As I stood nervously in front of my third grade class on my first day of teaching, I never imagined that someday I would be delving deeply into the reading problems of children, working closely with learning disabled children, and finding so many answers.
My first year of teaching was a dream come true. From my own first day of kindergarten, I had felt such admiration for teachers, those people who were so knowledgeable and so willing to impart their knowledge to others. I dreamed that some day, I too, would teach. And now, I really was a teacher! I remember thinking, that first year of teaching, that it was incredible that I should be getting paid for doing something that was so much fun! My third graders were eager to learn and very cooperative. However, I was perplexed as to why some could read well and others were so far behind. After all, I was following the manual and teaching them all the same way. What was wrong?
When my daughter was born, I decided to stay at home with her, which was customary in those days. I accepted a request by a neighbor to tutor her son, Christopher, who could barely read. It wasn't until then that I began to closely observe the individual facets of reading problems. It was an inspiration for me to hear his mother tell me how Christopher would run home from school and excitedly say, "I have to go to Mrs. Cusimano's house." Not only was Christopher reading better and doing better in school, but also Christopher's mother was amazed at how much happier he was, and how much confidence he was beginning to express in his ability to read and perform in school! The joy I felt from knowing that I was making such an impact on this child's life gave me more satisfaction than I had ever experienced. I was hooked! This was what I wanted to do with my life, devote it to children with reading problems!
As word got around of Christopher's improvement in reading, I soon had my hours filled to the brim with students in need of help. As new reading problems surfaced, I did more and more independent research into reading problems and the solutions available for teachers. I read every journal and current text on the teaching of reading that I could find. I began to administer diagnostic tests to determine the weaknesses and strengths of my students before I began the remediation. This led to an even faster remediation since I could pinpoint the weak skills more quickly than the random manner of just waiting until weaknesses surfaced. It did not take me long to realize that no single test on the market would give me all the answers I needed, and so I began to pick and choose various subtests from several tests to find what I needed. I also determined that there was not one student who responded well enough to just one remedial approach. I needed to combine several approaches to get the results I wanted. It all became very clear to me that reading and learning was made up of various facets, all of which needed to be well developed in order for a child to be able to read and learn with ease.....
Learning Disabilities: There is a Cure
Author: Addie Cusimano, M.ED.
