This website was developed by Archie Willard, a dyslexic who learned
to read at age 54. Hiding my illiteracy, I managed to get through life
quite well -- held a steady job, was active in various community organizations,
and was even elected to the city council. I did all this with a fourth-grade
reading level, because I learned various tricks to get by. I was able to
keep abreast of current events by listening to the TV and radio news; I
"forgot my glasses" to avoid awkward reading in public places.
At age 54 I learned about dyslexia, was tested for this condition and subsequently
enrolled in an adult tutor program at the local community college. After
two years of diligent study with a very dedicated and compassionate tutor,
I became an adult literacy and learning disabilities advocate.
The quality of my life improved so much as my self-esteem and confidence
grew -- no more hiding, no more pretending. Plus, there is a whole new
world of learning and information available that I was never able to access
before. Learning to read has changed my life!
Through my networking with educators, learning disabilities experts
and new readers, I've made a lot of useful contacts. I've even learned
to use the Internet to gather information and communicate. I have created
this site to help get information to parents of children with learning
disabilities and other adults like me. There is a ton of information out
there, and much of it is confusing. I personally gathered the information
listed on this website, so I can vouch for the quality of these programs.
I hope you find the "books" in this "library" useful.
Welcome !
I do public speading at various kinds of events -- teaching training
seminars, community service organizations, etc. If you would like to contact
me or have suggestions about information to add/share, please drop
me a note by email at Millard@goldfieldaccess.net or by snail mail at: Archie
Willard, 30 Parkview Drive, Eagle Grove, IA 50533.
Iowa Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services, 510 E. 12th St., Des Moines, IA 50319, (800) 532-1486, fax (515)281-4703
Iowa Pilot Parents, Inc. (Training for IEP's), 33 N. 12th St., Fort Dodge, IA 50501, (515) 576-5870
Protection & Advocacy Services, Inc., 3015 Merle Hay Road - Suite 6, Des Moines, IA 50310, (515) 278-2505
GED Hotline (800) 626-9433
Illinois Literacy Hotline (800) 321-9511
National Literacy Hotline (800) 228-8813
Center for the Study and Treatment of Dyslexia, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN 37130 http://www.mtsu.edu/~dyslexia/index.html
Adult Literacy Program, Drake University, 3206 University Ave., Des Moines, IA (515)271-3982
Hill School, 4817 Odessa Avenue, Fort Worth, TX 76133-1640 (817) 923-9482
FAX (817) 923-4894
Excelsior Academy, 7202 Princess View Drive, San Diego, CA 92120 (619)583-6762
Center for the Study and Treatment of Dyslexia, Middle Tennessee State
University, Murofreesboro, TN 37130 (615) 848-1271 FAX (615) 84801392
The Summit School, 664 E. Central Avenue, Edewater, MD 21037 (410) 956-1042
Adult Literacy Institute, 989 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215-1308
(617) 782-8956 FAX (617) 782-9011
Hamlin Robinson School, 10211 12th Avenue South, Seattle, Washington
98168 (206) 763-1167
Lake County Literacy Program for Adults, 19351 West Washington, Grayslake, IL 60030, (708)223-6601
McLeod Academy, 305 2nd Avenue, Marion, IA 52302 (319)373-0187
Slingerland Institute, One Bellevue Ceneter, 411 108th Avenue N.E.,
Bellevue, Washington 98004 (206) 453-1190
Places to be tested for LD (Learning Disabilities):
(I know there are a lot of places to be tested and there are a lot of good ones. These are some that I know people have gotten good results from.)
Evaluation Center for Learning, 3633 West Lake Avenue #103, Glenview, IL 60025 (708) 657-5765
I Help, Dr. Lynne W. Reynolds, 1731 Cutler Ridge, Smyrna, Georgia 30080
(404) 432-2260
Lake County Literacy Program, 19351 West Washington, Grayslake, IL 60030
(708) 223-6601
Language Connection, Ann Hoopes Champion - Director, Washington Square East - #203, 510 E. Washington St., Bloomington, IL 61701, (309) 828-1292
Dr. Harold Lubin, 471 Harding Drive, So. Orange, NJ 07079 (201) 992-1731
Reading Center, Jean Osman - Director, 1312 7th St. NW - Suite B., Rochester, MN 55901, (507) 288-5271
Michael Ryan, PhD. 820 John St., #101, Kalamazoo, MI 49007 (616) 342-8808
Reading Center, 1312 7 Street N.W., Suite B, Rochester, MN 55901 (507)
288-5271
Iowa Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services, 510 E. 12th Street,
Des Moines, IA 50319 1-800-532-1486 FAX 515 281-4703 e-mail MM03@Acaol.Drake.Edu
Learning Disabilities Association of America, 4156 Library Road, Pittsburgh,
PA 15234-1349 (412) 1341-1515 or (412) 341-8077 FAX (412) 344-0224
Orton Dyslexia Society - State Offices 1-800-898-8076 #34703; National
Offices 1-800-ABCD123; Illinois Branch (708) 668-4800
The Orton Dyslexia Society, Chester Building Suite 382, 8600 LaSalle
Road, Baltimore, MD 21286-2044 (410) 296-0232 FAX (410) 321-5069
Laubach Literacy International, 1320 Jamesville Ave, Box 131, Syracuse,
NY 13210 (315) 422-9121 FAX (315) 422-6369
Ann Hoopes Champion, PhD., Washington Square E 203, Bloomington, IL
61701 (309) 828-1291
Iowa Protection and Advocacy Services, Inc., 3015 Merle Hay Road, Suite
6, Des Moines, IA 50310 (515) 278-2502
Drake University Adult Literacy Program, 3206 University Avenue, Des
Moines, IA 50310 (515) 271-3982
Iowa Pilot Parents, Inc., 33 N. 12th Street, Fort Dodge, IA 50501 (515)
576-5870
Learning Disabilities Association of Iowa, PO Box 665, Indianaola, IA
50125 (515) 280-8558
Illinois New Readers for New Life, Dale Christianson (309) 342-9924
Recordings for the Blind, 20 Roszel Road, Princeton, NJ 08540 (609)
520-8079 FAX (609) 957-8116
I am a person who has had a hard time learning to read. I have improved
my reading, but still work hard at it and I always will. This book is written
for people who have also struggled to learn to read so they can identify
with it.
I was born in Eagle Grove, Iowa, and have lived here all my life. I
grew up in a good family atmosphere where there was always a lot of love.
My father worked as a conductor on the Chicago Northwestern Railroad. During
the 1930's (and the Depression), my family was very lucky my father had
a job that provided for us very well for those times. My mother worked
very hard as a homemaker taking care of my two older sisters and me.
Before I started school, my childhood was pretty normal. There were
a lot of kids in our neighborhood and we did the fun things that normal
children do just growing up. Our backyard was always full of friends. My
sisters taught me to count to 100, the letters of the alphabet, and a lot
of nursery rhymes. It was generally accepted that if I could do these things,
I would do well in school.
Kindergarten was the most enjoyable year of my entire school career.
We played games, we sang, and I was right in the middle of everything.
at the end of the school year, the 1st grade teacher came to our kindergarten
room and talked to each of us individually. When my turn came, she showed
me pictures and asked me questions. I knew everything that I was supposed
to know at that age level. Based on this "test", in 1st grade,
the very first day I was in the Group A. However, it didn't take long for
the teacher to realize that I couldn't keep up with the others in my group.
I was then moved to Group B, and eventually, on down to the bottom of the
class.
My 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade teachers did what they could for me in the
time that they had. No one knew at that time that I have dyslexia and needed
to be taught differently.
When I was in the 4th grade, I watched the A, B, and C Groups day after
day. After seeing and hearing them, I could almost repeat the lesson from
memory. I was required to stay after school. It seemed that I was being
punished. I did not realize that the teacher was doing me a favor. She
did not have to stay there and work with me one on one. Things got better
for me as a student that year.
At the beginning of my 5th grade year, the teacher was asking our class
questions about the lesson. I got very confused and didn't know the answers.
Then I was moved to the back of the room, away from the rest of the class.
Any question I asked was made to sound like a "dumb question."
It didn't take long for a young 5th grader to stop asking questions. I
sat in the back of the room looking out the window and was just plain ignored.
I wasn't the only student who had ever been treated this way by this particular
teacher. My misfortune was that the school system moved her up to 6th,
then 7th, then 8th grade as I was passed from grade to grade. I had
this same teacher for four straight years. It was like being in a classroom
all by myself or solitary confinement.
When I got to high school, things were somewhat different. Some of the
educators tried to draw things out of me in different ways. Others didn't
have much use for me. Somehow I got through high school. One of the things
that kept me going was that I did all right in sports. During my senior
year, a number of colleges showed interest in my playing football at their
schools. I knew that I could not make it academically, so I did not respond.
I did attend a Junior College, playing football for two years on a very
good team. I did not graduate, but the experience helped me to develop
as a person. So, the two years were not wasted.
I then went to work in a meat-packing plant, Hormel Packing Company.
At that time, working in packing plant was a good job and paid well. Because
I worked with my hands, I didn't need to know how to read. At work, people
didn't know I couldn't read. I knew what was going on in the world because
I listened to the radio and watched TV. I wrote checks, did business with
the bank, shopped for groceries, etc. I got along so well in life I almost
forgot that I was a poor reader. Yet, deep inside I always lived in fear
and frustration: fear of being exposed as a poor reader; frustration because
I thought I was the only person in the world in my situation.
I worked at Hormel Packing Company for 31 years until the plant closed.
I was able to receive an early retirement, but retirement pay was not going
to support my family. For a person 50 years old with a family, jobs were
hard to come by, especially for a person who couln't read well. Things
looked pretty bleak. I was fortunate to find work as an insurance adjuster
for a crop hail insurance company and worked there for 14 years. This was
a seasonal job, from spring until fall. This job was hard for me because
my spelling was just plain bad. I practiced spelling "insurance words"
to memorize them and got by. I also was a school bus driver from fall until
spring for 10 years. With my three different incomes, my family got along
well.
A few years after I began my new "careers," my wife read a
newspaper article to me about Bruce Jenner. He had won the decathlon in
the 1976 Olympics. The story told about this athletic achievements but
it also told of his struggles with reading due to a learning disability
called "dyslexia." We had never heard this word. It seemed that
I had been looking for the word "dyslexia" all my life. Things
that had happened to me in school started going through my mind. I wanted
to be tested, yet didn't want to be tested. My wife found a book in the
local library called Reversals by Eileen Simpson. Ms. Simpson is
a psychologist, an author and a dyslexic. Her life story was so much like
mine that I could not be satisfied until I found out if I was or was not
dyslexic.
My family physician made an appointment for me at the University of
Iowa Hospitals Department of Neurology to be tested for dyslexia. Doctors
there found that I have above average intelligence, but that I am very
dyslexic. At that point, I started feeling good about myself for the first
time since early childhood. I was not stupid after all, I had a learning
disability. There was finally a reason why I could not read. I had never
wanted anyone to know about my reading problem before, but now that there
was a reason for it, I really wanted to find help to improve my reading.
Our education system does not want to put labels on students. I think
there are good labels as well as bad. People need to know what their problems
are. Dyslexia is something that never goes away. You need to find ways
to work around it just to survive. The best thing that ever happened to
me was to be able to replace my label "dumb" with "dyslexic."
I found a reading program for adults at Iowa Central Community College
in Fort Dodge, Iowa. A wonderful lady who was determined to teach me to
read worked with me. She halped me to find myself in so many different
ways. One day she asked me to do some public speaking. I didn't want to,
but I couldn't say, "No," to someone who had given 2 1/2 years
of her life teaching me to read. So, I spoke to a group of L.D. students
at Cooper Elementary School in Fort Dodge. I had never given a speech in
public before. I just told the story of my life. When I was finished, the
kids looked at me like I was someone important.
That one speech has taken me hundreds of places: other schools; colleges;
churches; service clubs; conferences; national conferences. It has even
taken me to Russia on two occasions with an education delegation to study
the Special Education system there. While in Russia, I was privileged to
speak to faculty members at the Hertzen Institute for Pedagogical Studies
in St. Petersburg. In October, 1995, I was one of six people who were awarded
fellowships from the National Istitute for Literacy in Washington, DC.
I now work as a literacy recruiter for Adult Basic Education at Iowa
Central Community College. This job entails encouraging adults with reading
problems to get involved in a literacy program, as well as finding volunteer
tutors. I am also involved in the E.S.L and G.E.D. segments of the A.B.E.
program.
I would like to encourage others who struggle with reading to join the
mainstream of life. By doing this, your life will improve. By letting society
know we are here, things will improve for all of us, in time. We don't
do this for just ourselves, we do this for all those who come after us.
In the Opinion Book, I will be giving my thoughts about literacy
from time to time. I hope you will e-mail me with your thoughts.
e-mail to: Millard@goldfieldaccess.net
California Distance Learning Project
http://www.cdlponline.org/
International Dyslexia Association
http://www.interdys.org
National Institute for Literacy
http://novel. nifl. gov/
Center for the Study and Treatment of Dyslexia
http://www.mtsu.edu:80/Academic/Dyslexia/index.html
Orton Dyslexia Society - Iowa Branch Phone:800-898-8076 712-255-5244
Orton Dyslexia Society - Illinois Branch Phone:708-668-4800
Orton Dyslexia Society
Chester Building - Suite 382
8600 LaSalle Road
Baltimore, MD 21286-2044
Phone:410-296-0232
Fax:410-321-5069
http://ods.pie.org/t3639/
Learning Disabilities Association of America
4156 Library Road
Pittsburgh, PA 15234-1349
Phone:412-341-1515
Fax: 412-344-0224
Learning Disabilities Association of Iowa
P.O. Box 665
Indianola, IA 50125
Phone:515-280-8558
Laubach Literacy International
1320 Jamesville Ave. - Box 131
Syracuse, NY 13210
Phone:315-422-9121
Fax: 315-422-6369
Minnesota Literacy Council
475 No. Cleveland - Suite 303
St. Paul, MN 55104
Phone:800-225-7323 or 612-645-2277
Illinois New Readers for New Life
Dale Christianson
Galesburg, IL
Phone:309-342-9924
Iowa Reading Association
512 Lynn Avenue
Ames, IA 50014
edited April 4, 2006