A statewide program that offers free testing and after school instruction for children with dyslexia was highlighted at the Winnfield Rotary Club’s Oct. 8 meeting by Cash Melville, chairman of the Masonic Learning Center of Louisiana’s Dyslexia Training Program.

According to Melville, the Grand Lodge could not continue maintaining its Masonic Children’s Home in Alexandria, which closed in 1994. Wanting to continue serving the children of Louisiana, the Masons decided to change the focus of its philanthropy to education and developed a specialized Dyslexia Training Program to help children in the state with the reading disorder. People with this disorder find it hard to identify speech sounds and to learn how these speech sounds relate to written letters and words. It is incredibly hard for people whose brains work this way to properly and consistently decode letters and words, making reading very difficult. Many people with dyslexia also have difficulty reading numbers and mastering math, as well as expressing themselves in speech.

The Masonic Learning Center of Louisiana opened its Dyslexia Training Program in 1998. A referral begins with psychological testing done at no expense to the parent of the child tested. Children who are determined to have dyslexia are trained with the intensive, sequential, multisensory instruction of the SPIRE reading program. The multisensory aspect uses different learning styles to engage students with individual learning styles, and systematic teacher-led instruction to shore up weak areas of reading along with continual practice. Classes are one hour per day and five hours per week.

The program provides after-school instruction by a trained teacher for each student, preferably in the school setting. Melville said there are currently 275 students in the Masonic program, with 75 students on the waiting list. Efforts are currently being made by local Masons to introduce this after-school program into Winn Parish Schools. A class may start with as few as two students. It costs $28,000 to get one started, but all costs are paid by the Grand Lodge of Louisiana’s Masonic Learning Center of Louisiana.

If anyone knows of a child whom he or she suspects may have dyslexia, he or she should contact Cash Melville, who will connect the person with the program administrator to arrange testing. Melville’s cellphone is 985-807-8299; office, 318-443-5610; email, cashmelville@gmail.com.