She found her voice by reading aloud to others!
In kindergarten, Anna Ramirez, who has autism, rarely spoke. Then her mom started taking her to the library, and Anna developed a love for reading— out loud! Today, she’s a bright, chatty 11-year-old who holds her own story hour to share that love with other kids
on’t be shy. Go ahead and ask her,” Micaela Ramirez coaxed her 8-year-old daughter, Anna.
Nervously, little Anna approached youth librarian Samantha “Miss Sam” Reid’s desk and in a near whisper asked, “Can you help me f ind some Disney books?”
“Of course,” Miss Sam smiled, leading Anna through the stacks to the right section.
Micaela watched proudly. She knew how hard it was for Anna. At 3 years old, Anna had still not spoken a word. She avoided eye contact, and barely touched her toys. A doctor diagnosed her with autism, and enrolled Anna in speech therapy. After several months, she still spoke only a few words, but she learned to use sign language and point at pictures in books and magazines when she wanted food or to watch TV.
Anna also pointed to the words as her mom read stories, and later, she covered the pages with paper and traced the letters, teaching herself to write and, eventually, to read.
Wanting to nurture her love of reading, every Tuesday and
Thursday, Micaela took Anna and her little brother, Daniel, to the library, where Anna would check out up to 14 books at a time. Reading helped her build her vocabulary and speech. Before long, she was reading the books aloud to her mom and brother.
Then one afternoon, when they got to the library, Anna spotted a group of preschoolers visiting the library with their teacher. Only the teacher wasn’t reading to them. Anna remembered all the story hours she’d attended, and how much she loved them and how safe they made her feel.
“She should be reading to them,” Anna said...and then she had an idea.
Anna hurried over to Miss Sam and pointed to several of the children sitting in a circle looking at picture books. “Do you think they’d like to hear me read them stories?”
“Let me ask,” Miss Sam said, and with the teacher’s okay, Anna sat down with the toddlers and asked, “Do you want to hear a story?”
“Read us another!” a little boy said when Anna f inished
yrthe book, and then another one after that.
The kids were back the next day, and so was Anna with a fresh pile of books. Between stories, Anna chatted and laughed with the children while her mom and Miss Sam watched in awe.
“I’ve never seen her so happy and outgoing,” smiled Micaela.
“Everybody needs to feel special and seen,” says Sam, and to honor her gifts the library appointed Anna to their Early Literacy Campaign.
“I like making little kids smile,” she told a TV reporter, and shared how much reading means to her.
Anna, now 11, loves reading so much, the little girl who couldn’t speak now wants to grow up to be a voice actor. In the meantime, she never leaves home without a book in hand. “I have to be ready in case I meet a little kid who wants to hear me read them a story.”