<\/p>\n
Kay Allen teaches adults how to read at Neuhaus Education Center in Bellaire on Tuesday, June 2, 2026.<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Conley\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Nick Johns works to break down words in a sentence as he reads out loud to the class during an adult literacy class at the Neuhaus Education Center, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025, in Bellaire. The center teaches people ages 16 to 90 how to read and manage their dyslexia.<\/p>\n
Jason Fochtman\/Staff photographer<\/p>\n
Reading instruction Kay Allen works on spelling strategies during an adult literacy classes at the Neuhaus Education Center, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025, in Bellaire. The center teaches people ages 16 to 90 how to read and manage their dyslexia.<\/p>\n
Jason Fochtman\/Staff photographer<\/p>\n
Reading instruction Kay Allen discusses spelling strategies for two-syllable words during an adult literacy classes at the Neuhaus Education Center, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025, in Bellaire. The center teaches people ages 16 to 90 how to read and manage their dyslexia.<\/p>\n
Jason Fochtman\/Staff photographer<\/p>\n
Kay Allen uses cue cards as she teaches adults how to read at Neuhaus Education Center in Bellaire on Tuesday, June 2, 2026.<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Conley\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Kay Allen uses cue cards as she teaches adults how to read at Neuhaus Education Center in Bellaire on Tuesday, June 2, 2026.<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Conley\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
A student works on a worksheet during an adult reading class at Neuhaus Education Center in Bellaire on Tuesday, June 2, 2026.<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Conley\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Kay Allen uses a white board as she teaches adults how to read at Neuhaus Education Center in Bellaire on Tuesday, June 2, 2026.<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Conley\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Cue cards at Neuhaus Education Center in Bellaire on Tuesday, June 2, 2026.<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Conley\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
John Lozano spent his life learning how to get by without reading.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He developed a series of workarounds in\u00a0his career\u00a0as a master carpenter and NASA foreman. Most often, Lozano would snap photos of printed pages and convert the images to sound which he listened to in his earbuds.<\/p>\n
Still, he couldn\u2019t do that when filling out job applications in-person, so\u00a0Lozano figured out that if he skipped questions he couldn\u2019t read, interviewers would ask them again in conversation. He would confidently respond, noting that he had simply forgotten to answer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u201cI knew the answers. I just couldn\u2019t read,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
All that has changed in the past four years as Lozano, 61, has taken in-person and virtual reading classes\u00a0at the Neuhaus Education Center.<\/p>\n
DIVE DEEPER: Follow our reporting on the dyslexia crisis in Texas schools<\/a><\/p>\n The center has long been known for educating teachers<\/a> on how to teach children to read. It also offers reading classes for around 90 students, ages 18 and up, including a small group of 16- to 23-year-olds. Most of them have dyslexia<\/a>. The center also teaches students in other states through its virtual program.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Some adult students attend class so they can read books to their grandchildren. Others want to strengthen their faith by reading the Bible. Some are retired, like Lozano, while others are still working. They all want to finally clear a hurdle they’ve faced most of their lives.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s a real privilege to see people change their lives right before your eyes,\u201d said Kay Allen, a reading\u00a0instructor at the center.<\/p>\n Allen began teaching at the center when it started in the 1980s. She initially retired in 2000, but returned five years ago to help build the new adult literacy curriculum. The 79-year-old said she enjoys witnessing her students\u2019 progress, partly because she is on the dyslexia continuum herself.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Kay Allen reacts to one of her students reading during an adult reading class at Neuhaus Education Center in Bellaire on Tuesday, June 2, 2026.<\/p>\n Elizabeth Conley\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n GUIDE: Do you think your child might have dyslexia? Here’s what to know, from signs to resources.<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n A growing problem<\/p>\n While the school serves dozens of students every year, it chips away at only a small part of Harris County\u2019s growing literacy crisis.<\/p>\n Recent data on adult literacy is limited, but a 2017 national study found that 32% of Harris County adults are functionally illiterate, meaning that at best, adults in the survey could read short texts or complete simple forms, according to Houston\u2019s adult literacy blueprint<\/a> from 2021.\u00a0<\/p>\n While there is not more recent data by county, a 2023 national survey found the crisis is worsening. In 2017, 18% of U.S. adults ages 16 to 65 were functionally illiterate. In 2023, that jumped to 28% of U.S. adults surveyed, although\u00a0the study notes<\/a> that the test went fully digital, which could have affected scores.<\/p>\n NEWS: Texas has shortchanged students with dyslexia for decades. Will a new law fix the broken system?<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Dyslexia undetected<\/p>\n When Lozano was tested and diagnosed with dyslexia at the Neuhaus Education Center, he said it was like the teachers \u201cdropped a bomb\u201d on him.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI thought I was all right. I could do math and everything and do my job and everything. I thought I was normal, but I just couldn’t read. That was my problem,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lozano graduated from high school in Houston, but he said he struggled. Some teachers let him give oral answers on tests instead of writing them down. Still, no one mentioned dyslexia to him, and he never knew much about it. He thought it was more like autism than how the brain decodes words and processes written language.\u00a0<\/p>\n Reading instructor Kay Allen, right, helps Martha Schang decode a series of words during an adult literacy class at the Neuhaus Education Center, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025, in Bellaire. The center teaches people ages 16 to 90 to read and overcome their dyslexia as adults.<\/p>\n Jason Fochtman\/Staff photographer<\/p>\n RELATED: More Texas children are being identified with dyslexia than ever before \u2014 and so are their parents<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Another student, Sharon House, started classes at Neuhaus in the early 2000s, when students had to pay. It became too expensive and she stopped.\u00a0<\/p>\n When House retired as a public works engineer for the city and as a certified caregiver, she returned to Neuhaus.<\/p>\n House said that growing up, she didn\u2019t know she was dyslexic, because she got good grades in school, and no one ever noticed her struggles with reading. She could always get by well enough, but eventually she left high school before graduating, and instead she got married and started her family soon after.\u00a0<\/p>\n As an adult, she found it\u00a0difficult to pronounce unfamiliar words on medication bottles, long \u201cpolitics words,\u201d or phrases in the Bible.<\/p>\n Thomas Harrison, 66, officially learned he had dyslexia after being tested at the center, but it had already held him back from graduating high school and going to college.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn’t learn how to read while I was in school,\u201d he said. \u201cI went through school kind of pushed aside.\u201d<\/p>\n Even though he couldn\u2019t read, he stayed in school because his parents wanted him to get an education. Harrison said he wasn\u2019t sure if the teachers knew he had dyslexia, or if they just didn\u2019t know how to help him.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI went all the way through 12th grade until I gave up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n As a teenager, he became a rodeo athlete to earn a living. Along the way, he relied on family and friends to read things for him, which he resented at times. He now operates heavy machinery for Harris County, which means long, grueling days clearing the roads of debris, especially after heavy rains.<\/p>\n Overcoming obstacles<\/p>\n Older adult students attend night classes twice a week, which can be a challenge with transportation and long workdays.\u00a0<\/p>\n Harrison said he gets up every morning at daybreak to go to work in Tomball and Spring. After work, he drives to the center, which can take 45 minutes or longer each way. He feels bad when he\u2019s late to class, but Allen is always understanding, he said. Still, sometimes he gets groggy and has to splash water on his face in the bathroom to keep going.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you got the desire to learn, you don’t give up, you don’t throw in a towel,\u201d he said. \u201cI don’t care if it takes to be 70 years old before I get good. I\u2019m not going to stop till I get to the level I want to be on.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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