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IEP for dyslexia

Submitted by an LD OnLine user on

Hi, I’m new to the forum and would really appreciate some help about IEP goals. I have a 9 year old daughter in 3rd grade, she was retained when we moved to the US from Europe so effectively repeated 2nd grade. She is dyslexic with an IEP for SLD, we are half way through our first year and I see little improvement. She is unhappy with her progress. She gets 3x half an hour with the special ed teacher with 2 other children, neither of which is dyslexic, for reading/writing and her IEP shows 5x half an hour in the gen ed classroom with an aide, my daughter says she never speaks to the aide! Does this sound like a good deal in terms of support or not enough??? I have nothing to compare this with, I know it is an individual thing.

I am told they use Project Read in the resource room, but have never seen any evidence of this. Her general ed teacher is very good and would rather have her in the class with her than go to the resource room. My daughter still has many basic decoding issues and is reading mid second grade with huge effort and is fluent only at first grade level. Her IEP goals get her nowhere near 3rd grade level, let alone entering 4th grade!

I’d really like to get a tutor who is a dyslexia specialist - any ideas?

How can I get the school to provide good support specific to dyslexia?

Thanks for any advice at all!

Submitted by theresa on Mon, 03/19/2007 - 6:15 PM

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Hi my name is theresa

i am 26 years old and i have got dyslexia, i have a p.E asiment done on my self and am now get the help in need whn doing my degree course in teaching, so i think you may need to go and have a p.E assement done and then you will get all the help you will need .

Submitted by wanda on Thu, 05/24/2007 - 12:00 PM

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http://www.yellowpagesforkids.com/

Try this link to find a tutor who specializes in dyslexia. There are also a few orgs who do so - my son goes to the ‘Dyslexia Institute’ in Illinois for tutoring but their are other orgs that specailize in it. My son has severe dyslexia he will be going into 6th grade and is reading at middle 2nd grade level. He gets 480 hours a week of spec. ed reading/writing and he gets 82 hours a week in room aide assistance for social studies & science & 42 hours a week of social services. He also gets textbooks on tape and extra textbooks at home. He gets to use the computer at school instead of handwriting (he uses a flash drive to transport homework back and forth). He also gets preferential seating. He gets tests read aloud and directions read aloud and assistance in reading assignments as needed. The progress is slow despite all this help and the extra tutoring, but it is there - this year he won the school speech contest!!! We were very proud of him (including all his teachers!)and he was very proud of himself. Good luck.

Submitted by Kathryn on Sat, 05/26/2007 - 2:18 PM

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I wonder if you need to have a language assessment done. My dd has a language disorder and the more I read, the more I realize that a language disorder overlaps quite a bit with dyslexia. Not everyone with a language disorder gets dyslexia and not everyone with dyslexia has a language disorder, so it is possible that is not the problem, but there is quite an overlap.

Another thing I have learned (now that she is in 2nd grade) is that the schools treat the symptoms and not the problems. So, I don’t know a lot about dyslexia, but if you can find the cause for the dyslexia then you can treat the cause and the symptoms will get better on their own.

Again, I am no expert on the subject, but we could be facing dyslexia down the road ourselves because of her language disorder, except that I am finally working with a private SLP to remediate the problem instead of only treating the symptoms, such as reading, writing and math difficulties.

Do whatever research you can online and like the other parent said, go to someone who specializes in dyslexia and have a full assessment. I’m sure whoever you go to can help you with her IEP goals as well. Let us know what happens.

Kathryn

Submitted by MommaBear28 on Wed, 07/11/2007 - 2:10 AM

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Hello to all , I am new to the site, and thought I could post abit on this. I need help as well,ha ha,my son is now 7 years old and was just diagnosed with language dis. ,SLD and artic. dis.. So I have to get his current IEP changed to assist him for these things and not just his artic. yet I have had no help from the school he was at and I have had him and his brother transferred to another school that is more apt to help me and most of all him!!
He has had trouble since he was very very young and I have pushed the school into testing him two years ago for dyslexia and they did , they found that he didn’t have it!! HA-HA!! took him to outside source of testing and only after his second year of kindergarten and he failed technically, but since he was already there for two years they passed him anyways , so behold a first grader who doesen’t know anything, not even his name!
Anyways the place I took him found he did and other things, severely in need of help.
Well, I need help to find out what to ask for because I have NO IDEA what to ask for for him to have in class or special ed. class time???
If anyone can help please give some pointers if you have been there and know the process or any steps that I will have to fight for, and yes I do know that the fight is on for me from here on out, I have been doing this whole same song and dance for going on about 4 years now with little or no help from school at all.

Thanks to all

Submitted by Kathryn on Thu, 07/12/2007 - 3:14 AM

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Hi Mamabear, you might try this website for more detailed information on getting the right help for your child. I like ldonline, but I find this other site has much more activity…..

http://messageboards.ivillage.com/iv-ppiep/

They also have community leaders that seem to know exactly what to say/write and to whom. They know all the laws, etc….. You could try posting there if you don’t get a response from here, or even better yet, try posting in both places.

Kathryn

Submitted by jules1 on Thu, 10/25/2007 - 9:30 PM

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Sally,
You may already have a solution to this issue…I just joined today. Anyway, does your school have a dyslexia specialist? My daughter school was placed in the program last March & works with the specialist each school day for 30 minutes. I would challenge the school to have someone who is dyslexia trained to by working with your child. We don’t have any IEP’s b/c she did not qualify as a child with a learning disability when tested, but did qualify for the dyslexia program. I wish we did have IEP’s.

Submitted by jennyab on Sat, 11/10/2007 - 8:42 PM

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Jules
I’m new here too. My son also has dyslexia. How do i go about challenging the school to have someone who is a dyslexia trained work with my son??

Submitted by Dr. LD on Sat, 09/25/2010 - 8:20 PM

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Many, many children with a diagnosis of dyslexia are not eligible for special education services. While the federal definition of LD mentions dyslexia as an example of a disorder that can fall under the category of LD, this does not mean that the diagnosis of dyslexia automatically means eligibility for LD services in school. As I previously mentioned, the term dyslexia simply means a delay in reading skills but does not have any clear or uniform criteria. On the other hand, in order to be eligible for LD special education services a child’s reading difficulties need to reach a certain level of severity (determined by each state). So while a child with a mild reading delay can be considered “dyslexic” only children with severe reading difficulties can be considered learning disabled according to special education criteria.

Submitted by DRHD on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 11:29 PM

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Sally…,

I read your entry with interest. You describe 3x 30 minutes of special education in the resource room. Is this 90 minutes per week or 90 minutes per day? You also describe your child is in the general ed classroom with an aide she has not talked with for 5 x 30 minutes. Is this 150 minutes per week or 150 minutes a day? Please clarify.

Having moved from Europe into the system of special education in the United States is quite a different experience. I can provide you some assistance but I do need to have you clarify the above.

For starters, the IEP your child has must be designed based on her assessed needs to enable your child to benefit in her learning. Your child must be held to a high expectation of meeting proficiency standards as she is in a public school. These are federal requirements of every state and local school division in this country.

I am also curious if your child is English fluent and whether he/she is to participate in the statewide assessment system with or without accommodations.

DRHD

Submitted by Dr. LD on Sat, 09/18/2010 - 2:36 PM

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First of all, everyone reading this needs to understand that dyslexia is no different than any other type of reading disability. The term simply means “reading difficulty”, nothing more and nothing less. Schools don’t formally evaluate for dyslexia because there is no clear criteria for the diagnosis. So when a student obtains such a diagnosis outside of school it does not necessarily mean that there is a learning disability or that the school needs to provide special education services. If your child is receiving reading instruction with other students who have reading difficulty, then they too can be considered dyslexic even if they don’t actually have the diagnosis. You don’t need to find a teacher who specializes in dyslexia, you simply need to find someone who clearly understands how your child processes information so that they can choose a reading program that is more effective. There are many reasons for a child to have difficulty reading and some are more easily remediated than others. Before spending additional time or money looking for a dyslexia specialist, first try to uncover the real reasons for your child’s reading difficulty. There is a good FREE online information processing rating available at http://www.LDinfo.com There is also additional information at that site to help you better understand the term dyslexia and various other learning disorders. If you find information that is helpful, pass it along to your child’s special education teacher.

Submitted by DRHD on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 11:38 PM

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Mommabear,

Your entry was interesting and I am disappointed that you have immediately think this is equivalent to having to fight for your child. What is needed is to begin to ask the right questions and allow the IEP process to work for you. Somewhere between what you perceive to be lacking and what the school believes they can acccomplish with your child is where to begin this dialogue. You will be in the “system” for a long while and my advice is to become informed of the special education process and it will work for you. Be collaborative at this junction and lay down your sword.

DRHD

Submitted by DRHD on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 11:43 PM

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Jules,

I read your posting and for your information, dyslexia is in fact included as an identifying issue for Specific Learning Disability. I am curious as to the justification as to why your child was not identified. I find this to be unusual. Please advise.

DRHD

Submitted by DRHD on Mon, 09/27/2010 - 4:37 PM

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Dr LD:

I was not intimating that a child with dyslexia would automatically be eligible for an IDEA disability category, this case Specific Learning Disability. I think you are “splitting a hair” in your response.

In the situation as described by the parent of her dyslexic child, I find that school divisions should give deferrence to the child and identify the child if there is a factual history of dyslexia in the child’s history.

An educational diagnosis of any IDEA disability category falls short of being an exact science anyway. I think we are both saying the same thing but obviously from two very divergent perspectives.

DRHD

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