Margaret Byrd Rawson (1899-2001)
MSA SC 3520-14292
Biography:
When many people look forward to retirement, they envision lazy
afternoons by the lake or their dream 'round-the-world vacation.
Few plan to start schools, complete longitudinal studies and write
books, but that is exactly how Margaret Byrd Rawson spent her
retirement. For thirty-six years, Rawson contributed to the
world’s understanding of dyslexia after she retired from teaching in
1965. Lively and adventurous, Rawson was the backbone of the
Orton Dyslexia Society, and her fifty-five year study of her dyslexic
students is a benchmark of the field. When a reporter asked what
motivated her, Rawson replied: “Don’t use the word dedication when you
write about me.
It puts a slant of missionary seriousness to it. I have much more
fun
in life than that.”1 Margaret
Byrd
Rawson's fun spanned three centuries and left a lasting contribution
for
the millions of children who face the challenge of dyslexia.
Born in 1899 in Rome, Georgia, Margaret grew up in Philadelphia.
After attending Quaker schools, she enrolled in Swarthmore. While
she was in college, women finally won the right to vote in national
elections in 1920.
Margaret was twenty-one at the time and proudly cast her vote in the
1920
presidential election for Eugene V. Debs, the Socialist candidate.2 The first person to complete
the honors program at Swarthmore, she graduated in 1923 and married
Arthur Joy Rawson, an engineer.3
Six years later,
with two sons, the Rawsons joined a group of parents who started the
progressive
School in Rose Valley. From 1935 to 1947, Margaret worked at the
school
as a teacher, librarian, and psychologist. While working, she
earned
a M.A. in social work from the University of Pennsylvania in
1940. She
studied elementary education and psychology with an emphasis on
educational testing and measurements.4
At Rose Valley, Rawson embarked on what would become the
intellectual journey of
her life.
In 1935, Rawson encountered a bright boy who was having trouble
learning to read. Another teacher suggested a neurologist in New
York City who might be able to help. The boy returned with
specific instructions for
his education from the doctor, Samuel T. Orton. Dr. Orton had
begun his research studying brain-damaged adults. After his own
daughter had
trouble reading, Orton began to investigate cases where children who
had
not had any brain injuries exhibited many of the same symptoms as
adults who
had. Naming the problem “strephosymbolia,” which literally means
‘twisted
symbols,’ he developed a method of teaching reading with researcher
Anne
Gillingham.5 Rawson adapted
the
Orton-Gillingham method and soon had her student reading at grade
level. Throughout her career, Rawson’s practices reflected her
central philosophy concerning children: she believed in the dignity of
every individual and respected
the variety of ways children were able to learn. For her, the
onus
for success was on the teacher, not the child: she often said, “teach
the
language as it is to the child as he is.”6
Rather than forcing a child to conform to a set method of
learning,
Rawson searched for innovative ways to reach the child, often
incorporating
tactile and whole-body methods into her reading instruction.
In 1947, Arthur Rawson got a job at Ft. Detrick, Maryland, and the
family moved to Frederick. There, Margaret Rawson began teaching
sociology at Hood College, where she remained until her
retirement. In addition to her teaching duties, Rawson worked as
a clinical psychologist at two Frederick County health clinics.
Her interest in dyslexia never waned; she began a seminar at Hood
College designed to educate teachers about the issue, the first such
course in the country. She also ran a private practice where she
diagnosed and tutored children because the county’s public schools did
not acknowledge dyslexia.7
After her husband died in 1963, a friend from the National Institute of
Health encouraged
her to follow up on research she had begun at the School in Rose
Valley.
Rawson interviewed twenty boys who she had diagnosed as dyslexic thirty
years
before and another group of former students as a control group.
She
found that the boys with dyslexia were actually more likely to succeed
later in life than the control group. Those who had been
identified as dyslexic
went on to professional careers and over half had received graduate
degrees.
In 1968, Rawson published her findings in Developmental Language
Disability:
Adult Accomplishments of Dyslexic Boys. The book gave hope to
many
parents of students struggling to read.8
After publishing several other books and numerous articles,
Rawson
did a follow-up to her famous 1968 study. Her 1995 work, Dyslexia
over the Lifespan, was the longest longitudinal study in the United
States
at the time. The follow-up of “her boys” fifty years later showed
little
difference in their lives compared to their non-dyslexic counterparts.
One of Rawson’s strengths was her ability to unite people across
disciplines to address dyslexia. Her talent thrived in the Orton
Dyslexia Society (now the International Dyslexia Association); she was
a founding member and served as president from 1965-68. She also
edited the newsletter for many years, transforming it from a thin
pamphlet to a respected academic journal.
Rawson was remembered as the “intellectual fulcrum around which [the
Orton
Society] grew.”9 Not content
with
her work in the Society, she also encouraged the founding of private
schools
to concentrate on language disorders. In 1973, Rawson helped
start
the Jemicy School in Owing Mills, the first school dedicated to
dyslexia
in Baltimore.10 Rawson also
served
on the Frederick County Dyslexia Project, the President’s Commission on
Mental
Health, and in Maryland, on the Governor’s
Study Commission on Dyslexia in 1971. She received an
honorary
degree from Swarthmore in 1983 and another from Hood College in
1989.
The International Dyslexia Society has named an annual lifetime
achievement
award after her, and she was the first recipient. Finally, the Maryland
Women’s
Hall of Fame inducted her posthumously in 2004.
While Rawson did much more than the average retiree, she still found
time for a full and balanced life. Nicknamed “Yoda” by her
godchildren because of her wide knowledge of news, sports, and trivia,
Rawson never shied from a new experience. She learned to fly at
the age of 72 and kept flying until she was 79.11 She kept in touch with a wide circle of
friends and family, including her two sons, six grandchildren and
thirteen great-grandchildren. In addition to her family,
she corresponded with colleagues and former students; her famous
Christmas
card list included over five hundred people.12 In the late 1980s, she discovered the
personal computer
and soon did all her work there. One colleague remembers
receiving
e-mail from Rawson long before e-mail was commonplace.13 Her amazing pace never slowed; at the age of
101,
she signed the papers to found the Margaret Byrd Rawson Instituted
which
is “dedicated to training educators and other professionals and parents
in
language acquisition so that all children will have the critical skills
and
positive sense of self they need to realize their full potential."14 She passed away at her
farmhouse on November 25, 2001 at the age of 102. At her memorial
service, perhaps the most touching moment was when a group of men in
their sixties stood and explained they had been former students.15 As they described how
Margaret Byrd Rawson had transformed their lives, they wept.
Endnote:
1. O'Hanlon, Ann. "Going Strong at 96,
She's a Teacher for the Ages," The Washington Post, 26
August 1995. return to text
2. Bowler, Mike. "Margaret Byrd Rawson,
102, Teacher who Helped Children Overcome Dyslexia," The
Baltimore Sun, 28 November 2001. return to text
3. Masland, Richard L., M.D. "Margaret
Byrd Rawson," Bulletin of the Orton Society 21 (1972).
return to text
4. Saxon, Wolfgang. "Margaret Byrd
Rawson, 102, Educator and Dyslexia Authority," The New York
Times, 1 December 2001. return to text
5. Duchan, Judy. "Samuel Torrey Orton,
1879-1948." History of Speech-Pathology in America.
May 12, 2001. http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~duchan/history_subpages/samuelorton.html.
return to text
6. Masland, Richard, M.D. and Molly Masland.
"Memories of Margaret." Perspectives: Bulletin
of the International Dyslexia Association 28.3 (2002): 7. return to text
7. Saxon. return to text
8. Bowler. return to text
9. O'Hanlon. return to text
10. Morvay, Joanne E. "Early Success Inspired Life's Work," The Baltimore Sun, 31 May 1998. return to text
11. O'Hanlon. return to
text
12. Bowler. return to text
13. LD Resources. "Margaret B. Rawson."
2004. http://www.ldresources.com/site_info/authors/rawson.html.
return to text
14. Ankney, Teresa. "Paths She Has
Opened." Perspectives: Bulletin of the International
Dyslexia Association 28.3 (2002): 6. return
to text
15. Bowler, Mike. "Pomp and
Circumstance at
Towson University," The Baltimore Sun, 17 March 2002. return to text
Biography written by 2004 summer intern Amy Hobbs.
Return to Margaret Byrd Rawson's Introductory Page
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