Bartlett gives thanks for support from 6th District

Thank you for the opportunity to address the residents of Carroll County who have entrusted me to represent them in the U.S. Congress for a ninth term.

To my constituents: I am humbled by the continuing support of the voters of Maryland's 6th District for my consistent efforts for less spending, lower taxes and less red tape, as well as my national leadership to promote a transition to domestic, cleaner and renewable sources of energy.

I pledge to continue working as your servant.

I maintain a local office in Westminster and a toll-free number, 1-800-705-2385, for you to contact me if you have a question about a federal government policy or are experiencing a problem with a federal program.

Acting as your advocate to provide you the best possible customer service from federal government programs is one of my most important responsibilities.

You may also contact me via e-mail through my Web site at www.bartlett.house.gov.

I welcome your insights and suggestions about how to make our federal government a more effective servant for us and our posterity.

Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett, 6th District

U.S. House of Representatives

Obama campaign reminds us of how America works

The Obama campaign and victory has set a benchmark for future elections.

It proved a candidate can win without the need to promote fear or to divide by attempting to be more religious or patriotic than the opponent.

In these dark days, the victory gave humans, all over America and the world, reason to break into celebrations of joy and hope.

They had, for months, been anxiously watching the long American election process. As it concluded, the sight of huge numbers waiting in multi-block lines to express democracy was stunning.

Each individual was expressing his or her right to vote, but the most impressive show of real democracy was the sheer number participating in a common task. It was emotionally overwhelming.

What is even more remarkable is that it appears that America has once again been blessed with the divine celestial confluence of having the right leader appear at the right moment in history.

The previous instances brought Franklin Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln and John Kennedy.

Vince De Palmer

Manchester

Early diagnosis is key to facing challenge of dyslexia

I was diagnosed in the fourth grade with the learning disability, dyslexia. My parents and teachers saw me struggle in my reading level. I was behind in all aspects of reading and spelling, and was scared to read aloud in class.

I knew that I couldn't read well and it was frustrating me to the point where reading was a chore. My mom took me to New York where I saw a specialist for diagnosing dyslexia.

I ran through four hours of testing for three days and my brain was mush. They diagnosed me with dyslexia and an auditory processing problem.

In kindergarten through the sixth grade I had a huge problem deciphering words and also spelling. My problem was mistaking b's for d's and flipping them when it came time to spell words.

My dyslexia ruined reading for pleasure. I remember when the first "Harry Potter" book came out and my mom went out and bought it for me. I started to read the book aloud and screwed up so many words and didn't recognize others. I just started to cry and was so angry that I couldn't read like everyone else. This broke me down inside and affected me emotionally when I had to read during class.

The purpose of this is to inform people about this disability and help people understand what it is and how hard dyslexia can be. Early diagnosis and support can really help someone cope with this learning disability.

There are more than 40 million American children and adults affected by many varieties of dyslexia; a learning disability that is primarily a difficulty with written language, particularly reading and spelling.

There are two types of dyslexia -- phonological dyslexia and surface dyslexia. Phonological is the failure to take hold of the phonic nature of language. Surface dyslexia is the difficulty in learning to read.

With early diagnosis, children can battle this learning disability and get help to strengthen their weaknesses. I went through many programs that taught me little tricks and techniques.

Please look for signs of dyslexia at an early age because diagnosing it is beneficial to the child. I am a great example of a success story because I was diagnosed at a young age. I went through the Wilson program, which helped me learn spelling rules about certain words and also how to decipher words and break them down.

This program helped me so much through school, and my reading and spelling has drastically improved.

Oliver Onyskow, junior

McDaniel College

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