Imagine not being able to read, just looking at words on a page and having them appear as an unfamiliar, alien alphabet.

That was what Samantha Ravelli saw years ago, before a reading program taught her to read.

Samantha, 10, is a sixth grade student in the Ocean City Intermediate School who was so dyslexic she couldn’t read or write.

She shared her experience with the State Assembly Education Committee on Nov. 13, testifying in favor of Assembly bill A-880, which establishes the New Jersey Reading Disabilities Task Force to study the feasibility of reading programs to help students with reading disabilities.

Samantha testified that she is dyslexic, and was withdrawn and shy before learning to read with the Wilson Reading System.

“Two years ago I could not read. I didn’t like school. I felt very sad. I just sat there all day, then closed my books and went home. I’m here today to ask you to help me make a difference for children who have a reading disability like me. A lot of people have helped me to get where I am today and I am a reader,” Samantha told the committee.

Samantha said thanks to the reading program, she now made the honor roll and is involved with student activities and participates in class.

“I couldn’t do any of this two years ago because I could not read. Now I want to help others,” Samantha said.

She handed each of the commission members a packet containing writing the way she saw it as a dyslexic child.

The committee unanimously voted to move the bill forward, which was met with applause by a packed chamber.

Samantha’s mother, Beth Ravelli, said the Wilson Reading System changed her daughter’s life, and advocates such reading programs for students with similar learning disabilities.

“It brought tears to my eyes,” Ravelli said of her daughter’s testimony in Trenton. “To hear the support from the strangers was amazing.”

Developed by Barbara Wilson, who worked at the Massachusetts General Hospital’s Language Disorders Unit, the Wilson Reading System is a complete reading and writing program that uses multisensory techniques such as separating the sounds in words and joining those sounds to form words. The program uses interactive techniques such as word cards and reading and writing exercises.

When the family lived full-time in Dorothy, Samantha would participate in a reading program at Cooper Learning Center in Voorhees.

Ravelli said trying to find a reading program for her daughter has been a challenge. She said the Wilson Reading System offered in Ocean City was a blessing.

The family moved to Ocean City two years ago so Samantha could attend Ocean City Intermediate School.

Ravelli said her daughter’s reading skills advanced 50 percent in the program.

“The importance of this program is it’s not just for dyslexics. It helps all reading disabilities,” Beth Ravelli said.

She contacted Assemblyman Nelson Albano, who met Samantha and became aware of the benefits of reading programs for dyslexic students and students with learning disabilities.

Albano sponsored the bill, which he said will help learning-disabled students read.

He said Assembly Education Committee members learned what it was like to have dyslexia after hearing Samantha’s testimony.

“They were very impressed by the progress she had made and were very impressed with how she has come out of her shell and is on the honor roll. She just blew them away. It was a great day for the Ravelli family and every child with a reading disability,” Albano said.

According to Albano, the bill heads to the Assembly floor for a vote on Dec. 16.

Senator Jeff Van Drew is the bill’s prime sponsor in the State Senate.

Albano said the bill creates a task force that will study and research the best programs in the country for children with reading disabilities.

“What is great about the current programs, like the Wilson Reading program that is being used by the Ocean City school system, is they work with children with all kinds of reading disabilities, not just dyslexia. That’s what makes the program good,” Albano said.