It's important for you to decide whether or not Route 66 Literacy is beneficial for your student. First, Route 66 Literacy is for adolescents and adults who are not able to read and write at the beginning, conventional level (pre-primer or first grade).

Then, if you still aren't sure if your student fits the profile, take a minute to answer the following yes/no questions.

• Does the learner know that print (all the little black squiggles on a page) is a medium that people use to read and write and from which they make meaning?
• Does the learner know that print is read from left to right, and from top to bottom?
• Does the learner understand that readers use their eyes to track print across the page?
• Does the learner know that reading and writing are important in our print filled world?
• Does the learner understand that reading and writing allow people to make connections with each other and with the larger world?
• Does the learner understand that reading and writing are valuable endeavors and that it's worth the effort it takes to learn to read and write?
• Does the learner understand the relationship between symbols and sounds?
• Can the learner label at least some of the more common letters and their sounds?
• Can the learner read even a few sight words?

If you've answered yes to the majority of these questions, it's probably safe to say that your student is functioning at the beginning conventional level. You can then feel free to begin working with Route 66 Literacy.

The full technical beta version of Route 66 Literacy has been tested by a group of adults with development disabilities served by the Community Association for Rehabilitation, Inc. (C.A.R.) since the winter of 2006. These adults completed a pretest of their reading skills that assessed word identification, spelling, and a variety of phonemic awareness tasks. Results after 12 weeks of implementation (two 45-minute sessions each week) suggest that Route 66 Literacy is helping these adults achieve their dreams of living a literate life.

While they still have a great deal to learn, these adult learners have improved their ability to read and spell words, and, perhaps most importantly, are seeing themselves as capable learners. Their teacher captures the excitement when she says this: “I can’t even begin to describe the experience I have had working with them – I’ve been working with these folks for 15 years and I’ve never had an experience like this before.”