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2.1 Suzy Drapkin biography
As with many other people, I have been influenced by the significant events that have unfolded in my life. One such event is having spent 25+ years working with individuals with disabilities using my training as a Special Education Teacher and a Rehabilitation Counselor. Another is having a daughter who is dyslexic.
In wanting to understand more about dyslexia, so I could better help my daughter, I came upon a training program called Basic Learning Skills developed by the Neuhaus Education Center in Houston, Texas. (http://www.neuhaus.org). My actual training took place through the Rawson-Saunders School (http://www.rawson-saunders.org/pd_bls.html), which is a private school for dyslexics in Austin, Texas. I immediately decided that I wanted to incorporate this training as a way for me to help other kids who have dyslexia. I am now a dyslexia specialist.
What does this training involve? It means that I have completed an extensive course, based on Orton-Gillingham strategies that allow for a multi-sensory language approach, emphasizing phonics, letter recognition, grammar, handwriting, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and writing while utilizing visual, auditory, kinesthetic techniques.
It also means that I am able to work individually or in small groups providing tutoring to improve students� poor reading performance. I use a systematic curriculum designed to teach sound and letter relationships as well as learning strategies in handwriting, spelling, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and writing. Research indicates that those students who repeatedly receive this kind of structured teaching format increase both in their ability to read and in their attitude towards reading.
Although, we always spoke openly about my daughter�s dyslexia with her, she still tried so hard to hide her difficulties in school, so she wouldn�t feel different from other students who could already read. I know that she was worn out by the end of school�s day after struggling to learn to read, write, or spell and pretending that she was like all the other kids in her classes.
I also aim to improve low self-esteem, which is too often, a symptom that students have in response to their difficulty with reading. I strive to lessen the arduous demands that are placed on a student struggling with dyslexia because without intervention dyslexia is exhausting!
Reading plays such a crucial role in our lives, whether we read for enjoyment, or for our jobs, or in our daily routines such as following a recipe or reading a prescription bottle. I enjoy using my specific skills and knowledge to teach dyslexic students useful and effective strategies that can enhance their literary lives, improve how they feel about themselves, and most of all empower them with their success in their reading. I want to help lead them on the PATH to the wonderful world of reading.
Other notable facts about me are that I have a B.S. in Special Education from Southern Connecticut State University and was a classroom teacher some years ago. I also have a M.S. in Rehabilitation Counseling from The Sargent College of Allied Health Professions at Boston University which has allowed me to better appreciate the little quirks and differences that make up each of us. Rehabilitation Counselors help people deal with the personal, social, educational, and vocational effects of disabilities and help them to maximize their potential and independence. My training has taught me to consider all aspects of an individual�s life when I work with them and I always incorporate that viewpoint into whatever work I do.
In addition to working as a dyslexic tutor I also have a private career development and planning practice (http://www.careerachievers.com) which includes providing vocational assessments for adults, college and high school students using an array of diagnostic vocational tools. I am a MBTI® Certified Practitioner. I have certification in other career assessments which include Adkins Life Skills Trainer, Career Design Guide, and McCarron-Dial. I mention this as my diagnostic vocational experience aids me in my ability to identify and interpret my students� reading assessment results.
I also have certification in conflict resolution facilitation, tobacco prevention and cessation training and in adult education instruction.
To contact Suzy Drapkin, email:
[email protected]
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