Adults learning to read

As a truck driver, Chuck Thompson would know he was in California, but he wouldn't know where. Nor would he know which street he was on.

When it came to writing business checks, he would wrap his hand in an elastic bandage and claim his handicap prevented him from filling out the check.

Thompson grew his hair long and increased his weight to 300 pounds hoping to intimidate others who otherwise might approach him.

Trying to hide the fact that he couldn't read or write was an everyday pressure for the Las Vegas resident who said he graduated from Valley High School with A's and B's.

"I felt pretty low at times," the 45-year-old said. "But it's called survival."

Asking his wife to meet him at work to read business documents was another of his many survival tactics.

"I felt like a blind man going outside without my cane," Thompson said. "I was always scared."

By the time he was 40, Thompson decided he wanted to learn how to read so he entered Computer Assisted Literacy in Libraries (CALL) -- an adult literacy program offered by the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District.

As a new student he could read four words a minute at 100 percent comprehension. In three weeks, he was up to 35 words a minute.

"When teaching an adult, you have to start at the bottom. You don't want to start in the middle," Thompson said as he sat paging through an old scrapbook filled with completed work sheets and assignments.

Within six weeks, Thompson said he was reading 81 words a minute. Then he began keeping a journal to record his daily experiences, writing three or four pages a day.

"I was the most motivated student they had because I knew what I wanted," he said.

Thompson, who still participates in the program, is just one of 20,000 Nevadans enrolled in public adult literacy programs and one of an estimated 200,000 in the state who need a literacy program.

The 20,000 students in the programs represent only 10 percent of the need, Vicki Newel, Literate Nevada Project director, said.

Literacy, defined in the National Literacy Act of 1991, is an individual's ability to read, write and speak in English, and compute and solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job in society, to achieve one's goals and develop one's knowledge and potential.

A 1998 estimate by the National Institute for Literacy states that 15.3 percent of Nevada's adult population is at the lowest level of literacy proficiency. They are unable to fill out a job application, balance a checkbook or help their children with homework. An estimated 35.5 percent of North Las Vegas is at this level.

A report released by Emmy Bell, Nevada Literacy Coalition coordinator, states that more than 52,000 Nevada adults have less than a ninth-grade education. In more than 13,000 Nevada households, no one speaks English.

Creating awareness of the issue is important, Bell said.

"If we destigmatize the whole thing, then we remove all the barriers of embarrassment and shame," she said. "The advantage here in Nevada (for low literates) is there are a lot of low-level jobs that don't require reading, writing or problem-solving."

The local chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators, a professional organization for public relations practitioners, works to involve more companies as advocates of adult-education programs, connect illiterate people with adult-education programs and inform the public of the need for literacy volunteers.

"If you're not in that world, it's just not obvious," spokeswoman Sharon Rorman said. "Who would have thought that 35 percent of North Las Vegas was at the lowest level of literacy. That's certainly a startling statistic to me."

Rorman said nearly 30 local businesses are supporting the effort through financial contributions and a few are inquiring into the work site programs. "It's a slow, on-going campaign, but with a long-term effect," she added.

Some local resorts already have or are preparing for on-site work place literacy programs. The Rio hotel-casino began English as Second Language (ESL) programs in January 1997.

Wade Roberts, training and development manager for the Rio, said it is currently building a 14,000-square-foot training facility that will offer literacy programs and an in-house General Educational Development (GED) program.

Roberts said the ESL program has been successful, averaging 50 students a semester.

"The commitment is incredible," he said. "These folks come in on their own time. Some come at 6:15 a.m."

Newell said the lack of financial resources is what hurts adult education the most.

More than $1.64 million in federal funds and $478,000 in state funds go to adult basic education programs in Nevada, but it isn't enough, Newell said.

"Compared to other states this is very little funding," she said, adding Oregon provides $11 million in state funds to adult-literacy programs.

"We need to show legislatures the need. Our programs have waiting lists. There are 10 programs trying to serve a need of 165,000 people."

CALL has 149 volunteers who meet twice a week for an hour with students, all of whom are reading below the sixth-grade level.

But because the training is one on one, program coordinator Sharon Brooks said there is waiting list of 40 who want to get into the program.

Brooks said volunteers are always needed.

The program, which has been around since 1986, is serviced through the library district and funded through an Adult Basic Education Grant offered by the state Department of Education.

The students are required to visit the library three times a week, the third visit is for independent reading. The program also offers support group meetings with students and teachers in addition to the one-on-one tutoring.

"It's a struggle on the student's part to make that first step," she said. "Many have stood in the stacks of the library, before coming in."

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