Annabelle's Story: DAR Member Finds...

DAR member finds help for her granddaughter through Summer Tutoring Program
by LaRealia Camp

Hindman Settlement School is a leader in helping children with dyslexia. That was the first thing that grabbed my attention after I became a member of DAR.

Dyslexia is not well known nor understood. It is a learning problem where letters and characters look different than they look to the majority of people.

I am familiar with the problem because my oldest son has severe dyslexia. I first learned he had a problem in 1968 when he started kindergarten. In the 70’s there was no place to get help. I went to education experts and medical doctors in several states before learning in 1975 that the problem was dyslexia. I later realized my dad was dyslexic.

Illiteracy is often thought of as a problem that used to exist in our country before there were laws requiring school attendance. This is far from true. Hard as this is to believe, multitudes of people stay in school through those required years and never learn to read, many even graduate from high school and cannot read.

Dyslexic people are average or above average in intelligence (Einstein was dyslexic). They do not learn to read the same way the majority of people learn. They need different ways of teaching in order to learn to read.

Consider that there is one way society has settled on to teach reading. But that way does not allow some people to learn to read, whereas there are other ways that do let them learn. Imagine that person is you. You know the material that is being taught, but the teachers are not using the correct key to unlock the knowledge you have. The same key that fits the majority of students does not unlock your brain. You make failing grades and are labeled by other students as dumb. Next you may accept this label of dumb.

When I learned about Hindman, I knew that I had to go there to see the place. What I didn’t know was that my small granddaughter had dyslexia and in a few years would be having difficulties reading. I am haunted that I never did anything to help my daddy. I did all that could be done to help my son. He and I had moderate success by developing other senses to minimize his need to read. Now my granddaughter is the third generation out of four in our family with this problem. It has to be genetic.  

When I learned Annabelle had dyslexia, I immediately started trying to find a way to get her to Hindman for help. I proposed the idea that we could go to Hindman and live in our camper. To my surprise my husband and Annabelle’s parents agreed.

However, between planning and going my husband had heart bypass surgery, and he could not stay there with us. So he and our son took us to Hindman and set up our camper to be our home for six weeks. Then they went home and left the two of us.

The first morning when I left her at school, I had an awful sinking feeling. What had I done?  Here I was with a 10-year-old girl alone in the middle of Appalachia where I knew no one. Then while still in the school driveway I reminded myself “you asked for this, so deal with it.” I left the school and headed for our campground. After that moment I have not spent another minute of regret.  

I observed a half-day of Annabelle’s classes and was so impressed with the structure—for reading each tutor only has one student. The student never gets an opportunity to let the mind stray. The focus is constant. The tutor asks a question then has the student repeat the question back. Next the student sits down and writes the answer. Students stand to verbally give the answers to the tutors. Rough memory boards are used for the students to trace letters and words with their finger. This method uses the sense of touch as one more way to get the words into the students’ brains.

During the six-week period, Annabelle’s reading score improved by eight months, nine months being a full school year advance. Her math score improved 3.6 years from grade level 1.5 to grade level 5.1. In August I returned to Hindman for a two-day tutor training with Annabelle’s mother so we can help her with reading.  

Most members of DAR know about the DAR schools, and probably have a good feeling of doing something that helps children. That is true, but there is so much more to it than just doing a good deed. I ask you to make it a point to learn specifics about what Hindman Settlement School is doing. Learning about the people, the administration of the schools, the children, their families, their homes and their communities gives a very different picture than just the comforting idea that NSDAR supports schools.

Help for Annabelle’s reading problem was the goal in going to Hindman, but we found so much more. The people in Hindman were wonderful to us. I had a feeling that I was among people I had always known.

Reading was the reason we went to Hindman, but the total experience was a grandmother’s dream-come-true. Since my son started kindergarten 39 years ago, I have been on a mission to find an answer to the problem of dyslexia. I found that answer in Hindman, Kentucky.

Editor’s note: This story was written about Annabelle’s first Summer School. She has since attended a second Summer School. Annabelle’s mother proudly wrote to us in October to report that Annabelle’s first progress report for 6th grade was all A’s and B’s, which was a first. “The value of what you have given Annabelle, and our whole family, is beyond any number or word,” she said.