The Beacon
- THE STUDENT VOICE OF THE UNIVERSITY OP PORTLAND SINCE 1935 -
March 17, 2016 • Volume 118 • Issue 20 • upbeacon.com
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Clare Duffy. THE BEACON
What it's like:
College with a learning disability
By Jacob Fuhrer
THE BEACON
His kindergarten teacher
kept him inside during recess
to complete classwork everyone
else had already finished. Basic
writing assignments in grade
school took the entire class
period. Once, Nicolas Vavuris
even wrote his entire name
backward.
Vavuris knew from a young
age that he was different from
his classmates.
A 2012 study by the U.S.
Department of Education
found that about five percent of
children nationwide have some
type of learning difference, and
four percent have Attention
Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
(ADHD) as well.
Learning Differences
It wasn’t until first grade
that Vavuris was tested. The
junior history major would
later discover he had dyslexia,
dysgraphia and ADHD.
“They’re all very
intertwined,” Vavuris said.
“Typically, when someone
has one of those things, they
probably have others.”
For Vavuris, the dysgraphia
makes writing by hand a
significant challenge.
“It causes me physical pain
if I’m doing it for more than
10 minutes,” Vavuris said. “It
doesn’t help that it’s already
illegible.”
To cope with the problem,
Vavuris is allowed to use a
laptop in class to type notes
and avoid the pain of writing by
hand.
For a time, Vavuris took
medication to help with
ADHD, but didn’t experience
enough benefits to continue
with the medication. During
elementary school, he sought
the help of an occupational
therapist to strengthen his fine
motor skills as well as learn
typing.
For Vavuris, there lies a
challenge beyond the physical
difficulties associated with
reading and writing. It’s also
psychological.
“1 really enjoy learning
about math ... it just takes me
a lot longer to do,” Vavuris
said. “I’ve basically lived in
every math class that I’ve ever
taken.”
The concoction of learning
differences made it difficult
for Vavuris to keep up with
his classmates and even more
difficult to get the proper help.
Vavuris recalls kindergarten
through third grade as some
of the worst years because
teachers simply didn’t
understand challenges he faced.
He said teachers often blamed
his struggles on a poor attitude
or a lack of determination to
succeed.
At one point, his primary
school wanted to hold Vavuris
back for three years straight. It
wasn’t until Vavuris’ mother,
who is also dyslexic, had him
tested that the school had no
choice but to acknowledge his
learning differences.
Accessible Education
Services
Nikolaas Strom, a
sophomore theology major,
specifically chose UP because
of his impression of its
programs for students with
learning differences.
“(UP) has a good students
with disabilities office,” Strom
said. “The one here was by far
the best that 1 talked to.”
Strom, who has been
diagnosed with dyslexia and
ADHD, mostly struggles with
finishing exams in the allotted
amount of time.
To get help in this area,
Strom turned to the Accessible
Education Services (AES) on
campus.
Melanie Gangle, program
manager for AES, said the
office serves students with all
types of disabilities, including
vision and hearing impairment,
orthopedic impairment, brain
injury and learning disabilities.
“The largest number of
students that we service
are students with learning
disabilities,” Gangle said.
“What our office does is to
ensure that a student with a
disability receives equal
See ACCOMMODATIONS page 3
Eric Reveno says goodbye to
miaiOII Udiuid ■ MIL ULnuun
Reveno cheers on the men's basketball team during his final
season as head coach. Reveno ended his 10-season run with a
140-178 record.
By Malika Andrews
THE BEACON
The objects in coach Eric
Reveno’s office remained
unchanged.
Photos of his team hung
on one wall, opposite a row of
plaques recognizing his players’
academic accomplishments
and on-court honors. But the
man in the middle of the office
wasn’t the same, his whole
world had been turned upside
down. So he sat in a familiar
place, surrounded by familiar
things and did his best to
process the shock.
He said the diplomatic
things. He said all the things
one would expect. Then, he
Pilots basketball
leaned back in his chair, put his record overall, 60-95 in West
head in his hands and let the Coast Conference.
tears flow.
“I wasn’t a tenured
professor. I didn’t earn
tenure,” Reveno said. “I earned
to be treated right. I earned
to be treated with respect.
I earned some things, but I
didn’t earn a lifetime position.
They don’t owe me that.”
The morning of March 15,
the men’s basketball coach
received an email from Athletic
Director Scott Lekyam asking
to meet. Shortly thereafter, the
University of Portland athletic
department announced that
Reveno would not return as the
men’s basketball coach.
He leaves with a 140-178
In a press release,
Leykam thanked Reveno
for his “service, dedication
and contributions to the
University,” while adding
that he had represented UP
“with great class on and off the
court.”
After years of routines,
Reveno, 50, was left in a daze.
He no longer needed to run the
practice he had planned. He
no longer needed to analyze
how many hours the Pilots had
practiced this season compared
to their 20 -win seasons earlier
in his time as coach.
See REVENO page II
