Meet Rhonda

“Those early struggles in kindergarten and first grade didn’t seem significant at the time—but later in life, they inspired me to help set other children up for lifelong success.”

When I was very young, I lost my hearing before kindergarten. I didn’t realize it at first—I just followed the crowd, copying what the other kids did because I couldn’t hear what the teacher was saying. I learned to read lips, said “huh?” a lot, and had a few moments where other kids didn’t understand me.

Then came the day everything changed. During a school hearing test, the nurse discovered I was deaf. My mom took me to the doctor, and soon I had surgery to put tubes in my ears. When I came home from the hospital, the very first sound I remember was the toilet flushing. To me, it sounded like a bomb! I ran out of the bathroom yelling, “There’s a bomb in the toilet!”

From that moment on, I began to discover a world of happy sounds I had been missing—birds chirping, laughter, horses whinnying—and all the little noises I’d forgotten. Every sound felt like a tiny miracle.

School was harder because of those missed years. I had to work harder to catch up, and I know what it feels like to fall behind before you even have a chance to start. That experience gave me a passion: to make sure other children don’t have to struggle the way I did.

Maybe your child has faced challenges too—whether from illness, moving, or disruptions like COVID. Every family faces obstacles. But the good news is, those challenges don’t have to hold your child back.

That’s why I created Read by Kindergarten. It’s a simple, step-by-step program that helps parents and grandparents teach toddlers to read early. My mission is to give every child the chance to walk into school confident, prepared, and excited to learn.

“I want every child to walk into school confident, prepared, and excited to learn.”