In the classroom, words are everywhere. On the board, on your paper, in your book. So what happens if you can’t read?

Often, there’s a destructive ripple effect — frustration, avoidance, excuses, and low self-esteem. Because if you’d feel like a failure for eight core hours of your day, what would that do to you?

There was no way we were going to let that happen to our Aharon. Aharon has always been a bright boy, with grit, street smarts, and a fun-loving spirit. But all that couldn’t mask his dyslexia.

In kindergarten, we realized Aharon simply could not master the alphabet. The struggle continued to intensify in the first and second grades. Reading was elusive, letters and words were one big mumbo jumbo, and our miserable little boy was stuck in the middle.

At the time, there were no Jewish schools or programs in our city for children with learning differences. Left with no choice, we pulled Aharon out of cheder and sent him to a local private school that caters to children with dyslexia. We hoped and prayed that he’d be understood and supported there.

Then came fifth grade, and Aharon was adamant — he wanted to attend cheder. I was proud of his decision, but how were we going to pull it off?

I remembered reading an article about Yitzchok Weiss who seemed to have success helping children with learning disabilities. I decided to give him a call. When I shared our predicament with him, he was determined to help us. He believed that no struggling Yiddishe yingel should have to resort to a non-Jewish school — not if he could help it.

Mr. Weiss met with Aharon and instantly put him at ease. He saw that Aharon enjoyed math, so he shared little math tricks to capture his interest and engage his mind.

Aharon has been out of cheder for three years, so the primary focus of their sessions was kriah. After several sessions, we began witnessing the progress we’d been waiting for. Aharon no longer confuses letters, has mastered nekudos, and is slowly beginning to blend words. His fluency and comprehension have also improved.

Now, they’ve switched to phone sessions. Aharon loves talking to Mr. Weiss, who has established a real rapport with him. Mr. Weiss gives him writing homework, and we send him a photo of the completed page. Then, Aharon calls him and they practice reading English and Hebrew together for a couple of minutes.

Mr. Weiss is encouraging us now to transition into a cheder. He spoke with the cheder principal and explained Aharon’s challenges, goals, and trajectory.

Aharon sat in a second-grade cheder classroom during his spring break, so he could break into the mode and get used to cheder. We plan to leave him at his current school until the end of the school year, and hopefully, at the start of the new year, he’ll be ready for cheder. He so badly wants to be back in a Jewish environment and learn Chumash like other boys his age.

Mr. Weiss constantly encourages Aharon and reminds him of his remarkable progress. He always makes himself available to talk with us and patiently explain the process.

We’re grateful that Aharon is beginning to overcome his dyslexia and look forward, b’ezras Hashem, to send him to a proper Jewish school where his mind, heart, and soul can thrive.

*Names and identifying details have been changed.