Pesky Center fundraises for learning
By Dana DuGan
Every parent hears subtle criticism regarding their kids at some point in their schooling: she’s immature, he’s unruly in the classroom, he should be kept back, she isn’t reading at grade level.
These concerns can mean many things. And there are clear steps to take, from having a heart to heart with your child and hiring tutors, to finding resources in your community, to help.
But many parents don’t understand what’s needed to help, have access to resources or they lack the funds required.
Fortunately, nearly 20 years ago, Alan and Wendy Pesky, of Ketchum and New York City, started an organization named for their late son, Lee, who’d suffered from learning disabilities himself. They understood the frustrations firsthand.
“We began as parents,” Wendy Pesky said. “We had no training as educators.
Lee would be 52 this year. We had him tested but at the time they had no way to explain what was happening. Now there are real ways to deal with dyslexia. It’s a relatively new field.”
Today, the Lee Pesky Learning Center has helped to improve the lives of nearly 2,500 families through one-on-one evaluation, intervention, counseling and referral services. It’s also trained more than 5,000 teachers across Idaho on best practices in the classroom to address a wider range of learning needs for every student.
Two upcoming fundraisers will help support the work of the LPLC.
“We hope to raise enough money for 10 to 15 scholarships, for those who have financial needs,” Pesky said. “One hundred percent of proceeds from the Summer Auction support LPLC’s Lifetime of Learning scholarship fund. We pick the clients who’re most in need financially, who would otherwise not be able to afford our services.”
Fully half of LPLC’s clients live in households that earn less than $30,000 a year.
The Peskys considered this as “strictly a service to help those who learn differently. We had two people working for us. We quickly found out there was a great need in the state for teachers to be trained. That became a very large area of work for us. We consulted with school districts.”
LPLC’s executive director, Evelyn Johnson, who is also a professor of special education at Boise State University, works with Pesky to train graduate students in special education, doing clinical and academic work.
But there was still a distinctive “gap in services,” Pesky said.
Now, thanks to a recent grant from the Wood River Women’s Foundation, Jami Delgado, who has a master’s in Marriage, Child and Family Therapy and a Pupil Personnel Services (PPL) credential in School Psychology, will offer counseling in the Wood River Valley.
The counseling services begin with an evaluation of the whole child’s needs, looking at conditions such as anxiety, depression and self-regulation concerns. Once they better understand a person’s needs, LPLC is able to provide counseling services using a cognitive behavioral therapy approach, movement therapy and elements of a program called Social Thinking, which helps clients see improvements in their behavior and see significant gains in social outcomes.
The Peskys haven’t rested, though. Once the organization was set up in Boise, they kept pushing, opening the satellite office in the Valley, and reaching out to other schools.
“We’re doing research, too,” Pesky said. “We’re working with Lafayette College in Pennsylvania and a university in Germany to determine through DNA if a child has the marking. If you identify it, you can address the problem. It can save years of frustration, anger and heartbreak. It’s a hidden condition. A child will struggle, not knowing that something is wrong. It’s empowering. We are one of four or five top facilities in the country.”
To prove this point, Pesky tells me this story:
“We had a family that moved from Rome with their youngest child who had learning problems. The father came first with the child, and spent two to three weeks being diagnosed, in Boise. After it was determined what was wrong, they decided to move the whole family to Boise. The mother is now on our board, and the child is a very successfully functioning student.”
The Summer Online Auction allows for people to browse at their leisure and come back to check on their bids.
“There’s a technique,” Pesky said.
Auction items include weekend getaways, exotic travel destinations, hotel and lodge stays, spa treatments, Vintage Versace, gift certificates, rafting trips, tickets to events, handmade gifts, and much more.
The Summer Auction runs from Wednesday, Aug. 3 through 8 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 9.
To participate, visit www.lplc/afrogs.org.