News article (video included) about renowned chef, Zane Holmquist, who is currently Executive Chef / Director of Food & Beverage Operations at Stein Eriksen Lodge in Park City.

“Zane Holmquist has cooked for Nobel Peace Prize winners, three presidents and world-famous athletes. He has also appeared on national television. He said most people, though, didn’t anticipate this success — they predicted incarceration. When he was a child, Holmquist struggled to learn to read and write. He thought he just wasn’t smart enough. He would later find out he had a learning disability — dyslexia.”

Editor:

Having seen the fairly recent “Letters to the Editor” speaking to dyslexia, I began to reminisce about the students I’ve met during the past eight years of volunteering Park City elementary schools.

Over the years, the children I’ve worked with have had a varied range of skill levels. Most of my tutoring has been with first grade students plus others. I noticed the social consequences that affected students who were not able to keep up with the rest of their classmates. Reflecting back, I wouldn’t be surprised if many of these children had a learning difficulty that could have been more specifically addressed.

Screening children for signs of dyslexia or other deterrents is just one step that could help many students. Additionally, a better understanding of a student’s strengths and weaknesses would help the teachers, parents and volunteers guide them toward their strengths.

My philosophy is that all children should be on a beneficial educational and social track from the time they enter school. To me, that means addressing their abilities or disabilities in the very beginning years of schooling. Thus, I am an advocate for “early or earlier detection” of struggling readers. I am not a teacher and never have been. My children grew up outside of Utah. I volunteer in the schools because I am passionate about helping children learn to read and ensuring that they grow up feeling good about themselves.

Park City is known to have a strong school system. Let’s be sure we are helping all of our wonderful children!

Deanna Gerber 

Park City

A mother responds to the January 20, 2016 letter written by Bruce Margolis.

“We found that “special” help from teachers who understood how to teach a multi-sensory method in the regular classrooms. Our kids then had a chance to keep up and actually show that they were learning. At one of our child’s school we had a chemistry teacher who offered multiple ways to show students had mastered the objectives. My kids did not do well on paper tests, but some of these alternative ways allowed my kids to excel along with other students in the class. It’s heartbreaking to hear a child tell you that he or she didn’t know that they were smart. This came after years of being forced to do things in a way that had been extremely difficult for them and once explained differently, it allowed them to excel.”

Alex Hall, a student at the University of Utah, provides a well-articulated response to the January 20, 2016 letter written by Bruce Margolis.

“Fortunately, my parents were financially able to have me tested for dyslexia at a young age and took the appropriate actions. … I wonder how many brilliant minds has the world missed out on because their confidence was destroyed before they had an opportunity to do anything significant?”

Park City High School student, Nicholas Coleman, provides a compassionate response to the January 20, 2016 letter by Bruce Margolis.

“Furthermore, I do not have any learning disability myself. In fact, it may seem obscure as to why I’ve written a response to Bruce Margolis’ blatantly invalidating editorial published on January 21, 2015, “Must All Disabilities be Treated at Public Expense?” but I digress. What I do have, however, may simply be referred to as a “heart.”

Over the span of my life, which admittedly has only been 17 years thus far, I have come to meet and befriend so many unique individuals. If one were to look upon the student body within our high school, it would be near impossible to distinguish which of my peers have a learning disability, and which do not. Why? It is because those with learning disabilities are not parasitic insects, as Mr. Margolis so elegantly alludes to, but rather sources of inspiration. It is within this diversity that we grow, not diminish. I’m not weighed down by my peers — I am motivated by them each day.”

High school sophomore, Jordan Blake, provides a thoughtful response to the January 20th letter by Bruce Margolis.

“You say you are happy that you learned you were dyslexic later in life because you weren’t given “special treatment.” Please understand, we are not asking for “special treatment,” only to level the playing field with our peers. If I have my exams read aloud to me or am given headphones to hear it my grades have typically gone from a C to an A. I may know the material, but struggle to read what the test is actually asking me. Why would anyone want to discourage this? Why should I not receive the grade I deserve? Why shouldn’t I be given the opportunity to reach the potential I am capable of?”

This Letter to the Editor was published in January 2015 and was quite controversial among dyslexia advocates. Read the comments, as well as the follow-up letters (written by local students) that were published in response to this letter.