CREATING READERS, ONE CHILD AT A TIME

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Apr 6, 2008 | by CAROL McGRAW

Sherman says, "When I look back over my career, I would consider hiring her as one of my best successes. She has had such an impact on this region in reading, and has set such a high standard for the faculty."

It was not an easy time for Swaby. "I had taught reading classes, and had directed a peeradvisory program, so had an idea how the reading program should be done. But I was also the first black woman teaching at the university and I didn't have a mentor, and was thrown in to create this program. It was challenging."

She insisted on starting the free reading clinic. Sherman says, "It amazed me how she was able to establish a free reading clinic with essentially no help from the university. She said it needed to be done and she did it."

Swaby is a top reading diagnostician. "Without a huge battery of tests, within minutes she knows exactly where a child belongs and how to help them," says UCCS interim provost Peg Bacon.

She does it without first checking test results or quizzing a child's parents. "I prefer not to know. I want to make decisions based on what I find when they read for me," Swaby explains.

Children in the clinic are guaranteed six months' reading improvement during the three-week individualized clinics held in summer and fall.

Jan Ewing called for an appointment because she "felt like a failure because my son wasn't catching on to reading."

Three of her five mostly homeschooled children have been through the clinic.

"Oh, my gosh, it's amazing how she helps the kids help themselves," Ewing says. "They can read out loud publicly, which is huge, comprehension went up, spelling. Their self-esteem went through the ceiling. They adore Dr. Swaby."

Ewing's son Cody, 13, says, "She's like a friend. She believed I could do it. My reading level had been third level, and now it is ninth level."

Inspiration to all

Swaby's love of children and ability to inspire others holds true in her personal life, too.

Ten years after she came to UCCS, she decided to adopt a child. She believed raising a girl would be easier, but couldn't say no when she met a 2-year-old boy. It was a difficult transition. "I was a single mom and he had had a hard start in life. And we were new to each other. But he is the biggest miracle in my life."

David Swaby, now 25, is an instructor in the UCCS forensic sciences department, and working on his doctorate. "I have two heroes. One is my grandfather (Herbert Swaby), and the other is my mother," he says.

Teachers recall David as a tot, sitting quietly in the back of Swaby's classroom with his purple blanket and books, just as years ago she had attended her parents' classes.

Barbara Swaby is just as zealous in taking care of others. B.J. Campbell, assistant principal at Frontier Elementary School, recalls how Swaby changed her life. She was a secretary at Helen Hunt Elementary, where Swaby often gave workshops.

"One day she told me, 'You know, if you were a teacher I'd let you teach my (reading class) kids.'"

"I'm a black woman and I had never known a black woman like that, the way she talked, the way she carried herself and dressed and the respect she received. Her light showed from the beginning, and she made me feel like I could conquer anything," Campbell said. "I went to UCCS and got my graduate degree."