Center seeks to dispel misconceptions about dyslexia

Advertisement

If the speed of life were measured in frames per second, we'd experience it like videotape -- 24 frames per second. When we speak, however, the English language slows things down to between four and eight frames per second.

But those with dyslexia don't slow down. They live in a world where they experience life at 30 frames per second. It's the main reason they have trouble paying attention at home, in social settings and especially in school.

To help them cope, Betty Judah founded the Dyslexia Center in the Bay Area. She recently relocated the business to Las Vegas in an office at 8689 W. Sahara Ave., Suite 140.

The Dyslexia Center has a reputation for being an original, innovative program built over 22 years. It's helped nearly 2,000 people. Some fly in from around the world -- Italy, Korea, Canada and England -- as well as from all over the United States to be tutored.

Judah's work has been the focus of magazine and newspaper articles.

"I haven't been on Oprah, but I'd like to be," she said.

Judah, as do many of the tutors on staff, knows from personal experience how well her approach works. She is dyslexic and was diagnosed at age 39. She had earned a master's degree in guidance and counseling with a minor in psychology before finding out she was dyslexic.

The Dyslexia Center has worked with people ages 5 to 75. After an initial two-hour assessment and consultation, the client undergoes a series of classes which takes 27 hours to complete.

Central to the training is the use of modeling clay. A person with dyslexia can focus better when he or she is involved in a task, but forming clay isn't an art assignment. The clay is used to help bridge pictures and words.

Most people have no problem visualizing a tree. It's not so easy to visualize a word like "through."

"We teach dyslexics to bring pictures into their reading," she said.

The word "on," for example, can be demonstrated in clay as a book sitting on a table, the word "up," symbolized by a zipper, and "over," as a wave washing over a surfer.

Showing pictures of these concepts is not enough. Students need to be focused on the task of making a 3-D image.

The course is packaged but it is a true commitment. The cost is $3,650. Extra fees are tacked on if a parent wants to sit in to observe.

Ellen Ambers, a teacher in the Bay Area, recalled struggling through school as a youngster. She was diagnosed with dyslexia at age 30 and sought help at Judah's center.

Dyslexia can be inherited and when she had a son, Nicholas, she saw the same pattern emerging in him by the time he was in first grade.

"He was one of those kids who couldn't sit still," she said. "Instead of sitting in his chair, his (focus) was on the chair, behind the chair, under the chair, on the side of the chair. It's hard to learn when your body is moving all over the room."

Ambers took Nicholas, now 13, to the Dyslexia Center for tutoring.

"She taught him to focus. In fact, that's his trigger word, 'focus,' " Ambers said. "All I have to do is whisper it to him and he knows what it means."

Lora Seidler, a tutor in Santa Rosa, Calif., saw her son Daniel having trouble as early as preschool. "I noticed he had trouble with three-part memory," she said. "I'd tell him to feed the cat, put the cat food away and close the cupboard door. But he couldn't (remember) all three instructions."

He was diagnosed at age 8. With tutoring, he learned to cope with his fast-moving mind. He went on to attend college and now, at 29, is a production manager for a medical instrument company.

"I'd tell any parent (with a struggling child) to follow your heart, follow your instincts," Seidler said. "The earlier the intervention, the better. After I started tutoring people with dyslexia, I heard so many people say, 'Oh my God, I wish I'd called you when he was 8."

Dyslexia does not mean a person is mentally challenged. It doesn't mean they see words with the letters mixed up. If anything, Judah said, dyslexia is a talent, something to celebrate.

Judah is planning Saturday afternoon workshops at the center, running from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. The cost is $10 per person. The next workshops are slated for July 8, Aug. 12, Sept. 16, Oct. 14 and Nov. 4. For more information, call 256-1190 or visit www.dyslexiacenter.com.