RFB&D works!
By Jackie Perrone jacper@juno.com

Libby Anne Inabinet, state director of Reading for the Blind and Dyslexic.

Last week at Alcorn Middle School in Columbia, educators and community leaders met in a Celebration of Education, specifically the two years of the programs furnished at Alcorn by an organization known as RFB&D. Their meeting also produced several announcements of good news for the future.

RFB&D stands for Recording For the Blind and Dyslexic. Educators agree that reading is the most significant key to effective learning; RFB&D provides help to improve reading skills for students with vision and perception problems.

"You may have trouble with your visual perception, but you still have ears," says Libby Ann Inabinet, state director. "We provide talking books, so that children with perception problems still have access to the printed word. It can make all the difference in their progress in education."

RFB&D began serving Alcorn Middle School in 2005 through a grant from the Central Carolina Community Foundation. Its service

includes providing Talking

Books, recorded by volunteers, and the technology to enable their use.

Charlotte Berry, chairman of the board, said, "In these two years, RFB&D has served 4200 students. There are 55,000 throughout the state who could benefit from this program, and our goal is to reach them all eventually."

Dr. Jim Rex, S.C. superintendent of education, called the program "A nobrainer. It's a great example of innovation, something we have not been doing, and there are powerful anecdotal reports of success with students who have struggled with reading. I would love to see it on a state- wide basis."

At this celebration, some specific steps in that direction were announced. The Lions Club has been identified with services to vision needs since 1925. Walt Shealy, district governor of the Lions Club, promised that the 160 Lions Clubs in S.C. will partner with RFB&D. He promised financial and volunteer support from the Knights and Ladies of the Blind.

Bruce Pope, an executive with Northwestern Mutual Insurance Company, had been awarded a $10,000 grant from the Central Carolina Community Foundation for his outstanding volunteer work. He chose RFB&D as the recipient of the award.

John Denise, president, Advance Automation Consulting Inc., announced his company is adopting a school, St. Andrews Middle, and individual employees are being encouraged to adopt single students to mentor in the program.

Jim Lystlund is regional outreach director for RFB&D in Va., W.Va., N.C. and S.C. He reported that assessment of this program has brought consistent results across the entire country. University studies have documented their significant impact. "What's better than investing in children?" he asked.

More information about RFB&D can be found at their Web site: WWW.rfbd.org.