Gibson honored for dyslexia work
Decades of work started by seeking help for sons
In the years Sophie C. Gibson was studying chemistry at LSU, she probably never dreamed that her career would be in reading disabilities and education rather than in the sciences. Things changed for Gibson when three of her five children were diagnosed with dyslexia.
According to the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the word “dyslexia” was first used in 1895 to describe a child with normal intelligence who exhibited difficulty in learning to read.
“It’s a brain difference. The brain processes language differently,” Gibson said.
In November, Gibson was recognized for her work in the field of reading disabilities with the Etoile DuBard Award of Excellence presented by IMSLEC, the International Multisensory Structured Language Education Council.
In the 1970s, when the Gibson children were growing up, little was known about dyslexia. Gibson recalls confiding in an aunt about the struggles her oldest son was having. His difficulties reminded her aunt of similar problems being experienced by her grandson’s friend who had been diagnosed with dyslexia.
“This gave me a word to start doing research on,” Gibson said. “I was convinced that this was my son’s problem, but I couldn’t find any help.”
Gibson’s approach to the problem was scientific, a chemistry major’s approach. She looked for research in the field.
Other parents who were having similar problems with their children began looking for answers. They discovered the work of Charles Shedd, a researcher who had created a program to train volunteers to teach individuals to read. “It was basically a cookbook,” Gibson said. “You could teach individuals how to read if you followed the recipe.”
From his research, Shedd created a program for the prison system of Kentucky to teach inmates how to read. Word of his program spread, and before long, more than 200 institutions had similar programs based on Shedd’s work.
Shedd came to Baton Rouge in the early 1970s to conduct seminars. This led to a Saturday tutorial program, then to a summer program and finally, within two years, to a school, the Charles Shedd School.
Gibson started as a tutor at the school and then became a group teacher, a supervisor and finally program director. After the school director, a retired public school teacher, fell and broke her hip, Gibson was asked to take her place.
“I said, ‘Are you crazy? I can’t run a school,’” she said, “But it was that or close it.”
Gibson accepted the position on a temporary basis. “We did a search for a principal but we couldn’t find anyone who knew anything about dyslexia,” said Gibson, who stayed on for 28 years until she retired in 2005. The school came to be called Brighton Academy.
Brighton is a state-approved alternative school accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Gibson said that in her time as director, students were accepted on three criteria. They had to be of average or above-average intelligence, diagnosed with a language-based learning disability and able to benefit from a very structured environment.
Gibson’s work with students was important, but as important was her work with teachers. “What we learned in teaching these children was that teachers we could hire did not have the knowledge base we believed was important to provide the best eduction for these children, because they deserved it,” she said.
Gibson joined the International Dyslexia Association and attended its national conferences. “That led me to find other programs,” she said. “I went to workshops.”
She studied all of the research in the field. “I was a research freak,” she said.
In 1990, a committee was formed by the International Dyslexia Association to look into teacher certification. “People came from all over the United States and finally formed an organization, IMSLEC, the group that presented Gibson with its award.
“This group believed in research,” Gibson said. “This group then established a means to accredit courses that trained teachers to prepare teachers to teach children with reading disabilities.”
Even though Gibson is retired, she still serves on on-site committees for accreditation and as a mentor for those chairing the IMSLEC teams.
Gibson grew up in Crowley, attended the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Grand Coteau and graduated from LSU. “I never used the chemistry,” she said. “I mixed (baby) formula instead.”
Her husband, Carroll Gibson, grew up in Jennings. They dated at LSU.
Gibson said she has seen many changes in the treatment of dyslexia since she started in the field in 1977 and believes that early intervention is the key to success.
When Gibson began at the school, it had been in existence for two years in the old Parkview Baptist Church. “We maybe had 24 children in grades one through eight,” she said.
“When I left in 2005, we were K through 12, had two facilities that we owned and had right at 200 students,” said Gibson, who, during her time at Brighton, went back to LSU and earned a master’s degree in reading.
Gibson has seen tremendous strides in children with dyslexia. “I am living proof that dyslexic children grow up, get an education, become gainfully employed and leave home,” she said. “Four of my five children have college degrees and one has a master’s.”