33°F Partly Cloudy 
What's happening in:
7/4/09
|
5 comments
renee ordway Mom hails Masons’ mission
On a subzero January morning in 2004, I stood on Main Street in Bangor with a reporter’s notebook clasped in my frozen fingers and watched the stunningly beautiful, eerie and tragic site in front of me.
Hundreds of others also gathered as firefighters struggled to control the flames that ripped through one of the downtown’s most historic and beautiful buildings at 116 Main St.
It was sad on many levels and newsworthy not just because of the loss of such an important landmark — which served as home for the Masons — but because of the spectacular effort that went into trying to save it and the images that went around the world as the millions of gallons of water thrown onto the blaze turned the building into a virtual ice palace.
With all that going on, I still felt a personal sadness and sense of frustration as the flames and water laid ruin to the brick structure and all of its contents.
For somewhere deep inside that frozen, ashy mess was a manila envelope with my daughter’s name on it.
Since the first grade my daughter had struggled to read. She was bright and attentive with a quick memory, and we as her parents, as well as her teachers, worked to understand the difficulty she had in reading short grade-level words and sentences.
Teachers sent her home with extra-short books to read at night. She spent time with a special reading teacher. We were told that she would be just fine, but perhaps we should read to her more.
As she made her way through elementary school, it was more her memory, her willingness to pay close attention in class and her common sense that kept her on track academically. It continued to be clear that as bright as she was she could barely read.
When she was 12 years old and entering the sixth grade, we finally sought help, and after a lot of testing a pleasant doctor at Eastern Maine Medical Center sat us down one day and said, “Your daughter is dyslexic.”
She’s actually reading on the level of a second-grader, he added.
I had hardly heard of the word and had no idea what it really meant.
I remember trying to explain it to my daughter in a way that would not upset her.
“It’s OK,” she assured me. “It’s just nice to know that I’m not stupid.”
The simple definition of dyslexia is that it is an impairment in the brain’s ability to translate written images received from one’s eyes into meaningful language.
Finding help for children with dyslexia can be as frustrating as the condition itself.
Yet for 12 years, the Scottish Rite Children’s Learning Center in Bangor has been quietly changing the lives of those children.
The learning center is run by the Masons and a network of volunteers who teach the Orton-Gillingham Intervention Program.
Each year it tutors about 40 area children free of charge.
There is almost always a waiting list.
Just before that bitter cold January morning in 2004, I had sent in the paperwork to get my daughter on that coveted list.
I was terrified that our last chance for help had gone up in flames along with the priceless artifacts inside.
But like the phoenix, the people at the learning center rose to the challenge, moved into some nearby office space on Harlow Street and continued their work.
My daughter was fortunate to get into the program eventually. It was twice a week for three years.
It has been a rainy summer, in case you haven’t noticed.
For a very large part of it my 16-year-old daughter has been sitting on the front porch reading one book after another.
When she was first diagnosed with dyslexia, the evaluator cautioned against her ever taking a foreign language, saying it is normally too difficult for dyslexics. While at times certainly challenging, this fall she’ll start her third year of French.
So hats — or fezzes — off as this deserving and largely unknown group moves into its new home on the former Bangor Theological Seminary campus.
Not registered? Click here
|
E-mail this
|
Print this
|
Local News
NEWBURGH, Maine — Longtime Town Clerk Lois Libby was hired at a special meeting Friday to serve as interim town …
LEE, Maine — Memorializing the death of a young man is usually a somber, if not heart-rending affair, but Michael …
BRADLEY, Maine — Residents filled three elective positions during annual elections Friday.
Winners of a four-way …
BREWER, Maine — Twin City Rodeways Inc. took ownership of the New Stable Inn on Wilson Street in mid-February when …
BAILEYVILLE, Maine — A local man was arrested Friday afternoon after he allegedly assaulted a woman twice in the same …
Recent comments
I for one do not want the state knowing what is between me and my doctor. Next think they will want to know about my …
If this were such a great bill, politicians probably would't have to be bribed into commiting political suicide in …
When will this insanity end? Let's just legalize it, Tax it and get on with it.
When will this insanity end? Let's just legalize it, Tax it and get on with it.
Be careful! Don't do anything illegal. Those in authority like to come after patients. It's kind of like shooting fish …
renee I was one in the crowd that cold January morning also watching the water turn to ice on the Mason's burning building....the learning center and those that do the respective teaching and work have many success stories as yours and your daughters... Am also very glad for the new home for the Masons and appreciate all they do for children and communities....
This was a wonderful true life story to read. Thanks for sharing this, and the best to your daughter who is doing so well academically. The Learning Center at the Mason's Building has been so instrumental in that....great that it has a nice new home.
My father and two brothers were/are members of that organization and have memories of that building and the losses from the fire. The new buildings will afford a new beginning while allowing memories from the past to continue to be treasured. Thank you for your story. It showed how the organization was more than a building.
FREE WRITING HELP FROM SPECIAL EDUCATION (PLUS DYSLEXIA) TO BA AND BUSINESS
www.TheEasyEssay.com is a free program that is being used from Special Education to college education, FCAT, SAT, ACT test preparation, home schooling, and educational rehabilitation, as well as in business for concise, organized and targeted memos, speeches, reports, and recommendations.
A noted side effect is that users begin to communicate logically.
**************
“I have used this technique with my corporate clients, my theology students, and soon with my students at Kaplan University.”
Dr. Kathleen A. Bishop, M.B.A., PhD, ThD.
“I got feedback from the teachers. They love it and we are looking at using it with some of our AT devices.”
Dr. Suzanne Pope Dobson - Calhoun High School (Special Education Department Head)
Thank You, Barry.
I looked at the site and even did a trial run. I will email this information to our Health Resource Consultants and put it in our knowledge base for future inquiries [with respect to] Traumatic Brain Injury.
Respectfully,
~ Erin, U.S. Department of Defense - Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
As a Free Mason myself, now for nearly 14 years, I must say that when I heard of this tragic fire in one of Bangor's historical (new history) buildings, I, too, was distraught with emotion. I know the history of the building growing up in Bangor, and I had attended a meeting or two on trips back to Bangor, as I reside out-of-state. The recent article on the Masonic Lodges' new home on the Seminary campus was a welcomed move.
In my state and city where I live, we also have the curriculum you spoke of in the article; the Orton-Gillingham Intervention Program. My son, who is now 15; 16 in October does not enjoy reading, although can read and loved as a younger boy to have me read stories to him before bedtime every night. He is now in his 4th year of high school, and seems to memorize everything the teacher says. He reads so fast, it is like taking a picture of the page, then he turns the page, scans it; reads another, scanning it, and so forth. John F. Kennedy (IQ about 138) said once to a colleague while Kennedy was President, "For goodness sakes...I told you to read the memo, not memorize it!" Kennedy himself, was an avid "speed reader" himself.
Our son's grades are all above 95. He has been accepted into college already - and he will be 16 years old when he starts, either in pre-med or political science (for a psychiatrist or lawyer profession, respectively), although undecided as to which course yet.
My wife and I thought our son, also, had a little problem with reading and attention-spanning. Although he was tested, there were no determinations of problems except his IQ level was in the upper-mid range over 146. He is learning now (as of the second year in high school) to control and put to use, his abilities. Even a lot of folks out here who have high IQ's, they do not know how to "use" that IQ and to make it work emotionally, educationally, socially or other ways important to learning and interest curves.
I see your daughter is into reading now and is taking French. You did not mention if she attends what type of school. Our boy attends a private school. We were amazed when he came home one day 3 years ago with Chinese and German "101" books. Now he is fluent in four languages; Chinese, German, English and of course my wife's native foreign language, as she is Asian. This proves even with learning disabilities, which our son had symptoms of (actually he was bored with the slow pace in class) we thought, the professional we saw, also said that those with dyslexia are highly intelligent for the most part. Myself, I love reading, but hated to do it when forced to learn in the educational setting. It had to become a part of my life, as it now is my son's, and everyone else. So, reading never stops. It is wonderful and buzzes the brain with so many adventures.