Bar Mitzvahs

Michelle Tedford

Special To The Observer

When Michael Sherbet tried to read, eachlinebecamearun-onwithoutspaces.

His brain filtered out and discarded the spaces between words that are key to cognition. And although the fourth-grader couldn’t read, he was smart.

He compiled strategies to get by: look at the first letter and guess; listen to classmates and parrot their answers; participate in other ways to avoid reading out loud.

That was Michael four years ago. On May 27, he stood at the bima at Temple Israel, chanted his Torah and Haftorah portions with conviction, and entered into adulthood, thanks to persistent parents and green lenses that now set words — and their spaces — in proper order.

Rita Dushman Rich first met Michael in 2002 in her job as a fourth-grade religious studies teacher at Temple Israel.

“I liked him from the beginning,” she said. “He was very enjoyable. But, he was a child who I was constantly having to say, ‘It’s easier to read if you actually look at the page,’ because he seemed to be everywhere.”

At the end of fourth grade, Michael’s teachers in the Centerville City Schools suggested he be held back.

“But I knew my kid wasn’t stupid,” Dr. Ann Sherbet said.

Ann and Steve Sherbet looked everywhere for answers — including into Michael’s eyes. “I knew he didn’t have an eye problem because I would constantly test his eyes,” said Ann, who is an optometrist.

She thought, “My kid can’t be the only one who has this problem,” so Ann turned to the Internet and discovered www.IrlenSyndrome.com. It described skipping words or lines while reading, problems concentrating, sensitivity to fluorescent lights — Michael’s symptoms to a T.

While it is a learning disability, children with Irlen Syndrome exhibit no physical problem that eye doctors can detect. It’s also not well-known among physicians, who are trained to recognize problems such as ADD.

Irlen Syndrome is a visual perception problem. While Michael could see the world around him clearly, his brain muddled the signals interpreting black letters on white paper.

Ann took Michael to a specialist in Columbus, who also discovered his sensitivity to a specific light wavelength that manifests itself as the color green. When he reads through a green transparency, green-tinted glasses or contact lenses, it calms the visual processing pathways and allows him to read. The benefit was immediate.

In four years, he’s gone from failing to getting straight As. And he’s gained confidence to take on additional challenges, such as Bar Mitzvah preparations.

Rita, also Michael’s Bar Mitzvah tutor, was surprised the once distracted fourth-grader was now excelling in sessions to prepare his Torah and Haftorah portions.

“He approached reading differently,” she said. “He had a different attitude… He had a pretty long Torah portion to prepare, and I gave him the option of shortening it, and he said, ‘No.’”

At every turn, when she offered him a choice, Michael took the more challenging option.

“I was starting to enter my adult Jewish life, and it’s special. I wanted to do it,” Michael said.

While Michael was able to manage his disability, other children require special consideration when preparing for their Bar and Bat Mitzvahs.

“We have kids now who are at different levels of participation based on abilities,” said Temple Israel’s Rabbi David Sofian.

“Our goal is that this be a significant achievement for the kid based on the abilities of the kid,” he said.

The relatively small number of Bar and Bat Mitzvahs held at Temple Israel — 22 last year, 11 this year — also allows for flexibility in matching the ceremony to students’ abilities and goals.

Rita said the celebration can be an extra special accomplishment for children who struggle with disabilities.

“For kids who are not used to coming out on top, it’s wonderful to see them have their day,” she said.

For Michael, it was an opportunity to prove to others — and to himself — that he could do it. For his mother, who talked during the ceremony about Michael’s progress, it was an opportunity to educate others about Irlen Syndrome.

Even with his green glasses, Michael admits he is not an avid reader. He does, though, acknowledge the importance of reading. He took the lessons he learned from his disability and applied them to his Bar Mitzvah project.

“For my project, I thought I would collect books for people that didn’t have much of anything,” he said.

On June 12, he delivered 20 boxes of books to children staying at the Dayton YWCA shelter.

© 2006 The Dayton Jewish Observer