Seattle Kids Read & Write

It has been a joy to work with Molly for the past few years. My 11 year old son describes his experience with Wired for Reading and Molly as “Incredibly helpful and fun at the same time.” Both his reading and writing skills have improved dramatically, and he has become a much more confident and motivated learner. Molly is adept at modifying her approach to meet an individual student’s needs, is encouraging and positive, and keeps things on track and moving forward. Most of our experience was via Zoom and yet Molly found ways to make the sessions engaging and productive. Thanks Molly!

–Rebecca, mother of former student

I am so incredibly grateful for Molly and the Wired for Reading program.  I have two daughters that went through the program with Molly.  One started in 3^rd grade and the other started in 4^th grade.  At that time, my girls were both struggling in school but in different ways.  One was around two grade levels behind in reading and her fluency was a struggle. Her challenges made everything about school difficult because after 3^rd grade, you stop getting taught how to read and instead need to read to learn (which is extremely frustrating and taxing when the reading alone is such a struggle). My other daughter was an average reader, but her struggles were more around sequencing and spelling, which often resulted in similar feelings of exhaustion and frustration.

We had initially tried other tutoring programs, but these only gave us nominal improvement.  Furthermore, I was not a participant during the sessions, so I often felt out of the loop and helpless when I had to oversee the homework. But then my friend recommended Molly!  And wow, we immediately knew we hit the jackpot of all tutors.  We instantly bonded with her.  Molly meets kids where they are, she gives them confidence, and she keeps it fun with memorable props, stories, and skits.  And best of all, I was a part of the sessions, which gave me a whole new level of appreciation and understanding of both the struggle my girls were experiencing and the tools with which would help them succeed.

To be clear, however, this program is not easy work. It is time consuming and sometimes hard to manage on top of other school demands.  But it is so worth it!  Our entire household now speaks the “wired” language as part of our vernacular.  And even though we are now done with the program, I feel like I have a true partner in my daughters’ ongoing success.  Thank you, Molly!

–Sara, mother of two former students

We came to Molly when my son was entering third grade after having recently been diagnosed as dyslexic. His reading level was two grade levels behind and his standardized test scores were dropping 20 percentage points each year. His confidence in school, as you can imagine, was non-existent. Even in math, which is his favorite subject, he began telling me, through tears of frustration, that he couldn’t do the problems because reading the prompts became too much of a struggle.

Flash forward three years and hundreds of hours of hard work later, my son entered middle school feeling excited for the challenges ahead and confident that he had the tools necessary to succeed. In school he went from being the kid who had to be coaxed into sharing the tiniest piece of information, to the kid who was eager to raise his hand and teach students in his class about “The whiskered white whale who whistled while wheeling whole wheat”. His teacher even dedicated space in the classroom where he could post spelling tricks he learned from Wired.

There is not a doubt in my mind that this would not be the case had we not had Molly’s help. She always tried to make it fun, she never pushed too hard, and she provided my son with the patience to work with him even if he was having a hard day; the patience that I at times, severely lacked. Full disclosure: this was not easy work. There were times when we felt like calling it quits, but the really great thing about having Molly is that you feel like you have a partner – someone working with your child AND with you to help them reach their full potential. Her help has truly made all the difference in his success. Thank you Molly!

—Elizabeth, mother of former student

It is impossible to express my praise for Molly in a short blurb. My son worked with Molly for nearly 4 years and made it all the way through the Wired for Reading curriculum, plus worked on writing in preparation for middle school. Molly was able to keep him interested in the subject matter through stories and word games. She was willing to try different approaches until she found what worked. She celebrated his successes and gently held him accountable for his work. Molly became a trusted advocate for our family as she helped us traverse the dyslexia assessment process and accommodations within his school. Thanks to Molly, my son went from being 2 years behind his peers in reading, to being at grade level. His confidence is back and he once again loves school!

— Jenny, mother of former student

For a little over two years, Molly helped my son go from an insecure student who was two grades behind in reading to a more confident, successful reader at grade level. It wasn’t always easy working with an impatient 8-10 year old boy with ADHD and a bad attitude about school, but she was patient, kind, and innovative.  He is much more comfortable now with school. Tutoring with Molly allowed us to avoid the high cost of a private school for dyslexia at a fraction of the price, and he was able to remain in public school with his friends and sister. I felt like she was a very valuable ally to our family, a coach who was helped my son succeed.  His last report card was his best ever! It takes work and perseverance but it was totally worth it. I highly recommend Molly.

— Toni, mother of former student

We had tried other tutoring programs and they really didn’t resonate with my 9-year-old daughter.  Every session was a struggle to get her to go and participate, do home assignments, etc. I felt really disconnected from the sessions, as I was asked to wait in the lobby, yet I was supposed to help with the homework. I felt the energy getting sucked right out of my daughter.  She just no longer cared about spelling and was giving up.  We were at our wits end.

Then we found Molly!

Right from the start, I knew Molly and the Wired for Reading program were just what we were looking for.  My daughter immediately bonded with Molly (as did I), and before I knew it, my daughter was taking responsibility for doing her “Molly” homework (instead of me having to beg her) and we both looked forward to our next sessions. I found her quoting Molly stories, laughing at spelling tricks that made their way into her school work, and recommending Molly to other students who were struggling at school.  We loved the different methods Molly used to teach, from letting my daughter draw, having her sing and listen to music, getting her to play charades, and even letting her do handstands when she needed a break.

Molly was enthusiastic, supportive and encouraging for both my daughter and I!  We highly recommend Molly and feel that everyone needs a Molly on their team!

— Ahna, mother of a former student

I would like to highly recommend Molly as a reading resource. We began seeing Molly when my son was in kindergarten. My son was having difficulty grasping reading and my husband and I were at a loss regarding the best way to assist him. Luckily we were able to locate Molly and with her help we had a game plan. As a result of seeing Molly our son started to succeed at school and we felt much more confident in assisting him with improving his reading skills. Molly knows how to make this process fun for her students. She incorporates games, songs and music to aid in the curriculum.  If you your child is struggling with reading, I highly recommend Molly.

— Michelle, mother of a former student

I cannot even begin to share the incredible strides my 11-year old son has made in his ability to spell through working with Molly.  My son deals with orthographic processing disorder and spelling does not come easy for him.  No matter how much he studied for spelling tests, nor his love for reading, improved his ability to spell.  Molly utilizes the Wired for Reading curriculum and has a wealth of stories and strategies to make phonics, and the randomness of the English language, make sense.  It was amazing to see how these stories and strategies stick with my son – stories he could easily recall when writing at school or completing homework at home.  His spelling has dramatically improved.   In addition to Molly’s breadth and depth of knowledge is her fun and engaging attitude.  She has no problem using props, music, roleplaying, and laughter to make the stories and letter combinations stick in the minds of her students.  I cannot recommend Molly enough – I only wish we found her sooner!

—- Jen, mother of former student

Molly has been a lifesaver for us. Before we found Molly, writing was a huge source of frustration in our home. Our son didn’t want to write, and trying to teach him things just led to unpleasant situations for all concerned. Molly has completely changed that. She has helped our son rediscover joy in writing and has taught him skills that allow him to write more sophisticated and interesting stories. She has a real knack for teaching quick, targeted lessons that help him take what he’s written and figure out how to improve it. Our son often used to have trouble figuring out what to write about, and this led to a lot of frustration. She’s taken that away completely, and now our son is excited to write about whatever topic they’re working on each week. He looks forward to writing and to working with Molly–and that’s something I could never say before!

—- Nancy, mother of former student

Molly is fun to work with. I look forward to lessons with her because I’m learning how to write a better story. Before I could kind of do “pick-ups” (chapter starters) but not that well. Now I can write better, more interesting stories because she’s helped me figure out what to include and not include. Molly always makes me feel good when I’m working with her. I really like that she helps me figure out which topics to write about. She helps me decide if a topic would make a good story or not. I’ve learned more working with Molly than I did in school or with my mom.

—- Ari, former student

Two of my kiddos had Molly as a writing tutor for about a year. My 14 year old grew tremendously in confidence, knowledge and overall writing abilities during his time with Molly. His writing turned from a disorganized, somewhat comprehensible hodgepodge of words into well written, grammatically correct, interesting papers. He was a reluctant writer and now has confidence in his writing ability to enter his first high school level science fair with a strong, well written paper that he is extremely proud of. I credit much of his writing growth to Molly and her guidance, teaching and confidence building. Thanks Molly! 

My 10 year old daughter was a very reluctant writer when we met Molly. She had shut down completely. While she was very creative and had a head full of exciting, interesting stories, her spelling skills interfered with every aspect of actually writing and paralyzed her. Molly and the Wired for Reading program that she shared with us was exactly what my daughter needed. The specific stories, rules and fun games Molly taught us will always be in our spelling vocabulary. I learned so much during our tutoring sessions. I of course knew how to spell, but had memorized words and never really thought about how our language came to be, Wired for Reading opened up a whole new way of looking at words and spelling. Molly was very flexible and fun when my daughter really needed to learn skills that were not easy for her. I wish every child had a Molly to help them! 

—- Hollie, mother of two former students

When my son entered kindergarten, he knew his letters, but seemed resistant to any reading instruction. When we tried to help him sound out the words, he would get angry and frustrated. After working with Molly as a reading specialist for just 6 months, he had become a different child in his approach to reading. He was sounding out new words, and seemed to look forward to opportunities to impress us with his reading.. he seemed excited to read. A smile spread across his face as he beat me to the pronunciation during story time. He quickly advanced from level 1 to level 4 books, seeming to skip over the intermediate phases. After working with Molly for the the remainder of the school year, his reading skills exploded. I kid you not, he was reading Harry Potter book 1, alone with no help in the summer before first grade. He was confident, independent and highly skilled in his reading. I credit some of it to his being a bright kid, but an equal part to Molly, his reading specialist. She was patient, innovative and knowledgeable about a variety of learning styles, and found the one that worked best with my kindergartner. 

I overheard a conversation between my son and a buddy last week. He said “my favorite subject is reading, what’s yours?”  Thanks, Molly!

—- Thellea, mother of former kindergarten student

Molly provided literacy support in my son’s kindergarten class. With the children, she provides a warm, kind presence. My son was extremely well-prepared to succeed in a large first-grade classroom. Best of all, he loves reading and writing!

—- Michelle, mother of former kindergarten student