Award-winning student goes to Washington by AL ELVIN, Of The Oakland Press

If today was a usual day for Sean Cronin, the University of Pennsylvania student would be attending classes and practicing with the school's rowing team. But for Cronin of West Bloomfield, today is hardly normal. The 19-year-old college freshman, along with five other students around the country, his parents and his sister, will be making a visit to the White House, where they will meet first lady Laura Bush.

Cronin and five other students are being congratulated by Bush for winning a 2001 national achievement award from Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic. The nonprofit organization provides recorded textbooks to students who cannot read standard print effectively because of a visual impairment, dyslexia or another disability.

"I'm pretty excited," Cronin said. "I knew about the trip, but it didn't solidify until a couple of weeks ago."

Cronin said he owes his trip to his ability to persevere despite his dyslexia. Dyslexia is classified as a disturbance of the ability to read.

"Once you're dyslexic, you're always dyslexic, and the books on tape are the best ways to deal with it," said Harriett Cronin, Sean's mother, who also is a former educator. "You're not really going to solve the problem. You never cure it. You just accommodate it."

Cronin, who was diagnosed with dyslexia in sixth grade, began using books on tape, which, in turn, helped to drastically improve his academic performance in one year.

"He really started using the books on tape effectively when he got to high school," Harriett Cronin said. "It's absolutely incredible to see what the tape textbooks have done. In middle school he was a B-C student, but in high school he turned into an A-plus student."

Cronin, who is planning to major in biochemistry, went from being an average middle school student into a better than 4.0 grade point student by the end of his high school career at Orchard Lake St. Mary's Preparatory (2001 graduate).

Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic has a local chapter in Troy that has furnished Cronin with audio books free of charge since middle school. The organization presented Cronin with one of three Marion Huber Learning Through Listening awards. The prize is handed out annually to the three high school seniors with learning disabilities who demonstrate excellent achievement. Winning students also receive $6,000.

"A lot of people think I see words different," he said. "Everything looks the way it looks to everyone else. When I try to sound things out, I sometimes switch letters in words and mispronounce words, so it kind of makes me go a little slower.

"Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic has helped out a lot. They provided my books for me on tape as a free service. And in college there's a price tag on everything. If you can get anything for free, it's great."

Cronin was told at first that he was able to bring just one person from his family to the White House, and it was going to be his mother, Harriett. But later on, Cronin was informed that his mother, father, Patrick, and sister, Moira, a student at Mercy High School, all would be able to meet the first lady.

"It's a first for all of us," he said. "And it will be a really great experience."

©The Oakland Press 2002

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