Feb. 2, 2000
Although Utah has a low illiteracy rate, still about 10 percent of Utah adults can't read.
In today's Family Now report, News Specialist Ruth Todd explains where people who struggle with reading can turn for help.
Almost everything we do requires reading.
Working on a computer, following street signs, perusing a menu, simply reading a book.
Literacy experts say adults who can't read can fall further behind.
But for most, they simply need to know where to go for help.
Troy Smothers fell through the cracks. But the 26-year-old is far from alone. He is one of 140,000 Utah adults who struggles with reading.
Troy Smothers/Reader: "The first time I really became aware that reading was a challenge was just, obviously, was in the elementary grades, when the other kids would be able to spell simple things such as cat and bat, and I was a little slower at that."
He dropped out of school, faked his way at jobs and eventually managed a landscaping business.
His illiteracy nagged at him until two years ago when he found Project Read - a literacy program in Orem.
Now, Smothers works with a tutor every week and is studying to get his degree.
Troy Smothers/Reader: "We started with the basics, A and B and C and D, and we're working on Z now, and just learning things that I should have when I was little, and when I was in kindergarten."
Literacy to him now means more than merely reading words.
Troy Smothers/Reader: "I have self-esteem. I have the beauty of feeling satisfied, that I know that my life is beginning to head in the direction that I know that I'm supposed to go."
For more information on adult literacy programs, click here,
or call the Family Now information line at 1-800-575-5751.
