Courthouse lockdown served as a dry run for change in Terrebonne
February 4, 2016
Krewe de Bonne Terre moves parade to Sunday
February 5, 2016
The pride is evident in Roy Breaux’s face as he looks about a tiny classroom situated near Barrow Street filled with desks, dictionaries and workbooks. The place is a vision he and the local Masons shared – one that has prospered for 15 years.
As he reflects on the school’s history, he walks to a poster hanging in a gold frame in the front left corner near the white board and points to some familiar names – Whoopi Goldberg and Alexander Graham Bell.
“Even the smartest man on Earth had dyslexia,” he said, pointing to a caricature of Einstein on the poster.
Unity Lodge No. 267, under the Masonic Learning Center of Louisiana, an offshoot of The Grand Lodge of the State of Louisiana, brought the children’s dyslexia instruction and training program to Houma as a result of a 1998 annual session that established the program as the primary philanthropy for Masons throughout the state. The 600-square-foot facility sits next door to the Unity Lodge and is a second home for young learners seeking aid with an issue many people struggle with.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, an estimated 15 percent of the population has dyslexia, a disability Masons consider a difficulty that hinders intelligent people without other physical or emotional problems from reading, writing, spelling or comprehending language well.
“With dyslexia, there’s no cure, no operation, no magic potion, no shot in the arm,” Breaux, the director for the Terrebonne Parish program, explained. “Basically, you have dyslexia. So what? You’re going to overcome it.”
Although no lodge is required to under-
take the dyslexia program, Breaux said when local Masons heard about it, they knew it was an opportunity to offer something of value to the community Through the generous donations of those with connections to the local lodge, including one raffle winner who donated his prize, a television, to the program, and money pooled from a charity fund all Masons are required to contribute to, the little classroom came together. Before long, the sounds of childrens’ chatter filled the space.
The program, which is open to students in third, fourth and fifth grades in Terrebonne and surrounding parishes, is free.
“I have a hard time explaining that to people sometimes,” Breaux said, chuckling as he takes a seat at a desk at the classroom’s rear. “It’s free, free, free. You do not have to be a Mason or know a Mason to get your child in the school. For some reason, people think it’s a trick. All you have to do is bring the child and pick the child up. We supply the books, the board, the desks, the paper, the pencils. Whatever the child needs.”
The two-year program includes detailed lessons created by the Masonic Learning Center of Louisiana. Lessons are similar to those in a typical school setting but in a one-hour-a-day, four-day-a-week, after-school setting with a class of eight or fewer students. The lesson plans teach students how to correct poor spelling, clear up confusion over the sequence of words and tackle the various other complications that surface as a result of dyslexia.
As Breaux now gazes at the faces of the school’s graduates, shown in pocket-sized photos glued to a sky blue poster, he smiles, remembering the stories of each young learner that has passed through the school’s doors. What takes place inside the four walls of the tiny blue-and-white building isn’t just learning how to read or write, he said. It’s about establishing a foundation the children can blossom from.
“We had one guy, he and his wife, she was a schoolteacher and he was an engineer. They had one daughter that was nine or ten years old. He got transferred to Japan for something like four years,” Breaux recalled. “This little girl was about half-way finished with the dyslexia program and we sold them a set of the tapes.
They took the tapes, went to Japan and she came back four years later and the mom was just bubbling over. She said, ‘Guess what? Guess who was the interpreter? My daughter!’ She picked up Japanese so fast. These are very talented kids.”
As Breaux looks back on the history of the little school and ponders the future, he said his biggest hope is that more parents recognize and accept their child’s struggles and take the first step toward helping them succeed.
“In the last few years, we’ve noticed that many parents don’t want to say, ‘My child has dyslexia,”‘ he explained. “I hope more parents can accept that and get the help that they need.”
Seeing a parent take that first step is what brings Breaux pure joy, knowing one more child will have the opportunity to prosper.
“It’s heartwarming when you see how happy the mommas and everybody are,” he said. “We know it works.”
Those interested in applying for admission to the dyslexia program may pick up an application in the school’s dropbox, located at 1029 Bayou Black Drive in Houma next to to Unity Lodge No. 267.
Roy Breaux, Unity Lodge No. 267’s dyslexia program director, readies the Houma masonic lodge’s classroom for its next group of students. The center’s program – available to students in third-, fourth-and fifth-grade – is offered free to youngsters from Terrebonne and surrounding parishes.
Le Krewe Des T-Cajun rolled through Larose on Saturday afternoon with bright skies and beautiful temperatures. Got an awesome shot from a parade? Send the JPEG to editor@rushing-media.com. It just might be in our paper this time next week.
