Makenzie Gilkison, 12, a seventh grader has become a self-professed advocate for children struggling with dyslexia after sharing how much the program has helped her. Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2023.
GREENFIELD — Twelve-year-old Makenzie Gilkison has no qualms talking about her struggles with dyslexia.
In fact, she’d shout about it from the rooftops if she could.
The Greenfield seventh-grader has become an outspoken proponent of a learning method called Orton–Gillingham. It introduces the idea of breaking reading and spelling down into smaller skills involving letters and sounds, and then building on these skills over time, which Makenzie learned from both her mom and her teachers at Greenfield-Central High School.
Since then she has shared her learning journey with students at other schools, most recently at the Joseph Maley Enrichment Center in Indianapolis.
Westfield in Carmel.
“When I was done talking, this fourth grade girl came up to me and said, ‘I really like your story because I’m dyslexic too,’ and I almost started crying,” recalled Makenzie, who cherishes the opportunity to help others who struggle with the same disability as her.
The charismatic cheerleader and youth group member vividly remembers feeling “stupid” when she was diagnosed with dyslexia in the first grade.
“Everybody else would make fun of me because I couldn’t learn things as fast as everybody else,” she recalled.
While she said it’s tough to describe dyslexia to someone who doesn’t have it, Makenzie said it’s like the words on the page change within a split second before she gets the chance to process them.
Now, however, she’s learned to master her disability and has proudly advanced to reading chapter books.
“It seems like it’s the end of the world when you first get diagnosed, but then you learn it’s a special thing you have that not everyone else has. I kind of look at it like my superpower,” she said.
Makenzie was first introduced to the Orton–Gillingham program by her mother, who trained as a tutor to support Makenzie and her brother, who also has dyslexia.
In the summer of 2021 three educators at Greenfield-Central Junior High School got trained on the method as well.
At the Greenfield-Central school board meeting in November, Makenzie joined her teachers in sharing the Orton–Gillingham method with the board.
As she shared how the teaching method has changed her life, Makenzie spoke with confidence and pose, seemingly unfazed by addressing a room full of adults.
“I’m probably the biggest talker in my family,” said Makenzie, the youngest of four siblings, who said she got her gift of gab from her parents.
Her mom, Nadine Gilkison, loves to watch her daughter share her dyslexia journey with others.
“It’s really hard for me not to tear up every time I hear her speak. I told her that she definitely has an ability for (public speaking). She’s always been told since she was little that she could talk to anybody,” she said.
“When I saw her do her first speech for the Joseph Maley Enrichment Center in Indianapolis, she spoke to like 400 kids. She was just so confident and the kids were listening intently, and she had a line of kids who wanted to go up and talk to her afterwards,” recalled her mom.
“They were very excited to talk to her and learn more from her, and she loved being in that role where she could help them realize that they’re not alone.”
One of Makenzie’s teachers, Nicole Pike, said the Orton–Gillingham method is the best learning tool she’s ever known for teaching students with dyslexia — through the use of visuals and blending drills, teaching students to tap out the syllables of a word on their arm.
“We’ve been amazed at how well it works. It’s just a superior method by leaps and bounds,” said Pike. “We get students reading five- and six-syllable words using this strategy, whereas before they would have just given up.”
Pike said one father was nearly moved to tears when he shared how the learning method had impacted his daughter, who now reads a whole array of books.
While she currently only teaches the reading method to her special education students, Pike feels there’s many more students who could benefit from the instruction.
“There are kids who have maybe not been identified yet (as dyslexic), kids who aren’t in special education who could benefit from this,” said the teacher, who hopes that more and more teachers in an increasing number of schools will get trained in the program.
She also hopes the program will eventually be offered in younger grades, “so you don’t have to wait until the seventh grade to learn it,” she said.
Greenfield Central Junior High School principal Jim Bever said he’s thrilled to see such positive results among the students learning from the Orton-Gillingham method at his school.
“When we match the right students with this form of instruction, we see tremendous growth in their decoding skills. This opens the door for these students to read fluently and comprehend what they read with greater clarity,” he said. “It truly is a game-changer for these students.”
