Educating Andrew
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EDUCATING ANDREW A PROMISE FULFILLED by Virginia Lanier Biasotto © 2006 by Virginia Biasatto All rights reserved. DEDICATION In the spring of 2003, my mother and I were sitting on her porch reminiscing about Andrew. Her questions awakened memories about the past, and I retold stories about the journey to find the solution for his inability to read. In spite of some short-term memory issues, she hung onto every word. When I was finished, she said, “You must write these stories down.” I was glad that she thought them interesting, but life’s pressures didn’t allow much time for writing. However, she was not to be dissuaded. I would get phone calls saying, “I know you are busy. But you must write those stories down.” One day it came to me that I had written them down. I wrote them down as they happened. I started to dig (I was never much at throwing things away) and low and behold I discovered a large yellowed envelope with the word “ANDREW” printed on it. Inside were a hundred or more typed pages. For a Christmas gift to my mother, I retyped them on the computer and presented them to her in book form. During her final years, she read the book about once a week. Guests in her home had to read it, too. She was very persuasive! It was her encouragement that led me to submit Educating Andrew for publication, and it is to her, Alice Darby Lanier, that I dedicate it. 2 CONTENTS Andrew ........................................................................................................................................ 6 Breakthrough .............................................................................................................................. 9 Connie ......................................................................................................................................... 13 Decisions ..................................................................................................................................... 15 Explanations ............................................................................................................................... 20 Family ......................................................................................................................................... 22 Glasses ......................................................................................................................................... 23 Help ............................................................................................................................................. 26 Intervention ................................................................................................................................ 28 Jemicy ......................................................................................................................................... 31 Kindness ...................................................................................................................................... 34 Listening ..................................................................................................................................... 39 Mission ........................................................................................................................................ 42 Nancy .......................................................................................................................................... 44 Orton-Gillingham ...................................................................................................................... 46 3 Passage ........................................................................................................................................ 47 Return ......................................................................................................................................... 49 School .......................................................................................................................................... 53 The Trip ...................................................................................................................................... 56 Unbelievable ............................................................................................................................... 60 Visionaries .................................................................................................................................. 61 Wisdom ....................................................................................................................................... 65 Yes! .............................................................................................................................................. 69 Zeal .............................................................................................................................................. 72 Epilogue ...................................................................................................................................... 74 4 FOREWORD The book you are about to read is the story of a young man who could not read. This young man had very dedicated teachers who worked tirelessly to try to help him overcome this problem, but to no avail. It is also a story about failure upon failure, personal as well as institutional, but ultimately it is a story of success. I am familiar with all of this because I was that young man. My story took place in the 70’s, but here we are years later and there are literally millions of children reliving my classroom experiences, and for no good reason. These children have good minds. In fact, more often than not, their intelligence is well above average, but they struggle to read. Why? Is it because they weren’t read to, or that they watch too much TV, or don’t try hard enough? Those are some of the reasons given for illiteracy. For most, however, the real reason is that they haven’t been taught how to read. There is no excuse for the system that has failed them. Fortunately, the approaches that were ultimately successful in teaching me to read are not only available today, but have been improved upon. A personal message… …to those mothers and fathers who are about to read this book. Your son or daughter can be taught to read. Even adults who have been passed through the system, sometimes with diplomas, can learn to read as I finally did. …to the educators. There are ways to teach those who seem to be unteachable. Don’t be satisfied until you learn what it takes to reach all of your students. You’ll feel gratified knowing that you unlocked the written word for your hard-to-teach kids and kept them from experiencing the frustrations I had. …and to those who are going through what I went through. It’s not your fault. You can learn to read. And trust me. You may struggle to read and spell, but I guarantee that you have special gifts that people who read and spell easily don’t have. When the going gets tough, just think, “I could be another Edison, Einstein, or Da Vinci!” Andrew C. Biasotto 5 ANDREW “Andrew. Do you know that your shoes are on backwards, your socks don’t match and your shirt is wrong side out and backwards?” Lawrence, my impeccably dressed husband, confronted our four-year-old son. Andrew glanced down quickly and then casually responded, “D-d-d-dad. I’ve got more important things to think about.” Andrew’s mind was never still. He wanted to know the answers to questions that puzzled him. What’s above the sky? What’s under the ground? How many nails did it take to build that building? What’s on the other side of that swimming pool wall? When he started asking questions, we were trapped into doing some heavy thinking. He strained the brain. He also strained the patience because of his halting speech. It seemed as though his tongue got in the way. If any of this bothered him, it didn’t show. He was a happy-go-lucky little boy who loved everybody in general and life in particular. Kindergarten was one continuous wood shaving, as Andrew’s sole interest was the wood shop. Day after day he proudly brought home plastic containers full of wood shavings. I tried not to let it worry me that, while Andrew played, the other children were learning their colors, letters and other academic subjects. I assumed that he would catch up when he entered first grade. After all, boys will be boys, and Andrew was a November baby, making him one of the youngest in his class. Then, at the end of the year, his teacher recommended another year of kindergarten. Like other parents in this situation, we agonized over making the right decision. Eventually, we decided to let him go on to the first grade, where we hoped he would catch up with his peers. Several months into the first grade, however, it became quite clear that he wasn’t catching up. The open-space, ungraded school that he was attending provided plenty of freedom for diversion from unpleasant activities such as reading and writing. Andrew was a concern for his teacher, who couldn’t understand why he wasn’t reading. Since he was obviously bright, she could only assume that his reluctance to participate was due to laziness, so he was frequently kept in from recess because of his inattention. The end of the school year brought unwanted news. It was recommended that Andrew repeat first grade. This time the decision wasn’t as difficult to make, since my husband’s company had just transferred us from Maryland to California. A fresh start in a new school seemed made to be in order. 6 On the last day of first grade,