Lowell Masons Building Better Readers
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
By Rebecca Piro
The Lowell Sun [MA]

It used to be that Conor Cadigan brought home spelling tests covered in red ink.

But after two years of attending tutoring sessions at the Lowell Masonic Center, the 8-year-old Tewksbury boy is accelerating.

"His spelling tests have all been 100s this year," said tutor Elizabeth Bigelow.

Conor cut her off. "Some 105," he boasted, a proud smile on his face.

Doctors diagnosed Conor four years ago with dyslexia, a type of reading disability that prevents the brain from easily identifying letters and sounds, spelling, learning numbers and more.

Helping children like Conor work through their dyslexia to succeed academically is a mission of the Scottish Rite Masons' Learning Centers for Children.

Lowell's Masonic Center, located at 79 Dutton St., next to Cobblestones restaurant, is one home for the self-proclaimed oldest and largest fraternal organization in the world. Lowell's nonprofit center has tutored dyslexic children from the Greater Lowell area regardless of religion, ethnicity or Masonic affiliation for the last 10 years for free.

This Sunday, the Masons will host their second annual fund-raising walk to drum up funds for the program. Participants will walk 5 kilometers, or 3.1 miles, through historic Lowell starting at 1 p.m.

The money raised will help pay for the tutors and supplies needed to support the reading needs of children of all ages.

The center trains tutors for a full year, at no cost, in methods that involve repetition and practice of vowel and consonant sounds.

"People who have dyslexia don't naturally learn the sound and sight coordinations," tutor Barbara Duris said. "You have to create the pathways in their brains."

Her student, Mike McAndrews, 10, of Chelmsford, joined the center just before he began third grade. His reading ability at the time matched that of a first-grader. Now, two years later, he reads at his age-appropriate fifth-grade level, stumbling over words only occasionally, such as a word in a passage about a shark.

"Suddenly, it leaps high out of the water and ..." Mike paused and pronounced the word "sinks" as "sings."

"I-n-k," Duris said, reminding him of the consonant sounds they practiced earlier.

"Sink. Sinks its big sharp teeth into the girl's arm," Mike finished.

Mike and Conor are two of 26 students currently tutored at the center two days per week. Kids spend an average of two to three years with tutors to overcome their disabilities, and the program is accredited by the International Multisensory Structured Language Education Council, or IMSLEC.