Providence Journal
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
By Jennifer D. Jordan
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE - Timothy Garcia places his right index finger in a blanket of shaving cream that his teacher has spread on a table. He begins writing a word in the foam.
"W-I-L-L," he says as he prints each letter.
Then the 10-year-old stands up. His teacher, Jessica Blanco-Bussam, hands him a bean bag, during a tutoring session at CVS Highlander Charter School, where Timothy is a fourth grader.
"W-I-L-L," Timothy repeats, tossing and catching the bag with each letter.
Next, Timothy grabs a ball from the floor. With each bounce, he again spells out will.By repeating the word three times and using different senses - such as sound and touch - to reinforce the letters, Timothy is learning to read and spell using a method called Orton-Gillingham, a system designed to help students who have trouble learning by traditional methods. The method links visual, auditory and tactile senses to help students break down words and visualize them.
Blanco-Bussam was trained in the method last summer through the Providence-based Dunn Institute, an organization that trains teachers to identify and help students with dyslexia, attention deficit disorder, sensory integration problems, and other learning disabilities. The institute began at the Hamilton School at Wheeler School on Providence's East Side in 1999 and has trained hundreds of teachers. Hasbro Children's Fund, the philanthropic branch of the Pawtucket-based toy company, recently announced it will donate $375,000 over three years to the Dunn Institute to launch the Hasbro Center for Teaching Excellence. The donation will allow more public school teachers to receive the specialized training.
Rhode Island has one of the highest percentages of students in special education - about 16 percent, compared with a national average of 11 percent. More than 12,000 Rhode Island students are designated as "learning disabled," and another 6,500 are designated as "speech and language impaired," according to the Rhode Island Department of Education. Such numbers underscore the need for more teachers who are able to discern learning difficulties and provide support to those students.
"OK," SAYS Blanco-Bussam in the tutoring session. She wipes the shaving cream clear, as though erasing a blackboard. "The next word is 'some.' "
Timothy spells out "S-U-M-E."
Blanco-Bussam asks Timothy to spell the word again, emphasizing the difference between "sum" and "some." He spells the word correctly, this time using the shaving cream.
"What letter is not in this word?" she asks him, reinforcing the correct spelling.
"U," Timothy answers, and grabs the bean bag to continue the lesson.
"He is learning how to sound out a word, because he really struggles with 'sight words,' which are not spelled the way they sound," Blanco-Bussam says after the tutoring session.
Blanco-Bussam has worked one-on-one with Timothy three days a week after school since September, and says she has already seen an improvement in his reading, writing and spelling. Last year, Timothy was barely reading. Now, he can read short stories. More importantly, he now pushes himself to learn.
"He's more independent now, and he's more confident in his abilities," said Blanco-Bussam, who was Timothy's classroom teacher last year. She also thinks the training she received has improved her teaching. Blanco-Bussam received her bachelor's degree and a master's in teaching at Brown University and has taught at CVS Highlander for three years."I definitely feel like it is making me a better teacher, and not only for the students who learn differently, but for all different kinds of students in the classroom," she said. "It helps you make teaching more visual, more exploratory, less lecturing."
Linda Atamian, a second-grade teacher at Hamilton, observed Blanco-Bussam and Timothy working together one afternoon last month. Atamian taught the 60-hour course that Blanco-Bussam took last summer, along with five other teachers from CVS Highlander. The school paid for the course and the teachers agreed to perform 100 hours of after-school tutoring. The teachers also receive a small stipend. As part of the training, Atamian provides support and feedback to teachers several times during the school year. This spring, Atamian will start a semester-long sabbatical from Hamilton to work at CVS Highlander.
"These students have language-based learning differences," Atamian said. "Sometimes we don't use the same parts of our brain to perform these tasks," such as reading, writing and spelling. "So these multi-sensory teaching methods help build more effective neural pathways."
Different techniques, such as having students write in shaving cream or spelling words while bouncing a ball "help students to separate sounds by letter," Atamian said.
RECOGNIZING THAT MANY students are being diagnosed with language difficulties, Hasbro wanted to help more teachers receive specialized training, said Karen Davis, vice president for the toymaker's community relations.
"One size does not fit all. All kids do not learn in the same way," Davis said. "If we can help give teachers all the tools that they need, we want to do that."
Hasbro's donation is targeted toward training public school teachers because most families cannot afford to send their children to small, private programs such as Hamilton, Davis said.
"We recognize that there are a lot of children who need different kinds of help who don't have access to specialized programs, for whatever reason," she said. "We want to help them become successful learners."
Jim Donahue, chief executive of the Dunn Institute and the CVS Highlander Charter School, said he began noticing more students with learning disabilities, like dyslexia, language processing issues and attention deficits, at his school two years ago. He asked the institute to train about 10 teachers at the charter school, who went on to tutor 50 students.
"I saw an immediate impact," Donahue said. "Kids who hadn't started to read at 9 or 10 years old started to read [after the tutoring]. Their attitude changed toward school. Their frustrated behavior changed."
In 2006, the Dunn Institute trained about 1,000 teachers. Some took day-long seminars; others took courses that lasted several weeks. Prices for the program range from a couple of hundred dollars to $1,300, and most offer graduate credit. Some teachers pay out of their own pocket; others come from districts that pay for the training. The institute often cuts the price if participants agree to work with a mentor and offer tutoring. Financial aid is also available.
Several Rhode Island school districts have sent teachers to Dunn Institute courses, including Tiverton and South Kingstown. In addition, the Dunn Institute offers programs for parents, to help families understand and support their child's learning differences.
By collaborating with Hasbro, the Dunn Institute hopes to train up to 2,000 teachers a year, broaden its curriculum and expand into other states in New England, said Cathy Sanford, director of the Hasbro Center for Teaching Excellence.
"By funding the center, Hasbro has kicked us up a notch," Sanford said. "Their support helps to make us more accessible and affordable. It also allows us to go out and think about best practices nationally and how to make Rhode Island the number one state in the country for kids with learning differences."
To find out more about the courses offered by Dunn Institute and the Hasbro Center for Teaching Excellence, visit: http://www.dunninstitute.org/ or call (401) 831-7323.
