A Private School Catches Learning Disabilities in Kindergarten

Treating LD correctly:   Greenfield Hebrew Academy works to identify kids with learning disabilities  as young as kindergarten, which will help the kids not fall behind.

Public schools are required by law to provide a free and appropriate education to all children, but disabilities often are not diagnosed until at least second grade. By then, many children feel like failures. "They're like little wounded wildlife," said one parent

(Screening for Dyslexia***What Public School Teachers ARen't Taught About Language; *** A Teacher Reflects On Her Failure To Teach Kids With Learning Disabilities***Effective Teaching for Kids with Dyslexia***What to Tell a Dyslexic  Kid***Dyslexia Can Be A Confusing Term***)

Disabilities caught earlier: M'silot helps kindergartners clear hurdles while still motivated  By PATTI GHEZZIThe Atlanta Journal-Constitution--Published on: 11/07/04

In unison, six children press their top teeth to their lower lip and blow......Ffffffff . . . .

Christine Oertle teaches a Greenfield Hebrew Academy  kindergarten class for dyslexic pupils.

"F is a lip-cooler sound," says teacher Christine Oertle. "It cools your lips when you make the sound."

The children in Greenfield Hebrew Academy's M'silot Pathways kindergarten class get explicit instruction on how the letters of the alphabet form the sounds that make up words.  All six kids were flagged early on as having potential learning disabilities that affect their ability to process information.

Teachers at the North Atlanta private school think these kids can learn to read and write with help from instruction tailored to their needs. They can be spared the frustration and embarrassment they likely would face in a regular class. And they can have fun at the same time.

Editor note: since my dyslexic daughter just got her first-quarter 10th grade marks and comments, I can assure you that dyslexic kids  can and do succeed academically in a rigorous, competitive program.  She's in the top third.

"They are working harder than the other kids in kindergarten," Oertle said. "They think a lot of it is play."

Greenfield Hebrew Academy started the kindergarten class this year as part of the 5-year-old M'silot program (pronounced mis-ee-lote) for children with learning disabilities. The program originally started with first grade. Students who did poorly in kindergarten despite high intelligence were identified for the special class.

Ed note: GHA has been offering educational support for about a decade, to good effect.

Phyllis Rosenthal, director of the program, saw a need to catch kids sooner, before they suffer low self-esteem. "We looked for children who were not reaching their potential," she said.

Metro Atlanta has several private schools for children with learning disabilities. The Schenck School announced plans recently to expand its program for dyslexic children to kindergarten, saying psychologists and preschool teachers have gotten better at diagnosing children early.

Dyslexia is a neurological disorder that makes it hard to process letters and words into meaningful language. Experts estimate as many as one in five people may be dyslexic.  Other common learning disabilities include problems hearing sounds over background noise and grasping the meaning of what one hears.

Deborah Berger did not want her son, Bud, to feel inferior to his classmates just because he has trouble with sounds and letters. In preschool, "Bud was not able to connect each letter with a specific sound," his mother said.  Yet Bud, 5, has a rich vocabulary. He once grabbed his shoulder and told his mother he hurt his scapula.

In his small kindergarten class at Greenfield Hebrew Academy, "he's just going great guns," Berger said.  The kindergarten program at Greenfield costs $12,000. 

(What is the normal kindergarten tuition at Greenfield--for non-dyslexic kids? Oh, here it is:  $ 8,725.  The grade school level M'silot tuition is about $16,000.  Personally, I think it is worth the price, considering the burden dyslexic/LD kids carry.  admissions details.

Public schools are required by law to provide a free and appropriate education to all children, but disabilities often are not diagnosed until at least second grade. By then, many children feel like failures. "They're like little wounded wildlife," said Berger, whose daughter, Parron, is a second-grader in M'silot. A program like Greenfield's serves as a refuge, she said.

School leaders got a grant from the Jewish Community Endowment Fund, sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, to start the M'silot kindergarten class.

The M'silot program was started with a donation from Jerry and Elaine Blumenthal, whose son Matthew attended Greenfield Hebrew Academy. He died in 1995. Elaine Blumenthal, a former special education teacher, wanted Jewish families to have an option for children with learning disabilities in Jewish schools.

Congratulations to GHA for a visionary program.  Now, if we could just get early identificaton in all schools. 

 

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