Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, August 25, 1994                   TAG: 9410010019
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                    PAGE: S6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: WENDI GIBSON RICHERT STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ACHIEVEMENT CENTER CHANGES LIVES

```You have no idea what you've done to my child - to my family,''' she begins, noting that after only one week, parents turn the same phrases to express what this school for the learning disabled means to them.

```Our child wants to get out of bed in the morning. He wants to get dressed. Our child is doing better here than in all of the schools.'''

These children are learning-disabled. Many have dyslexia, which affects how the eye sees the printed word. Some are hyperactive with attention deficit disorder, which affects their ability to concentrate.

But most LD children have above-average IQs. And all of them can learn. They just do it in a different way.

The Achievement Center teaches them in that way.

During this school year, The Achievement Center at 615 North Jefferson St. will celebrate 20 years of teaching LD children ages 5-13. ``While there have been lots of changes in 20 years,'' Whitwell says, ``the real mission of the school has stayed the same - which is changing the lives of children.''

The Achievement Center, once St. Vincent's Home for orphaned boys, began with just seven boarding students and 17 day students. Since then, it has abandoned the idea of housing students and grown to educate 50-60 students every school year, with another 50 coming for the summer session. The school also has become nationally recognized and accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

Children come to the private school from all over the Roanoke Valley - and during summer school, a few come from other states to attend while living with relatives. Many of the students are recommended for the program by public schools that don't have the resources to teach severely learning-disabled children. In these cases, the public school system will pay the child's tuition. Other children are referred by their doctors; their families pay the $6,810-a-year tuition. A child's stay at the school averages about two years.

Learning at The Achievement Center is vastly different from that in the regular classroom, Whitwell says. Classes typically have 10 or fewer children in them.

There is no standard lesson plan for each class, but an individualized lesson plan for each child instead. Techniques for teaching LD children to read are different, too, and almost half the school day is spent on reading only.

Whitwell says what makes learning work here is the ``patience, understanding and the educational approach. It's just the way they're treated. It makes such a difference to treat children kindly, and of course alter their education to their level.''

But while The Achievement Center is the only one of its kind in Southwest Virginia, Whitwell says, too few people know about the special education students receive here - and how that personalized learning prepares its students for high school and beyond.