If things didn't frighten her, they certainly fascinated and attracted her curiousity, in which case, Ryuuko was thusly fascinated with what Nui was doing. She was reading and, while she had learned to count, she was illiterate and hadn't learned to read or write. I suppose her learning to read was a bit of a far cry from her learning proper speech, as she could learn that verbally and being around others, however, she had not quite mastered even that, considering that it hasn't clicked to use personal pronouns or articles. At least, she can, to a degree, communicate fluently and be understand, even if she isn't always specific.

My observation of her observation elicited my curiousity, leaving me to wonder if she could be taught to read, if not write. So far, she doesn't seem to be incapable of learning anything, considering how her vocabulary is and the fact that, while her highest number is 20 (the number of fingers and toes she has total), she had regardless learned to count. I thought about how some had learned to read when they were much older than she, although they had difficulty.

Perhaps becoming literate could aid further in her rehabilitation, after all, learning is key to advancement of some sorts. I popped the question to Aikurou, getting the response, "You could try, certainly, but it can't be guaranteed, however, I suppose if you were to go about this, then you might start by showing her how to identify letters and how to spell."

"How would we teach her how to spell?"

"Not really sure but your grandmother showed your father and I how to spell by using those blocks with letters on them."

"Letter blocks?"

"Yes, the kind that babies play with."

I thought for a moment, remembering what they were or what they looked like, before asking as to where we'd procure them. He said would obtain them at a Wal*Mart. When Nui had nothing else to do, I sent her on an errand to retrieve them. She sat Ryuuko down and lined up the block alphabetically. Slowly, one by one, she identified them, instructing Ryuuko to do the same. Awkwardly, she attempted pronunciation and eyed Nui for approval. She recieved some approval before she was brought through the lesson again, however, she was brought to the associated sounds.

Ryuuko blinked and glanced up for a moment before looking at the blocks again. Something had clicked. She had realized that the letters had sounds, something that she hadn't quite figured before. She identified the letters by their sound, saying them each in the order in which they had come. She would turn this into something of a song, however, she didn't seem to place them in any particular rhythm.

Once she had learned the sounds and the order, Nui had went about rearranging them into words, starting with Ryuuko's name. Justifiably, Ryuuko sat confused and asked, "Huh?" before saying, to the best of her abilities, that letters have an order to go into. Nui glanced up and said, "Yes, they do, typically, however, we are using them to spell your name, Ryuuko."

"Spell?

"Yes, you're going to learn how to spell."

"Why?"

"So you can read, Ryuuko."

"Read?"

"Yes, Ryuuko, you're going to learn how to read."

She was confused by the notion, considering she didn't really know what reading and spelling was. In a faint wish, I wondered how that would have been if Ryuuko had learned some degree of literacy when she younger. I suppose she would been confused just as she would have been now.

Learning letters was new to her, much like many other things but learning literacy, even if it's just possibly limiting her to reading, is a stretch, nevertheless, worth trying, especially since she is quite further advanced than how most people would assume. This process would be long and repetitive, which would give her something to occupy whatever boredom she might have when not doing anything else.

We were at this for about a month and, after some time, she seemed to have grasped some of the basics, in which case she started to spell small words, such as "Mam", "sad", "cat", "no", and, "lily", along with various others. I suppose she found another way in which to communicate, as she seemed to be quite good at expressing her mood through said letter blocks, spelling the words "sad" or "no" to indicate upset (the latter being indicative of anger or annoyance).

She could spell a few names, those names being "Nugie" (a misspelling of "Nuggie"), "Kurou", and "Sats". I found the last one to be interesting considering that she doesn't call me by my real name, nevertheless, finding it relevant to learn how spell it anyway. While she could spell those, she couldn't seem to figure out how to spell her name, then again, she doesn't quite understand the concept of varied spelling, so, the closest she would get to spelling her name would be to spell it "Ryuu".

After some time of spelling, one night, Ryuuko decided she wanted to try something else. She wanted a story and promptly brought me the little children's book titled Pat the Bunny. I obliged her, not knowing what else to do, figuring it will be good for her. We've taken a good while reading, as, when I would read, she would repeat what was read, almost exactly as read, except instead of saying "Pat", she would say, "Pet", in which case, she was referring to the fact that it was a touch and feel book we were reading or that "pat" sounded very much like "pet", at least to her, both being three-letter words meaning much the same.

When we had finished, she asked, "Read t'morrow?" to which I affirmed. The next night, she had brought me the book, titled The Very Hungry Caterpillar. The book certainly kept us entertained and, like the night before, she repeated most of what was read to her. This would continue for awhile before she started to grasp what was going on.

After some time of that, she eventually she could spell out and recite the words in a sentence, however, at times, disregarding the syntaxes involved in them or confusing words. Reading still had its progress and we never stopped. It would take some time and she was reaching small steps, reading and reciting words to the best of whatever ability she had.

After some time of this, she had learned how to read sentences and not piece by piece, depending on their length, however, she would get puzzled if she came across a word she didn't really know or didn't know how to say and, again, syntaxes remained confusing I suppose she could read a little but not too much, considering how much she's practically learned. Kindergarten and preschool books could be imposed a favorite, considering how simple the words were, regardless if she knew what the words meant.

Reading to her at night became routine, something she'd get upset over if we didn't stick to it. We would honor her wishes, until we'd run out of books, in which case, she'd demand new ones to be found. Apparently, like associating reading with something entertaining and spelling with communication, she associated a new book with good behavior, thus more to add to her collection.

Nevertheless, I would say we were successful with teaching her some literacy but, what she was taught, she might not advance past.