A fabled life it is not, it is real, it is real failure, it is petitions, it is standing in front of a class asking for help, and it is crying, pain and strength. It is a vision which you hold on to, a vision where laughter and whispers are overcome by perseverance faith and courage. Courage to approach a professor who has shunned me as a student because they think, to have my test given to me in an auditory format is unfair, laws and helping hands help in ways which cannot be appreciated enough.
Once I was asked to write and article of encouragement to students of a “LD” school, it is below.
Postcards from an L.D. Veteran
Lingering flashbacks from my elementary years, visit me often. Flashes of visions streak across my mind of just making it under the limbo bar (i.e. a C average) of high school years, then the hobbling along with everyone else in my L.D. class in college, then finally during my last three semesters in college did I ever begin to feel confident. Only then to feel the vast emptiness when I began to look for a job in the business world. My metals of honor were always at home, in the form of my parents who gave me the foundation to step out in Faith, and come home to recharge my confidence. It has and is a tough battle of overcoming the written hurdles of our society, and the limits it creates. As a dyslexic with the gift of multi dimensional thinking or thinking in pictures, we are ahead of our time, and it is discouraging to have to wait for the rest of the world to catch up. In the process we are the minority. Sure we have ADA support, but this and every other label comes at a price of whispers in the back of the class and slighted eye contact when it comes to questioning our option, but at the end of the scholastic mission there is victory.
Each of the above has a defining ring:
Elementary school was tough, although I found my place as a class clown, whenever I got close to the edge of disciplinary correction, my fellow students would ask if I had missed taking my Davis pill. Most of which was overshadowed by my likable silliness. Only one school asked me not to come back.
High-school, I thank the Lord for not being labeled as an SLD or I might have qualified for ESD, but they did not exist, as a matter of fact most teachers were not informed that I was dyslectic until my senior year.
The Scholastic Aptitude Test was my baptism into college, only under an L.D. program was I going to venture into college. The L.D. program weighted my enthusiasm, in spite of my better judgment by the administration. The L.D. program would discourage the type of courses I wanted to take, so I transferred.
The University of the South was a spring board which I desired and learned more about myself and studying than ever before. I was responsible, and I accepted the responsibility by studying very hard. I was not efficient, but I was diligent. What a great gift to be in such an academic environment.
What was to follow were three semesters of a balanced diet of hard work with other students who were there for the academic challenge, and the application of reward by having fun, i.e., kayaking, spelunking, rock climbing, watching football games in a coat and tie, (which is also the uniform to class). There were teachers who would step out of scholastic traditional bounds on my behalf. They took time to read my test to me. They also invited me into their offices and homes for private tutoring, or to get a clearer picture of the “gift of dyslexia” and how to help the knowledge I expressed in class into grades. All under the “honor code” of education.
Feeling the grades and quality points failing, I transferred to the University of South Florida. My acceptance was granted after an oral petition. Into the Special Services for the Handicap program, I was allowed in. What I did not know was that I had been academically suspended from the University of the South. Subsequently, I was academically suspended in a year and a half from the University of South Florida, mainly due to my denial of disability and help from the program of the Special Services.
Into the work force for two years after being offered a good salaried position as a manager of a night club, I decided the life style would not be good for me or a possible future family, I returned to school.
By this time my emotional arms had been strengthened by picking myself up from past failures. The deans of Social Behavioral Science questioned my ability to remain a candidate for a B.A. in Psychology, saying that in order to graduate I would have to maintain a 3.0 average; I went on. There was however, one administrator who was interested in helping me, not my “disability.” I was back at my degree. Three straight semesters later, ending in Dec. 1985, I sat front row and center, averaging a 3.0. I graduated with a B.A. in Psychology from the University of South Florida.
Again please call or email me with any questions.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
To Learningdisabilities@nifl.gov April 6th, 2009
Three programs which have enabled me are www.readplease.com, www.rfbd.org and www.bookshare.org . Bookshare for the student and adult population is an excellent resource. Newspapers from all over the country are available and Bookshare provide two text to speech software programs, Victor Soft reader and a Beta for Bookshare made by Read:Outloud.
Being able to read the newspaper is a character builder, I know what is going on in the world because I read it in a newspaper, I had never been able to say this before, I can read my trade journals now, where in the past they ended up in the garbage because I could not face the daunting task of reading them. Now it is a simple clip and paste or have Read:Outloud read it to me via the web. When I read I have to follow along for 90%+ comprehension, but on the other hand I'm working a lot on spreadsheets with numbers and listening does not detour from my number crunching.
Although I can't read and type at the same time if I was able to, I would can it and sell this ability. I'm pretty sure my processing numbers and hearing the paper read to me do not use the same part of the brain.
Readplease enables me to read my letters and emails before they go out and is generally the one I use the most, Readplease should be made available to all populations in schools and libraries. If made available to all then it would not cause the much dreaded stigmatism. Readplease is a Microsoft only program, but in today's environment there are parallel operating systems software, so you can have MAC or Windows running at the same time.
As for public access, again it is us (advocates) pushing with concerted effort in the same direction.
Being able to read the newspaper is a character builder, I know what is going on in the world because I read it in a newspaper, I had never been able to say this before, I can read my trade journals now, where in the past they ended up in the garbage because I could not face the daunting task of reading them. Now it is a simple clip and paste or have Read:Outloud read it to me via the web. When I read I have to follow along for 90%+ comprehension, but on the other hand I'm working a lot on spreadsheets with numbers and listening does not detour from my number crunching.
Although I can't read and type at the same time if I was able to, I would can it and sell this ability. I'm pretty sure my processing numbers and hearing the paper read to me do not use the same part of the brain.
Readplease enables me to read my letters and emails before they go out and is generally the one I use the most, Readplease should be made available to all populations in schools and libraries. If made available to all then it would not cause the much dreaded stigmatism. Readplease is a Microsoft only program, but in today's environment there are parallel operating systems software, so you can have MAC or Windows running at the same time.
As for public access, again it is us (advocates) pushing with concerted effort in the same direction.
To Learningdisabilities@nifl.gov April 10th, 2009
If my input is helpful, I can tell you as a 49 year old dyslectic, who reads extensively with Text to Speech up to 100 pages of text a day with ReadPlease, Read:OutLoud or Victor Soft Reader, my spelling has improved by 60%, because I see the highlighted word when it is read to me and hear it at the same time.
Repetition has to be a contributing factor to this improvement.
In this typing the only word I misspelled was "dyslextic" which I changed with spell check to "dyslectic".
Repetition has to be a contributing factor to this improvement.
In this typing the only word I misspelled was "dyslextic" which I changed with spell check to "dyslectic".
To Learningdisabilities@nifl.gov April 29th, 2009
This might help, from one dyslexic to those who also have the gift of dyslexia.
This suggestion was posted a while back but with the inmates you have it may be a great reward system as they learn to read and hear and see words for the first time.
Three programs which have enabled me are www.readplease.com, www.rfbd.org and www.bookshare.org . Bookshare for the student and adult population is an excellent resource, you must qualify with a print disability in order to become a member. Newspapers from all over the country are available and Bookshare provide two text to speech software programs, Victor Soft reader and a Beta for Bookshare made by Read:Outloud.
Being able to read the newspaper is a character builder, this may help your students feel they are a part of the world outside because they have read it with text to speech. So it would be a simple clip and paste or have Read:Outloud read it to them. When I read I have to follow along for 90%+ comprehension, this in turn has improved my spelling by 60% to 70%, because I have a photographic memory, but also it is because I keep hearing and seeing the words over and over, so it is imprinted in my mind's eye.
Readplease enables the student to proofread their letters home or to a loved one and then they can also read letters if you have an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) program. Most recent printers to have the software embedded in the programs offered at the time of purchase.
Once I was lost now I am found, once was blind to the written word, now I read.
Tools to build your students confidence.
This suggestion was posted a while back but with the inmates you have it may be a great reward system as they learn to read and hear and see words for the first time.
Three programs which have enabled me are www.readplease.com, www.rfbd.org and www.bookshare.org . Bookshare for the student and adult population is an excellent resource, you must qualify with a print disability in order to become a member. Newspapers from all over the country are available and Bookshare provide two text to speech software programs, Victor Soft reader and a Beta for Bookshare made by Read:Outloud.
Being able to read the newspaper is a character builder, this may help your students feel they are a part of the world outside because they have read it with text to speech. So it would be a simple clip and paste or have Read:Outloud read it to them. When I read I have to follow along for 90%+ comprehension, this in turn has improved my spelling by 60% to 70%, because I have a photographic memory, but also it is because I keep hearing and seeing the words over and over, so it is imprinted in my mind's eye.
Readplease enables the student to proofread their letters home or to a loved one and then they can also read letters if you have an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) program. Most recent printers to have the software embedded in the programs offered at the time of purchase.
Once I was lost now I am found, once was blind to the written word, now I read.
Tools to build your students confidence.
To Dr. Neil MacKay at The University of Wales Registry
In 1967 I was diagnosed with dyslexia, today there are not hurdels or boundries which are in my path of learning.
The following are some truths which have taken place in my life and thought I would share them with you.
Three programs which have enabled me are www.readplease.com, www.rfbd.org and www.bookshare.org . Bookshare for the student and adult population is an excellent resource, you must qualify with a print disability in order to become a member. Newspapers from all over the country are available and Bookshare provide two text to speech software programs, Victor Soft reader and a Beta for Bookshare made by Read:Outloud.
Being able to read the newspaper is a character builder, I know what is going on in the world because I read it in a newspaper, I had never been able to say this before, I can read my trade journals now, where in the past they ended up in the garbage because I could not face the daunting task of reading them. Now it is a simple clip and paste or have Read:Outloud read it to me via the web. When I read I have to follow along for 90%+ comprehension, but on the other hand I'm working a lot on spreadsheets with numbers and listening does not detour from my number crunching.
Although I can't read and type at the same time if I was able to, I would can it and sell this ability. I'm pretty sure my processing numbers and hearing the paper read to me do not use the same part of the brain.
Readplease enables me to read my letters and emails before they go out and is generally the one I use the most, Readplease should be made available to all populations in schools and libraries. If made available to all then it would not cause the much dreaded stigmatism. Readplease is a Microsoft only program, but in today's environment there are parallel operating systems software, so you can have MAC or Windows running at the same time.
As for public access, again it is us (advocates) pushing with concerted effort in the same direction.
Once I was lost now I am found, once was blind to the written word, now I read.
Tools to build your confidence.
Posted by Davis at 10:44 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Talking Books article
Links to this post
My name is Davis Graham. I have dyslexia which was diagnosed in 1967 at the University of Miami. I earned my BA degree in Psychology from the University of South Florida, class of 1985.
The road to my degree was not easy. I learned a lot about the battles with pride, how achievements come from hard work, and know today to accept dyslexia as a gift and not as a disability.
Today I am the Executive Director / CFO of Manatee Diagnostic Center, Ltd. and there is a program online which has changed my life. The program is called Readplease which I found on the Internet after receiving a contract which was 30 pages and needed to be read within 24 hours. The contract inspired me to ask the Lord for some guidance and I went to Google.com and typed in Text reading software, number two on the list was readplease.com, and in quotes was "free download", I had the contract read in 1 hour and have not hesitated to read since.
About one and half years later I bought Readplease 2003 Plus and continue to use Readplease to read the Bible, daily devotions, contracts, reading for pleasure, reading email, trade articles, Smithsonian magazine, and then proof read my letters and e-mail. It literally has changed my life.
After contacting Pat Schubert via e-mail at Talking Books which I used quite often, she gave me a library of electronic books, and for the first time I'm reading Melville's Moby Dick, next will be Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity, then on to Robinson Crusoe. When reading with Readplease, I read between 300 words per minute to close to 500 words per minute. The ability to listen at such a high rate came from my experience in college when I would receive my text books on tape while following along in the text book. I received the text books through the Learning Disability Programs I was enrolled in during college. The books would come from Reading for the Blind and Dyslexic and sometime the school would have them read from students who were studying the same course I was taking. My ability to comprehend has come from the years of listening to books on tape with the variable speed play back records which RFBD and Talking Books so generously provide.
It is my hope somebody is out there who can use my story to inspire them to reconsider reading as an adventure. It is quite the experience to hear the words of Melville roll into an image which paints a picture of life on the sea. My life of reading has been renewed and I hope your view of reading is changed, for it is a gift from our Creator.
The following are some truths which have taken place in my life and thought I would share them with you.
Three programs which have enabled me are www.readplease.com, www.rfbd.org and www.bookshare.org . Bookshare for the student and adult population is an excellent resource, you must qualify with a print disability in order to become a member. Newspapers from all over the country are available and Bookshare provide two text to speech software programs, Victor Soft reader and a Beta for Bookshare made by Read:Outloud.
Being able to read the newspaper is a character builder, I know what is going on in the world because I read it in a newspaper, I had never been able to say this before, I can read my trade journals now, where in the past they ended up in the garbage because I could not face the daunting task of reading them. Now it is a simple clip and paste or have Read:Outloud read it to me via the web. When I read I have to follow along for 90%+ comprehension, but on the other hand I'm working a lot on spreadsheets with numbers and listening does not detour from my number crunching.
Although I can't read and type at the same time if I was able to, I would can it and sell this ability. I'm pretty sure my processing numbers and hearing the paper read to me do not use the same part of the brain.
Readplease enables me to read my letters and emails before they go out and is generally the one I use the most, Readplease should be made available to all populations in schools and libraries. If made available to all then it would not cause the much dreaded stigmatism. Readplease is a Microsoft only program, but in today's environment there are parallel operating systems software, so you can have MAC or Windows running at the same time.
As for public access, again it is us (advocates) pushing with concerted effort in the same direction.
Once I was lost now I am found, once was blind to the written word, now I read.
Tools to build your confidence.
Posted by Davis at 10:44 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Talking Books article
Links to this post
My name is Davis Graham. I have dyslexia which was diagnosed in 1967 at the University of Miami. I earned my BA degree in Psychology from the University of South Florida, class of 1985.
The road to my degree was not easy. I learned a lot about the battles with pride, how achievements come from hard work, and know today to accept dyslexia as a gift and not as a disability.
Today I am the Executive Director / CFO of Manatee Diagnostic Center, Ltd. and there is a program online which has changed my life. The program is called Readplease which I found on the Internet after receiving a contract which was 30 pages and needed to be read within 24 hours. The contract inspired me to ask the Lord for some guidance and I went to Google.com and typed in Text reading software, number two on the list was readplease.com, and in quotes was "free download", I had the contract read in 1 hour and have not hesitated to read since.
About one and half years later I bought Readplease 2003 Plus and continue to use Readplease to read the Bible, daily devotions, contracts, reading for pleasure, reading email, trade articles, Smithsonian magazine, and then proof read my letters and e-mail. It literally has changed my life.
After contacting Pat Schubert via e-mail at Talking Books which I used quite often, she gave me a library of electronic books, and for the first time I'm reading Melville's Moby Dick, next will be Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity, then on to Robinson Crusoe. When reading with Readplease, I read between 300 words per minute to close to 500 words per minute. The ability to listen at such a high rate came from my experience in college when I would receive my text books on tape while following along in the text book. I received the text books through the Learning Disability Programs I was enrolled in during college. The books would come from Reading for the Blind and Dyslexic and sometime the school would have them read from students who were studying the same course I was taking. My ability to comprehend has come from the years of listening to books on tape with the variable speed play back records which RFBD and Talking Books so generously provide.
It is my hope somebody is out there who can use my story to inspire them to reconsider reading as an adventure. It is quite the experience to hear the words of Melville roll into an image which paints a picture of life on the sea. My life of reading has been renewed and I hope your view of reading is changed, for it is a gift from our Creator.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
"Publisher Delays E-Book Amid Debate on Pricing "
Thank you for your recent article titled "Publisher Delays E-Book Amid Debate on Pricing ".
There is a bright side to digital publications made available to the print disabled.
Recently I was selected as one of the 14 finalists of Bookshare's members’ contest, which asked us how bookshare has changed our lives. The Lord Jesus has blessed me with the gift of dyslexia, which was diagnosed in 1967 at the University of Miami in Miami, Florida. Text-to-speech software, organizations such as Bookshare.org, the Gutenberg project and speech to text software has changed what most of society thinks today as a disability into a gift.
In the light of the "digital text-to-speech readers’ debate", there is a whole other bright side, of which our education system could use to inspire a new fervor for learning. Let's just take Bookshare.org, who has taken digital text and the Internet and turned it into a virtual book.
Recently, I have been reading, A. Lincoln: a biography by Ronald C. White Jr.. When reading about Abraham Lincoln, there are plenty of subjects which are mentioned which I have no clue as to what they are. So I just highlight them. Click on dictionary go to the Internet and read about the subject for example, Stephen A. Douglas, Kansas-Nebraska act, Cyrus McCormick, the financial panic of 1837 and the list goes on.
But let's step forward and apply this technology and the Internet to education. Let's take it from being a dyslexic in class reading at 89 words a minute, where the average reader reads between 200 to 250 words per minute. That was yesterday. Today I read between 400 and 450 words per minute. And if I don't understand what the word means I highlight and look it up as stated above, then make a footnote with the definition and go back to reading.
Now let's take it to a student who doesn't have a disability. They have their book, which is downloaded to their computer (How green is that?). They come to the financial panic of 1837 highlight it and looked up, the event on the Internet. They don't have to put their book aside and look up the event in an encyclopedia or on the Internet and go back to reading.
This technology is available today for students with qualifying disabilities because of funding by an award from the U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). This technology and software combination would interject youth back into today's educational classrooms.
Sure there is a cost but there is also a savings because there is a change in lives, such as mine.
The following is a copy of my Finalist award winning submission to Bookshare:
Today the successes which have taken place in my life have been from a compassionate ear, a foundation of a solid family, Jesus Christ’s presence in my life and technology.
Bookshare has for the first time in my 50 years of life, put me on the edge of a reading chair which was never in my life before. This chair is at work, at home, on vacation, and in my conversations with many.
Today the written word is not a hurdle to me nor should it be in the way of education for any student in the academic environment in the United States of America. By combining technology of text to speech, and gathering the printed word in digital format, Bookshare has overcome the initial hurdle; Bookshare has made a pioneering pathway for an unbridled learning environment.
Never in my life before Bookshare have I ever felt more a part of my community and industry. Bookshare’s partnership with Victor Reader Soft and Read:OutLoud have enabled me to read the Wall Street Journal, The World is Flat, Same Kind of Different as Me, Just As I am and more to be read. In the past, if someone were to come to me and say, “Did you read…,” this would send ripples of memories of failure and frustration which came from hurts from the casualties of dyslexia.
Prior to Bookshare, most of my published reading was restricted to the Gutenberg Project, and whatever book I was really intent on reading I would have to do the following:
1. Scrape the glue off the binder then cut the binder.
2. Scan the book into PaperPort then process the scanned book with Optical Character Recognition (OCR) it into a text rich format, then save in Microsoft Word.
3. Then read with text to speech software.
When it came to reading the Wall Street Journal, which my wife bought for me with expiring air miles, I would scan the paper headlines, then cut out the article, then repeat the above process for reading a book, and then read with text to speech software. Then a librarian told me about Bookshare, and in November of 2007 I joined, and have been reading more than ever before.
Dyslexia is a “gift” to me today, because of the barriers which have been leveled by technology; Bookshare has picked up the baton and made reading for me today a pleasure while allowing me to sharpen my mind and spirit by the printed word.
As for me and my children, the current and future technologies which are here to aid in education make the mountain tops of the creative mind obtainable. We in this country have one thing which surpasses all others, Freedom: freedom to dream, freedom to speak, freedom to learn, and freedom to achieve.
Thank you for your pursuit of making the printed word more accessible, which in turn, allows goals of reading to be set and obtained for the print disabled of our Nation by using today’s technology for tomorrow’s hope.
Thank you for serving the print disabled and our children.
There is a bright side to digital publications made available to the print disabled.
Recently I was selected as one of the 14 finalists of Bookshare's members’ contest, which asked us how bookshare has changed our lives. The Lord Jesus has blessed me with the gift of dyslexia, which was diagnosed in 1967 at the University of Miami in Miami, Florida. Text-to-speech software, organizations such as Bookshare.org, the Gutenberg project and speech to text software has changed what most of society thinks today as a disability into a gift.
In the light of the "digital text-to-speech readers’ debate", there is a whole other bright side, of which our education system could use to inspire a new fervor for learning. Let's just take Bookshare.org, who has taken digital text and the Internet and turned it into a virtual book.
Recently, I have been reading, A. Lincoln: a biography by Ronald C. White Jr.. When reading about Abraham Lincoln, there are plenty of subjects which are mentioned which I have no clue as to what they are. So I just highlight them. Click on dictionary go to the Internet and read about the subject for example, Stephen A. Douglas, Kansas-Nebraska act, Cyrus McCormick, the financial panic of 1837 and the list goes on.
But let's step forward and apply this technology and the Internet to education. Let's take it from being a dyslexic in class reading at 89 words a minute, where the average reader reads between 200 to 250 words per minute. That was yesterday. Today I read between 400 and 450 words per minute. And if I don't understand what the word means I highlight and look it up as stated above, then make a footnote with the definition and go back to reading.
Now let's take it to a student who doesn't have a disability. They have their book, which is downloaded to their computer (How green is that?). They come to the financial panic of 1837 highlight it and looked up, the event on the Internet. They don't have to put their book aside and look up the event in an encyclopedia or on the Internet and go back to reading.
This technology is available today for students with qualifying disabilities because of funding by an award from the U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). This technology and software combination would interject youth back into today's educational classrooms.
Sure there is a cost but there is also a savings because there is a change in lives, such as mine.
The following is a copy of my Finalist award winning submission to Bookshare:
Today the successes which have taken place in my life have been from a compassionate ear, a foundation of a solid family, Jesus Christ’s presence in my life and technology.
Bookshare has for the first time in my 50 years of life, put me on the edge of a reading chair which was never in my life before. This chair is at work, at home, on vacation, and in my conversations with many.
Today the written word is not a hurdle to me nor should it be in the way of education for any student in the academic environment in the United States of America. By combining technology of text to speech, and gathering the printed word in digital format, Bookshare has overcome the initial hurdle; Bookshare has made a pioneering pathway for an unbridled learning environment.
Never in my life before Bookshare have I ever felt more a part of my community and industry. Bookshare’s partnership with Victor Reader Soft and Read:OutLoud have enabled me to read the Wall Street Journal, The World is Flat, Same Kind of Different as Me, Just As I am and more to be read. In the past, if someone were to come to me and say, “Did you read…,” this would send ripples of memories of failure and frustration which came from hurts from the casualties of dyslexia.
Prior to Bookshare, most of my published reading was restricted to the Gutenberg Project, and whatever book I was really intent on reading I would have to do the following:
1. Scrape the glue off the binder then cut the binder.
2. Scan the book into PaperPort then process the scanned book with Optical Character Recognition (OCR) it into a text rich format, then save in Microsoft Word.
3. Then read with text to speech software.
When it came to reading the Wall Street Journal, which my wife bought for me with expiring air miles, I would scan the paper headlines, then cut out the article, then repeat the above process for reading a book, and then read with text to speech software. Then a librarian told me about Bookshare, and in November of 2007 I joined, and have been reading more than ever before.
Dyslexia is a “gift” to me today, because of the barriers which have been leveled by technology; Bookshare has picked up the baton and made reading for me today a pleasure while allowing me to sharpen my mind and spirit by the printed word.
As for me and my children, the current and future technologies which are here to aid in education make the mountain tops of the creative mind obtainable. We in this country have one thing which surpasses all others, Freedom: freedom to dream, freedom to speak, freedom to learn, and freedom to achieve.
Thank you for your pursuit of making the printed word more accessible, which in turn, allows goals of reading to be set and obtained for the print disabled of our Nation by using today’s technology for tomorrow’s hope.
Thank you for serving the print disabled and our children.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Teachers failed to read dyslexic girl, India
The numerical ‘2’ is inverted, making it look almost like ‘5’; ‘4’ is written upside down; and ‘3’ changes shapes all through. The first page of Shanno Khan’s Mathematics notebook is a revelation: the 11-year-old, who died on Friday, allegedly a victim of corporal punishment, was dyslexic.
All her teachers in the MCD school at Bawana knew Shanno wrote incorrectly but they were not trained to know that she needed special treatment.
“She was certainly dyslexic and needed special treatment,” confirmed Dr Jayanti Dutta, consultant clinical psychologist and a doctorate in dyslexia, after looking at Shanno’s writing. “She would have skipped letters without knowing and could not have recited answers fluently. She was dyslexic.”
Newsline has a copy of her notebook.
Shanno’s classmates have said that the teacher, Manju Rathee, 27, made her stand in the sun for almost two hours on Wednesday afternoon with bricks on her shoulders. Shanno had reportedly failed to offer correct answers in class that had left the teacher irate. Sources said the postmortem — the police are yet to get a report (see box) — suggests Shanno, who was epileptic and had a history of lung and respiratory problems, developed complications after the punishment.
She slipped into coma, and died on Friday.
“Municipal school teachers never go through the necessary rigorous training necessary for teachers, especially in dealing with issues like learning disability,” Dutta said. “We have conducted numerous workshops about dyslexic children at private schools but MCD schools are never interested in such workshops.”
Delhi’s Education Secretary Reena Ray said, “We did not know that she was dyslexic.” She said the Delhi government would soon begin several initiatives under its ‘Yuva’ programme, in collaboration with social jurist Ashok Aggarwal. The programme would deal with training teachers to handle children with special needs, such as autistic children.
“We have already employed 50 special educators who will teach in our schools,” Ray said. “We will also send teachers for a three-month programme to the Rehabilitation Council of India to sensitise them about handling such special cases.”
Jurist and social activist Ashok Aggarwal met Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely on Tuesday and demanded that all municipal schools be brought under the ambit of the Delhi government.
Meanwhile, inside the small hutment in Bawana where Shanno lived, her notebooks lie in a polythene bag under a heap of strewn clothes. Her English alphabet notebook has the same jumbled and wrongly drawn alphabets. “She did not get any books because the school had just started. There are only her notebooks here,” Shanno’s mother Rihana Khatoun said.
Shanno’s slightly bended drawing book is stacked at the bottom. On the first few pages are some random drawings of a sun rising above the mountains. She had misspelt her name on the book as well.
For Shanno, dyslexia was not a film narrative — it cost her her life.
Day 4: Cops await autopsy report
Four days after her death, police are still waiting for the postmortem report to ascertain whether Shanno Khan, 11, was a victim of corporal punishment. “We spoke to some of her classmates today,” a senior officer said. “But we cannot further our probe without the autopsy report.” Sources said there is a delay as blood samples are being taken and matched.
Police have so far recorded statements of Shanno’s parents and the teacher accused of meting out the corporal punishment, Manju Rathee.
Meanwhile, the MCD’s vigilance department issued a statement on Tuesday denying media reports that it has given a clean chit to the teacher. An official said, “There is no question of a clean chit to the teacher, or reaching any conclusion, since the vigilance department is yet to submit the report.”
Over 100 protesters, mainly women, today staged a demonstration outside the Delhi Police headquarters at ITO and sought the teacher’s arrest
All her teachers in the MCD school at Bawana knew Shanno wrote incorrectly but they were not trained to know that she needed special treatment.
“She was certainly dyslexic and needed special treatment,” confirmed Dr Jayanti Dutta, consultant clinical psychologist and a doctorate in dyslexia, after looking at Shanno’s writing. “She would have skipped letters without knowing and could not have recited answers fluently. She was dyslexic.”
Newsline has a copy of her notebook.
Shanno’s classmates have said that the teacher, Manju Rathee, 27, made her stand in the sun for almost two hours on Wednesday afternoon with bricks on her shoulders. Shanno had reportedly failed to offer correct answers in class that had left the teacher irate. Sources said the postmortem — the police are yet to get a report (see box) — suggests Shanno, who was epileptic and had a history of lung and respiratory problems, developed complications after the punishment.
She slipped into coma, and died on Friday.
“Municipal school teachers never go through the necessary rigorous training necessary for teachers, especially in dealing with issues like learning disability,” Dutta said. “We have conducted numerous workshops about dyslexic children at private schools but MCD schools are never interested in such workshops.”
Delhi’s Education Secretary Reena Ray said, “We did not know that she was dyslexic.” She said the Delhi government would soon begin several initiatives under its ‘Yuva’ programme, in collaboration with social jurist Ashok Aggarwal. The programme would deal with training teachers to handle children with special needs, such as autistic children.
“We have already employed 50 special educators who will teach in our schools,” Ray said. “We will also send teachers for a three-month programme to the Rehabilitation Council of India to sensitise them about handling such special cases.”
Jurist and social activist Ashok Aggarwal met Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely on Tuesday and demanded that all municipal schools be brought under the ambit of the Delhi government.
Meanwhile, inside the small hutment in Bawana where Shanno lived, her notebooks lie in a polythene bag under a heap of strewn clothes. Her English alphabet notebook has the same jumbled and wrongly drawn alphabets. “She did not get any books because the school had just started. There are only her notebooks here,” Shanno’s mother Rihana Khatoun said.
Shanno’s slightly bended drawing book is stacked at the bottom. On the first few pages are some random drawings of a sun rising above the mountains. She had misspelt her name on the book as well.
For Shanno, dyslexia was not a film narrative — it cost her her life.
Day 4: Cops await autopsy report
Four days after her death, police are still waiting for the postmortem report to ascertain whether Shanno Khan, 11, was a victim of corporal punishment. “We spoke to some of her classmates today,” a senior officer said. “But we cannot further our probe without the autopsy report.” Sources said there is a delay as blood samples are being taken and matched.
Police have so far recorded statements of Shanno’s parents and the teacher accused of meting out the corporal punishment, Manju Rathee.
Meanwhile, the MCD’s vigilance department issued a statement on Tuesday denying media reports that it has given a clean chit to the teacher. An official said, “There is no question of a clean chit to the teacher, or reaching any conclusion, since the vigilance department is yet to submit the report.”
Over 100 protesters, mainly women, today staged a demonstration outside the Delhi Police headquarters at ITO and sought the teacher’s arrest
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Respose to Students struggling with Dyslexia. (click here for story)
Today there is so much help for anybody with the "gift of dyslexia" who has been stumbled by the printed word. Two organizations which have helped me are Bookshare.org and RFBD.org they provide many tools which will enable the student to excel in school and exceed all others expectations of them. Readplease.com has changed my life on a day to day basis, today I read, and proofread with this program, for a year and a half I used the free version and today I use both the free and $49.95 go anywhere program. With text to speech software I read 300 to 480 words per minute, Shea and especially schools should make all of the above and below tools available.
Pass this on to Shea and the teachers and parents in your community, we can change the ability to learn thru communication.
Bookshare and Readplease.com have changed my life, recently I wrote the following to Bookshare.org:
Today the successes which have taken place in my life have been from a compassionate ear, a foundation of a solid family, Jesus Christ’s presence in my life and technology.
Bookshare has for the first time in my 50 years of life, put me on the edge of a reading chair which was never in my life before. This chair is at work, at home, on vacation, and in my conversations with many.
Today the written word is not a hurdle to me nor should it be in the way of education for any student in the academic environment in the United States of America. By combining technology of text to speech, and gathering the printed word in digital format, Bookshare has overcome the initial hurdle; Bookshare has made a pioneering pathway for an unbridled learning environment.
Never in my life before Bookshare have I ever felt more a part of my community and industry. Bookshare’s partnership with Victor Reader Soft and Read:OutLoud have enabled me to read the Wall Street Journal, The World is Flat, Same Kind of Different as Me, Just As I am and more to be read. In the past, if someone were to come to me and say, “Did you read…,” this would send ripples of memories of failure and frustration which came from hurts from the casualties of dyslexia.
Prior to Bookshare, most of my published reading was restricted to the Gutenberg Project, and whatever book I was really intent on reading I would have to do the following:
1. Scrape the glue off the binder then cut the binder.
2. Scan the book into PaperPort then process the scanned book with Optical Character Recognition (OCR) it into a text rich format, then save in Microsoft Word.
3. Then read with text to speech software.
When it came to reading the Wall Street Journal, which my wife bought for me with expiring air miles, I would scan the paper headlines, then cut out the article, then repeat the above process for reading a book, and then read with text to speech software. Then a librarian told me about Bookshare, and in November of 2007 I joined, and have been reading more than ever before.
Dyslexia is a “gift” to me today, because of the barriers which have been leveled by technology; Bookshare has picked up the baton and made reading for me today a pleasure while allowing me to sharpen my mind and spirit by the printed word.
As for me and my children, the current and future technologies which are here to aid in education make the mountain tops of the creative mind obtainable. We in this country have one thing which surpasses all others, Freedom: freedom to dream, freedom to speak, freedom to learn, and freedom to achieve.
Thank you for your pursuit of making the printed word more accessible, which in turn, allows goals of reading to be set and obtained for the print disabled of our Nation by using today’s technology for tomorrow’s hope.
Thank you for serving the print disabled and our children.
Pass this on to Shea and the teachers and parents in your community, we can change the ability to learn thru communication.
Bookshare and Readplease.com have changed my life, recently I wrote the following to Bookshare.org:
Today the successes which have taken place in my life have been from a compassionate ear, a foundation of a solid family, Jesus Christ’s presence in my life and technology.
Bookshare has for the first time in my 50 years of life, put me on the edge of a reading chair which was never in my life before. This chair is at work, at home, on vacation, and in my conversations with many.
Today the written word is not a hurdle to me nor should it be in the way of education for any student in the academic environment in the United States of America. By combining technology of text to speech, and gathering the printed word in digital format, Bookshare has overcome the initial hurdle; Bookshare has made a pioneering pathway for an unbridled learning environment.
Never in my life before Bookshare have I ever felt more a part of my community and industry. Bookshare’s partnership with Victor Reader Soft and Read:OutLoud have enabled me to read the Wall Street Journal, The World is Flat, Same Kind of Different as Me, Just As I am and more to be read. In the past, if someone were to come to me and say, “Did you read…,” this would send ripples of memories of failure and frustration which came from hurts from the casualties of dyslexia.
Prior to Bookshare, most of my published reading was restricted to the Gutenberg Project, and whatever book I was really intent on reading I would have to do the following:
1. Scrape the glue off the binder then cut the binder.
2. Scan the book into PaperPort then process the scanned book with Optical Character Recognition (OCR) it into a text rich format, then save in Microsoft Word.
3. Then read with text to speech software.
When it came to reading the Wall Street Journal, which my wife bought for me with expiring air miles, I would scan the paper headlines, then cut out the article, then repeat the above process for reading a book, and then read with text to speech software. Then a librarian told me about Bookshare, and in November of 2007 I joined, and have been reading more than ever before.
Dyslexia is a “gift” to me today, because of the barriers which have been leveled by technology; Bookshare has picked up the baton and made reading for me today a pleasure while allowing me to sharpen my mind and spirit by the printed word.
As for me and my children, the current and future technologies which are here to aid in education make the mountain tops of the creative mind obtainable. We in this country have one thing which surpasses all others, Freedom: freedom to dream, freedom to speak, freedom to learn, and freedom to achieve.
Thank you for your pursuit of making the printed word more accessible, which in turn, allows goals of reading to be set and obtained for the print disabled of our Nation by using today’s technology for tomorrow’s hope.
Thank you for serving the print disabled and our children.
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