Share on Facebook

Frederick County Public School
Parent

I love to tell people that my son was born with an airplane in one hand and a rocket in the other. My budding pilot and aerospace engineer understood (and could explain) the laws of physics at age 4, pointed out to the former engineer who was answering questions at the Saturn 5 rocket exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center that the rocket exhibit was missing a piece (turns out my son was correct much to the engineer's shock) at age 5, and was building and launching complex model rockets at age 6.

But this same bright child who loves to learn could not learn to read at age 7, or age 8, or age 9. Early "screening" was done on my child by the school when he was in 2nd grade. The teacher who did the screening found that my son had only a 7 to 12% rate of being correct on various decoding activities for his age, yet said he was "normal". The school's answer to help him learn to read was to keep him in a low reading group, which read intellectually unstimulating stories over and over again.

 When they eventually did try to put him in a reading intervention group with the school's Reading Specialist, the program used by the school was not much better. My bright, motivated son became frustrated and angry, began to hate school, and shut down completely when it came to trying to learn to read. It took several more years of frustration on everyone's part, with little help from the school (because my very intelligent son learned to compensate for his poor reading skills, so his "grades were fine" according to them), before we decided to spend thousands of dollars of our own money to get my son privately tested at the end of 4th grade.

 This is when we finally had an answer....dyslexia. Unfortunately, the diagnosis did very little to get my son help at school. He got a 504 plan to get accommodations, such as extra time on tests, but because his grades were not bad and his IQ was too high, he did not qualify for any special education in Frederick County Public Schools.

 According to research that has been conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health since the 1970s, the way to teach a person with dyslexia to read is with an Orton-Gillingham based reading, which uses a multi-sensory approach. The problem is, Frederick County Public Schools got rid of their Orton-Gillingham based program several years before my son started school, and replaced it with less effective programs which do not help teach dyslexic children to read at all.

We had no choice but to seek out a private tutor, at our own expense, who was certified in an Orton-Gillingham program to teach our son to read. We chose the Wilson Program  and after just a few sessions with the tutor, our son was clearly making progress that we had not seen at all with interventions at school.

Clearly, the research done by the National Institute of Mental Health all those years ago had been correct. After several years of tutoring, our son could finally read. So yes, he can read. No, his dyslexia is not cured, as there is no cure for dyslexia. He still needs extra time to read, he still reads things incorrectly at times, but without the CORRECT intervention, he would still be struggling. If it had not been for my persistence as a mom in finding what my son needed to learn, and our ability to use home equity to pay for the thousands and thousands of dollars needed for my son's testing and tutoring, he would not be getting the A's and B's he is getting in his honors courses in high school.

He would not have gotten into the CAD-Engineering program at Frederick County's Career and Technology Center, and be on the Maryland State winning "Real World Design Challenge" team (that designed and built drones for use in agriculture) that will be heading to the National competition in November.

He would not be working on his Private Pilot's license, about to solo any time now. It is NOT BECAUSE of Frederick County Public Schools that he is succeeding IN Frederick County Public Schools, and I think that is a very important point to make. How many other children like my son have gone under the radar, unidentified, or not helped because our school system does not have the tools or the teachers trained to help kids like him?

 Having "Reading Specialists" is not enough. Those "Reading Specialists", as hard working and motivated to help as they may be, are NOT knowledgeable about or properly trained to help students with dyslexia. And even if they are, they do NOT have to proper reading instruction training using the right programs that are known to help students with dyslexia learn to read, write and spell. It must be as frustrating for them as it is for parents like us who struggle to get our children what they need to succeed.

 NOW is the time to make a change in our schools, so that ALL children can learn to read, and be successful.

Storytelling.  Why is it important?

Storytelling is an important tool in the effort to provide appropriate instruction to dyslexic students.  Decision-makers and the general public need to know why and how the existing system fails students -- otherwise, nothing will ever change.

Everyone has a story to tell.  Please consider adding your story and your voice to our Dyslexia: Your Storybook (DYS).  For example, maybe you are motivated by helping others avoid the roadblocks you and your student faced over the years.   Maybe people in your student's life carelessly said things like: "if you only tried harder? or if you would just focus? or if you weren't so lazy, would read more, study more...".

If you are interested in telling your story, this link includes some wonderful tips for storytelling ~ please check it out and consider adding your story to the Dyslexia: Your Storybook file.  Stories will not be used without permission and all stories will be used to persuade decision makers in Maryland to pass legislation to identify, educate and support dyslexic students.  
Picture
A Dyslexia Short Story
By E. DeVos
Harford County Public School Parent

About 3 months ago I was talking to my son about school and why he was having such a hard time doing his work and what we were going to try to do to fix it. He tells me, “Mom, I know what’s wrong, I’m Dyslexic.” 

“You’re not dyslexic, you read just fine.” My son is awesome! He is unlike any other child I have met, but he’s mine and every Mom feels that way about their child. He is charismatic. He could sell a drowning man water, he has, on more than one occasion, talked the waitress into desserts on the house. He is an old soul, he’s a “playa”, he’s a charmer, he’s the smartest kid I have ever met but I’m Mom, we are parents and that is how we are supposed to feel about our children. 

His school behavior and work has never seemed commensurate with his abilities. After moving with the military, three elementary schools, two attempts at first grade and deciding to get him evaluated for ADHD we have learned. He is dyslexic, he is going to have to learn differently. Looking back, everything is so clear. The only one who doesn't see his uniqueness is the school system. 

After bringing the school team all the information, I was shocked at their response. The message I received was that he would have to fail first. This is a failure I can not allow to happen, this isn't a "learn from your failures" type of failure. This is a "it is going to affect your life type of failure." I'm getting smarter, I'm doing the right things to teach my son the way he needs to learn. 

I'm learning the things I need to do to make this journey have the outcome I think it should have for my son and others. The other day I asked my son, “Do you know who the first person was to tell me you were dyslexic?” I got his crooked teeth, teeth missing 8 year old grin and he said, “Me.” I should have just listened to him in the first place.