Making a Difference in Your Community : Center Helps Dyslexics Clear Away Obstacles

On the wall in a tiny Studio City classroom is a handwritten sign in carefully formed block letters: “Learning to read, at any age, is the most precious gift in the world.”

For 20 adults who come to the classroom at the Ryan Dyslexia Center twice a week, written language had been a jumble of nonsensical letters. But slowly, the letters are forming words, and words are forming sentences.

The adults are in a literacy program co-sponsored by the Orton Dyslexia Society.

Dyslexics can be of above-average or superior intelligence but have difficulty learning, retaining and expressing information, according to the Orton society. Symptoms of dyslexia may include poor organizational skills, inability to recall numbers in proper sequences and difficulty learning an alphabet.

“I have to see it a lot--a lot--of times before I get it,” said Diana Hall, 47, of Canoga Park. “You can’t just tell me. You have to give me an example and I gradually get it.”

Hall tore down and rebuilt words with her classmates on a recent Monday. Students watched a videotaped class as two volunteer instructors paused the tape to answer questions or discuss rules of spelling.

A cheery blond woman with a hint of the South in her speech drilled students from the television screen on types of suffixes.

“Vowel suffix!” Lawrence Cane Jr. bellowed as the suffix “-ing” flashed on the screen.

For Cane, improving his reading boosts his construction business.

“It helps me fill out my contracts, write out receipts,” said the 31-year-old from Atwater Village. “It makes me feel more confident.”

Cane and his classmates are excited about learning, said volunteer instructor Rhea Walco, a teaching assistant for special education classes in the L.A. Unified School District. “The motivation is totally there,” she said.

One reason the students are so motivated may be a role model they see each week. Valeri Lisa Cirino, who drives from Oxnard to help teach the Monday class, is dyslexic.

Cirino, 32, remembers a high school counselor’s admonition that she wasn’t “college material.” She took it as a challenge.

In junior college, testing revealed that she is dyslexic and intellectually gifted. Years of doubting herself were over. A world of education opened up with new learning methods.

It still wasn’t easy. She spent eight years in junior college before being accepted to UCLA. Now a graduate with a psychology degree, she wants to encourage others with learning differences and educate the public about a very misunderstood group of people.

“I want people to know that dyslexics are creative and intelligent people,” she said.

The photos of dyslexics hanging on the office wall are testaments to that. Whoopi Goldberg, Nelson Rockefeller and Bruce Jenner are among the dyslexic 15% of the population.

Dottie Zediker, 51, attends the twice-weekly classes faithfully.

“I look forward to it because I learn so much,” said the Sunland resident. “It’s a gift to myself. It’s just a wonderful thing to look at something and be able to figure it out.”

For more information about volunteering at the center, call (818) 506-8866.

Other volunteering opportunities:

The Retired Senior Volunteer Program needs volunteers 55 or older to help in school libraries, to serve as teacher aides and tutors. Call Panorama City-based RSVP at (818) 908-5070.

Getting Involved is a weekly listing of volunteering opportunities. Please address prospective listings to Getting Involved, Los Angeles Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth, 91311. Or fax them to (818) 772-3338.