Early reading the right way - intro

It’s not Rocket Surgery!
How to put your children on the launch pad of life and watch them soar.
Or, Why should you teach your child to read before kindergarten

               

All the time I hear the catch phrase, “It’s not rocket science,” when something could be harder. But guess what us rocket scientists usually say – “It’s not brain surgery.” The irony is that once I heard neuro-brain surgeon, Dr. Nathan Avery, say, “It’s not rocket science,” but it was! He had come to ATK Thiokol in northern Utah to ask us for help with a serious accident case he was working on. Around May of 2001, Amber McCallister’s car was broad-sided by another vehicle on Interstate-15 near Midvale, Utah.

 

Even though her 2-year-old son, Zachary, was in his car seat, he was severely injured. While the car seat restraints had held his body in place, his head kept moving forward, detaching his skull from his spine. Usually this kind of injury also severs the spinal cord and arteries, causing instant death, but miraculously not in Zachary. This was a few months before the infamous September 11^th incident in New York, and the following Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City 2002. I was expecting my 14^th (and last) child, too.

 

Dr. Avery, at Primary Children’s Medical Center, kept little Zachary immobile in a drug-induced coma while he searched for the tools required to save him. He needed a horse-shoe shaped device made of titanium-vanadium metal alloy, but only had ones large enough to fit adults and older children. He needed first to find some titanium-vanadium alloy in a hurry, then to find someone who could machine it to precisely the right specifications to fit the toddler’s skull and spine. He telephoned several companies all over the Rocky Mountains and United States, and hit pay dirt when he reached the Metallurgy group at ATK Thiokol’s aerospace division just west of Brigham City, Utah.

 

The manager over the metallurgy group of the science and engineering labs there had a research and development (R&D) machine shop located in the back of the lab building, with state-of-the-art CNC computerized milling machines. Even better, the specific titanium-vanadium alloy needed for the human body, because it’s flexible and doesn’t get rejected by the immune system, was the same metal used for solid rocket motor nozzles (nose cones). And the Metallurgy group happened to have some on hand.

 

Lab technician Dave Lefgren told me of our unique visitor. Although not a direct player in this drama, I was privileged to walk down the hall from my lab and observe the wonderful blend of rocket science and brain surgery. We met Dr. Avery (and his assistant), who showed us a strip of titanium-vanadium alloy and explained its perfect surgical qualities. Titanium has what is called good ‘memory,’ where it is almost elastic and returns to its original shape after bending. The surgeon had a great sense of humor, and we laughed that we thought each other’s jobs were harder, as in the swap of clichés.

 

Russell Evan Howe (Howie to all) oversaw the hands-on milling of the alloy into the precise horse-shoe shape that Dr. Avery specified. It took some careful computer programming and almost 24 hours to slowly, accurately, cut the metal with liquid jet sprays. Dr. Douglas Brockmeyer helped Dr. Avery perform the actual surgery on Zachary McCallister. The surgery was successful; the special device was the right size for the toddler, and reconnected his head to his spine.

 

The next year, at a special awards ceremony held on May 20, 2002, at the Marriott in Provo, 48 people responsible for saving the little boy were honored with an Emergency Services Award. An ATK Thiokol spokesman also presented Zachary with a plaque containing memorabilia from an actual space flight. He said helping the little boy, "lifted us higher than any space flight."

 

I absolutely love the commercial for Eggo syrup which featured an exec at the Eggo waffle company asking why nobody's ever thought of making Eggo syrup to go along with their waffles?!

 

                "It's not rocket surgery!" he says. That’s exactly what we did for Zachary McCallister – rocket surgery.

 

On the other side of the spectrum, my projects often consisted of a little “rocket surgery” where we often did a little cutting, or surgery, on rocket motors. We biopsied segments of solid rocket motor fuel from missiles and boosters to test them for chemical and mechanical changes due to aging of the materials. So, “It’s not rocket surgery” has become my catch-phrase for the standard of things that don’t require skilled people and complicated feats.

 

As a working mom of 14 kids, I’m proof that with the right method and tools, it’s not hard to teach your child to read before kindergarten. But it is very important. My Dad taught me to read when I was only 3 years old, and look where it took me. Aerospace! Anyone can do it and I can show you how. It’s not rocket surgery!

 

http://thegodfreymethod.com/blog/its-not-rocket-surgery-early-reading-right-way-intro