We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sarah Fudge. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sarah below.

Sarah, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

My story is all about risk, reward and not looking back.

Of course, everything starts with my parents, who were both educators, so naturally, my love for teaching and inspiring kids came from them. After college, I started my teaching career at an inner-city school and fell in love with the art of teaching. I couldn’t ignore my dream of wanting to live and teach by the ocean. I took a risk and moved to the beautiful state of Connecticut. Very quickly, I was hired for an elementary special education teaching position and nestled into a small coastal CT town. I spent 13 years as a public special education teacher there.

March 2020 proved to be a turning point for me. In just a few short weeks, students and teachers went from being in the classroom to teaching online. I put everything I had into online learning. However, a few weeks into COVID, I started getting requests from concerned high school parents. They were reporting that their children were failing and were unsuccessful with the new online forum. Wanting to help, I agreed to start teaching kids on the town green, six feet apart with masks.

The need for highly specialized reading instruction was imminent, coupled with a mass exodus of professionals from office spaces, I was able to snatch up a cheap office and officially launched Saybrook Reading as a multi-sensory approach to reading in 2020.

I was inundated with requests to work with students’ kindergarten through college. I took a risk and brought on my first reading practitioner, which then grew to five highly trained practitioners from around the state of Connecticut. I continued to build my business over the next two years. Endless late nights, weekends and holidays were proving to be exhausting. I couldn’t sustain working a full-time job in the public schools and continue to build Saybrook Reading.

In June of 2023, I decided to end my public education career that spanned 15 years. I took a huge risk leaving the comfort of affordable health care and a pension. I knew I made the right choice as I immediately felt confident in my decision. I especially couldn’t ignore the relief I felt knowing I wouldn’t have to go back another year to my school. I whole heartedly believed in what Saybrook Reading was and the potential of where I could lead my business for the future.

I happily jumped and haven’t looked back. I knew if I didn’t take the risk, I would have been stuck in the same place my whole life and I simply couldn’t do that anymore. I couldn’t just exist any longer. It was time to live.

I am now surrounded with positive educators in a healthy work environment that is uplifting and loving. Along with our students, we support our families, encourage, and educate them. Our students are thriving with the Orton-Gillingham approach to reading. Our collaboration with school districts is always framed with a growth mindset to support students in the best way possible.

We are now established stakeholders in our community. Saybrook Reading donates books to the surrounding Little Libraries, we have partnered with local agencies to help families in need, and we are also offering a graduating senior a small scholarship to help with college expenses.

Today when I talk about my business, the first thing I say is, “we are so much more than just tutoring!”. We educate, collaborate, evaluate, advocate, and donate. I took a risk and Saybrook Reading is not going anywhere. We will continue to make an impact in the state of Connecticut as highly specialized reading practitioners who understand children with dyslexia.

Sarah, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a dual certified special educator, with a master’s degree in reading and literacy. I also have my 092 certification in Educational Leadership. I currently hold my associate level through the academy of Orton-Gillingham and in year 2 out of 3 for acquiring my certified level. After my certified level is complete, I will begin to pursue my Fellowship. This entire process takes about 8 years. I would consider myself an expert in the field of dyslexia and highly literate.

What many people may not know is that dyslexia occurs when a baby is forming within the mother’s womb. We are born with dyslexia. Many people do not know that I am an adult with dyslexia. I struggled through school, trying to break the code. However, at the time, teachers were instructing me how to memorize words through the whole language approach. I failed. I was discouraged because I knew I was intelligent. I had friends, played sports and math came easy to me, however, reading and writing was painful.

Elementary School during the 90’s was full of popcorn and round robin reading, which caused me tremendous anxiety. I was in the lowest reading group and knew it. It wasn’t until an amazing special educator started teaching me how to break the code in the back of a resource room, hidden away from others. At the time, this type of reading instruction was not supported by most school districts, however, many teachers knew it was the right instruction.

Today, I consider myself leader in the community, educating schools and families about the proper approach to reading instruction. Many meetings with parents result in the realization that they themselves have dyslexia and explains their own struggle in school as a child.

I love making a positive impact on our students and families, one session at a time. I truly believe it is my life’s purpose.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

My mom always said I was stubborn, often comparing me to a pit bull, she would (metaphorically) say, “you bite and never let go”. I didn’t like it at the time, but I understand now that I do not give up easily.

I have experienced many ups and downs in life, just like everyone else. I am always looking for lessons to be learned from my experiences because without those experiences, I wouldn’t savor the life I have now.

My true resilience began five years ago. I experienced the loss of my marriage and uncoupling from my husband. During this time, my mother was dying from a long-time battle with Alzheimer’s. A day after my divorce, my mom took a turn for the worse, so I ran to her bedside and spent every last moment with her until she passed. She was my biggest fan and hero.

I returned to work and tried to slowly piece my life back together. I hoped my workplace would offer me solace, however that was far from what I experienced. It was clear that my work environment wasn’t as supportive as I had hoped it would be.

Unbeknownst to me, I became a social target. I eventually was informed about some serious rumors that a close co-worker had fabricated about me. I was devastated. The rumors spread like wildfire and my work environment became insufferable. Often, I cried alone in the single stall bathroom trying to cope. After a good cry, I would pull myself together and pretended I was unscathed. The truth was, I had never felt so alone and hurt, I couldn’t understand why I was being targeted by people I thought cared about me.

I did eventually file a formal complaint, however, in my opinion, it was not taken too seriously and ultimately was just swept under the rug. Sadly, the targeted behavior and rumors continued. I mustered up the courage and secretly began plotting my escape as I needed to get out as fast as I could.

I worked long hours, holidays, and weekends so that could build Saybrook Reading to a place where I could work for myself full time. I wasn’t going to give up my dream of working with kids. The time came sooner than I had anticipated, and I scrambled at the opportunity to leave. I finally did make it out.

I am still processing what I experienced at my old workplace. I can look back knowing what happened to me shouldn’t have ever happened, was wildly inappropriate and shouldn’t have happened to me or any professional. I can only hope that these people seek help for themselves and ask “why” they did what they did to me. I would want them to know I am swimming in a prodigious amount of happiness now and I think that’s all that matters.

The most important lesson in resilience is knowing they didn’t break me, they made me incredibly more resilient and so much stronger today.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.saybrookreading.com
• Instagram: saybrook_reading
• Facebook: Saybrook Reading
• Linkedin: Sarah Fudge

Image Credits
I took all the photos and created all the ad’s myself.