SULLIVAN, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — Sullivan County Public Library is hosting a community outreach program on Dyslexia Awareness on Thursday.
“One in five children are dyslexic,” Brady Gentry, Literacy Coach at Sullivan Elementary School said. “But there are also children out there who just struggle with reading,” she added.
Gentry advocates for Science-of-Reading training to reach as many students as possible.
“If they can read, they can learn anything,” April Cox, Youth Services Coordinator at Sullivan County Public Library said.
Imagine sitting down to read a book, but when you look at the page, the letters seem to jump around, or even blur together. That’s what children with dyslexia experience, every day.
As a reporter at WTWO, Gentry, and Cox gave me a simulation into what living with dyslexia feels like. I was handed a passage with letters and jumbled words. Gentry instructed me to begin reading the passage. I struggled, right from the start. The letters were out of place and I couldn’t put the sounds together. While I struggled through, I continued looking to Gentry, “the teacher.”
Gentry spoke up, “Now Jen, we did learn this yesterday. I’m just wondering why you don’t know that word,” she questioned. “I just taught that to you, do you remember that sound,” she went on.
To most of us, a typed paragraph would be easy to read, but for a child with dyslexia, a reading disorder, the jumbled letters made it hard to focus and understand, let alone read.
Gentry continued, “You don’t remember doing that sound? Now we went over and over it and you still don’t remember it? Well try again, try again,” she said. Gentry was simulating what a child might be hearing as they struggle to connect the letter sounds.
I continued reading, struggling immensely with the second word in the sentence. Looking up at Gentry as I stuttered through the word.
Gentry isn’t just a literacy coach but a parent to a child who once struggled with dyslexia. That personal struggle led Gentry to get certified in teaching the Science-of-Reading.
“I know with my own personal child, even as a teacher, it was hard for me because I was like ‘you’re not trying hard enough,’ like why are you not getting this? And I didn’t understand what was happening in his mind or with him,” Gentry said.
Cox said she is impressed with the work Gentry is doing at Sullivan Elementary and feels the library is a great place to help further the conversation on dyslexia and the science of reading.
“I’m a former English Teacher,” Cox said. “I taught for 20 years, and when I experienced the simulation, I just wanted to go back and apologize to so many of my former students who struggled.”
Gentry will be a guest speaker at the library’s Dyslexia Awareness program. The program is happening on Thursday, November 21 at 6:00 p.m. at The public library in Sullivan. It’s open to the community.
Gentry said she looks forward to informal conversations and the opportunity for parents to learn what dyslexia is, how to help a child struggling with reading, and to provide insight into helping to get their child an Individual Education Plan (IEP) at their child’s school.
Whether you have a child struggling to learn to read or not, Gentry said the program will provide valuable insight while continuing the conversation to support all students.
For more information on dyslexia and the science of reading click on the links to our previous coverage below.
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