Reading help for adult learners

COEUR d’ALENE — English professor Kat Gilmore has encouraged literacy since she was a little girl.

“I used to teach my dolls to read,” she said.

She has spent decades teaching, and today is more passionate about tackling the adult literacy problem than ever.

One in seven adults in the United States is unable to read, Gilmore said. More than 43 million American adults can’t read, write or do math above a third-grade level. This means they can’t read their prescription bottles, lease documents or letters from school if they have children.

This may come as a surprise to many, but the problem is pervasive, Gilmore said.

“Low literacy adults are not the people you think they are,” she said. “They blend in and have developed survival strategies, and they have memorized more things than you and I will ever hold in our brains.”

Gilmore is the founder of the Literacy Project of North Idaho, which offers confidential, individual reading tutors for adult learners at no cost. There are two locations, one in Rathdrum at 15506 Washington St., and one on the North Idaho College campus in the Molstead Library building, Ste. 256.

Two classes will begin this month, coinciding with Literacy Month.

Literacy for Little Ones runs every third Friday, September 17 through May 20 at the Rathdrum location.

Designed for parents/caregivers and their preschoolers, Gilmore said introducing young children to books is the biggest determinant of educational success later in life. To register go to www.theliteracyprojectni.org. There is no obligation to attend every class.

Every Monday from 5:30 to 7 p.m. an Adult English Conversation class is held at the NIC location. Designed for those learning English, these sessions provide a comfortable place to practice with others in a similar position. No registration is required.

Low literacy is a quiet problem that affects more than most people realize, Gilmore said.

Workers who have the least education earn the “lowest median weekly earnings,” she said. Statistics from ProLiteracy said increasing all adults “to the equivalent of a sixth-grade reading level would generate $2.2 trillion in annual income for the country.”

Of those incarcerated on a state level, 75% did not finish high-school, and those inmates who participate in educational programs are 43% less likely to end up back in handcuffs.

“Seventy-two percent of kids who struggle with reading, have parents who can’t read,” Gilmore said. “If we can reach parents, imagine what that will mean for the students?”

Reaching out for assistance is a big deterrent for many adult learners, Gilmore said.

“Most every person tells me, 'I don’t think I can learn to read,'” Gilmore said. “They think they are the only ones struggling.”

Gilmore’s team of tutors works one-on-one with learners.

There is no curriculum and it’s not about grammar, vocabulary and rules, Gilmore said. “Learners lead the way, with what they want to work on, with their own goals in mind.”

Calling it “top-up” learning, Gilmore said “adults come with a lifetime’s worth of knowledge and a working vocabulary.”

Most people with low-literacy reach a turning point when they decide to learn to read. “There are reasons like pursuing citizenship, reading with their grandkids or the ability to get a better job,” Gilmore said. “Whatever the goal is — that’s where we start.”

In grad school, Gilmore lived in a “lower-income area” and was “always helping the neighbors.” She knew they didn’t speak English well, and they would often seek her out to assist. “It didn’t occur to me at first that they couldn’t read,” she said.

Later she was working with high school students from Long Beach, Calif., and realized similarly that many of them were illiterate.

These interactions fueled her passion for reading and sparked her awareness of the effects of low literacy.

Gilmore’s mother was blind, she said, but she grew up with audio books playing in the background.

“She always instilled a love of reading,” Gilmore said.

Eight years into running the Literacy Project, Gilmore said it is growing, getting organized and that she “will do whatever it takes to keep the program going.”

As a 501c3, it occupies donated office space from the Lakeland Joint School District and North Idaho College. Gilmore hopes they will find a permanent home.

For now, her 15 tutors work with adult learners in the community, tackling low-literacy one word at a time. Volunteers are always welcome, and contact details can be found on the Literacy Project of North Idaho website.