Mom Shares Life-Changing Experience with New Phonics Program
After a year of classes in an early intervention program went sour with a scheduling conflict, Naomi Eldridge found out she would have to wait an entire year before enrolling Alex into Kindergarten. That's just about the time, she found out that Qkids Phonics would be starting a new North American phonics program and was looking for parents to enroll in a trial program. Naomi Eldridge, who also teaches for Qkids, jumped at the chance to enroll her son, Alex who has autism. This is her heartwarming story of how Qkids made an immediate impact on his evolution of learning to read, make connections, and discovering a whole new world!
Sometimes I cannot believe that it has been three years since I started working from home as a Qkids teacher. This job has impacted not only my life but the life of my family in immeasurable ways. I’d like to share a truly heartwarming and life-changing experience for which I have Qkids to thank.
I’m Naomi, I have an English Teaching degree, and my background is in teaching English and ESOL to learners of all ages. My son, Alex, has autism. He is very high functioning but struggles in many ways. He fixates on things, he is not good with change, and teaching him something requires an enormous level of patience, understanding, and resourcefulness. He had been enrolled in an early intervention program with the local school district for about a year, but I had to pull him out because of a scheduling conflict with my former B&M job.
The ability for me to work from home offered me more time to spend with him. We struggled with reading though. At age five, he knew his letters, but that was about it. Since he turned five just past the cutoff for kindergarten, it would be another year until the real academic work began. We had him in preschool, but not much progress was being made. Then, everything changed due to the pandemic, and Alex looked to us as his only means of education.
This is when Qkids, in typical Qkids fashion, came through with a lifestyle changing gift known as the North American Phonics program. We were invited for the pilot, and we gladly paid the low amount that Qkids charged for continuing the course! Why? Qkids picked the PERFECT teachers for this course. He was in the same class with the same teacher and students for long periods of time. We started with teacher Angela, and then we had teacher Suzanne. Both teachers made an immediate connection with Alex and understood his needs, fixations, and struggles.
He had good days and bad days, and we could tell that he was getting tired toward the end of class, at first. Then, as the scaffolding of the program unfolded, and the teachers made even deeper connections with him, he started putting together word sounds and blends! He always had trouble with “th”, but after a few weeks, he became aware of the difference between “fr” and “th”! As even more weeks passed, We noticed that he was not only able to sound out words, but he was also recognizing sight words. This all took place in a matter of months. I was able to keep in constant communication with his teachers, who understood his delays and worked with him closely.
Alex made friends! As you can imagine, being an only child in a rural area doesn’t allow for much of a social group. He considers Emrys, one of his classmates, his best friend. One more cute story that any parent of an autistic child will understand. Alex is absolutely FIXATED on cars, but he’s very literal. He was jarred and confused at first when teacher Suzanne put a cat sticker in the driver’s seat of the car on the screen. “Animals don’t drive vehicles!” he screamed. She told him to use his imagination. Now, Alex is still taking classes and has a new teacher. Ladies and gentlemen, Alex is now ASKING for animals driving vehicles on the sticker page! His plush Momo graduation present is the ONLY stuffed animal he has ever liked. He usually only likes cars. Thank you Qkids. I can’t recommend the program enough to any parent. The teachers are qualified to help your unique child learn to read, and the program is second to none.
If you are interested in trying the program, with two free trial classes, click here!
If you are interested in a lucrative and rewarding career working from home as an online teacher, click here!
You must hold a BA and be physically located in North America to teach.