Help for hire: Educational center assists kids with learning differences
By Rob Rogers
Monday, October 15, 2007
Judith D'Amico uses a program called "Expressways to Learning."
"I'd been a home-school mom," she explained.
Then a few years ago, Bethel Church in Redding asked her to tutor at its school. Some students needed extra help with mastering reading skills, getting through math assignments or just sitting through class.
She quickly realized they weren't the typical classroom students. Many of them had what she now calls "blocks" -- learning disabilities that impaired their ability to recall information, string letters together to form words, string words together to form sentences or simply concentrate on their assignments.
So D'Amico started searching for a curriculum specific to the needs of some of these students. That's when she found "Expressways to Learning," a teaching method and computer program designed to help kids who wrestle with dyslexia, attention deficit disorder, memory recall and host of other disabilities.
It addressed her needs but cost thousands of dollars and Bethel couldn't afford to buy it for her. So D'Amico purchased the program herself and started her own education business to teach students with learning disabilities.
Called Abba's Child Learning Center, D'Amico holds classes during the week in a converted house on Old Eureka Way and at Bethel. Classes costs $600 a month. There is also a $200 assessment fee, which is waived if the child enrolls. The center offers loans and recently began offering a money-back guarantee.
"A big part of what we do is catch the child up academically," D'Amico said.
Over the past decade, Redding has become home to a handful of learning centers -- for-profit businesses that trade in education. Newest is Huntington Learning Center on Hilltop Drive, a national company specializing in tutoring school-age children in reading, writing and math as well as teaching study skills.
Sylvan Learning Center, also a national chain, on Hartnell Avenue specializes in teaching students how to study and helping them get caught up if they've fallen behind or helping them get ahead in class. They also offer class credits.
Cost of the Sylvan and Huntington programs varies, depending on which courses are chosen and how long the student is enrolled.
Parents are drawn to learning centers for a number of reasons, be it frustration with a schoolteacher, a child's perceived or diagnosed learning disorder, or the simple desire to help a student get ahead.
Last year, Kelly Gardner's son Darik was struggling with reading. He was home-schooled by his mom -- like his two older siblings -- and approaching third-grade curriculum, easily grasping many of the concepts.
But, his mom said, "It didn't seem like his reading was progressing."
Darik's older brother and sister picked up reading with no problems, Gardner said. She didn't understand why Darik was struggling.
"I'd tried every phonics program at the time," Gardner said.
Her husband mentioned meeting D'Amico at a recent business gathering and, not knowing what else to do, took Darik to Abba's for testing.
The results showed what Gardner already knew -- Darik was reading at about a kindergarten level and was struggling to progress. It also diagnosed his problem. Darik had a slight form of dyslexia, Gardner said.
The Gardners enrolled Darik in Abba's over the summer, not sure how he would do. The structure there would be much like a classroom setting, and up until that point Darik had been home-schooled, learning one-on-one with his mom.
The difference in the learning environment, however, didn't seem to be a factor.
"He just thrived," Gardner said.
Darik worked through computer programs that helped him coordinate his sight, hearing and speech -- all the sensory tools used in reading. It helped him organize letters, words and sentence order. Slowly, his reading skills began to grow.
Seeing his progress and watching him in that classroom-like setting, the Gardners decided to place Darik in public school. They enrolled him in Happy Valley Elementary School in third grade, where he's been since August.
Visiting his classroom last month, Gardner said she noticed Darik had a different chair than anyone else in the class. His teacher explained the chair gets rotated around the room, going to the student who reads the most words that week. That week, it happened to be Darik.
Darik's turnaround, Gardner said, is remarkable.
D'Amico said many times the problem students face isn't necessarily the intelligence to learn. That's almost always there, she said.
Instead, she said students oftentimes fall behind in class because of their learning block. It quickly spirals as their disability compounds their failure to grasp new material and they fall perpetually behind in class.
Once that happens, the student's self-confidence plummets and learning for them becomes difficult, if not impossible, D'Amico said.
Treat the block, she said, and then catch up the student. Once the students see they can learn, their self-confidence begins to grow, she said.
It's exactly what Gardner saw happen to her son.
"It's just been fantastic," she said.
Reporter Rob Rogers can be reached at 225-8217 or at rrogers@redding.com.
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