ABOUT THE BOOK

Today, Irene Daria is a cognitive developmental psychologist and reading tutor to the stars. At the time of this story, she 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, people 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 be empowered to set any child on the path to becoming a proficient reader.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Irene Daria is a developmental psychologist specializing in teaching children how to read. She has taught reading to the children of many celebrities, as well as to hundreds of other children—both as a paid specialist and as a volunteer in Harlem—and has trained teachers in the science of reading. Before becoming a psychologist, Dr. Daria worked as a reporter at Women’s Wear Daily and an editor at Harper’s Bazaar and has written hundreds of articles for publications ranging from The New York Times and Money, to Parents, Mademoiselle and Glamour. She is the author of four books—I Didn’t Believe Him, The Fashion Cycle, Lutece, and A Woman Doctor’s Guide to Miscarriage—as well as the Steps to Reading workbook series. A passionate literacy advocate, she lives with her husband in Manhattan and Amagansett, NY, and is the proud mother of two adult sons.

TALKING POINTS

Sample topics in education:

• How have schools caused millions of kids to be struggling readers? What are they doing wrong, and what are some schools beginning to do right?
• Dr. Daria’s journey as she battled a flawed educational system to try to get her son the reading instruction he deserved and the challenges she faced and barriers she had to overcome.
• Dyslexia or dysteachia? A huge number of kids are being misdiagnosed as learning disabled when the only thing wrong is that their schools are not teaching reading properly.
• Why first grade is the most important year of a child’s education.
• The human and civil rights issue of our time. Being taught how to read is considered a basic human right. Some states have recently outlawed the flawed method of teaching still being used in many schools, and many others are scrambling to figure out how to retrain teachers and implement correct methods. As the New York City schools chancellor recently said, “We are building the plane as we are flying it because kids’ lives are actually hanging in the balance.” 
• The tremendous guilt parents feel for not recognizing a school is doing a poor job of teaching reading sooner and how a child’s struggles affect the whole family.
• Why systematic, explicit teaching is so important for young children, as opposed to the progressive method of teaching, which has children making discoveries for themselves.
• What is “the science of reading” that is all over the news these days, and what is the “science of math” that so many math professors and researchers are begging to see in schools?

Sample advice on how parents can help kids succeed in school:

• Why you can’t trust your child’s report card to let you know how your child is doing in school. It’s been documented that most parents have no idea when their children are underperforming. Dr. Daria was one of them: Her son brought home a perfect report card when, in fact, he was not able to read.
• Why parental involvement is key to a child’s success in school and what parental involvement really means. (It’s not what you think!)
• The importance of parents and teachers working as a team and what both can do to foster that collaboration.
• How to make the most of parent-teacher conferences. So many parents are busy defending their child that they do not really absorb the issues a teacher is raising.
• Insider secrets from parents whose kids are excelling in school. These are quick, 10-minute steps even the busiest moms can take to help their kids succeed.
• Why Dr. Daria thinks a parent’s best defense is to teach their child to read themselves and how her Steps to Reading workbooks can help.