Frederick nonprofit aims to increase dyslexia awareness

By KATHERINE SCHUTZMAN

kschutzman@newspost.com

A local nonprofit is launching an educational program to support Frederick families navigating dyslexia and other learning differences.

Dyslexia is a learning difference that disrupts how the brain processes written language, and may manifest as difficulty spelling simple words, confusing letters with similar shapes or mixing up the position of sounds in a word.

The Margaret Byrd Rawson Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to ensuring proper language education for children, plans to offer workshops about dyslexia for local educators, parental guidance sessions and informal literacy screenings for students throughout Frederick County with the Frederick Literacy Access Initiative.

The institute’s co-founder and executive director, Teresa May, helped found the institute in 2002 to honor Margaret Byrd Rawson, a former Frederick resident who advocated for public awareness about dyslexia and contributed to studies about the disorder.

May said the new initiative’s literacy screenings will help parents understand their children’s reading and learning processes to see where their kids may need more guidance. Informational sessions will show parents how to analyze their children’s test scores to identify any literary shortfalls, May said.

All activities through the program will be free for, and limited to, Frederick County participants. May said they hope to begin the informational sessions and testing this fall.

“We want to continue [Rawson’s] legacy ... and make something very special for Frederick,” May said.

May, who is dyslexic and has two dyslexic sons, said she connected with Rawson through a colleague while teaching in Hood College’s sociology department. May has a doctoral degree in sociology.

“Back in the day, no one told me I was dyslexic,” May said. “I was delayed at cracking the reading code. ... I didn’t understand what was going on until I met Margaret.”

Rawson, who died in 2001 at 102 years old, authored nine books on dyslexia with the goal of speaking to her readers in “Plain English,” according to the institute’s website.

Rawson taught sociology at Hood College and was a psychologist for the Frederick County Health Department, according to the website. She was also a member of the U.S. President’s Commission on Public Health and a member of the Maryland Governor’s Commission on Dyslexia.

The Margaret Byrd Rawson Institute received a nearly $1,000 grant from The Christopher & Lucia Kline Family Charitable Fund to kickstart the initiative. The grant will help fund printed materials for the program’s workshops, May said.

They plan to apply for other larger grants to continue the initiative after this year, she said.

The Kline family founded the fund to support nonprofits that provide mental health services and programs for dyslexia. Rawson previously taught Christopher Kline’s mother at Hood College, May said.

“The Fund’s support is helping launch an initiative that recognizes the close connection between literacy, dyslexia, emotional well-being, and educational success,” a press release about the initiative read.

The fund is a component of The Community Foundation of Frederick County, a nonprofit organization that helps connect community causes with donors and grant opportunities.

Betsy Day, the community foundation’s president and CEO, said the institute’s innovative approach to education made its grant application stand out to selection committee volunteers.

The new program will convey the dedication that Rawson showed in her advocacy and research, she said.

“The institute honors that spirit of education and helping others to read, especially those with diagnosed learning disabilities such as dyslexia,” Day said. “It’s an adjunct to what Frederick County Public Schools is able to offer.”

May said another eventual goal of the new program is to create a series of online lessons for learning phonics, the process of matching letters to sounds, tailored to people with dyslexia.

Margaret Byrd Rawson, a former Frederick resident who advocated for dyslexia awareness.

Courtesy of the Margaret Byrd Rawson Institute.