My name is Melody Murrhee, and I am 55 years old. My story began when I was in elementary school, 2nd grade. At the time of my story, I lived in Baton Rouge, LA. I was in public and private (catholic school)Schools. I failed 2nd grade twice. The school told my parents they wanted to test me because of my difficulties in learning. After the test, they told my parents I was retarded, and my parents could not accept that because I had been learning up to the 2nd grade. It was only by chance another parent heard of my parent's problems with me that and talked to my parents about me having a learning disability. That person told my parents to take me off sugars and carbohydrates and retake the test in one week. They did, and I passed the same test with a Higher IQ than normal. It was then they were told I had dyslexia.
I was pulled out of the school I was attending and put into a school run by the parents of other dyslexic children. This school's name was Charles L. Shedd. I remember to this day how they taught me. When my parents moved from LA to TX, they did not have any private schools for dyslexic children, and I was put back in public school, where I remember I struggled. I finally decided to use the tools that the Charles L. Shedd school taught me, and I actually improved my grades. I used those techniques all the way through to college. I am extremely grateful to the Charles L. Shedd Shools for helping me.
I was introduced to the APSL program and Drs Charles and Margaret Shed in 1969 when they tested my three sons for Dyslexia. I had known for several years that all three were exceptionally smart and was frightfully troubled because each year the two oldest fell further and further behind in Math and Reading. The oldest son was in the 11th grade and was reading 3rd-grade 6 months. The second son was in 7th grade and was reading 3rd-grade, 3rd month. The youngest son was in first grade and doing well, but when tested it was revealed that he too was showing signs of dyslexia. That summer I enrolled all three boys in a summer program where they had one on one help with reading. In the fall I initiated a reading disability clinic (Under Dr. Shedd's direction) which started at 7 AM, Mon-Fri. using High School Seniors who were members of a "Future Teachers of America" program as tutors. We used Dr. Shedd APSL material. My oldest son advanced in 9 m0nths to 11-grade reading level. Son #2 advanced to the 8th-grade reading level. Son #3 never showed any further signs of dyslexia. I had been told that the oldest two were not college material Son #1 obtained a BS degree at Western Carolina University, then a Masters in Psychology at W. Florida, and later a Masters in School Administration. Sons 2 and 3 graduated with BS degree in Industrial Management Technology.