Motivated by her 12-year old son’s struggles to read, Reading Assist Founder Virginia (“Ginger”) Biasotto developed a multi-sensory, phonics-based reading curriculum based on her studies of the Orton-Gillingham methods. Determined that other children would not suffer as her son had, Ginger taught the method to friends and neighbors, many of whom worked with their own children before volunteering to work with students in area schools.

Ginger incorporated her growing organization as the Reading Assist, a 501(c)(3), and began training more volunteer tutors. Reading Assist soon became a recognized authority on reading intervention for elementary students, and its trained tutors were providing reading intervention for students in schools throughout New Castle County.

Reading Assist received many excellence awards including the Superstars in Business Award of Excellence. Ginger published “Educating Andrew,” a chronicle of her son’s learning differences and the methods that helped him become a better reader, which serve as the foundation for the Reading Assist program. Reading Assist also grew its volunteer force and worked to improve student reading statewide.

As the state legislature debated the specifics of new teacher requirements, the State Board of Education turned to Reading Assist for guidance about what literacy education minimums prospective teachers should meet. The Board of Education used that guidance to help craft the law that governs teacher training in Delaware today.

In 2015, Reading Assist created the Reading Assist Intervention Corps – now known as Reading Assist Fellows – in partnership with AmeriCorps Delaware and the Colonial School District to provide students with more intensive, consistent reading intervention – one-on-one, 45 minutes a day, five days a week – to more students.