RC Maracas/St. Joseph: Star Dyslexia
Posted by Sean Paddy
on Jan 31, 2016
Dyslexia is a Specific Learning Difficulty disorder that affects an estimated 10% of the population. In Trinidad and Tobago, therefore, over 100,000 persons are living with dyslexia.
When DG Milton stated his desire to have District 7030 clubs focus on Dyslexia in 2015/2016, the Rotary club of Maracas/St. Joseph recognized that there was a huge vacuum to be filled in our local community.
With the selfless input and generous guidance from the founder and chair of the Dyslexia association of Trinidad and Tobago, DATT, Cathryn Kelshall, we formulated a plan to incorporate sensitisation of our community alongside sponsorship of children for psychoeducational assessments and sponsorship of teachers for training in methods to teach children with dyslexia.
Our activities began on August 3rd with a feature lecture by Cathryn Kelshall on the various aspects of Dyslexia. In order to fund all the planned interventions we held a Movie and Wine Tasting Fundraiser at Digicel Imax on August 16th 2015 with the showing of MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: ROGUE NATION. Patrons enjoyed samples of wine, a hearty selection of cheeses and the thrill of a blockbuster movie with the added bonus of door prizes, including a ride on the three time great race winner, Total Monster.
It was a sold out show and with the tremendous support we have been able to begin student assessments at 3 schools and make plans for the upcoming teacher training hosted annually by DATT and a community workshop in April 2016.
