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Learning Made Easier Center offers CVCC students 'new lease on life' HICKORY - Gene Shogran, 49, read a book for the first time in his life last year. The Maiden resident read “Blue Ridge Shadows,” a short-story collection by Julia Nunnally Duncan. Shogran, who is dyslexic, read the book with assistive technology at Catawba Valley Community College. Assistive technology includes text-to-speech and speech-to-text software, scanning of textbooks, a talking scientific calculator and a Braille embosser, which prints hard copies of text into Braille. The technology is available at the Learning Assistance Center, an academic support center that offers free services like walk-in tutoring, peer and group tutoring and computer use to CVCC students. With the help of Kurzweil 3000 software, the computer read the book to Shogran. The former high school dropout has eight more classes to go for a degree in criminal justice. “If someone told me 10 years ago I’d be going to college, I wouldn’t have believed them,” he said. After teachers told him he was dumb, Shogran quit high school in the ninth grade. He wanted to become a police officer but lacked the education. Instead, he worked manual labor and security jobs. Shogran was diagnosed with dyslexia just three years ago. Now, he’s fulfilling his dream of going to college as his siblings did and helping troubled kids like himself, he said. “I used to be a straight-D student. Now, I’m an A-B student,” Shogran said. “I’m not ashamed. I understand why I did poorly my whole life.” Shogran said he’s in competition with his youngest son, who is enrolled in college for business in Florida. They talk about what they’re going through, he said. Like Shogran, Carmen Smith of Hickory is more sure of herself than she’s ever been before, she said. With the help of assistive technology, she plans to graduate in May with a radiography degree. Smith, 23, deals with a reading comprehension problem, an auditory processing disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. “High school was a struggle,” she said. “My brain just doesn’t want to process what other people say.” At Hickory High School, Smith stayed after school and received additional help from teachers, but it wasn’t enough, she said. Since she started at CVCC four years ago, she’s been getting help at the Learning Assistance Center. Smith uses the software programs ReadPlease and Kurzweil 3000. “I put the CD in the CD-ROM, and it reads the chapter for me at a pace I can tolerate,” she said. “It’s helped me understand the material a lot better by decreasing the amount of time it takes me to read. It made it a whole lot easier.” Smith also has the programs downloaded at home so she can work there, too. She credits the staff of the center and her instructors for getting her the accommodations she needs. The center has 20 employees with bachelor’s and master’s degrees to help students with different subjects, said Cynthia Coulter, the center’s director. About 900 students are registered with the center, she said. Students who work with assistive technology have to do the same amount of work as other students, said Wanda Horvath, counselor of students with disabilities. This semester, 65 students are enrolled in the assistive technology program, she said. “When a student comes in, we ask them what it will take to get them to that level playing field as everyone else,” Horvath said. “If we don’t already have it, we need to get it.” Students can use assistive technology after showing professional diagnosis of a disability that affects their daily lives, she said. “This technology has opened up a lot of doors for folks who couldn’t keep up,” Horvath said. “It’s made a tremendous impact. Students who couldn’t make it through a two-year or four-year program can now.” CVCC has always had assistive technology, like wheelchairs, she said. As technology improves, accommodations improve. It’s not a one-size-fits-all situation, Horvath said. “When you find that right niche for a student, their face lights up,” she said. “It’s like Christmas for a little child.” These accommodations don’t isolate students or make them feel different, Horvath said. Students use assistive technology in the center among other students. “People wouldn’t probably notice or even know they’re using it,” she said. “It gives them a feeling of being part of the community.” It also helps them feel more independent, Coulter said. Smith feels more confident going to class, she said. She received a scholarship from Catawba Valley Medical Center and would like to work for the hospital when she graduates. “I feel like I’m on the same level with other people. I’ve made it this far and done really well,” Smith said. “Even after I graduate, I can use this stuff. I’ll keep using this material my whole life.” For Shogran, receiving a report card empowers him, he said. When he gets it, he shows it to his older sister, just like he would his mother. “I feel like I’ve got a new lease on life,” Shogran said. “I’m proud, my sisters and sons are proud. Even my ex-wife is proud of me. That feels good.” On the Net: www.cvcc.edu. ccupo@hickoryrecord.com | 322-4510 x239 This story can be found at: http://www.hickoryrecord.com
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