Living with dyslexia

Joyce Coronel/CATHOLIC SUN

PODS — Parents of Dyslexic Students — invited representatives of the International Dyslexia Association to St. Mary-Basha Catholic School in Chandler to allow parents and others to undergo a simulation April 12.

Parents of dyslexic students find support, help at Catholic school

CHANDLER -- For some kids, reading comes easily. For the millions suffering from dyslexia, it can be an exercise in frustration. An innovative reading program at St. Mary-Basha Catholic School seeks to change that.

Although dyslexia is the most common learning disability and the leading cause of reading problems and school dropouts, it’s not always easy for students to find help. The consequences can be devastating. Statistics show that reading failure is the most commonly shared characteristic of juvenile delinquents.

Four years ago, Jennifer Pitts saw a need to reach out to students at St. Mary-Basha who struggle with reading. She spent a year working with students at the school and developing such a program, the only one of its kind in Catholic schools in the Diocese of Phoenix.

Pitts is so passionate about helping students with learning problems that she worked without pay to establish the program. She has since moved on to work in a Catholic school in California, but entrusted the program to three reading specialists who are parents of students at the school.

In conjunction with the individual help for students, a support group for parents called PODS, or Parents Of Dyslexic Students, took root as well. The parents share resources and ideas about how to help their children experience success in school.

It’s not always easy for people without dyslexia to understand what these students experience. PODS invited representatives of the International Dyslexia Association to the school April 12 to allow parents and others to undergo a simulation.

For 20 minutes, the adults moved from station to station, following the instructions given by their teachers. At one station, they struggled to read a paragraph in which the letters and words were backwards and printed from right to left. At another, they looked into a mirror and with a sheet of paper in front of them, hidden by a manila folder, tried to stay within the lines of a drawing.

Moving about the room, it was obvious to see the mounting confusion, frustration and exasperation. They were getting it: this is the challenge dyslexic students go through each day.

Considering that about one in 10 students is dyslexic, it has staggering implications.

Two members of the Arizona State Legislature and a representative of Gov. Jan Brewer were on hand to experience the dyslexia simulation as well. Sen. Thayer Verschoor and Rep. Laurin Hendrix, both of District 22, and Karla Phillips, education policy advisor to Gov. Brewer, took part in the lively discussion that followed the demonstration.

Verschoor said it was a frustrating experience.

“What legislative help do you need?” he asked. “Help us understand. How can we make it do-able with the limited resources that we have?”

Sr. Mary Norbert Long, SC, principal of St. Mary-Basha School, was the first to respond.

“Don’t take away the tax credit -- please,” she urged, noting that most of the students at the school rely on help from the tuition tax credit scholarships awarded by the Catholic Tuition Organization of the Diocese of Phoenix. 

Verschoor responded that he and Hendrix were “huge supporters” of the tax credit and had worked closely with Ron Johnson of the Arizona Catholic Conference on the matter. Both voted “yes” to expand tuition-tax-credit programs during the 2009 legislative session.

Several of the students with dyslexia were on hand to sing the praises of the extra assistance they receive at St. Mary-Basha. Of the 510 students in the school, 50 are involved in the reading program.

Last summer, five of the older students participated in a “boot camp” for dyslexics organized by Leti Meyer, who oversees the school’s reading program. The intensive effort to help prepare them for high school taught them how to read all over again. 

Markel Gately, who graduated from the school last year, said the process was brutal but worth the effort. “I have never looked at a word the same way since,” she said.