OASIS helps seniors, youngsters

Older adults help Woodland Hills pupils to read

Thursday, April 27, 2006

For young Austin Steele, tutoring is about fun.

But, in reality, tutoring is about his chance for personal accomplishment and future opportunities.

On April 20, the Shaffer Primary School second-grader sat in the principal's inner-office conference area for a session with OASIS reading tutor Richard Adamson, of Turtle Creek.

"When is this class over?" Austin sang out as Mr. Adamson skimmed his lesson plans, opened his record book and shuffled papers. "I don't want this class to ever be over," the child said happily.

The Pittsburgh OASIS program paired up Austin and Mr. Adamson.

OASIS stands for the Older Adult Service Information System, a 24-year-old program dedicated to helping keep older citizens productive and vital to the community. The organization, which started in St. Louis where its headquarters is still located, offers tutors training. It also encourages those who are middle-aged and older to stay physically active.

Marlene Rebb, the OASIS tutoring coordinator, said about 100 tutors, some in their 80s, volunteer in Woodland Hills and Pittsburgh Public elementary schools. At Shaffer, a Woodland Hills school, 12 children meet with eight OASIS tutors each week.

Austin's April 20 session occurred under the gaze of school Principal Mary Frances Duncan, the school's literacy specialist Martin Sharp, Mrs. Rebb and other visitors, but he and Mr. Adamson ignored the pressure.

Austin cut out selected words to create his own sentences to read. They often included tiny stories with Mr. Adamson as one character:

"Austin and Richard ride a bike."

"Richard once had a black dog and a horse."

It was clear that the tousle-haired, chirpy-voiced 8-year-old and his tutor, dance instructor who sports a hoary crew cut and a pitchfork-wielding devil tattoo on his forearm, were friends.

It was also easy to tell that Austin was enjoying the reading game. He was smiling.

But, at the outset of the school year, Austin could read only 18 words a minute. He was at high risk, Mr. Sharp said. Children who do not master grade-level reading by their third year run the risk of never becoming proficient, he said.

For Austin, because of Mr. Adamson and Shaffer school's focus on reading, that danger has been allayed. By March, he was reading more than 89 words a minute -- almost 30 points above the 60 words-per-minute benchmark.

Not long ago, "he was very low," Ms. Duncan said after the session ended. She said she recalled a quieter, more reluctant-to-read Austin.

"Now he has confidence, and it's because of you," she said, directing her praise to Mr. Adamson.

"Thank you," he replied, but he added that some of the credit belongs to a former schoolmate named Myron Solomon.

"When I was in elementary school in Turtle Creek, I was a problem reader," recalled Mr. Adamson, who is in his late 60s. "I would get another student, Myron Solomon, to read the words for me."

He said he got help, remembered Myron's example and the tables turned.

"I went through sort of a transition," he said, "and I became the person whom people came to for [help]."

For more information on OASIS, call Mrs. Rebb at 412-232-9518 or go to www.oasisnet.org.