The Unwritten Chapter

Good Morning

We are determined. Jordan will read. It is our conviction, shared with her doctors, her teachers, her family and friends. It is the gift that eludes her, yet she never alludes to her disappointment. She pretends to read, scanning through books and improvising passages of story. She recalls everything that is read to her, sometimes with alarmingly detailed comprehension. On the advice of a friend, we started buying her iTunes versions of books that are required in school. She repeats the narratives back to us.
Lately, she and I play a game. She has text messaging capabilities on her phone. Every so often, she sends me a text. It always says the same thing, “Jordan.” It is the only word she knows. I decided to take advantage of this channel to her. I send her a different three letter word every day. I try to keep the suffixes fixed for several days. I started with ‘bug,’ then sent her ‘hug’, then ‘pug’. When I get home I ask her what word I sent her. She usually makes something up, but then I have her retrieve her phone and push her to sound the words out. She is starting to get it. It’s the small steps that count.
She is slowly transitioning to a new medication that will prevent the risk of seizures but without making her hyper. It’s a slow migration. It will take almost 30 days to transition to the new medicine, but we hope that this change in pharmaceutical therapy will help her slow down and take to reading. It will require more than medicine, but we all know that Jordan has ample quantities of determination, spirit and ambition.