After Jennifer Rhett couldn’t find help in her local public school system for her son’s reading challenges, she realized that families who couldn’t afford private schools or specialized tutors still needed help for their kids.
Even though Decatur City Schools is in one of the best public school systems in metro Atlanta, there was no mechanism in place to diagnose and teach her son in a way that he could catch on to reading, writing and spelling, and avoid falling behind other students his age.
"With budgeting and prioritizing in public schools, the resources weren't available to train teachers to help struggling readers," she said.
Reading is Essential for All People, a nonprofit that provides public school teachers with training to assist with literacy instruction, was soon born. Founded in 2013, Rhett and her husband Jeremy, owners of CertaPro Painters of Atlanta/Decatur, use the business to further the mission.
About 800 area K-3 public school teachers have been trained in structured literacy by REAP using basics from Orton-Gillingham, a method proven successful in teaching dyslexics, students with other learning challenges and those with no issues at all reading, writing and spelling.
Stockbridge Elementary’s Lakesha Turner, a Title I teacher who specifically works with students who have reading and math deficiencies, went through the training three years ago.
“It’s amazing how REAP empowered not only the students to feel better about their abilities, but it empowered me as a teacher,” she said.
And although it required a lot of her personal time, Turner said she’d do it again and again.
For example, traditional language arts instruction tells students that sometimes the letter “y” sounds like an “i” and sometimes it sounds like an “e,” but there’s no rhyme or reason. The REAP training explains why the letter takes on certain sounds and how to know when it does.
“It’s eye-opening,” said Turner, who also has a master’s degree, but was never taught literacy in this way at university. “I’m able to have a much greater impact on my students’ lives. I’m helping them maintain their curiosity and love of learning.”
Rhett said she hears similar statements often from teachers.
“You don’t know what you don’t know,” said Rhett. “This takes the basics of Orton-Gillingham which is based more on small group and individualized teaching and structures it to work in public school settings.”
Nicole Fluker, an instructional coach at Hope Hill Elementary, began the training this year with a cohort of 25 teachers. Through the education grapevine, her school learned about the no-cost training and REAP is helping them set up a way to teach in-coming teachers as well as create a team-teaching model.
“When you see students reading on their own and using the methods — tapping out words and other things — you see the benefits right away.”
Unlike teaching a specific curriculum, REAP isn’t a manual to hand teachers, said Fluker.
“We don’t start at page one and work our way to page 255 by the end of the year,” she said.
Fluker’s school is gradually implementing the structure for all aspects of reading.
“We’ve gotten rid of the weekly spelling test where you memorize ten words and by next week you’ve forgotten about them,” she said.
To help fund the year-round program as well as the REAP Summer Camp, the organization is hosting its third annual benefit 7 p.m. Saturday The Solarium, 321 West Hill Street in Decatur.
“It’s not fancy enough to call a gala,” said Rhett.
Hoping to raise $35,000, the evening will include food, drinks, music by the local group Tiger Kings, dancing and a live auction for items such as a $1,500 CertaPainters certificate, vacations and local entertainment tickets.
What is dyslexia?
Dyslexia has become a catch-all term for a condition where people have trouble matching the letters with sounds and putting them in the right, according to research from Yale University. That issue can escalate to difficulties pulling the words together and forming sentences and paragraphs that can be read and comprehended. However, these difficulties have no connection to overall intelligence. In fact, dyslexia is an unexpected difficulty in reading in an individual who has the intelligence to be a much better reader. While people with dyslexia are slow readers, they often, paradoxically, are very fast and creative thinkers with strong reasoning abilities.
Dyslexia is also very common, affecting 20 percent of the population and representing 80 percent to 90 percent of all those with learning disabilities. Scientific research shows differences in brain connectivity between dyslexic and typical reading children, providing a neurological basis for why reading fluently is a struggle for those with dyslexia.
About REAP
Information: www.readingisessential.org/guilty-pleasures-2019/.
For more information about REAP: www.readingisessential.org.
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