CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Luke Stump, 7, begged his parents to let him stay home from school. His self-esteem dwindled when he couldn't keep up with his classmates at Sacred Heart Grade School.

Luke would tell his parents, "'I may be smart at home but at school, I'm stupid,'" said his mother, Crystal.

"Which just breaks your heart as a parent," she said.

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Monday, July 21 - Luke Stump sounds out a word with his hand for tutor Donna Ballard at the Appalachian Reading Center.

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As a 4-year-old, Luke excelled at building complex Lego designs meant for children at least six years older. He also hid his dyslexia from his parents, and compensated for it in other ways.

Dyslexics often master complex problems and recognize the big picture. The neurological-based learning disability affects people of all backgrounds and intellects, according to the International Dyslexia Association.

"I was amazed, the more I learned about dyslexia, how life-impacting it is," Crystal Stump said.

Dyslexics often excel in drama, computer science, art, math, music, sports and other areas where strong language skills are not as necessary.

Still, they can succeed in a wide variety of professions, said Lori Dubrawka, co-founder of the Appalachian Reading Center.

This spring, after two months of intensive training in Charlotte, N.C., Crystal and Luke came back to the Kanawha Valley once they realized Luke could get the remediation he needed at the reading center in South Charleston.

In May, Crystal and educators at Sacred Heart agreed to pull Luke out of his reading class four days a week. He still works with Donna Ballard and other tutors this summer.

"It's a great training ground to work at the Appalachian Reading Center because we provide training ... at no cost to the tutor. In fact, we pay you," Dubrawka said. "We always need tutors who are terrific and love kids."

Luke's tutors at the reading center use an offshoot of the Orton-Gillingham method, which dates back to the 1930s.

Schools in Putnam County use the same method to teach dyslexic students, but most public school systems don't. "A lot of that is because the training is expensive," Dubrawka said.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Luke Stump, 7, begged his parents to let him stay home from school. His self-esteem dwindled when he couldn't keep up with his classmates at Sacred Heart Grade School.

Luke would tell his parents, "'I may be smart at home but at school, I'm stupid,'" said his mother, Crystal.

"Which just breaks your heart as a parent," she said.

When Crystal and her husband, John, started to read about dyslexia last winter, she thought, "Oh my gosh, this is Luke."

As a 4-year-old, Luke excelled at building complex Lego designs meant for children at least six years older. He also hid his dyslexia from his parents, and compensated for it in other ways.

Dyslexics often master complex problems and recognize the big picture. The neurological-based learning disability affects people of all backgrounds and intellects, according to the International Dyslexia Association.

"I was amazed, the more I learned about dyslexia, how life-impacting it is," Crystal Stump said.

Dyslexics often excel in drama, computer science, art, math, music, sports and other areas where strong language skills are not as necessary.

Still, they can succeed in a wide variety of professions, said Lori Dubrawka, co-founder of the Appalachian Reading Center.

This spring, after two months of intensive training in Charlotte, N.C., Crystal and Luke came back to the Kanawha Valley once they realized Luke could get the remediation he needed at the reading center in South Charleston.

In May, Crystal and educators at Sacred Heart agreed to pull Luke out of his reading class four days a week. He still works with Donna Ballard and other tutors this summer.

"It's a great training ground to work at the Appalachian Reading Center because we provide training ... at no cost to the tutor. In fact, we pay you," Dubrawka said. "We always need tutors who are terrific and love kids."

Luke's tutors at the reading center use an offshoot of the Orton-Gillingham method, which dates back to the 1930s.

Schools in Putnam County use the same method to teach dyslexic students, but most public school systems don't. "A lot of that is because the training is expensive," Dubrawka said.

She said while Orton-Gillingham is nothing new, it's a tried and true foundation that works over time.

The method involves a multi-sensory approach, which includes hearing, seeing and touching to better grasp letters and words.

To recognize "cat," for instance, Luke might spell the word, sound by sound, and use his fingers to tap sounds. That's one method designed to help tie it all together. He also might point to the word. If he stumbles, Luke has different tools he can use to get it right.

The Appalachian Reading Center teaches spelling and reading comprehension at the same time. "It's much more powerful than teaching them separately," Dubrawka said.

Students also learn to visualize and verbalize, and start with small steps. Readers learn a word, and then tie it to a sentence and then full passages.

If he learns about a ram, he and the tutor would visualize what the animal looks like. To build on that, he would picture the hill where the ram lives. From there, he might visualize the grass on the hill the ram likes to eat.

"Describing the images in their own words is what's so powerful to them," Dubrawka said.

This fall, Dubrawka hopes to draw parents and those in the community to hear Meghan Marsano Yoho, the featured speaker for the West Virginia Learning Disabilities Association conference. Yoho, an expert in visualizing and verbalizing, is director of the same Linda Mood Bell Learning Processes Center in Charlotte where Crystal and Luke spent March and April.

She is scheduled to speak at 10 a.m. Oct. 11 at the Charleston Civic Center. The conference will be held in conjunction with the West Virginia Book Festival.

Dubrawka said twice-weekly tutoring sessions at the nonprofit reading center cost $40 each, and families might expect to spend between $280 and $320 a month. But first, an official intake appointment will help determine a child's strengths and weaknesses and whether the reading center is right for him or her.

"We're not a quick fix. We don't do those kinds of guarantees," Dubrawka said. "Most of our students are with us for months and years."

Crystal Stump is glad she learned about the reading center from the principal at Sacred Heart. She added that she and her husband are not easily impressed.

"I would travel a long distance to come to them," she said.

Reach Davin White at davinwh...@wvgazette.com">davinwh...@wvgazette.com or 348-1254.