CARA: Confidence Around Reading Anxiety

The CARA method was born out of the fact that the brain can’t learn when it’s in a state of stress. I loved the decade I spent running intensive reading clinics, but I watched child after child shut down because they didn't feel good enough. I knew there was something missing from education. Performance anxiety, fear of failure, worry, low self-esteem all create a stress response in the brain: Fight or flight goes on, and the ability to learn something new shuts off. So how do we turn the ability to learn back on? We calm the brain through safety, joy, and play. The CARA Method integrates three components- reading, play, and self-esteem - for the most effective learning experience. We take the very real fear of letters, words, and making a mistake out of the equation, and let a child know that it’s safe to feel their feelings, try the next word, and move towards reading anyway.