Alternative approach in NYC

January 5th, 2010

Perhaps this story will provide some ideas for my Aussie compatriots. I am the parent of a nine year old classic dyslexic (visual and aural) here in NYC. I am from Melbourne and had always hoped to return home before my daughter went to High School. She struggled in the public school system here from age 4.5 to 7.5 yrs, receiving extra services (Speech and Language/ O.T. about 9 ‘pull-outs’ a week), in addition I was taking her to a learning disability program and reading program after school 3 days a week. Since age 5 she has done 2 hours of Homework a night. Yet she still lagged behind academically. I was advised by a psychologist who tested her that she needed full immersion in a multi-sensory teaching program, specialising in the Orton Gilliam method. Fortunately, here in NYC there are about 5 private schools for dyslexics and speech/language disabled students. Although enrollment is highly competitive, she was accepted into the top four and we chose the The Churchill School, with the best reputation. The school is k-12 and has been in operation for 35 years and was named for dyslexic Winston. Each class has 12 kids with 2 teachers who masters in special education. The school has state of the art smart boards and computers in each room and the curriculum is structured so that every topic is reiterated throughout each subject. An example from 3rd grade: if the kids are studying immigration in social studies then in Library, computer, art and science the theme is also reiterated, as it is in an excursion to Ellis Island, now an immigration museum Of course the cost of such a school is astronomically high at $40,000 a year. Other such schools in the city are closer to $60,000. However, there is a law in NY state stating that every child is entitled to “a free and appropriate education”. It seems that approximately 90% of the Churchill families sue the state each year and receive a reimbursement of the tuition fee. (The fees are so high because of the teacher to student ratio. All parents are expected to help with fund raising events throughout the year.) Within 6 weeks of starting at Churchill my nearly 8 year old read me a bedtime story for the for the first time in her life. She has gone from strength to strength and, although she still operates below her age level the change in her is enormous. For the last 5 weeks straight she has received perfect scores on her weekly spelling test. On top of her academic achievements, her esteem has skyrocketed being around kids with similar learning differences. My daughter is adopted, my same-sex partner and I were at her birth, now get this: 4 of the 12 kids in her class are from same-sex households. So the school has also, quite unexpectedly, provided further emotional support simply by its commitment to diversity. If you would like to see my daughter in action in a video school report go to Youtube and search for ‘Grace & Equality’ and marvel at how an academically frustrated child has blossomed through an appropriate education. Perhaps this will inspire you in you quest to start your own schools in Oz. Google the Churchill School, Stephen Gaynor School and the Gateway School and see how these schools are functioning. Good luck, continued perseverance and bottomless patience to all of you who are touched by dyslexia.
- Sean

Hi Sean,
I am sorry for the wait you had in receiving an answer but they messed big time in fitting a new modem here!
Thank you for your insight. Would a school like that be willing to help us do you think?
In the school I helped set up in the UK most parents sued the local education authority for funding to send their kids there also. Although the cost was lot less. None is doing this in Australia because there is simply not anywhere to ask for your child to be sent to.
Thank You
Dawn

That is an interesting way to look at it Dawn. My understanding, and I only have the experience of my 9 year old daughter and everything I have read in the last 5 years, is that dyslexics are in fact visual thinkers, who lack the internal monolgue or ‘voice of God’ or whatever you want to call it that the majority of us have. Instead the think in pictures. Which makes them great creatives. By which I mean that dyslexics associate visual imagery to words, except for those 250 or so words in English that that have no obvious visual reference( “that” is one of them). These, is, often, as, the, of, etc. illicit a blank screen in the mind of the visual thinker. With a diminished short term memory the dyslexic then has trouble recalling exactly what may have preceded the “blank Screen” word, thus causing reading and comprehension problems. I taught my daughter phonetics, yet her first impulse is to guess the word from it’s shape, or the first syllable as you suggest. Simply remembering to employ the phonetic sounding out of words has taken a good four years for her to incorporate. It’s still not her tool of choice. Since she started at The Chuchill School here in Manhattan a year ago, she has had great success remembering how to spell words. Yet I dont known for certain if it’s through the visualisation of the whole word ( Most American schools teach the ‘whole word’ approach having abandoned ohonetics 50 years ago, sadly), learning spelling rules by rote or phonetic practices. Or a combination of all. Probably a combination. Also she worked through a year of eye exercises , as you suggest, at an LD program run by the State Uni of NY, when she was six to help her track, horizontally, vertically and to recognize letters shapes, numbers etc. and also with lenses that exercized her focus transitioning from up close to a metre away.

Hi again Sean,
Now it is definitely true that dyslexics are visual thinkers and make excellent artists directors, film designers etc.
People think that visual thinking means visualizing but in fact people who are not able to visualize or “see” the image of a word projected in their vsiual memory ( and remember that your visual memory is outside of your head not inside it) in fact think much more visually in many ways than those who can do this. This would seem to be hard to belive but I have assess so many creative people during my 40 years in this area that it has to be true.
If you cannot recall what a word looks like then you have to learn phonics and rules and games and tricks to overcome this. This is how I teach.
Once it is understood that the kid has to actually learn how to spell turning the kid around academically can be done sometimes very quickly.
good Luck
Dawn

Entry Filed under: Dyslexia,Your special comments