By JENNIFER PATTERSON, Staff writer First published: Tuesday, July 29, 2008
SCHENECTADY -- Four local women plan to open a nonprofit reading center this fall to help students combat dyslexia.
A Different Way in Reading Center, which recently received a $10,000 state grant, will be run by special education instructors Roberta Read and Kathy Jensen and assistants Linda Dalton and Lisa Fine.
"It's always been a dream to start a free reading clinic because we feel that it's really a human rights issue," Jensen said. "Every year, far too many children are not being taught properly, and for the majority of these kids, expensive private tutors are out of the question."
The center is scheduled to open in September and will serve primarily students in kindergarten through 12th grade struggling with dyslexia -- a common learning disability that causes difficulty with written language, particularly reading and spelling. Westminster Presbyterian Church, at the corner of Avenue A and Mason Street, will donate space for the program. It's based on Alphabetic Phonics, a multisensory curriculum that teaches basic English language skills through repetition and by engaging the senses, including vision, hearing and touch.
Instructors will teach verbal and written expression, reading, writing, spelling and comprehension during hourlong sessions three times a week in groups of up to four students; individual sessions will be offered as needed.
"It's important for parents to know that so many times, these kids are bright, but the problem is often perceived as a lack of motivation," Read said. "Our program is different. It offers a nonconventional approach that really works and helps kids make great progress."
Read is a former BOCES special education teacher. Jensen is a retired special and adult education teacher from the Schenectady City School District. Both are certified academic language therapists.
Dalton, who home-schools her daughter, and Fine, a paraprofessional for the Schenectady City School District, both have dyslexic children who have benefited from the Alphabetic Phonics program.
The center will hold a free informational meeting at 7 tonight in the McChesney Room at the Schenectady County Public Library, 99 Clinton St. For information, call Roberta Read at 489-1938.
Jennifer Patterson can be reached at 454-5340 or by e-mail at jpatterson@timesunion.com.
Everything sounds 'cool' in the beginning. Especially when we hear the word 'free'. But after this $10K grant is used up and the donations dry up, who do you think will be footing the bill? Us, the taxpayers of course!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
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