About the Reading Guy

Stephen lives in the Western Suburbs of Chicago with his wife and five children. He first became interested in the reading process while working with students in his fourth-grade classroom who could not read well. After transitioning to the primary grades, he quickly noticed that many students lacked the understanding that words are made up of sounds that must be decoded. Many simply guessed when they came to unknown words. Concerned, he began pursuing resources and training to become more knowledgeable regarding best practices for teaching spelling, writing, and reading.

With over 20 years of classroom experience, Stephen has a passion for helping students who struggle with all aspects of the English Language Arts. He taught for two years as a fourth-grade instructor in Plainfield Community Unit School District 202 before moving to Wheaton Warrenville Community Unit School District 200. In District 200, he filled a variety of roles including Title 1 Math Specialist, First-Grade Instructor, Second-Grade instructor, Fourth-Grade Instructor, and Reading Specialist.

Stephen also has experience with middle school students while working at the College of DuPage in their Youth Education Department during the summer. For over a decade, he developed curriculum and taught elementary and middle school reading and writing courses.

Stephen has completed over 700 hours of individual or group therapy with students as well as 220 course work hours. He has also successfully passed the Academic Language Therapy national exam and therefore has the distinction of being a Certified Academic Language Therapist (CALT).