A love for his son and a frustration with the educational system led Bexley resident Joel Greff to open a franchise of Dyslexia Institutes of America, “My inspiration is the fact that my sonÉhas faced all kinds of learning challenges since he was in preschool,” he said.

Greff’s son was diagnosed with dyslexia in elementary school. He was looking for services for his son and considered sending him to the private Marburn Academy, but he said it was cost-prohibitive. He is also an entrepreneur who was looking for a challenge.

Greff’s son is 12 and headed into sixth grade at Montrose Elementary. The family realized there was a problem in preschool and began evaluating him.

“Arguably 15 to 20 percent of the population is faced with dyslexia and or associated learning challenges,” he said. “It is underserved because it is not a visible disability.”

The franchise was founded by Elaine Jett, who owned and operated several Sylvan Learning Centers and had a background in curriculum design. Jett put together a program centered on phonics that addressed the symptoms of dyslexia.

Greff opened the franchise in 1997 in Gahanna. He grew up in Bexley and operates a technology business in the community. He moved the franchise to Bexley earlier this summer because it is a more convenient location for him.

“We’re close enough to Bexley, in particular Main Street, there is a lot for parents to do,” he said.The institute has 11 different diagnostic tests to determine if someone has dyslexia. it takes three hours to run an assessment. The institute works with four-year-olds through adults.

While the most common symptom of dyslexia is flipping numbers and reversing letters, that isn’t always the case, Greff said.

“I don’t know how many times people call who don’t flip numbers and have all these other problems,” he said.

In preschool, students with dyslexia show delayed speech; mix up the sounds and syllables in long words; have chronic ear infections or severe reactions to childhood illnesses; demonstrate confusion of left versus right; are late establishing a dominant hand; have difficulty learning to tie shoes; trouble memorizing their addresses, phone number or the alphabet; and can’t create words that rhyme.

In elementary school, symptoms include letter or number reversal; extreme difficulty learning cursive; slow choppy, inaccurate reading; terrible spelling; difficulty remembering sight words; trouble with math; messy bedroom, backpack and desk; and dreads going to school.

Unfortunately the economy has had a negative impact on the business, Greff said. as people lose their jobs, they have less funding available for therapy or assessment.

Dyslexia is challenging because it does not go away quickly, he said, adding that it can be frustrating and tiring for families to deal with it on a day-to-day basis.

“This is not something that is quickly going to go away,” he said.

One local family learned their son had dyslexia when he was in first grade. He’s headed into the second grade now. they began working with his institute this summer. The mother knows Greff and decided to give it a chance.

“I heard of his work with dyslexia,’ she said. “My son was in tutoring and looking for some work outside the reading tutoringÉa broader perspective. it is a really great supplement.”