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Kate Rulison of Belmont, reading assistance lead at the Hope
Center in Wellsville, explains components of reading difficulties this week to
volunteers and community members during a presentation on “Helping Struggling
Readers Read.” She will be presenting a follow-up session on dyslexia Monday
night at the Center.
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Intelligence generally doesn't play a critical role in
learning to read and reading intervention and assistance can help rewire the
brain to help those who struggle with this skill.
This is the message from Kate Rulison, a long-time reading
teacher who is a lead in the new Hope Center initiative at Wellsville to help
children and adults overcome reading difficulties.
Her presentation, “Helping Struggling Readers Read,” was
provided this week to Center reading volunteers and members of the general
public during the first of two awareness sessions in regard to the high numbers
of individuals in Allegany County with reading difficulties.
A follow-up presentation, “Is It Dyslexia?”, will be
presented from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday, March 11, at the Hope Center, 4194
Bolivar Road – Suite 5, in Wellsville. Required registration is available at
bps461@msn.com or (484) 435-0503.
Rulison became acquainted with reading difficulties as a
child when her father was unable to obtain higher paying jobs due to this issue
and her brother had reading difficulties starting in kindergarten.
This lead to her to searching for answers about dyslexia and
other reading issues. She worked nearly 10 years as a special education aide at
BOCES, went on to obtain a teaching degree and a master's in reading education,
and taught for 20 years, 15 of them as a reading teacher..
Rulison also started assisting with Literacy Volunteers,
which became Literacy West and now CORE in Belmont. In 2012 she received the
Barbara Gordon volunteer of the year award for bringing a dyslexic adult
learner up two grade levels in one year.
She told the group this week that speaking is a “normal
genetically hardwired capability” but reading is not a natural ability and
probably is the most difficult task asked of a young brain to perform.
“If reading was a natural ability, everyone would be doing
it,” she said, but noted that nearly 40 million adults in the U.S. are
functionally illiterate.
She said that most reading difficulties can be overcome with
assistance, with younger age starts being the best approach.
For more than a century, reading instruction has shifted
back and forth between phonics, an analytical approach in which letter names
and simple syllables are taught for construction of words, and the whole
language approach that emphasizes recognizing entire words as the meaningful
unit of reading, she reported.
Rulison said that contrary to much public opinion, studies
show that children who learn to read before going to school do not demonstrate
a strong relationship between IQ and reading. At the same time, children who
have difficulty reading often have above-average IQs.
Half of children make the transition from spoken language to
reading with relative ease, she said, but the other half find reading more
formidable, with 20 percent to 30 percent finding it the most difficult
cognitive task they will take in life.
Rulison said that critical observation of a child's progress
in learning to speak and eventually read is the most effective tool currently
for spotting potential problems. She also said that contrary to many opinions,
most reading difficulties do not go away with time.
Spoken language difficulties, including delays in speaking,
problems with pronunciation, inability to rhyme words, and being able to recall
distinct units of sounds, are often clues to potential reading problems, the
presenter said.
She reported these symptoms can be brought on by difficult
births, multiple ear infections, vocabulary gaps in the first three years of
life, and lack of frequent conversations with adults.
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), such as poverty,
physical or emotional abuse, family substance or alcohol abuse, parental
separations or divorce, death of a parent or sibling, and major illnesses also
can be contributing factors.
Mitigation is “most effective when introduced in
kindergarten and first grade,” she said.
A Hope Center focus is to help address reading difficulties
in Allegany County through awareness, public education and direct reading
assistance for children and adults with needs.
The facility also serves as a drop-in and information and
referral center for all types of life issues, site of an evolving Christian
library, and an education center for the public and churches, Christian and
other organizations as to issues facing Allegany County residents and how to
address them effectively and cooperatively.
It is open initially from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays and by
appointment as an outreach initiative of the Mission Genesee Valley coalition
of churches, other Christian organizations and individuals seeking community
transformation and revival throughout the county.
Individuals interested in obtaining reading assistance can
make an appointment at bps461@msn.com or (484) 435-0503. Further information is
available at www.facebook.com/HopeCenterAlleganyCounty. Interested volunteers,
who are subject to background checks, may obtain applications and information
from area pastors.