A parent challenge!! (actually I am in desperate need of hel

First of all, I think it is terrific your are getting help for your child early! I have just a few thoughts for you.

First, I think you will have difficulty proving regression at this point. Few LD kids get extended school year. Most parents end up paying for outside tutoring to get on-on-one tutoring in a multisensory structured language based reading program.

How could the doctor diagnose (C)APD without an evaluation by an audiologist specializing in APD? I would recommend that you go to the site www.ncapd.org for further information about APD and perhaps take a look at the list of audiologists who specialize in APD testing. Not just any audiologist is really qualified or experienced in this. That said, there are many kids with language based disabilities who do have APD.

Wison, to my knowledge, is not designed for children as young as your son. It is designed for older children who are delayed in reading. I suppose it could be adapted, but why do that when there are already better things out there. My child is six and has APD. I have extensively researched reading programs. I think it is wise to try Phono-Graphix first (Book: “Reading Reflex” $12 at Amazon), and if that doesn’t do it (it does work for most kids), then go for Lindamood-Bell. (Lindamood-Bell is based somewhat on Orton-Gilllingham and it is excellent).

I was unclear who you are meeting with. Is your child moving to public school next year? My child does not even qualify yet for LD due to the fact that her achivement is not low enough yet. However, we get all the services we need with the speech/language impaired label. We jut put all the phonemic/phonological awareness and decoding goals within the language IEP. A private evaluation does not always line up with the laws of the state for special education. Just be sure if the school does their own evaluation that they do a full speech/language evaluation as well. That is where the APD will show up (in effect).

Janis

My son will not be attending public school next year but if he qualifies for special ed services it is the responsibility of the public school system to provide him with services.

There isn’t a LindaMoodbell center near me. I know my son’s school has teachers trained in orton gillingham but don’t know if it works for young children.

K.

Yes! If your son’s school has OG trained teachers, that will be great! Wilson is just an OG program designed for older kids. Do you mean the private school has OG trained teachers? If so, then please don’t waste your time with the public school!

Let me forewarn you, though. If your public school does offer you services, they can name the time for the service and you will ahve to provide transportation, more than likely. It may be at a time that would be detrimental to his instruction at the private school. Also, they only have to provide a certain quota of services to private school and homeschooled children. They are NOT obligated to provide services for ALL.

Janis

When I ask about an extended school year for my son, they told me he would have to be tested at the end of school and then the beginning, to see if he had regressed. If so they would let him attend summer school. The problem with that is he wouldn’t necessarily get the help he needed, he would just be attending summer school, using what ever programs the other kids were offered. Money is tight for me, plus there are no multi-sensory programs available in the area where we live (I actually called the school district to ask if they had a list of tutors for a multi-sensory program and they didn’t know what I was referring to) So I decided to hire a tutor on my own, she isn’t trained in any multi-sensory program, but I thought if nothing else he could read with her over the summer and I wouldn’t have to fight with him. She left me a note after today’s session and said he has very low self esteem and if she accomplishes nothing else this summer she hopes to build his confidence. That alone will be worth the money I’m paying her. She left him some flash cards today, with big words and taught him how to sound them out. When I got home, he said did you see my words and I said, yeah they look hard. He said no, they’re easy, she gives me easy stuff. That’s the first time in a long time I’ve heard him sound confident about anything pretaining to reading, so maybe she’ll head him in the right direction.

I wanted to sign him up for summer tutoring at his own school but we can’t afford it.

I am trying to get back into work so that we possibly have a little extra money. However, we are trying to buy a house, that is not in this district, so we need every penny that we have. It is a catch 22, we are trying to help our son but the district we live in is horrible. If we can get a house in the district his private school is our the next town over, we will be set. Both towns have no special ed money problems.

I have my school meeting this afternoon. I met with my advocate last night and she read his testing and highlighted all the important details. It says a number of times in the different repots they suspect CAPD and that he has a verbal learning disability. So we’ll see!!

K.

Orton Gillingham is a method. Wilson, Lindamood, etc. are branded Orton instruction methods but all based on the same Orton principles - learning to read the 47 or so phonemic sound combinations. Some like Fast For Word and Lindamood (I think?) help CAPD/dyslexic kids too. Personally, I don’t think the name of the branded program matters, except if CAPD is present too. If you get stuck with help, look on the International Dyslexia Association web site for a chaptor locator which will give you help in your area. It’s really the experience and quality of the teacher/tutor doing the program that counts, not the specific Orton method - someone that will be flexible and highly knowledgeable about your child’s progress.

Also, word to the wise. In our school district, they will tell you of course they have Orton. That’s one teacher for something like 2,500 kids total enrollment with 9% of them classified as special ed. My friend’s dyslexic son, by 6th grade, still never saw the Orton teacher. She was reserved for the severest of the the severe only. It’s very expensive for schools to administer one on one - although there are schools in the position to do that. She wound up going private for OG like I did. Both of our kids did great!

Good luck. Early intervention can save these kids a helluva lot of damage.

Another option is a university-based reading clinic. They ususally have waiting lists, but are fairly comprehensive and on a sliding scale for fees.

Say, what? You have a parentally placed private school child. Is he attending public school this fall? If not, the public school does not have the same degree of obligation to you they have to public school youngsters.

Now, I really don’t think you will make a case for this and win, certainly not in two or four weeks.

So, get yourself involved at home. He may not regress very much at all. I don’t see much regression in my LD students that is not recovered in a month or so of school (many nondisabled students are similar).

The 15 point spread of which you mention is not in itself indicative of LD. Your child may have a mild language disability.

CAPD is cracked up to be more than it is because private clinics and practitioners make $$$$$. So, what can you do?

Review the intelligence test, in what subtests is he low? You can work aggressively on bringing these scores up. If one is vocabulary, you can initiate a vocabulary development program at home in your daily life. If it is general information, then you can improve that, too.

You can also investigate Phonographix, buy their book for $25.00 and learn to spend 15 minutes per day or so working with your son. They also have a book on increasing verbal intelligence, similarly priced.

There are software programs. Look into Earobics home version, this is affordable. I am not convinced that CAPD is anything more than an auditory processing deficit with a new face, but this program purportedly works on this.

Can your child rhyme? If not, then play rhyming games. The teacher’s supply stores should stock books on developing phonemic awareness. I have two that are packed with activities you can do with your child at little or no cost at all, just the paperback book.

Does he know the alphabet? Does he know the sounds?

I have seen plenty of ADHD children with lower verbal IQs than performance IQs, presumably because they are not attentive to what goes on around them, not due to CAPD (based on my experience, anyway).

You know, if you are strapped for cash, you might be better off going public school and investing the money into supplemental tutoring. I mean, if you want your child to learn, you cannot afford to spend 2-3 years in battle with the school district, who by the way in most places will give you no more than a “support plan” as long as your child is placed by you in a private school.

Great suggestion! That’s what we did. We took our child to the U of FL for APD testing and while there also had the Language/Reading testing done. I can’t remember exactly but I think the language/reading testing was something like $150…MUCH less than the $500 plus that a Lindamood Bell clinic quoted.

Janis

>The 15 point spread of which you mention is not in itself indicative of LD. Your child may have a mild language disability. <

That sounds like an oxymoron, mild language disability. I had his testing reveiwed independently by a Dr. who ran the Neuorpsycology depart for 18 years, I am pretty sure she wasn’t just in it for my cash. As a matter of fact, she didn’t charge me anything. She applauded me for working so hard to get him what services he needs so early.

I also had his testing reveiwed by a special education advocate who came to the exact same conclusion.

I just spoke with the school and they have drafted an IEP which includes services. Why would they do this if the spread and the CAPD diagnosis are really made up??

>CAPD is cracked up to be more than it is because private clinics and practitioners make $$$$$. So, what can you do? < I can trust that I have chosen to work with people who are not money grubbing weasels who are just providing me with a diagnosis just for the sake of getting me to go away!

Attentiveness is not my son’s problem. His teachers has indicated on more than one occasion that he is the most focused and attentive in her class. However, his testing says, he had trouble repeating directions, that there was obvious confusion, blending of letters, blending of sentences, etc!

He is working as hard as he can and getting very frustrated. Not because he is a behavioral problem or becuase he simply isn’t interested in school.

He will be doing earobics this summer as well as Handwriting without tears. I am still trying to determine which program is best for him. I need to see what the speech and lang path, the team, and my husband and I think is best.

I spend a lot of time defending my son and his learning disabilities. He is young, and wait until he is older, or he probably doesn’t have anything really wrong, his test scores are close to the average, most are even above average? It really frustrates me.

I have been with him in class, I have played games with him, I have done papers and projects and everything else, I see how frustrated he gets. I see when he thinks an E is an M. When he blends sounds or words! There is definately something going on and I will be damned if I simply label it mild and move on!

K.

I live in the worst public school district. They said themselves they have never worked with a kindergarten child before. They don’t usually test this young.

I would never put my son in their system. I will go back to work and get him the supplemental services he needs.

My money is incredibly well spent with the private school. There are only 8 children per classroom, so the children get individualized attention. I see the teahcer every morning and every afternoon. I can volunteer in the school so I can be close to my son and really understand what is going on.

They don’t even compare to public school, at all.

K.

I must be the luckiest person on the face of the planet because I seem to be the only 1 statisfied with my local public school system. When we moved here we did extensive research to find the best public school system we could in the area. The realotor thought we were crazy for saying we would buy in such a narrow area, we were lucky and found a affordable place to live in the district. As you can tell from most my posts I have been very pleased with the progress my boys have made in this public school system. Qualifiying for services was easy and the remediation they offer is effective. A lot is expected of all the students in the district both LD and non-ld. Both my boys went from being misserable and hating school to be happy well adjusted kids who get great benefits from their education experience. I am sure to thank God every day for allowing us to be here and will continue to do so since the majority of public schools do not measure up.

K., I have a son who’s twelve, and though he’s been diagnosed with various LD’s since a young age, he has only recently been identified as CAPD, a diagnosis that I find to be the most accurate of any so far. He similarly had a 14 point difference between performance and verbal IQ’s at your son’s age, but probably would have scored higher on the performance part (and had a bigger difference) if he had been able to understand what the psychologist was saying! (We recently had a new IQ done by a specialist in LD’s and the total IQ was 40 points higher, although the gap is roughly the same). Anyway, it’s like dylexic hearing. It’s very painful to think about all the years that he struggled with therapies that weren’t really helpful, and the teachers that he’s had that patronized him by thinking of him as merely “slow” and easily distracted. Anyita sounds like she’s a wonderful teacher, and in the past has posted excellent advice, but I personally found that last posting a bit insensitive.
It may be a simple matter to say “work at home with him” but I’ve found it terribly difficult to work with my own child. He wants desperately to please me, and I want him to suceed so badly that I press him too hard, and then we both end up in tears. If you have that skill, then more power to you. We have had some success calling the local university’s Speech Pathology department (the Education department also might be a good place to start). We were able to hire a student undergraduate fairly reasonably for summer tutoring. She was pretty and smelled nice, so he didn’t hate it, and I made sure that I found a chore to do nearby so that I could overhear their progress (for my peace of mind). While it wasn’t an intesive therapy, at least it kept him from regressing, and certainly he didn’t waste a whole month to catch up to where he had finished the last year.
Anyita’s ADHD comment was particularly puzzling. It reminded me of the attitudes some of my son’s former teachers when they labeled him lazy or careless, which he certainly is not. A wonderful book of the subject is “Like Sound Through Water”, by Karen Foli. It also lists some wonderful resources.

Didn’t mean to sound so negative, especially to Anitya, who was only giving very good advice. Just hit a nerve, I think. Also, I misspelled her name (sorry!)

Well, I think that Anitya was telling the truth that the public school is probably NOT the place to seek help with a potential LD child. Trying Phono-Graphix is something I am doing with my own child who IS diagnosed APD and is likely future LD…if our interventions are not successful. After PG, I would try Lindamood-Bell since it is even more multi-sensory.

In actuality, it’s nice to know your child has APD, however, the therapies for a decoding reading disorder are going to be basically the same whether you know thta or not.

My child goes to a Charter school and I have managed to get the LD teacher trained in PG (in April) and she will go for V/V training next week. That is how I’m managing to get good service for my own child. I’d NEVER seek services for her in the district we live in (and in which I teach) due to the fact that they are NOT using effective remedial methods. Very few public schools do. The reality is, your child may need an hour a day of one-on-one service which would mean an ideal caseload of about 6 per LD resource teacher. Our state has a caseload limit of 30!!! So as you can see, kids are NOT going to appropriate services in the public schools most of the time.

One more thought, we took our child out of a private kindergarten which we chose for the smaller class size and good curriculum, but they in no way were prepared to deal with an LD child. Either you kept up with the curriculum or you couldn’t make it. That’s why we moved her to the Charter school. We were very fortunate to have that option as they have a SLP and LD teacher which the private school did not have.

Janis

It is pretty amazing that I read so many stories that could be my own. My brother was not diagnosed with CAPD until he was 12 almost 13. He is having a really rough time with school. I am happy that the summer is finally here and that he is finally moving on to a new school.

The difference in my son’s verbal and performance scores are being brushed aside as not being significant. I know that they are and make a big deal of it. I had my meeting today and they did propose and IEP with my son receiving speech and lang services once week for 30 minutes.

I am so concerned, as is every parent, that my stomach is in knots. I don’t know what to do. Everyone recommends a different program.

I was a little disturbed that the public school tried to compare themselves to private school, and I don’t believe there is any comparision. They tried to say that their first graders are reading by the end of the first month of school. I am not at all impressed with what the public school has done. One of my siblings attended this very school not to long ago and well lets just say, the sped department might be good, but the general ed department isn’t!

Anyway, I honestly wasn’t trying to personally attack Anyta, as you can read, her post hit a nerve with me as well and I was moments away from my meeting with the school!

Thanks
K.

K.,

I am pleased to hear that the school was somewhat cooperative. I hate to seem negative, but I will tell you the reality is, speech/language therapy once a week for 30 minutes is almost worthless. Especially if the child has APD.The person (APD Specialist and SLP) who evaluated my daughter’s APD and speech/language scores said for any real progress to be made, she should have S/L services 4-5 days a week. And I will add that my child has no significant discrepancy in verbal and performance scores. If a child needs a program like LiPS or Phono-Graphix, they will need intensive daily practice. Some can be done at home if the therapist is willing to teach the parents what to do. But please do not think that 30 minutes of therapy is going to make a real difference if your child really does have a learning disability. You’ll reach the end of next school year very discouraged and wondering why he has made little progress.

Janis

You know when I read at the meeting that he would be getting just one day a week, I thought the same thing.

My problem is, he attends private school and there is no way he can be pulled out 4-5 times a week. I was hoping I could get him afterschool help but no such luck.

Is there any way to get insurance to pay for speech and language?

I realized that he really wouldn’t get any help from one day a week! They get so defensive when you question their position. For example, I mentioned in another post they told me that all their first graders could read by practically the end of the first week of school but they didn’t require students to know numbre 11-20??

I don’t know. I am not depending on the school for anything. I order reading reflex from amazon so that should be here in a day or two. I broke down and paid for the extra shipping.

I am going to do the Phonographix, I am going to ask my sister to read the book as well so that when he doesn’t want to work with me he can work with her. One of the goals in language arts was that lucas could read CVC words by the end of next year, I know I read in someones post that their child was doing that with the phonographix.

Hopefully, between Earobics, Handwriting without tears, phonographix and lexia learning software, by the end of the summer he will have made some gains.

Thanks
K.

K,

I think you are making some VERY wise decisions, K! I have used Earobics with my 6 year old child with APD and we are trying PG this summer. She doesn’t need HWT, but her school is using it for the first grade handwriting, so we get the benefit anyway!

My daughter was also given speech (through the public schools) once a week when she was four because I had referred her myself. That’s all they’d give kids that age. I knew it was not enough but chose not to fight the system since I work it it! After that, we chose not to put her in public school as I knew the maximum they usually gave kids in school was twice a week. She can get 4 days/30 min/individual at the Charter school which is excellent!

To answer your question, many health insurance policies will cover private speech/language therapy. I think it just has to be coded carefully and you probably need a doctor referral. I would definitely try that if I were you.

I know all this is overwhelming when you first get into it. If I was not already in special ed. and know the ropes somewhat, I’d be lost! You have made some good choices thus far. You’ve had your child identified early. You have him in a school with small class size which is great as long as they will make modifications for him over time if needed. You realize the public schools will not be the place to get him remediated. You have come to the best place on the web for sound advice regarding methods of teaching LD. And you have identified some materials and programs to begin using with your child! Now that is outstanding! I wish you well…I’m in there right along with you with my own child, I can assure you. The things I recommended have come about after hours and hours of research on my part, because I want the best for my child. But the great thing is that I am learning things that will benefit my students, too!

Janis

My daughter attends public school; however, we provide ALL tutoring and intervention privately. She was diagnosed with SLD in all areas and significant processing delays (basically dyslexic though my evaluator doesn’t like that word) She has been in LMB for approx 2 years. She receives VV as well and SI OT. She is under 15 min consult only with spec ed services so she can receive an additional 30 min of OT/wkly through the school. Janis (?) I think is right the public school is NOT the place for remediation. I have friends whose children have been in public school remediation and the gains my daughter has made w/private intervention are far, far greater. I firmly believe she would not be at grade level for sight reading and several years ahead in comprehension today if we had left it up to the public schools to remediate her. If you have a child that just has some trouble, but is not LD/dyslexic, then many times a good tutor or resource room will help. If, however, your child is SLD then they need a multisensory, sequential pa program specially designed for their needs.

A word on private schools, it depends on the school. We have a friend whose after 3 years privately found out their child is 3 years behind in reading . They were taking the parent’s money and passing their child. I vote on public school and provide your own support. Additionally, early intervention is the key. My evaluator said my daughter would learn to read “as good as anyone else” just in her “own” way.

Great, keep him there. You may want to save your time, energy and money and get the supplemental services or use the program I suggested above this summer. I really don’t think you will “win” district paid tutoring over the summer.

In order to classify a child there must be a discrepancy present, there is usually not a discrepancy in K, this is why we almost never test in K (unless we suspect autism or MR or something). You won’t likely meet the legal definition of LD this young. Sorry, my district doesn’t test for LD in K either and we are not the most horrible district in the world.

Since your private school is so supportive, ask them to use Phonographix or an O-G program, another cheap one to buy is Project Read from Language Circle. Doubtless, his private school teacher has more time per pupil than we do in public school.

This whole processes gets so frustrating sometimes that it is nice to hear that someone is making gains with their children.

I am definately not going to rely on the school system to educate my son. I would be foolish to think they would do anything in his best interest.

I have had some previous experience with my brother. He is a classic example of how the public school sytem fails children. I tried desperately to get my parents to pull him out of school but it never happened. Everytime I see those test scores and think about how his grade equivelancy in reading is so low, I get depressed and feel guilty.

My son is now having to have the same school sytem. I am determined to not let them near him, I will get him what he needs elsehwere!!

Thanks for the encouraging words.

K.

I wasn’t implying that all school districts are bad, however, mine is. They really are more intersted in the football team and preserving open space then teaching children how to read. I would be thrilled to move into a district that cared the same way about every district. From my prespective, you are lucky becuase you are in a district that values its children.

I had my meeting today and he did meet the legal definition for services. Unfortunately, not a lot of services.

I order the Phonographix book and when I take the IEP down to the school for them to look at, I am going to talk with the head of the school. She has been trained in Orton-Gillingham.

I am going to take it one step at a time. I will be using the programs I have mentioned before and will continue when school starts, that way he continues to make progress and can apply it at school.

Thanks
K.

It is really a shame that school systems don’t evaluate kindergartners based on this. First of all, experts from the National Institute of Health and Human Developement and the Learning Disabilities Association of America urge the elimination of discrepancy formulas. According to Bright Solutions for Dyslexia, they say that the NIH states that dyslexia can be identified with 90% accuracy between the ages of 5 1/2 and 6. Even more important, if a child is giving appropriate interventions in preschool to 1st Grade, most will go on to read fluently. If the same child is not identified until the end third grade, most will still be significantly behind in reading well into high school. With all this reasearch and proven facts, when will they catch up? Money will be saved if the children are identified early and remediate appropriately, not to mention the effect it would have on the self esteem.The target now in special education research is early identification. It absolutely is possible.

Jackie,

You are absolutely right. But federal law must change to allow for early identification and treatment. It has to change at the top so the funding will be there to pay for it. I’m anxious to see how long it takes them to make those changes.

Janis

I asked in the meeting why I should wait until second or third grade when my son needs heavy duty remediation. No one really answered me they just moved on!!

My brother would have definately been having a much easier time if back in second grade when he was 3 years old and already getting speech and lang therapy, they had bothered to do an eval!! Instead they waited until 2nd grade and well, look where he is now!!

K.

Because, an LD is diagnosed by finding a significant discrepancy between ability and achievement along with a processing deficit. It is NOT diagnosed by finding a discrepancy between performance and verbal IQ scores alone. Next, in the public school, a speech and language pathologist would administer a battery of language tests to determine whether there is a language disability. Again, this is not diagnosed off of an IQ score split. Further, the actual subtest scores need to be evaluted AND several additional measures for processing deficits. An inability to repeat back sentences may be indicative of an auditory memory deficit, not necessarily difficulty understanding. From test scores alone this is not determinable.

Your experts are not bound to work within the legal/educational framework, therefore they can find disabilities that may or may not be educationally ELIGIBLE.

The school district took a prudent approach and found a language disability and offered therapy once per week. This alone suggests to me that they may have questions about his eligibility at this point, but they are willing to have the therapist work with him to get a better picture before the annual review. At that time they will probably either agree and crank up services or disagree and document why with a battery of language assessment scores.

If you believe in CAPD, which is not an educational disability category (the appropriate category is either LD or language impairment), then Earobics. I did have one child who probably had brain damage (aphasia, a total inability to perform much auditorially and language wise), I started him on Earobics, then he moved. He liked the games, but could not do some of them. So, I do advice some parent involvement until you determine which games he can succeed with . By the way, that particular child had a 62 verbal IQ and a 95 performance IQ (yes, we diagnosed him as language disabled pretty quickly). It is not as uncommon as you think to get even 30 point discrepancies, I have had up to 3 at one time on my caseload.

I have had the subtests scores evaluated and told he what appeared to be CAPD, without the audiologist testing it can’t be said for certain. He also has a language based learning disability and is dyslexic. I guess I was confusing, we used all test scores to evaluate and determine an LD.

I understand that the school did offer services once a week, which in your opinion means they are questions if he needs to service at all. They said at this time there was no question about his ability and in fact it was totally based on speech and language. However, I know this district and they are broke, they spend special ed money on potholes and road repair. You have to pay for music, sports and even bus transportation to and from school. They don’t have any money and so they do provide the appropriate services. Also he is not even in their school, I highly doubt that they will dump services on him without seeing the results.

They also don’t believe that the school I have chosen is appropriate and structured enough, so that also comes into play.

At any rate, I am thrilled for people who work or live in great district, I don’t. My son is the fourth child through this district so I have a pretty good idea of how things work.

K.

Off-topic, but….

I went through what felt like a war zone and back about two years ago with diagnosis and securing early intervention (school and private) for my older moderately dylexic ADHD’er who is now finishing up 3rd grade (brilliantly).

My younger dd had speech therapy as a pre-schooler (frequent infant and toddler ear infections) putting her at risk for reading difficulties. After everything I had learned thru experiences with my older dd plus the advice of younger dd’s trusted speech therapist (“I don’t anticipate major problems for her, but make sure that in Kindergarten, she gets the letter/sound connection - if she doesn’t that is the red flag”).

So, proactive (paranoid) mom has an early Sept. meeting with younger dd’s Kind. teacher - to explain there is a family history of dyslexia plus dd is at risk anyway given her pre-school speech therapy. The Kind. teacher patiently explains to me that “the Kind. teachers just came back from a seminar and learned that the critcal factor for predicting reading success is - now let me pronounce this slowly for you, Mrs. X, something called phonemic awareness.”

The poor woman has no idea how extensively I had thrown myself into learning about things like phonemic awareness, plus I have ADHD with all its bluntness and zero patience on a good day. I am now practically exploding, interrupting her, finishing her sentences, firmly ensconcing my reputation as the lunatic mother. Also, the Kindergarten teacher is only learning this now?!?!?

That happens a lot to me as well. I am by no means the authority on LD’s, speech and lang , etc but I always try to understand what I am talking about including what services or programs my son or siblings need.

It is good but at the same time frustrating and sad, to hear that it happens to other parents. I don’t know how to make it stop, I guess it is just an unfortunate fact of life!!

K.

I can understand your frustration, but in actuality, the reading research has been coming to these conclusions over the last few years. The influential National Reading Panel Report just came out in the year 2000. It does take awhile before workshops are created and get around to local school districts. So yes, there are still many teachers who have yet to learn the fundamentals of the reading process. You should consider yourself very fortunate that your K teacher is one of the earlier ones to get this training.

Janis

Oh that is too funny and too sad!
I know EXACTLY what you are going thru. I just had to hire an advocate to come to my almost 3 yeard olds “g“ ‘s first IEP to make sure she gets the right services from day one. She has been getting great services (for speech delay, the first LD red flag) from the local early intervention agency but it all ends when she turns 3 and we have to turn to the evil school district. Even tho G’s current teacher and her speech therapist and I wanted the same type of services to continue, the district was determined to reduce her services to speech 2x per week. Fortunantely my advocate prevailed and G will get what she needs in the fall.
I too had a long failing history with my oldest son and the district. We are now going to mediation/due process for him. I will not let them fail my youngest know that I know better.
You go girl!

robin

Maybe through parents like ourselves who don’t let our children slip by at this young age, by providing the research to the schools, we are helping not only our children but others as well. Fortunately, my daughter was evaluated by a neurophsyclologist who has extensive experience with LD/ADD and said it was very easy for her to diagnos my child as dylsexic at 6. The doctor states that my daughter has all the signs of dyslexia. The tests all back this up. Now, the school doesn’t want to hear this, but as long as there is an appropriate program in place for my child, it may not matter. My daughters kindergarten teacher says they do alot of phoneme awareness. I haven’t seen much. My school still uses alot of whole language in the second and third grades. My very bright son in the third grade who reads well cannot spell as a result. He has no clue how to break a word down. The research is there, proven, it just needs to trickle down to all the schools and teachers as Janis said. No harm in pointing it out, though. Let them think we informed and concerned parents have three heads when we speak of these things that seem foreign to some in the schools. Maybe if they hear it enough and know where to look for the research, they just might read it.

It most definitely needs to trickle on down to the university level. I just recently took a course about the history of teaching. Included in the book (published in 2001) was a section about teaching reading. It pooh-poohed teachers who are using phonics and stated categorically that the only appropriate way to teach reading was by embracing whole language. It continued on with great passion, ridiculing proponents of phonics-based reading programs.

I had to write a paper about the history of teaching reading, with the assumption being, of course, that the book was right. Well, I simply couldn’t write THAT paper so mine ended up being one that refuted, point by point, the assertions about reading that were made by these two authors. I was pretty upset about it. At least I’ve been teaching for many years. But new teachers enter the market and if this is what they’re learning at the college level, we’re in big trouble. It was especially troubling because this is a relatively newly published book - these authors should’ve known that whole language, by itself, has been found to be inadequate.

So, yes, unfortunately these brand new teachers simply haven’t been taught correctly at many of their schools. I find it a travesty.

Excellent point. My neice is in college for teaching. In a class about learning disabilities she was taught that dyslexia is very rare, that they probably willnever come across it. This was this year. That is where the research needs to take hold. I am curious about what the professor thought of your paper.

My professor was wonderful, thank goodness. I took this course as a distance learning course and mailed my papers to my professor. She agreed that the book was faulty and that the section on reading should’ve been revised.