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Future USU student learns to deal with dyslexia By
Emily Aikele Growing up in Muleshoe, a small town in the Texas panhandle, Katie Woodworth didn't know why she was different from the other kids. She looked similar to her friends and classmates. She even liked to play the same games and with the same toys. But, for some reason, she could never read like everyone else. Not until Woodworth entered fourth grade did her teacher suspect that she suffered from a learning disability named dyslexia. "Up until then I don't know if my teachers didn't notice I had a learning disability, or if they just didn't care," she said. According to the International Dyslexia Association (IDA), dyslexia is a language-based disability in which a person has trouble understanding words, sentences or paragraphs; both oral and written language is affected. Many students see and read words backwards and upside down. "It was embarrassing in elementary school. I just thought all of my friends were expert readers and I didn't know why I couldn't read like everyone else," she said. Woodworth said she didn't know anyone else in her class of 68 students who had dyslexia so it was hard to be the only one she knew of who had to deal with this learning disability. "It's frustrating because you don't want to ask for help all of the time," she said. Woodworth said she always sat in the front of the classroom and some teachers made her copies of the notes so she wouldn't have to write them. Now a 21-year-old getting ready to begin classes at Utah State University, Woodworth said she has tried to train herself to become a better reader. She tries to read a little slower and takes a little bit longer on math problems. She said she has avoided reading in public her entire life because it is very difficult and she thinks everyone would think she was dumb especially since she looks like other women her age. Woodworth has wheat-colored hair that barely passes her shoulder blades. It's pulled sloppily into a low, loose ponytail and several stray hairs have wiggled their way out and hang lifelessly on her neck. She sits comfortably at her kitchen table covered with Christmas decorations waiting to be put up and stamped bills that haven't been sent out yet. Her right leg is extended and rests on the chair next to her revealing her worn, teal-colored sweats. She is wearing a gray, cotton sweatshirt with a black Nike swoosh sign over her left breast. Woodworth said although she has dyslexia, she enjoys school. She was able to listen to tapes instead of reading textbooks sometimes and she usually took modified tests in high school. Resources similar to these are available at most college campuses. At the Disability Resource Center (DRC) at USU, students with learning disabilities documented by a doctor, can take modified tests and listen to textbooks and lectures on tape. Christine Lord, Learning Disabilities Specialist at the DRC, said a multiple choice test that is modified might only have three answers instead of four and a student would get an hour and a half instead of an hour to take the test. She said there were about 40 students last semester that used books on tape to help with their reading disabilities. According to the IDA, this is a small number of students compared to the estimated 15-20 percent of America's population who have a reading disability. IDA research reveals that 74 percent of children who were poor readers in third grade remained poor readers in the ninth grade. However, if dyslexic children are able to get help in kindergarten and first grade, they will have fewer problems learning how to read at their grade level than children who weren't helped or identified as having dyslexia until third grade. Children with dyslexia might avoid writing, read slowly or misread words. Parents are usually the first ones to know their child has a learning disability like dyslexia. However, Lord said there are a lot of students who come into the DRC who didn't discover they had a learning disability until they had graduated from high school. Lord said there is one student who reads at a second grade level whose wife referred him to the center. "There are a lot of wives who refer their husbands to us because every class requires reading and they get sick of reading everything to their husbands because they have lives too," she said. So, who is likely to have dyslexia? IDA says dyslexia affects males, females and people from different ethnic backgrounds equally. Individuals inherit the genetic links so it is common for families to have more than one member who has dyslexia. Woodworth is the youngest of 19 children but she said only one of her sisters has dyslexia. "I think it runs in my moms side of the family but I have a huge immediate family and I have 40 nieces and nephews and there are only two of us that we know of who have dyslexia," she said. Woodworth said she will read in front of her family but they don't fully understand what she's dealing with. "It's like your eyes are playing tricks on you. I look at the word 'saw' and I will read 'was'. I can read all of those upside-down envelopes perfectly," she said, pointing to a stack of mail on the table. Woodworth said her sister who has dyslexia didn't know she had it until she was almost finished with high school. "When I found out I had dyslexia, my sister said she saw words the same way," she said. Lord said a lot of students with dyslexia know they should be able to read better but they are so embarrassed they don't tell anyone. She said the anxiety of reading in front of groups could make someone with dyslexia read much worse. According to the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD), there are 2.8 million students who are currently receiving special education services for learning disabilities in the United States. Approximately 85 percent of individuals with a learning disability have difficulty in the area of reading. Lord said most of the students who use the resource center improve their test scores and overall grades. She said there is no cure for dyslexia and students just have to learn how to read and write because it isn't an eye problem, it's a brain problem. However, Lord said there is definitely hope for students with dyslexia who don't feel like they could be successful in a college or university setting. Last year there were a total of 45 students with dyslexia who graduated with bachelor's degrees from USU. There were four students who received graduate degrees, all from the College of Education. There was also one associate's degree earned from the College of Engineering. Lord said because of the DRC, there are more students with disabilities who are making the decision to go to college. She said it is so important for students with learning disabilities, like dyslexia, to get the help they need because it is so difficult to go to school without being able to read very well. "Reading is so important. Without it, you're lost," said Lord. As for Woodworth, she's not too worried about going to USU. "I've always liked school, especially for the social part, but I've trained myself to read better and I think I'll do OK," she said.
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