In the world of special education, Henry Winkler is as big a hero today as he was on television's "Happy Days" 30 years ago, when his role as the leather-jacket-wearing, motorcycle-riding "Fonz" made him one of the nation's most popular actors.
Winkler had to overcome a case of severe, undiagnosed dyslexia to pursue his career.
"Every one of you has greatness in you," Winkler, now 63, said recently in Short Hills, at a talk sponsored by the Winston School, a private school that serves students with dyslexia and other learning disabilities.
"It doesn't matter if you don't get a subject," he told the audience, which included many of the school's first-grade to eighth-grade students. "How you learn has nothing to do with how great you are. Your job is to find out what your gift is, what your contribution will be."
Winkler has continued his acting career since "Happy Days" ended its 10-year run in 1984, with dozens of roles on television and in movies. But Winkler's prominence of late has come as co-author of the Hank Zipzer series of books, which chronicle the misadventures of "The World's Greatest Underachiever," a boy with a learning disability similar to his.
In Short Hills, a crowd of about 550 packed the sanctuary at Temple B'nai Jeshurun to hear Winkler. Speaking in rapid-fire, clipped tones that often recalled the cadence used by the Fonz, Winkler came across as a combination motivational speaker, concerned parent and stand-up comic.
During his childhood in Manhattan, Winkler recalled, his German-Jewish immigrant parents didn't understand his learning problem. Their nickname for him was the German expression for "dumb dog."
"I was very bad in math, science, spelling, reading, writing and social studies. I was very good in lunch," he said.
And he wasn't much of an athlete, either: "In tetherball, I always got smashed in the face."
"My parents and teachers told me I was stupid, lazy and not living up to my potential," he said.
Winkler, who had wanted to be an actor since he was 7, never attended special-education classes, but he managed to make it through high school. He went on to earn a bachelor's degree from Emerson College in Boston and a master's degree in fine arts from the Yale University School of Drama.
At age 31, Winkler said, "I found out, I ain't stupid, I have something with a name -- I was dyslexic."
It was a huge relief, Winkler said, and today, he feels grateful for his disability, because it made him work harder and achieve more.
Pamela Bloom, head of Winston School, also located in Short Hills, said Winkler was an important guest speaker because her students have a lot in common with his younger self -- and that his success can serve as an inspiration.
"It's just pencil-and-paper tasks that are difficult for our kids," she said. "The rest of them is fantastic."
During a question-and-answer period, several students asked about the Hank Zipzer books. They were especially interested in knowing if any of the characters were based on real people.
Winkler said he used the real names of two teachers, Ms. Adolf and Mr. Rock.
The hard-hearted Adolf "was an actual teacher," he said.
The kindly Mr. Rock said, "'You're going to be okay,' but he was the only one," Winkler said.
In U.S. public schools, dyslexic students are classified under the category "specific learning disabilities" when they are recommended for special education programs. About 80 percent of students with a "specific learning disability" have a "primary disability" in reading and language processing -- with dyslexia the most common source of that disability, according to the International Dyslexia Association, based in Maryland.
Of the nearly 1.4 million students who attended New Jersey public schools from kindergarten through grade 12 in 2007, there were 90,356 students enrolled in special education programs for specific learning disabilities, or more than 6 percent of the total school population, according to data provided by the state Department of Education.
"There is no difference between a reading disability and dyslexia," explained Kathleen Selvaggi Fadden, a neurodevelopmental pediatrician and medical director in the Child Development Center at Morristown Memorial Hospital. Students thought of as dyslexic generally have a "severe" reading disability, which shows up in several symptoms, Fadden said.
Although the popular perception of dyslexia involves reversing letters, or reversing words, that's just one of the symptoms, Fadden said.
Dyslexic children are slow to learn the sounds made by letters. After they learn to "tap out" words phonetically, they may find it difficult to remember words without tapping them out each time they see them. Also, they have trouble reading and remembering words that don't follow phonetic rules.
Winkler and his wife, Stacey, raised two sons and a daughter. Winkler said he decided he would be different from his own parents and he made a point of constantly praising his kids and listening to what they had to say.
Winkler's learning disabilities persist to this day, but he said he's learned to deal with them. When he accepts a new TV or movie role, he said, "I get the script early and I read one ... word ... at ... a ... time."
Also, he said, he enjoys reading mystery novels and thrillers, even though reading remains a challenge. "I keep every book I have read on a special shelf," he said. "Every book I have read is a triumph."
by Ben Horowitz/The Star-Ledger
http://www.nj.com/
Learning Disabilites Way Of Henry Winkler
Answer For Dyslexia
Pittsburgh, PA, April 06, 2009 --(PR.com)-- It is estimated that 10-15% of the population struggles with dyslexia. Unfortunately, a large majority go undiagnosed – despite struggling to read or write throughout their lives. Usually bright in every other respect, dyslexics are often misunderstood, leading to frustration and low self-esteem.
Breakthrough research by Ronald D. Davis, author of the internationally acclaimed book, The Gift of Dyslexia, indicates that dyslexia is not a malfunction of the brain, eyes, or ears - it is a compound of simple factors which can be dealt with step by step.
Davis will be touring the US and Canada to conduct a series of lectures to present his breakthrough methods for treating people with dyslexia. Davis has helped many thousands of adult and child dyslexics all over the world to read, understand the dyslexic learning style, and enhance their natural creative ability.
Davis explains, “Dyslexics have a visual, multi-dimensional, picture-thinking style, and are less predisposed to word-based thinking.” It is this difference in perception and thinking style that causes dyslexics to have difficulty recognizing printed symbols - such as letters of the alphabet and written words. Their lack of verbal thinking also poses problems with teaching approaches which emphasize phonics and phonemic awareness.
According to Davis, confusion with symbols and abstract words cause a dyslexic’s perception to distort - resulting in the well-known transpositions, mistakes, fatigue, and frustration seen while reading and writing.
In order to successfully assist a dyslexic individual, one must address both the perceptual distortion, and the underlying confusion with symbols and words.
Davis asserts, “If control can be gained over perceptual disorientation by using simple mental processes, and language skills taught with methods adapted to picture thinkers, then someone who is dyslexic will be able to read and write without problems.”
Considered autistic from infancy, Davis grew up labeled a “dummy” at home and “mentally retarded” at school. Despite his severe learning disabilities, he became a successful engineer, businessman and sculptor. Davis was functionally illiterate until the age of 38 when he discovered a method that allowed him to stop the distorted perception that rendered words impossible to decipher - and to read a book cover-to-cover for the first time in his life without struggling.
Davis went on to research and develop training procedures known as the Davis Dyslexia Correction Program for dyslexic adults and children which are now changing the face of special education and learning disability correction throughout the world. These methods are geared towards the unique learning style of dyslexics. The unique aspects of his work include a series of perceptual and kinesthetic exercises called Davis Orientation Counseling, which quickly and easily enable people prone to disorientation, and who suffer from learning difficulties, to control the mental processes that cause distorted perceptions of letters, words and numerals.
Davis has also developed creative learning procedures called Davis Symbol Mastery which allows dyslexic students to think with symbols and words so they can learn to read easily, and with full comprehension. The process involves students modeling symbols and word concepts in clay, a multi-sensory process that enables them to exercise their creativity. With this approach, learning is permanent.
Ron and Alice Davis founded Davis Dyslexia Association International (DDAI) in1995. Its goals are to increase worldwide awareness about the positive aspects of dyslexia and related learning styles and to present methods for improving literacy. The Davis methods report a 97% success rate correcting (not curing) dyslexia and related conditions such as dysgraphia, dyscalculia, attention difficulties and dyspraxia. Today, there are more than 400 licensed Davis Facilitators worldwide providing Davis Programs in 40 nations and 30 languages.
Best-selling author, Ronald Davis, will present a public lecture on "The Gift of Dyslexia" on May 6 at Westmoreland County Community College from 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Laurel Highlands Dyslexia Correction Center
Marcia Maust
(814) 267-5765
info@dyslexiapa.com
www.dyslexiapa.com
Fundraise For Reading Disablities
Faced with the elimination of its funding, the Understanding Disabilities Program of the Reading Public Schools is fighting for its life.
The directors of the 25-year-old not-for-profit program, which opens up conversations about disabilities with elementary school age children in order to teach about tolerance and acceptance, learned this year that it will not be a line item in the 2010 school budget. The district had contributed $20,000 each year to pay for a part-time director and related costs, according to director Ruth Clogston.
The UD program was originally started by Judy LeBlanc, a visually-impaired Reading resident who learned about a similar program in Newton. With LeBlanc’s support, UD eventually became a part of the third and fourth grade curriculas.
The program has grown to offer 68 programs district-wide, providing education in such issues as food allergies, hearing impairment, and learning disabilities.
Clogston said that the program has been very popular with students and teachers, as well with the community at large, and that she hears from former students who still remember the second grade “guided walk” that teaches about blindness.
“When you do hands on learning, it really stays with the kids,” Clogston said. “It is an incredible life lesson that they learn. Our children may face disability in their own life, in a friend or co-worker. We want them to become people who work with the disabled, who hire the disabled.”
With no funding available for next year, the UD directors have had to begin fundraising for the first time in the program’s history, in a year when donations to other organizations, such as school PTOs, have been reduced due to the bad economy.
“We are still evaluating how much we can raise,” Clogston said. “We are new to this, and we have to raise a lot of money in a short period of time.”
The district has offered “in kind” services such as copying, Clogston said, and School Committee members and administrators have expressed moral support, even while they cannot offer the program financial support.
“We are hoping for the best,” Clogston said.
Contributions to Understanding Disabilities are tax deductible and can be sent to Understanding Disabilities, Inc, PO Box 465, Reading, MA 01867.
http://www.wickedlocal.com/reading/homepage
