This Miami nonprofit tries to find the best ways to get all kids to read

By Alecia Taylor

Sandra Bermudez, founder of The Lucy Project, with kids from Norwood Elementary in Miami Gardens who participated in The Lucy Project’s reading program. Courtesy of The Lucy Project

Sandra Bermudez adopted her daughter when Lucy was three months old. Lucy was perfect in every way; she hit all her milestones on time and brought nothing but joy to her parents.

But when Lucy started kindergarten there were soon signs that she would struggle academically, said Bermudez. Lucy had trouble learning the alphabet. Her parents tried to help her themselves with extra lessons, they hired private tutors, but nothing seemed to work.

“It actually got so bad that at some point we were told ‘It’s okay, ma’am, not everyone has to be smart,’” said Bermudez. Educators began to blame Lucy’s parents for her issues and accused them of not working with Lucy at home. They even enrolled their daughter in private schools but Lucy continued to struggle.

Lucy was eventually diagnosed with severe dyslexia. After researching, Bermudez discovered that dyslexia is pretty common; it affects 20 percent of the population and represents 80 to 90 percent of all those with learning disabilities, according to the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity.

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