Hi…New here and don’t even know where to begin. Hope anyone that reads this can follow me… Here goes…
Daughter (8) Ashley has had troubles from the beginning with reading. The difficult thing is in some areas she’s really sharp. She has always been an extremely caring and outgoing little girl but there are times when my husband and I look at her and ask, “where’s your head?”. Seems like one minute she gets things and then the next minute she just can’t get it. It’s VERY possible that this could be Dyslexia (especially since I believe her Dad has it… never really diagnosed back then) but if it is I have very little confidence in out school. Good thing is, I’m pretty up on my IEP and 504 plan knowledge because my other daughter (11) is a Type I diabetic and I’m STILL fighting with them about her rights. I’ve been trying to tell them I thought there were issues since K but they just NOW decided to talk to each other after apparently her Dibel scores indicate a problem. This is just kindof the latest in a series of “issues” that SHOULD be handled by others BUT I know they won’t be. I’m a stay at home Mom… besides health (diabetic)issues with my oldest daughter I have Fibromyalgia and … After I met with the school a year ago over these issues I decided to trust them and focused my attention on other areas but after my sweetheart had a meltdown this morning because, “I hate school and I don’t want to be here” I guess I need to put this whole issue back on the top of the priority list… HELP
Re: Overwhelmed
I agree - get an evaluation… and sadly, don’t trust the school. It’s not because they aren’t good people & aren’t doing the best they can… bright girls with dyslexia are really hard to diagnose and understand. They often have language strengths that mask their real struggles… and they’re savvy enough to perceive them and feel them deeply and painfully. (And, of course, they’re less likely to “act out” and get help through that route.)
SueJ, webmastress
http://www.resourceroom.net
Re: Overwhelmed
Ditto what has been said. A formal evaluation is in order. Make sure that you ask for a full educational, psychological and maybe speech and language (Speech and language often is related to dyslexia - since it is a language disablity).
Based on IDEA, federal special ed law, they MUST do the evaluation and hold an eligiblity meeting within 60 school days of your signed consent. In some states the timeline is even shorter.
They may call you and suggest special tutoring or other supports as an alternative to testing. If you feel that they would be advantageous, accept the help, but stay firm to your evaluation request. If she is not evaluated soon, it will be the next school year before anything changes. In the meantime, her frustration will mount and she’ll lose valuable time.
[url]www.concordspedpac.org [/url]has good letter templates under the button for “request an evaluation”. They also have good info about evaluations, tests and other background information.
[url]www.wrightslaw.com [/url]is a great source for legal information. A strong advocate needs to know their rights - often times schools do not give the full story.
And of course, this site has great articles on the IEP process, reading difficulties etc.
Once you send the letter, post back if you need more info. Good luck!
Overwhelmed
Thank you for the replies. I met with the school psychologist friday with the results of some of the tests she had done. She was hesitant to use the words “Learning Diasability or Dyslexia” until I brought them up and then she agreed that was what she thought we were dealing with. She wants to do more tests and wait a month while they have her in a small group to see if that makes a difference. Bottom line - I gave her a written request for copies of all the tests they had done and I have involved my father (a retired superintendant that has been an interum superintendant since he retired at multiple schools -he’s so good they won’t let him retire - I’m a little proud of my Dad - the only problem is with his schools he knew they could be trusted and he use to be associated with ours) and he’s ready to use his bag of contacts. I told him that this “professional” suggested that we practice her math flash cards, since that was a pet pieve of hers in the meantime… I said but she flips her numbers also so how is that going to help and she said….”she does?” DUH! My Dad said we need to step out of the school and get her help and I know he will use his resources to help in any way possible. Thanks for your input… it’s appreciated. The thing that makes me really frustrated is I know that I know how to use resources like this community, the WWW and people like my Dad but what about those kids that don’t have a Mom that has access to these resources? I feel overwhelmed with it all and they must just want to give up… Thank you again for the support! Mamabear
Overwhelmed
I have been told many times by many school professionals that only 20% of parents get actively involved, do any research and really advocate for their kids. That means that 80% of the kids don’t have the same kind of support that our kids have. Many parents just figure that the schools know what they are doing and that it is the kid’s fault for any failure.
Hopefully, as we have more information put out in the media and LDs are talked about, more parents will get the information and seek the help of groups such as this.
Good luck!
Overwhelmed
If you like, post the scores at http://millermom.proboards107.com
Lots of parents there who are familiar with LDs etc.
((hugs))
It sounds like an evaluation is definitely in order. I hope you can get her the help she needs.