In the end, simply by going on this life-altering journey with Daria and her son, you will learn how to teach a child to read and will be empowered to set any child on the path to becoming a proficient reader.