Dyslexia and new IEP

Hello!
I read your post, and I thought I’d reply. I do have some questions and some suggestions.

Can your son verbally spell the word “top” when he has written it “xod”? I have several students that make letters backwards. If I feel he/she has made a letter backwards, I will ask the student to verbally spell it to me. This is easy to do, and the child usually gets the word correct. I know some teachers don’t like this option, but as long as it’s not abused (letting the child verbally spell every word even if there is no transposed letter)it shouldn’t be a problem.

Have you explained your findings to the teacher? It is possible that the teacher has not discovered this for his/herself. If you still have the spelling paper, keep it and take it with you to the conference. I often find that parents can give me a lot of insight into their child’s ability.

This is just a thought, you may have already tried it, but what about a letter strip along the top of his desk. I don’t mean one with the entire alphabet. I’m thinking only those letters that give him trouble. Maybe you could have a “t” then either a word that he is familiar with (toy) or a picture (turtle). I hope this has made sense.

Let me know how it goes.

Thanks for your reply. I have been keeping every paper that he has brought home! he can spell some of the words out loud when he gets hung up on a letter I have him trace it in the air when he can’t write it or say it and that seems to be helping at home. did not think about the strip on his desk that is a great idea! It seems to be the same letters each time h, t r u s c k . He also writes his ABC as ZYX which is pretty cool to watch when he writes them I have to go the other way and double check myself! He laughs at me and says I don’t know my letters good enough to race him !!! he has a great outlook on this now…we had struggled thoughout speech and kinder. for years nowbeing told it was his hearing to he has CAPD to he’s just young to Dyslexia. He does well in math but does not count to 100 correctly yet or the same way each time but he does know when it does ot sound right and pauses usually messing himself up and losing his train of thought. Last night we were working on H U and Y and as we were going through these I was thinking that some of his trouble is that he might think that the letter should sound the same as it is called.kinda like he could not separate that idea.
The Principal put him in this teachers class because her son is dyslexic so she sees some of what is going on,but his case is not as extreme to her as ours. What has worked for her son does not seem to be working as well for ours„but she is trying. She said that once her son mastered the letters and sounds he was on his way and caught up really quickly to second grade level reading.

I’m sorry for the delayed reply, but I was wondering why you fought for your child to go on to first grade. Kindergarten is a great year for a child to repeat while you provide some remediation so that he’d be ready for first grade the following year. The person who diagnosed him as dyslexic should have directed you to resources in your community for tutoring. It is unfortunately rare for a dyslexic child to receive adequate help at school. So most often, you must seek help privately or learn to help him yourself.

I’d suggest looking at the International Dyslexia Association site and contact someone in your state branch to ask for names of qualified tutors in your area. You also might want to read the book, Overcoming Dyslexia, by Sally Shaywitz so you can better understand what he will need. Then you need to read about special ed. law and your rights in school by going to the Wright’s Law website.

http://www.interdys.org/

http://www.wrightslaw.com/

The main reason I fought for him to go to 1st grade is becuase I was new to the system of IEP and was told by the school board representive that and I quote” If he stays in kinder then he will not receive any special attention other than what his teacher can give him ,because there are going to be 18 other children that do not know how to read.” If he moved to 1st grade then he would have a resource teacher along with a extra reading teacher. Not to mention the fact that the IQ test that the Doctor gave him was above superior for his age group. All the teachers agreed that he understood the scope of the work for 1 grade. It has taken alot of deication from me and his daddy and alot of hard work for him but he is coming along great. He read his first book last week!! we are so proud of him and he is strating to realize that he recognizing words!!! His progress report was greatwith a 78 in reading ,91 in lang 76 in spelling, 81 in math and 80 in social studies. Some of his work is tailored for him but we are like 10 spelling words instead of 15 and the directions are read to him but I have been very strick that he does his work and that he does as much as he can because us and the teachers doing the work for him will not help him.
Thank you for the websites for Dyslexia I will look at them tonight. I must confess that the wright’s Law website is confusing to me and I have called and found an advocate for the technical side !!!! Thank you for the reading ,I will look into that also!!!
The Doctor that diag. him wrote a prescription for anti-seizure medication and a brain scan which was done back in Aug.I have called 5 times to get the results as well as calling his Ped Doc to see if they can get the results.they could not get them either. So I am turning else where for help .thanks to sites like this !!!

Hi, we are new. My son is in 9th grade and his teachers can not read his printing, so they can’t grade his papers! The school ese coodinator asked me to purchase a laptop & 2 or 3 battery packs for my son to use in school. This way the teachers can read & grade his papers.

I explained that my son is ese and this is part of his disabilities. He was diagnosed in 1st grade with Reading 315.00, Math 315.1, Inattentive adhd 314.00,auditory & visual processing problems & speech.

My questions are: 1. Is this normal practice for the highschools & the school system in general? Every re evaluation mentions improving my sons printing but no services are provided. I asked why it is not a goal on his IEP and I am given the: “Your son is being your son, it’s a behavior problem, you know he can do it!” 2. Should the schools have addressed his printing? 3. If so, how do I get the school to add it to his IEP?

His printing: Some letter & numbers are still backwards, 8’s & N’s are still made upside down, and he writes starting on the line going up from all the teachers demanding his printing be on the line.
Judy, Florida

1. If the school wants him to use a laptop, they need to do an Assistive Technology Assessment and provide him with one that has an extended life battery.

2. Yes, the school should have been addressing the writing problem all the way along. OT can help with handwriting issues, using graph paper and teaching architectural type printing. (My dh has horrible printing except when he uses architectural style, but it is slower.)

3. Bad handwriting is NOT a behavioral problem. It can be caused by poor muscle control, difficulty with fine motor skills, visual issues, etc.

If possible, get an advocate to help you deal with the school system. http://www.yellowpagesforkids.com/ - has listings for each state.

We have been in the same struggle for years… and I personally realize now, that what I was struggling with in school was very, very similar to what my son has been dealing with.

I have to tell you, the one class that perhaps saved me was the drafting class I took in HS. By having to learn Architectural lettering, plus how to actually dissect a shape really helped me. I still write like this when I am filling out forms!

I asked that my son also have drafting this year. His teacher told me he does not know how to measure, but he is working with him. As a matter of fact this is perhaps the one and only thing that I know to be fact and the one class that may actually be helping my son right now, so, do by all means try to get drafting into your child’s schedule. Really. This I don’t think need to fall in to the actual IEP, but if your child is like mine, do request that they do incorporate weaknesses like measuring, fractions (addition, multiplying) and basic math to be worked on.

request an eval for AT
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IEP_guide/links/AT_000990795428/

[quote=geminisix6]Hi, we are new. My son is in 9th grade and his teachers can not read his printing, so they can’t grade his papers! The school ese coodinator asked me to purchase a laptop & 2 or 3 battery packs for my son to use in school. This way the teachers can read & grade his papers.

I explained that my son is ese and this is part of his disabilities. He was diagnosed in 1st grade with Reading 315.00, Math 315.1, Inattentive adhd 314.00,auditory & visual processing problems & speech.

My questions are: 1. Is this normal practice for the highschools & the school system in general? Every re evaluation mentions improving my sons printing but no services are provided. I asked why it is not a goal on his IEP and I am given the: “Your son is being your son, it’s a behavior problem, you know he can do it!” 2. Should the schools have addressed his printing? 3. If so, how do I get the school to add it to his IEP?

His printing: Some letter & numbers are still backwards, 8’s & N’s are still made upside down, and he writes starting on the line going up from all the teachers demanding his printing be on the line.
Judy, Florida[/quote]