It's been less than a year since Arrowsmith, a program which posits cognitive deficiencies can be overcome with a series of paper- and computer-based exercises, came to Charleston. After mixed success at Charleston Montessori School, the program is moving to St. Agnes, a Catholic school.
Montessori doesn't have specified periods for classes, instead opting for an uninterrupted block of time in the morning for learning. Shanna Thompson, the woman responsible for the program's arrival in West Virginia, said Arrowsmith wasn't the best fit for that school. Students weren't necessarily getting enough instruction in math and language every day like they should, she said.
Thompson is a mother who swears by the program. When it didn't work as well as she hoped at the Montessori school, she went hunting for another, and found St. Agnes.
"We're hoping that at St. Agnes we can expand to have an after-school program so that kids in public school can take an hour or two of Arrowsmith a day," Thompson said. "But there's so many rules to follow and hoops to jump through with public school."
At least one study has questioned how effective the Arrowsmith program is, and noted that it's hard to make generalizations about the program, because so few schools offer it.
A 2015 dissertation from Georgia State University looked at the implementation of Arrowsmith in a local private school.
"The students showed no growth in reading from one year to the next and even showed a large decrease in their reading scores," the study concludes, even though parents responded to surveys that they thought their children had.
The study also noted that, since so few students are enrolled in the program, it's hard to make broad generalizations about the program - there are only a handful of schools across the country that offer it.
But Thompson is optimistic about the program now and about how it can help other children in the area, a big change from a few years ago where she wasn't optimistic at all. A couple of years ago she took drastic measures and took her daughter's education into her own hands.
One night, Thompson's young daughter Nila crawled into her and her husband's bed. To say she had been struggling with learning to read would be an understatement. Both parents were diagnosed with dyslexia as children, but they didn't have diagnoses as severe as Nila's.
Thompson tried to work with the girl as much as she could. When Thompson showed her daughter a flashcard with a letter on it, Nila couldn't recognize the letter just minutes later.
"I was really sad, so I would go into my parents' room and talk to them about it," said Nila, now 9 years old. "One time I was really sad and I remembered the shots we gave our animals at the shelter to put them to sleep. And I thought, if I could get the shot from the shelter, I would, because maybe I would come back and would be able to read."
With words like that coming from her daughter, Thompson acted fast. She had heard of plenty of programs promising to help those with dyslexia, most of which she calls "junk science." But there was one program, Arrowsmith, that sparked her interest. The program, originally based out of Toronto, Canada, seemed to be her last resort.
"I called them and said, 'How do we sign up?'" Thompson recalled. "We thought we were moving to Canada."
But they wouldn't have to go quite as far. A school in Virginia adopted the program and had a place just for Nila. Fast forward a few of years and Nila no longer wants that shot. Instead, she just wants to finish reading The Chronicles of Narnia (she's a big fan of the first book, so far).
Thompson is amazed at how her daughter has transformed, attributing nearly all of it to the program, though research on the program isn't as adamant that the program is helpful.
One parent, Kristie Jewell, is preparing to uproot her family and move all the way from New Hampshire just to see if the program will help her 11-year-old daughter Quinn.
"I heard Quinn on her phone the other day saying, 'I'm popular but I'm not smart,'" Jewell said. "She's confident and very loud and outgoing, but not in the classroom."
Jewell and her family decided to move to Charleston a few months ago, after it was announced St. Agnes would offer the Arrowsmith program.
Families have to pay $6,500 to enroll a child in Arrowsmith, in addition to the tuition for St. Agnes. Tuition for the school differs based on the child's age and the family's status as a member of the Catholic church.
"I feel like I have a 50-50 chance at this point," Jewell said. But she figures that's better than no chance at all.
To enroll a child or to find out more information, call Thompson at 304-925-4341.
Reach Jake Jarvis at jake.jarvis@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-7939 or follow @NewsroomJake on Twitter.