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Dallas-Fort Worth Communities - News for Dallas, Texas - The Dallas Morning News
Competitive spellers are all a bit different from the rest of us. But Tanu Shivaswamy pushes the envelope into another ZIP code:
Tanu cannot speak. And she is the current spelling bee champ at Richardson ISD’s Canyon Creek Elementary.
The fifth-grader’s movements are awkward, a legacy of cerebral palsy. But her thinking is fluid. And she can sign with her hands, letter by letter. At the school spelling bee a couple of weeks ago, Tanu’s district-supplied translator gave voice to those signs, word by word:
Ferret, satchel, lawful, suffrage, gimmick, raspberry, inoculate and
herringbone.
On Wednesday, she will participate in the district-level competition.
Tanu said she was nudged by a teacher into entering last year’s school bee.
She finished third. This year, she expected to win.
“I feel good when I spell a word,” she signed, as special-education aide Kim Spiegel gave voice to Tanu’s thoughts. Spiegel has been working with Tanu for five years.
Tanu is accustomed to pushing expectations. She rolled into Canyon Creek in kindergarten in a wheelchair. These days, she walks the halls with few accommodations to her disability beyond the translator. Spiegel carries Tanu’s backpack — she still has some balance issues — but otherwise the girl operates much like any other bright 10-year-old.
“She has always been a very good speller,” Spiegel said.
Tanu may actually have a leg up on other student spellers because of her disability, said her father, Kiran Shivaswamy.
“She spells most of her words out” to communicate, he said. “She uses that as a foundation. That has been her advantage.”
Like other competitive spellers, Tanu puts in her study time. She’s been spending about an hour a day memorizing lists and working through spelling drills on dictionary.com.
“It comes easily to me,” she said.
But like anyone mastering the inconsistencies of English spelling, she has her sticking places. She’s hardly the only speller to complain about the “ie/ei” problem.
The words will surely be harder at the district competition Wednesday. And if she moves on to the regional and national bees, she’ll be following other spellers who had unusual challenges, said Paige Kimble, director of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Almost every year, the bee finds ways to accommodate spellers with disabilities, she said. But it’s not often that a contestant absolutely cannot speak. A decade ago, a contestant used a computer speech program to read out the letters, Kimble said. And about five years before that, a boy who was profoundly deaf used a human translator during the competition.
Tanu and her father are well aware that some people are quick to assume that her physical issues are matched by mental disabilities. Winning a spelling bee is a way to defy the stereotype for herself and for others in similar situations, her father said.
“After it happens and she won, you do think about that,” he said. “You feel proud.”
Tanu has been mindful of defying labels for a while. Back in third grade, when students were assigned a biography as a class project, Tanu chose to study Helen Keller.
Why did she choose Keller, who became a word-renowned writer, lecturer and advocate for the disabled despite being blind and deaf?
“I really admire her courage,” Tanu said, emphasizing “really” with her body language.
Does she see herself as pushing back against stereotyping, following Keller’s example?
“Yes,” she signed.
Competitive spellers are all a bit different from the rest of us. But Tanu Shivaswamy pushes the envelope into another ZIP code:
Tanu cannot speak. And she is the current spelling bee champ at Richardson ISD’s Canyon Creek Elementary.
The fifth-grader’s movements are awkward, a legacy of cerebral palsy. But her thinking is fluid. And she can sign with her hands, letter by letter. At the school spelling bee a couple of weeks ago, Tanu’s district-supplied translator gave voice to those signs, word by word:
Ferret, satchel, lawful, suffrage, gimmick, raspberry, inoculate and
herringbone.
On Wednesday, she will participate in the district-level competition.
Tanu said she was nudged by a teacher into entering last year’s school bee.
She finished third. This year, she expected to win.
“I feel good when I spell a word,” she signed, as special-education aide Kim Spiegel gave voice to Tanu’s thoughts. Spiegel has been working with Tanu for five years.
Tanu is accustomed to pushing expectations. She rolled into Canyon Creek in kindergarten in a wheelchair. These days, she walks the halls with few accommodations to her disability beyond the translator. Spiegel carries Tanu’s backpack — she still has some balance issues — but otherwise the girl operates much like any other bright 10-year-old.
“She has always been a very good speller,” Spiegel said.
Tanu may actually have a leg up on other student spellers because of her disability, said her father, Kiran Shivaswamy.
“She spells most of her words out” to communicate, he said. “She uses that as a foundation. That has been her advantage.”
Like other competitive spellers, Tanu puts in her study time. She’s been spending about an hour a day memorizing lists and working through spelling drills on dictionary.com.
“It comes easily to me,” she said.
But like anyone mastering the inconsistencies of English spelling, she has her sticking places. She’s hardly the only speller to complain about the “ie/ei” problem.
The words will surely be harder at the district competition Wednesday. And if she moves on to the regional and national bees, she’ll be following other spellers who had unusual challenges, said Paige Kimble, director of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Almost every year, the bee finds ways to accommodate spellers with disabilities, she said. But it’s not often that a contestant absolutely cannot speak. A decade ago, a contestant used a computer speech program to read out the letters, Kimble said. And about five years before that, a boy who was profoundly deaf used a human translator during the competition.
Tanu and her father are well aware that some people are quick to assume that her physical issues are matched by mental disabilities. Winning a spelling bee is a way to defy the stereotype for herself and for others in similar situations, her father said.
“After it happens and she won, you do think about that,” he said. “You feel proud.”
Tanu has been mindful of defying labels for a while. Back in third grade, when students were assigned a biography as a class project, Tanu chose to study Helen Keller.
Why did she choose Keller, who became a word-renowned writer, lecturer and advocate for the disabled despite being blind and deaf?
“I really admire her courage,” Tanu said, emphasizing “really” with her body language.
Does she see herself as pushing back against stereotyping, following Keller’s example?
“Yes,” she signed.
