Meet April - a patient who was seen in the Luke Waites Center for Dyslexia & Learning Disorders. Learn more about her journey below.

Blog written by April's mother, Iris, of Ft. Worth, TX. 

I am so thankful to the Luke Waites Center for Dyslexia & Learning Disorders at Scottish Rite for Children for helping us to identify our daughter's learning gaps and provide helpful tips on overcoming these gaps. 

Our daughter, April, was first tested in 2018. We had noticed some gaps in math around second grade, but they had started to become more evident in third grade. We would literally study math with her for about two hours a night, just to help her with basic concepts. She would often forget what she had learned or even become upset because she thocouldn’t understand why learning math was so complicated. A few times, we were both in tears because I didn’t know how to help her improve. I knew that something was wrong, but I couldn’t place my finger on what it was. 

Luckily, one of my co-workers referred me to the Center for Dyslexia at Scottish Rite. When we went for testing, the staff was very friendly and helped to ease April’s anxiety. She started her day fearful but left feeling positive due to the inviting environment. Friendly volunteers spoke to us and encouraged her all throughout our visit. When we went back for the consultation to review the data, we were finally able to get answers to what had been going on. It was nice to have validation and confirm what I knew all along – that April wasn’t lazy. 

We met with Dr. Carpenter and she took the time to explain what was going on and even spoke directly to April. Dr. Carpenter encouraged April, letting her know that she was extremely smart, and had already accomplished such great things. She also explained that April’s learning disability causes her to process things slowly. This was surprising to me, but also explained why homework took as long as it did or why class assignments took a while to complete. This gave April a great boost of confidence. 

This year, April has accomplished a lot - even during quarantine. April has routines that she uses to keep on track and is exceeding at online school. She made an A in math for the first time ever! She also started a business and has published a book! Her first book, The Grove of 100 Wishes, has provided April many exciting opportunities. Her second and third books are even in the works! 

With help from the Center for Dyslexia at Scottish Rite, April learned she was smarter than she knew. 

Her goal is to empower other kids to know that they can overcome their challenges and reach for their dreams. Hearing an expert tell us that April was extremely smart, but just needed different types of support for learning, made all the difference in how she perceived herself. Thank you to Scottish Rite for being an intricate part in making her dreams a reality.

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