"Everybody Gets What They Need": Inside a School Built for Dyslexic Kids ft. Dr. Sherri Helvie

Students with dyslexia are incredibly capable students who are most often the most creative and resourceful students that you're going to have in a classroom because they have been working really hard with lots of lateral strategies for all of their learning years. They got me diagnosed when I was in third grade, and it was the most relieving day of my life because I finally had, like, kind of a place to hang my hat and say, see, I told you, I'm not lazy, definitely not stupid, I just learned differently, like, that's totally okay.

We were dyslexics, we were often, you know, just set up for failure because, you know, we were given books and tasks that really are not appropriate for the level that we were at. So, how do you expect anyone to be open to learning when their entire relationship with reading, with learning, is physical pain? Wish I had understood when I was younger that the fact that my brain worked differently than people meant that I would be good at things in ways that other kids were not going to be good at.

I just assumed I can't be dyslexic because letters don't jump up and down for me, so... Dyslexia is not a disorder. It is not a disease. Once you sort of own it and embrace it, then you can have the power to deal with it. It's sort of empowering and also enriching to the whole community. To those who don't understand what dyslexia is, that it's not a negative, it's not a problem, it's, like we keep saying, superpower.

Hey, everyone, we are Sonja and Nick, and this is Dyslexia Journey, and today we are welcoming Dr. Sherri Helvie, who is head of school of the Gateway School in Manhattan. Dr. Helvie, welcome to Dyslexia Journey. Thank you so much. I'm really excited to be here with you. And we are very excited to dive into the Gateway School and all of its, you know, ways that it helps dyslexic kids and other kids with learning disabilities.

But let's just start a little more personally. So we're curious about your own background and how you came to be in this field. Yeah, absolutely. Well, I've been in preschool through post-secondary education for almost 30 years, and most of that time was spent in general education settings. And over the course of my time, especially in K-8 settings, I had the opportunity as a school administrator to refine, expand, and really revamp our student learning support programs within those general education settings.

And in the course of doing that work, I just felt like we weren't doing as much, and I wasn't doing as much as I wanted to be able to do as an educator. And I had an experience early on in my career at a K-8 school where we had one student in particular, and she was brilliant and extraordinarily talented, an amazing writer and visual artist. And there had just been so many struggles over the years, and she worked so hard.

And in eighth grade, she finally got an evaluation that made it clear that she had dyslexia. And that really hit me hard as an educator who was earlier on in my career to think that a student could spend so many years and work so hard and have such extraordinary talent. And it took adults in her life who were there cheering her on, her biggest advocates, her school, her family. It took us that long to identify her.

And so that really made me feel committed to wanting to work in an environment where we are really emphasizing early identification and really thinking about how do we build those learning environments that are specifically designed for the way our students learn. And so that's what makes me so excited to be in a dedicated learning environment that's structured for students with dyslexia and ADHD. Wonderful, yeah. Yeah, it's something that we talk about a lot on this show is like the importance of early identification and also just how it's so overlooked.

And, you know, we always keep in mind and we really try not to criticize the people in the trenches, the teachers and the administrators, because it's not their fault. It's really more of a systemic thing, I think. Right, absolutely. And teachers, of course, are working so hard every day to think about what their students need. And that's something that we talk a lot about in our school community, that teacher preparation, ongoing preparation for our teachers, ongoing professional development is really critically important.

And so I'm a big advocate for making sure that we can get as many resources out there for teachers at all of our schools as possible. Yeah, so let's jump into the Gateway School then. What's the overall philosophy and approach to supporting and teaching the kids with dyslexia? Yeah, so the Gateway School is a school that serves students with language-based learning disabilities and attention deficits. And we were founded in 1965 with a firm belief and personally lived knowledge that all children can learn.

You just need to know the right way to teach them. And so probably the two of you won't be surprised to hear that the person who was the catalyst and began this journey and what would become our school was a parent, a mom, Claire Flom. And she had a student whom she knew was bright and capable, but just needed an environment that was structured for his learning profile. And so she partnered with an educator at Columbia Teachers College that was Elizabeth Freitas.

And so early on, Claire Flom, Elizabeth Freitas began structuring a learning environment that was well aligned for the learning profiles of their students. And they were doing things that were brand new at the time and also immediately based in the most recent research. We are one of the first special education schools in New York City at the Gateway School. And structuring a school where you are thinking every single day about outcomes for students and the way in which each and every child learns and what they need really made an extraordinary difference in 1965.

And it still makes a great difference today for our students and their outcomes. Remind me which grades are covered, too, as well at the school. We're a K-8 school. As you know, and I know on your own family journey that you've been on, you think a lot about how critically important early intervention is in those younger years. Because we know that the outcomes for students when they get that early identification, when they get the services that they need, when they get those skills and strategies, their trajectories are amazing.

Yeah, and so there's a lot of approaches to working with children with language learning differences. There's sort of focusing on remediation. There's focusing on accommodations and or, you know, or some combination of those. Can you describe a little bit about the sort of pedagogy and, you know, maybe it changes as they go from K through 8? Yeah, absolutely. So remediation is a really important part of the work that we do, especially because most of our students come to us after they've unfortunately had a real challenging experience in what feels like a failure in their current educational system and model.

And so what that means is that students and families come to us really feeling often discouraged, disheartened. And so to come into an environment where they know that their child's going to get the learning model that they need right away, certainly immediately it's a relief to the families, but it's also a relief to the student. And so we get students, some of our students do join us in those earlier years, kindergarten, first grade ages, but we also tend to get a lot of students who come into our school around typically that third grade age group.

And then another entry point is typical around sixth grade. And as you know so well, this is because this is when those academic trajectories around reading, writing, and math outcomes are really being mapped in a particular way. There are different models, especially in public schools, that are being tracked in different ways. And so for many families, for many students, those become the points at which the challenges that their students have in their current academic environment really come to a tipping point, and families are seeking a different option.

One of the things that's distinctive about our program when you think about the remediation versus the accommodations model is that our whole program is integrated. And so what that means is that our students in our lower school come in, and the first 90 minutes of every day are their reading and writing blocks, and they're getting their language therapies. They're also getting across their occupational therapies. They're getting their work with their social-emotional development programs happening across the day and with their peers in a program that's actually overseen by school psychologists and a school counselor.

And so that's really important because in most general education settings where students are receiving additional resources, they're getting pulled out of the classroom. So they're missing the content and the experiences that they're going to feel the most excited about. They feel different than their peers, and it's either a pullout for their day, or it might be an add-on to their day. That child might be going through hours and hours of additional tutoring after school and on the weekends.

And so the effect on a child who isn't in a school with an integrated program where those therapies and that work is happening across their school day can be to really exhaust them and to take a toll on their self-esteem. And so we continue that integrated model across our elementary school program and into our middle school program. And so the results are really significant because here at Gateway, students just understand that this is the phrase they use, and we love it.

They talk about everybody gets what they need. And so they're just going across their school day, getting those language therapies, getting that time with the occupational therapist, having those exciting learning experiences with the rest of their classmates, too. And it's really wonderful to see the effects in creating an environment of joyful learners. Yeah. Yeah, go ahead. No, you go ahead. No, I was just going to say, yeah, it's pointing to, you know, obviously the specifics in terms of the pedagogy, but also how there can be these other factors that are so important, too, sometimes that are even hard to sort of put your finger on.

But so that's making me wonder if there's other things that you'd point to that aren't necessarily pedagogical, but that are really important for the success of those students. Yeah, absolutely. Well, you know, I mentioned, of course, that we have a social-emotional program, but I think another thing to really highlight is that that also tells you a little bit about our approach as educators and how we approach our time with the students.

We recognize that when every student walks inside our school every day, that we're there as the trusted adults in their lives. We're there welcoming them, encouraging them, challenging them, and we work really hard to build that foundation of trust. And so that begins from the moment they walk in the door, and it continues all across the school day. One of the ways that we accomplish that is that we also create intentionally small teaching and learning cohorts, too.

So in our lower school, we have a 6 to 1 student-teacher ratio. In our middle school, that's 12 to 1. Our students know that in their lower school classrooms, they're working with a head teacher and an assistant teacher. There are adults who are there connecting with them, guiding them, using those direct instructional practices, but also cheering them on. And if you were a visitor at our school, and I hope you will be someday, I'd love to welcome you into our classrooms.

One of the things that you would see is that we have our teachers leading our students through direct instruction and structured literacy instruction, of course. But also then leaning in side by side, encouraging, finding out exactly what their questions are, where the barriers might be. And I think that one of the things I feel the most proud of is that when you talk to our eighth graders as they're approaching and then following graduation, they say that they really always felt encouraged and seen and appreciated for who they are in our program.

And I think that happens every single day across every single interaction with your students. You have to make that the goal, and it really builds up their confidence and helps them thrive. Yeah, it's interesting because that one of those pieces that you talked about, which is listening to the student to find the barriers. I'm not sure it's actually come up in this podcast before, even though when you think about it, of course, that's fundamental.

And it's so important. And I think that's maybe structurally easier when there's the lower student to child ratios, or sorry, no, teacher to student ratios. But it's something that can be done in any setting that, you know, we have thought about this before, of really just respecting that child as an individual, autonomous person with unique needs that I think gets lost in a lot of school settings, both public and private. Yeah, I think that's true.

And, you know, just this morning, I was sitting in on a session with our new teachers being led by our director of language and literacy. And as she was framing out for them that an important part of our philosophy is that we begin our work by asking, who is this child? And that's not only what is their learning profile, but what is their temperament? What are the strengths that they bring to their time with us at school every day?

And it really helps us approach them as individual learners from a strengths-based perspective. And I think makes all the difference in the way that our faculty and staff and therapists begin and sustain their work with students. Yeah. Yeah. So our journey with our dyslexic daughter was that she started in public school and then transitioned to private school, well, starting in third grade, technically, but then, yeah, third through middle school. And I think a lot of the reason she was able to thrive in that setting was because of being in a place where she could really be herself and understand and where the teachers and everyone sort of recognized her unique self.

Yeah. May I ask you a question? Yes. What did she say about that transition to that new teaching environment? How did she reflect on it? Well, it's interesting. So we actually homeschooled her, tried homeschooling her first, and that didn't go very well for several reasons. I think the main one was that school, the public school setting was so traumatic for her that it took her, she really just needed a break from school around second grade.

And so the homeschooling time was more of just a recovery from the- She needed to reset. Yeah. Yeah. And then, so then when she did start in the private school, I think, I don't know if she reflected so much at the time. Yeah. I don't know if she did quite then, but I would say by the time she was in middle school, it was coming across better, more clearly to her. And then that, I would say, it was that personalization thing, I think.

Yeah. She just would talk so much, like she felt like the teachers, you know, they were very respectful of the students, so there was sort of that equal feeling of knowing each other and really caring about each other. So I would say that was the dominant thing that she talked about, that piece of it. Yeah. And, you know, even if she didn't say it explicitly, we could tell that she really appreciated her being able to, for example, in one of her, I think her science teacher was very good about letting her explain answers orally instead of writing them on tests in middle school.

Yeah. And that was just kind of done matter-of-factly instead of having to go through a whole bureaucratic process of getting the accommodations approved and everything. It was just like, oh, yeah, like you can just explain this to me. Right. Right. Yeah. Well, I'm so glad that that was so impactful for your daughter. And, in fact, that's what we see, too, as our students move through our elementary program and come into middle school.

They have such ease in asking for what they need. And, again, it's just part of the environment. And so while all students are working on their classwork and their activities, they also know that their teacher is going to support them if they need to go about getting that work accomplished in a slightly different way. And that's certainly a goal that we always have, which is that we're instilling that sense of confidence and self-advocacy in our students.

So by the time they go off to high school, it's just part of how they approach their everyday experiences at school. And so that was a success for your daughter. It was. And I would say that what you're pointing to also is what she took with her. She did go to a public school after that. But because she had had these relationships already talking to teachers, then she wasn't intimidated by that either.

So that really helped with keeping the self-advocacy going as she went into a public high school. Yeah, she became very confident about that. And she chose to go to a public high school. She could have stayed in a private school or gone to a different private school, I guess. But she did choose to go to a public high school. And that's even continued. She's in university now. And she's just very good about talking to her professors on the first day.

And explaining that she has dyslexia and that she needs these accommodations and so on. But I'm curious, this is a natural transition. When you have your graduates there at the Gateway School, I assume there's probably lots of different paths they take. Or do you tend to see them take one particular path? How do you see where they go after they leave you? Yeah, they do really well when they go off to high school.

And so, you know, it looks different from year to year, but we will typically have about a third to a half of our students go to public schools. And then a third to a half of our students go to independent schools. And in fact, what we find, too, is that when our students go on to high school, they get into their top three public school choices, which I don't know if you know about the New York City public school system.

But that's that's saying a lot. And they also get into their top choice independent schools, too. And one of the things that we work really hard on is not only making sure that our students understand who they are as learners and what they need in a learning environment. But we also work closely with our families as they're thinking about what those high school options will look like. And so we help them navigate so that they're really thinking about what's going to work for their child, what's going to work for their family.

And our students come back, our alumni come back, and they tell us how confident they feel, how well supported they feel. They will also share stories with us that we love, which is, yeah, and I met new students and I showed them how I organize my materials and what my binder looks like and how I set up my locker. And now they're doing it, too. And so they take these strategies, you know, not only about what does it mean to navigate a classroom, but what does it mean to organize myself and all of those executive functioning strategies.

They take them with them and they find that they hold them in good stead for many years in the future. So, yeah, so obviously, yeah, the Gateway School sounds amazing. And, you know, we were lucky to find amazing schools for our daughter. But, you know, obviously not everyone out there for a variety of reasons, location, cost, et cetera, can benefit from those specific schools. So to generalize a little bit, and because you, you know, have had experience in public schools as well, and we've talked a little bit about this already, but what sort of educational techniques and so on that work at the Gateway School do you think could be that public schools and other private schools could benefit from?

Well, you know, I'm glad that we're getting more public attention around the critical importance of structured literacy. I think we all know that that's long overdue. And one of the things that we talk about a lot here, not only in our program, but in the work that we do and the information that we share with other educators and other schools is the importance of direct multisensory instruction. And so I think no matter what your teaching environment, no matter what your student population, if you understand that certainly your students with diverse learning profiles, but I would argue students are more neurotypical too.

If you understand that if they have an opportunity to take in that information, demonstrate their learning in many different modalities, that it's going to be more effective, it causes you to start to see your classroom and your time with your students a little bit differently. One of the things that happens with some of our younger students as they are doing their work around letter recognition and pattern formation, they'll do what we call skywriting.

And so you can walk into a classroom and you'll see our youngest students and, you know, they're there and they're drawing their letters and making sure that they're forming them appropriately. And what you're seeing is that they are relating to the appropriate way to form those letters, starting from the top and going to the bottom, not, you know, the bottom to the top, which is what we often see with students who struggle with writing functions.

And they also, they're having fun with it, they're taking in the information and processing it in a different way, and then they're going to write it, and then they're saying it out loud. And so having these multiple modalities of taking in the information, applying it, and practicing it really makes all the difference. And that extends for students even as they get older and learn more skills. One of the things we know is that in order for students to learn effectively, they need to have appropriate movement breaks.

That's important for all students, but it's especially important for students with attention deficits. And so they need the opportunity to move. They need the opportunity to recalibrate. They need the opportunity to maybe get some energy out of their bodies. And so if you structure your teaching sessions with an eye towards where do I give my students a movement break, where do I make sure that they are interacting with this information across many sensory modalities, you're always going to come closer to reaching more, and you hope, all of your students.

And so, you know, of course, we wish that all teachers were trained in Orton-Gillingham and preventing academic failure, right? Unfortunately, they're not, unfortunately, they're not, most especially in the vast majority of general education settings. But if we could just do that, help all of our faculty members understand the critical importance of multi-sensory instruction and the importance of movement and brain breaks, I think we could make a difference in what the typical American classroom looks like and the experience of our students in them.

Those are fantastic. Yeah. Because I can really imagine, sometimes it's hard to imagine how these things can happen, right, in public schools or in the average educational setting. But what you just described does feel possible in any setting for a teacher to implement. So that's great.

Well, let's, how about any advice you'd have for the general public about dyslexia? We know that still there's maybe, I don't know, I feel like it almost comes and goes. Sometimes I feel like there's more knowledge out there, and sometimes it feels like the attention is away from it again. So I don't know. But what would you want to tell the general public? I think I really want people to understand that students with dyslexia are incredibly capable students who are most often the most creative and resourceful students that you're going to have in a classroom because they have been working really hard with lots of lateral strategies for all of their learning years.

And so I think it's not surprising that you see so many people across the arts and industry and business and leadership roles who have actually, you know, talked publicly about their dyslexia because they tend to be really creative thinkers. And so that's number one. I think it's crucial that the public understands how intelligent and capable our students and our adults with dyslexia are. And I would say, too, what we don't want to do is count out children and young adults and adults with dyslexia because they are incredibly talented and resourceful.

And one of the things that we know is that happily, a lot of industry leaders are now really thinking about who's that future workforce, who are those creative thinkers and leaders who are going to help us build the future and create a work environment where we can really achieve on our goals. And so those of us who work closely with students with dyslexia understand that about their learning profile and who they are.

And I think that we're in a moment where that's gaining more recognition. But I also I couldn't agree with you more, Sonja. I do feel like this tends to go in cycles from time to time. And it's all of our jobs to be fierce advocates for the students whom we serve, our students with learning differences, our students with language based learning differences, attention deficits. And make sure that they not only have the resources that they need and deserve and are legally entitled to, but also that they are extraordinary learners and are future leaders.

Yeah, we like to emphasize that positive message a lot as well. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it's so true. I mean, anyone who's been around dyslexic kids and really taken a moment to really see them as who they are. I mean, it's so obvious how. Yeah. So what about for advice that you have for parents of dyslexic kids, you know, those of us who are maybe starting the journey or if or if your kid's older, what's what's your top advice?

My top advice is trust your instincts. Parents know our children best. And we know when something is not working. You know, if your child is coming home from school and feeling exhausted, feeling discouraged, if you're starting to see school avoidance, if you're starting to hear them use language to describe themselves, that has shifted. If they're starting to really put themselves down, you really need to pay attention to that and reach out immediately to your child's teacher or teachers, to the administrators at your child's school and start a conversation.

I think that all parents need to know that teachers in every environment are eager to be partners with you. And it's important for parents to be able to share directly with their child's teachers what they're seeing and to be able to start to work in partnership around what does that look like in the classroom? What does that look like across the school day to see if there are some patterns and struggles emerging?

Because I think that parents need to feel more empowered to insist upon when they're starting to see some patterns and starting to see some academic and emotional struggle for children to insist upon an assessment. And I want all parents to feel empowered to enlist the rights that their children are entitled to for those evaluations at schools to really make sure that you know the learning profile of your child and that your school knows the learning profile of your child as soon as possible.

Because we know that early identification and early intervention works. And so I just say first and foremost to our families, trust your instincts. You know your child. And if you have questions, go ask them. And you're going to find partners who want to help you in that work. It may not be the first person you talk to, but we'll get there. And the outcomes for your child will be better. Yeah, that's so important, especially that persistence piece, too.

Yes, that's very important. And you will find people out there who will help. So don't give up. Absolutely. Yeah. And that's part of what you're doing, too, right? You're doing the critically important work of building these networks so folks know where to go if they're looking for resources. And, I mean, you, of course, know. I mean, it's extraordinary the work that's done by the International Dyslexia Association. It's extraordinary the work that's done by the National Center for Learning Disabilities.

I mean, these are research and advocacy organizations that provide critical resources for families as they're thinking about what their child needs. And so I just always encourage families, if you're not sure where to start, talk to your child's teacher and then check out these organizations that will help you frame out what am I seeing and what are the questions I need to ask next. Yes, that's wonderful advice. Well, thank you so much for joining us.

I was wondering, before we let you go here, is there a particular place people can go to contact you or to find out more about the Gateway School? Oh, yeah, absolutely. So, the Gateway School is on social media on Instagram as well as Facebook. They can reach out to me on LinkedIn. I'm Sherri Helvie on LinkedIn. And, of course, they're welcome to check out our school's website, too. We're the Gateway School in New York City.

And I would be happy to share information, answer questions, and just help folks get in touch with resources as they're thinking about their own child's educational journey. Yeah, well, thank you so much for coming on the show today and for all the work you're doing. Thank you. I appreciate it.