Adrian DeWitts

My son Forester is a year-and-a-half behind in his reading and writing. Maybe a big deal or maybe not, but something that I’ve been worried about with the normal kinds of expectations that parents have for their kids. I was kind of happy with what the school was doing, but it never seemed to be enough for Fori.

I’ve certainly felt guilty that there was more I should do but I didn’t know how I could help him. Reading was always so natural to me - it’s how I relax. Reading with Fori just didn’t seem to make a difference.

So then began the journey into understanding what Fori was going through. I read many materials on learning difficulties, completed a course, spoke with teachers, tutors, and parents of kids with dyslexia. I felt like I finally had a breakthrough: now I understand how he learns, his struggles, and it’s become a lot easier to help him with his school work and how I speak with his teacher.

Armed with this understanding I, like all parents would, looked to my skills to help my son. I’m an app developer by trade. The result of my tinkering away is that I’ve built Bookbot to help Fori with his reading. One of the ideas behind Bookbot is that Fori has a way of easily self-correcting, and he doesn’t always need the full attention of a teacher or parent.