School days save Jacob

BY SARA KEDDY

Kings County Register

Jacob Allen likes reading Edgar Allen Poe, his science fair project was on mirrors and he listens to ‘50s and ‘60s rock and roll with his school music club.

It’s parents Darlene and Danny’s biggest fear he won’t be able to enjoy those things this fall, but they’re not letting it stop them.

“I’m a momma on a mission,” Darlene says.

The Grafton family needs to come up with $28,000 to pay for Jacob’s fourth year, Grade 11, at Landmark East in Wolfville. That’s on top of $75,000 they’ve paid in tuition to the specialized school in the past three years, only about $30,000 of it covered through scholarships and provincial funding.

This year, there’s no $6,500 coming from the Nova Scotia government: it’s grants for special education programs outside public schools are only good for three years.

All that extra money has left the family scrambling through years’ worth of fundraisers – auctions, dances, raffles, 50/ 50 draws at the drive-in bingo in Cambridge on Tuesday nights.

“We’re freaking, but we’ll do it,” Darlene says. “It’s going to happen.”

The family is so emphatic because of what they’re seen Jacob do since beginning at Landmark.

By Grade 6, Jacob was floundering – he says he couldn’t read,. The resource help his mom was convinced he needed – and got, but only halfway through that last year at elementary school – wasn’t much help: “They’d just give you the answers, and not tell you how to get them,” he says.

“We’d sit here at the kitchen table for hours. Danny would have to just walk away and there would be pencils flying and yelling and just the frustration over homework every night,” Darlene says. “We were the parents – we knew something was wrong.”

After they arranged a private assessment, they discovered Jacob had severe dyslexia.

“I’d heard of Landmark East, and we did a lot of paperwork, calling and trying to find the right people to get Jacob there,” Darlene says.

With “angels” behind them – family and friends, Jacob started that fall as a day student.

“We saw a difference in three months, from a boy who had no self-confidence into one who had this much,” Darlene says, holding her fingers apart just a tad. “It was working – enough we knew we’d do it again.”

Jacob says there were four kids in his class, he learned to read with phonics, had some social skill lessons, such as anger management to handle the teasing he’d experienced in his last elementary years. He did science fair projects, joined clubs for music, card playing and respect for diversity activities. His computer lets him speak, and does the typing for him, which he then cleans up for grammar and word checks. The walls in the family room are hung with his artwork, He likes sciences, and had honours this year in art and English.

“Just sitting here now, talking to you and making eye contact – he never would have done that before,” Darlene says.

Jacob’s picked up hobbies – basketball and scuba diving after an uncle’s birthday gift of a free lesson. He takes an advanced test this month that will let him dive to 100 feet, or in the dark. He’s angling for a job at the Valley dive shop – even dressing kids for their lessons or helping with an upcoming store move. He’s picking strawberries, then raspberries and blueberries, this summer.

“I have to have the money to do my things,” Jacob says, and tops on the list right now is getting his driver’s license when he turns 16 in a couple weeks.

“If you look at his room, there’s not the stuff other kids have – we’ve had to make sacrifices,” Darlene says.

We’ve had to sell vehicles, furniture, Danny collects scrap, we’ve remortgaged twice and we’re doing work on the house now to get ready to sell. We’ll move in with my parents, have the cash for school and get Jacob through the last two years to Grade 12 – then hope for scholarships.

“It’s been a lot or worrying, a lot of crying and tears, but we’re doing it for his education.”

Jacob himself is looking forward to getting back to Landmark in September.

“It’s not easy.”

Hot diggity dog!

The Allens are all working the BBQ circuit this weekend, as Pete’s Bun ’ n Run in Berwick has offered them a percentage of owner Pete Campbell’s sales Saturday, July 26.

“We’re hoping for a sunny, busy day,” mom Darlene Allen says, “and we’ll be helping cook and serve.”

Pete’s stand on Commercial Street, in the Home Hardware lot, is up and running by 10 a.m. and serves up hot dogs and Pete’s smokeys until the middle of the afternoon.