Maxine Offenbach began teaching special education in 1967. In 1983, she began implementing Discover Intensive Phonics with her special-education students, experiencing phenomenal success. Offenbach has conducted teacher-training workshops throughout Florida and at reading conventions in Arizona and California. Her success with Discover Intensive Phonics for Yourself is highlighted in her letter of testimony to the United States Senate Hearing on the Causes of Illiteracy and in the testimony that was given before the Florida State Appropriations Subcommittee on "Teaching Teachers to Teach Reading." With 34 years of experience in public education, Offenbach continues to teach reading to students of normal, gifted, and mentally handicapped intelligence.
Offenbach says, "I have always taught those labeled as ‘hard to teach’— the disturbed, the retarded, and the learning disabled — and have always experienced some success by year's end. This has changed so completely for me since the introduction of Discover Intensive Phonics for Yourself. I can now see hourly successes. The students become independent, gain self-respect, and are happy learners. Their learning skills are awakened and retained by the continuous use of the listening method at the chalkboard."