Robert L. Goldsmith, 33°

Children are tomorrow’s citizens and the hope for our world. To help children
overcome their challenges is a major contribution to the future.

This is a great occasion.We are celebrating the golden anniversary of the RiteCare Childhood Language Program. Our Sovereign Grand Commander, Illustrious C. Fred Kleinknecht, remarked: “No other Masonic organization has dedicated its main philanthropic outreach to solving this single greatest problem of American children—the entire range of childhood language disorders are being treated at our clinics. More children in the United States suffer from these problems than from all other medical and orthopedic problems combined.”
Dreams do come true, and miracles can happen. If you don’t think so just ask Stephanie of Fort Myers, Florida; or ask Rachel of San Diego, California; or ask Christopher of Monroe, Louisiana; or ask

Benjamin of Great Falls, Montana. I could go on citing cases of dreams that have come true and the miracles that have happened. All of this is a result of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry’s support of a Childhood Language Disorders Program established in 1953 in Colorado. The results of that program led to our current network of RiteCare Childhood Language clinics, centers, and programs providing diagnostic evaluation and treatment of speech and language disorders as well as learning disabilities in children.

Today there are over 170 facilities or programs providing help for these children throughout the Southern Jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite. Each facility is staffed by speech-language pathologists or other trained personnel. Through the support of our members, our clinics continue to increase in number. Tens of thousands of children across the nation who might have remained educationally handicapped for a lifetime can now talk, hear, read, and lead useful lives.

On average in recent years, 28,000 children annually have received aid from our clinics. These children have been brought from silence, loneliness, and despair to speech, companionship, and happiness. To hear, to speak, to understand—these are the basic steps of language development in the young mind. Yet, many otherwise normal, healthy children, rich and poor alike, are shut off from communication, even with their own parents. Many of these childhood problems do not mean mental deficiency or emotional disturbance. Often, these children have at least average or even superior intelligence. What they lack is the ability to exercise this intelligence through normal speech and language channels. Children who have these problems are sometimes hard to detect. They are often slow in developing a vocabulary or are difficult to understand, using incomplete or incorrect sentences or gibberish.

In the past few years, there has been increasing recognition of the importance of evaluating and treating childhood problems at the earliest possible stage. This recognition has resulted in conducting screening programs for children in our day-care centers. What a joy it is to see little faces light up when they discover that they can master their speech defects, sometimes with minimal assistance. The chances of children with communication disorders attaining the level of their peer group are much greater if the child receives help at an early age.

Let me give you one prime example of what I am talking about. Remember in the beginning I mentioned Stephanie as a miracle that happened? Stephanie is a lively, happy, now nearly four-year-old girl, who has been receiving speech-language therapy at the clinic in Fort Myers, Florida, since she was two and a half. When Stephanie first came to the clinic, in the fall of 2000, she was extremely hard to understand due to the large number of articulation errors in her speech. She frequently substituted or omitted consonants within her words. Therefore, Stephanie often sounded as if she were speaking a foreign language. A simple task like requesting a drink would turn into a guessing game for her parents. Her request ended up sounding like “I wahk gink.” As one can imagine, it was very frustrating for this bright, verbal child to

be misunderstood, while it was just as maddening for her family to be constantly guessing what she was trying to say.

Fortunately, the self-esteem of this little girl has greatly improved since then. Stephanie now has very few problems communicating her ideas clearly and effectively. Now, she rarely gets frustrated and, instead, enjoys talking to family members and friends in her preschool class. I would say that this little girl’s dream did come true.

Thanks to the generosity of the Scottish Rite members through their national and local foundations, which provide financial support for all our RiteCare clinics, centers, and programs, thousands of children have been evaluated and been successfully treated in a nurturing environment. Miracles can happen, and with skilled evaluation and treatment, miracles are happening in RiteCare facilities all over America.

However, more clinics, centers, and programs are needed to assist all of the children who are looking to the Scottish Rite for help. Also, Scottish Rite clinics already in existence continue to need donations for additional therapists, instructional material, special equipment, and improved facilities.

In addition to our membership support, we must encourage all concerned citizens to assist in this worthy humanitarian effort. One way to assist is through estate planning. A bequest to either the local Scottish Rite foundation or the national foundation—or a donation divided between both local and national foundations—can be designated for support of our children’s charity.
Children are tomorrow’s citizens and the hope for our world. To help children overcome their challenges is a major contribution to our future. My Brothers, make a dream come true. You’ll be glad you did!

Robert L. Goldsmith, 33°
Valley of Jacksonville, Fla., is a Past Grand Master of Masons in Florida (1983), SGIG in Florida since 1989, and Grand Orator, 1993-2003. Elected Grand Minister of State during the 2003 Biennial Session, he oversees 12 RiteCare clinics, centers, and programs in Florida. Contacts: 10474 Wellington Springs Way, Jacksonville, FL 32221-1100; SGIG89@aol.com