Learning problem unknown
to majority of College staff
By Shelley Ball
Of The Print
Clackamas Community
College has provided services
for dyslexic students with its
ABE/GED / (Adult Basic
Education/Grade Equivalency
Diploma) programs since 1973.
Despite this fact, and the
fact that dyslexia affects ap
proximately 25 million
Americans^ Developmental
Education Instructor Bernice
Peachy estimates only a third
of the College’s staff are
aware of the learning disabili
ty.
Peachy supported her
statement by explaining that at
a campus workshop featuring
College dyslexic students, less
than 10 faculty members
showed up,'even though all
staff were invited to attend.
The workshop was part of
the College’s Awareness Week
and Peachy said she was sur
prised at the amount of misin
formation given out, as well as
the reaction of one staff
member after reading an arti
cle about the workshop
covered by The Oregonian.
Peachy said the staff member
was heard to say, “Oh, they
(dyslexic students) don’t want
to learn to read.”
Recent research on
dyslexia has shown that in an
autopsied brain of a dyslexic,
STUDENT TOM BRAY looks through dyslexia book.
Photo by Joel Miller
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STUDENT LILLIAN SHELLEY describes her reaction to hav
ing dyslexia as “ ... kind of surprised, but I felt kind of bad—it
sounds like you have a disease.”
Photo by Joel Miller
students with the disorder are
thought to be either lazy or
mentally retarded and are
therefore unteachable, when
in actuality they are as in
telligent as normal students
and have the desire to be able
to read and spell just like
everyone else.
“These people can learn
if they’re taught properly and
you (the teacher) adapt the
curriculum you have. These
people are of normal to above
average intelligence and they
can learn if taught by a
multisensory program,” she
said.
This multisensory pro
gram is the kind Peachy uses
to teach dyslexic students.
The program is based on seven
key elements. The elements are
multisensory, alphabetic-
phonetic, synthetic-analytic,
structural, sequential, cum
ulative and cognitive.
Peachy said these seven
elements can best be described
by Margaret Rawson, past
president of the National Or
ton Dyslexia Society. Rawson
said:
“Dyslexic students need a
different approach to learning
language from that employed
in most classrooms. They need
to be taught, slowly and
thoroughly, the basic elements
of their language—the sounds
and the letters which represent
them—and how to put these
together and take them apart.
They have to have lots of prac
tice in having their writing
hands, eyes, ears and voices
working together for the con
scious organization and reten
tion of their learning.”
Two College students
who are learning effectively
with the multisensory program
are Lillian Shelley and Tom
Bray, both of-which are taking
(continued on page eight)
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evidence of alterations in the
normal brain functions in an
area important to language
have been found. This
evidence has been confirmed
and it is believed the altera
tions result from a malforma
tion of the brain cells during
fetal development.
Because dyslexia affects
the language center of the
brain, common characteristics
of the disorder are an inability
to read well and spell correct
ly. Dyslexies often reverse let
ters, such as confusing the let
ter b for d, p for q, and may
confuse words like bog for dog
and was for saw. Dyslexies can
also have problems in hand
writing and math, as well as
thinking patterns.
Dyslexies also have a hard
time remembering facts, and
they cannot follow more than
one instruction at a time.
Dyslexia is inherited, and four
times as many males than
females develop the learning
disability. There is also a rela
tionship between dyslexia and
left-handedness, stutterers and
clumsiness.
Although few faculty
members showed up at the
workshop, Peachy said that
“more teachers are becoming
aware, and it’s (dyslexia) not a
catch-all label.”
However, Peachy said the
most common misunderstan
ding about dyslexia today is
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