“Thank you for teaching me to read.”
That was part of a letter retired Las Cruces teacher Ellen Saige received from a young man a few years ago.
Saige founded the Dyslexia Institute of Southern New Mexico (DISNM) in 2000 in partnership with Kelly Covert, to help children like him deal with dyslexia, a learning disorder that causes difficulty with reading, writing, mathematics and spelling. Originally a sole proprietorship, DISNM became a nonprofit in 2009 and has helped more than 200 children and adults in southern New Mexico and El Paso become strong readers and happier, more successful children and adults.
With her help, the young man who wrote to Saige learned to read well, went on to earn a college degree and become an information technology specialist for an international mission.
Dyslexia therapy has a high rate of success, especially if begun at a young age and the child and his or her parents are committed to that success, Saige said.
DISNM services include a reading program, a math (dyscalculia) program and a writing program for children, as well as a program for high school and college students and older adults with dyslexia.
“We are in the business of saving lives,” said DISNM Academic Director Ute (pronounced oota) Thomas, quoting Judy Carter, director of the Scottish Rite Children’s Learning Center and trainer of the therapists at DISNM.
DISNM Executive Director Myr (pronounced murr) Dawson got involved with the nonprofit after her grandson was found to be dyslexic while in the third grade.
He was pretending to read, but wasn’t able to, she said.
“He was the class clown,” Dawson said, “because you’d rather be funny than stupid.”
Her grandson began therapy with DISNM and “made tremendous progress,” Dawson said.
She often took him to therapy sessions and eventually joined the institute’s board of directors and staff. Dawson also brought bookkeeping experience to the institute, having owned a cookie-making business in Corona, New Mexico.
Among them, Saige, Dawson and Thomas have nearly 75 years of teaching experience in Las Cruces and other New Mexico elementary schools.
Saige and Thomas, along with DISNM’s other six therapists, have extensive training in Alphabetic Phonics (a language curriculum) and in the Take Flight curriculum for students with dyslexia developed at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children in Dallas.
Determining if a child has dyslexia begins with a screening that includes the child, a parent and a teacher or therapist. It can be “very emotional,” Saige said, because the child must confront his or her inability to read and the frustration and denial that go along with it.
The child’s initial response may be, “I can’t read. I don’t want to read. You’re not going to teach me to read,” Saige said.
That frustration often causes behavioral problems, she said, and the child may be labeled as “difficult.”
“They are disappointed in themselves,” Thomas said.
“After they start to read, they become different children. It is such a blessing to be able to do this,” she said.
“Each child is different,” Thomas said. “You have to be careful of their hearts. You have to make sure they’re successful and they feel that. And with time they start to believe in themselves again.”
With Take Flight instruction, students “will learn all 44 sounds of the English language (and) spelling rules for base words and derivatives,” according to https://scottishriteforchildren.org/.
“The training is intense,” Thomas said, and often involves showing the student “a visual of the word” he or she is learning.
Teaching students about sounds may also have them looking in a mirror to “see what your mouth is doing,” Thomas said.
“They’re using all of their senses,” Saige said.
She may ask a student, “How do your lips feel?” when pronouncing a particular sound, or encourage him or her to feel the vibrations of their vocal cords as they speak.
“They like discovering all this,” Thomas said. “Along the way, there are those aha moments when the kid really gets it. We are all thrilled when that happens.”
Visit www.disnm.org. Donate online at www.disnm.org/disnm_how_to_help.html or send donations to Dyslexia Institute of Southern New Mexico, Franklin Hartman Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 13507, Las Cruces, New Mexico 88013. (Switch order)
Visit https://scottishriteforchildren.org/. In the search box, enter “take flight.” Also visit https://scottishriteforchildren.org/getattachment/Page-Modules/Take-Flight/Take-Flight-Elementary_flyer_2022-(1).pdf?lang=en-US.
