TDS Student Participates in National Miss Pre-Teen Tampa Pageant

Miss Stephanie Dutch, fourth grade student at Tampa Day School, beamed with pride as she announced her Miss Pre-Teen Pageant platform to the girls’ group during a lunch meeting. When a classmate asked how she felt about participating in a “beauty contest”, this spritely youngster quickly clarified that she was participating in the pageant to further develop her self-confidence and to spread the message that kids who learn differently need the Tampa Day School approach of Understanding, Honoring and Accommodating (UHA!) each student. During her interview, she described that she was enrolled at a private school for children with learning differences. She chose this platform as she knows a little something about learning differently and finding the best fit in a school. She was voted Miss Congeniality and placed in the top 10 in her division.

When Stephanie first enrolled in Tampa Day School in the third grade, she had lost confidence and was overwhelmed not only by the difficulties she encountered in reading but by the likelihood that she would fail the State of Florida FCAT Test and face retention in third grade. Once placed in a smaller class (1-to-12 teacher-to-student ratio) and given the support she needed, she quickly bounced back to the spunky child her parents once knew. Before long, she was raising her hand to read aloud and asking for help when she encountered an unfamiliar word.

As is common for students with Dyslexia, a language-based reading disability, Stephanie is able to perform many academic, athletic, and artistic activities as well as if not better than her same-aged peers. She is an adorable youngster with a hidden disability that only becomes apparent when she is asked to read aloud or produce written work. As frequently cited, people with Dyslexia have a tendency to make errors when reading short, high frequency words such as when and where and may spell words incorrectly. As is the case with many students with reading decoding weaknesses, Stephanie was able to “get by” through second grade by using her more highly developed vocabulary skills and ability to understand context to guess at words when she read to herself. She was often able to compensate by listening to someone else read a story and was able to mask her difficulties to the point that others did not readily detect the severity of her reading struggles. Subsequent to intervention with more direct, explicit, and intensive reading instruction, Stephanie is now reading with improved accuracy.

The typical fourth grade curriculum assumes children have learned to decode words efficiently, and therefore would not include a high level of instruction in reading decoding. Stephanie’s teacher readily adapted her years of experience in the Learning Solutions Intensive Reading Intervention Program to the classroom setting by allocating time each day for differentiated instruction to ensure direct instruction in reading decoding and spelling. In Stephanie’s case, while she received more explicit instruction in critical reading areas, she also participated in a small-group accelerated math program to develop her relative strength in math. Although the climb to fluent, grade level reading is often slower as students reach the upper elementary grades, Stephanie’s hard work and motivation are paying off as evidenced by her significant annual growth on the Northwest Evaluation Association Measures of Academic Progress in reading.

While Stephanie openly shares that reading has been a challenge, she asserts that her participation in advanced math, her active church membership, and cheerleading talents have helped to maintain a good balance. Miss Dutch is an amazing, resilient young lady with a strong potential for leadership. She describes that her experiences as a Daisy and participation in a variety of community service activities have contributed to her belief that she is able to achieve anything as long as she puts her mind to it and works hard. There is no doubt that Stephanie will go far with her charismatic personality and the confidence she has developed as she has overcome challenges and identified areas of strength. She reminds those of us in education why it is imperative we cultivate strengths and talents to ensure we balance the struggles and negative hits to self-esteem so many students encounter every day at school.

• The International Dyslexia Association
• National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
• Dyslexia Treatment: Hints and Tips for Parents