Dyslexia

On the wall in a tiny Studio City classroom is a handwritten sign in carefully formed block letters: "Learning to read, at any age, is the most precious gift in the world." For 20 adults who come to the classroom at the Ryan Dyslexia Center twice a week, written language had been a jumble of nonsensical letters. But slowly, the letters are forming words, and words are forming sentences. The adults are in a literacy program co-sponsored by the Orton Dyslexia Society.

Steve Goldberg trails off in confusion when he tries to spell the name of the high school he attends. When asked to read a phone number off a sheet of paper, he falters, then hands the paper to a friend. But dyslexia hasn't dampened the 16-year-old's appetite for learning, and although letters and numbers shift and cross before his eyes, mechanical problems appear in his mind with crystal clarity.

Steve Goldberg trails off in confusion when he tries to spell the name of the high school he attends. When asked to read a phone number offa sheet of paper, he falters, then hands the paper to a friend. But dyslexia has not dampened the 16-year-old's appetite for learning. Although letters and numbers shift and cross before his eyes, mechanical problems appear clearly in his mind.

With a white-knuckle grip on his pencil, your preschooler does earnest battle with the alphabet. You applaud every stroke, unconcerned that some letters are standing on their heads or have done a complete about-face. He'll improve with time. And besides, his teachers will turn him around once he gets into kindergarten. Right? If your child has dyslexia, the answer could be no .

I'm noticing a trend among students. No, it isn't a new kind of music, clothing or slang. It involves a learning disability called dyslexia. More and more kids are claiming to have dyslexia, and more parents are offering it as an excuse for their children's low grades or poor behavior. Can it really be that so many school-aged children are dyslexic? Not likely. But parents may be misled by some common confusion about what dyslexia is and how it shows up in kids' learning and behavior.

Feeling a mixture of fear and desperation, Lisa Giffi called Prentice Day School last year hoping that it could do for her 11-year-old daughter, Jennifer, what two school districts and countless teachers could not: help her learn. Jennifer is dyslexic. Like many children with the disorder, she seemed unable to master such basic skills as reading and spelling. By the time she entered fourth grade, Jennifer read at less than a first-grade level.

It is difficult to imagine a better day for Russell White than last Nov. 2, when he ran for 229 yards and three touchdowns during a 52-30 victory over USC. But White said one is coming. And the sometimes outspoken California tailback wasn't talking about Saturday's rematch between Cal and USC at the Coliseum.

Since signing a national letter of intent to play football at San Diego State on Feb. 6, 1991, linebacker Fred Harris has taken more standardized tests than he cares to count, said more prayers than he can remember and still has had the "linebacker" part taken out of his life. He is the most heralded football recruit in Coach Al Luginbill's four recruiting classes--and probably in SDSU school history--and yet he has never snapped on an Aztec helmet.

It was a long, tough climb to the top for Terri Star of Palms, who delivered the valedictorian's speech at West Los Angeles College's graduation ceremony. Star graduated last month with an associate's degree in art and achieved a 4.0 grade-point average. In addition to academic honors, she was also the top scholarship winner, receiving $13,000 in scholarships from West L.A. College and from UCLA to continue her studies at the Westwood campus.

"The Secret," starring Kirk Douglas, is about a grandfather and his grandson overcoming the self-imposed stigma of dyslexia (9 p.m. Sunday on CBS, Channels 2 and 8). That's a socially useful theme--comparatively novel and perfectly tailored for the TV movie. Even First Lady Barbara Bush is going to appear at the end in a public-service announcement. But no movie theme, however portentous, is sufficient unto itself.