A parent's view--get an actual diagnosis!

Hi,

To the parents out there who are worried or suspecting their child may have a learning disability; Don't let the school tell you that you are over reacting. If you are unsatisfied with the school's opinion, go with your gut and pursue this on your own. It is expensive to have an outside evaluation done, but it is very worth it.

I am a mom whose 9 year old son was just diagnosed with dyslexia this year. We had to pursue this on our own as he did not meet the school's criteria for any kind of evaluation or assistance. He has always tested slightly below the reading fluency benchmark and was placed into RTI level 1 for reading fluency in second grade. He has been able to "hide" his dyslexia somewhat and has managed to be on the 3rd grade honor roll all year. This has required a lot of effort to acheive. Reading is exhausting, spelling is bad, writing is hard, and math facts don't stick easily. I just had a gut feeling that there had to be a reason that this kid was not reading, spelling or writing well. He was smart, had lots of exposure to books and stories at home, (more so than a lot of other kids), and should have just "picked up reading" easily my husband and I thought. When that didn't quite happen, I decided that he wouldn't just "grow out of it" as was implied by staff at the school. I am so glad my husband and I had the good sense to go further and had him officially evaluated by a psychologist.

On a whim one day, I researched dyslexia and started to realize that this description seemed to fit our son's problems. His teachers felt like he was very well behaved, but slightly inattentive at times, and that he seemed to occassionally "zone out" and seemed somewhat unmotivated. They implied he probably had ADHD, and I knew from my experience with ADHD in our family, that this just didn't feel like the right diagnosis. I told his teachers I thought he was dyslexic and requested a meeting with the school evaluating staff. They basically said that they saw strengths and weakenesses, but since his lowest grade this year was a 93 and his highest was a 99 and he was making the honor roll, why in the world did we think he had a learning disability?

We had him tested and it turns out he did not have ADHD, was extremely intellegent and gifted, but definately dyslexic. I took my report back to the school and showed them that he indeed received that diagnosis and is considered to have a learning disability in reading and writing. We requested a 504 plan over and IEP at this time since he is able to function well enough in the class this year without one. We decided that for him it would be better to keep him out of having to go to a special class and have sought outside tutoring instead. The 504 plan basically just gives him some more time on tests, and note taking assistance since his tracking and copying ability is poor. We may need an IEP in the future, but this year we are starting with the 504 since his grades are still good.

Tyring to explain to the school that my child is gifted and dyslexia was rather amusing. The Guidance Counselor just basically rolled her eyes in the 504 meeting as if to say, "why are we even bothering with this kid." UGH.

My point is that if you think your child has an LD and doesn't meet the school criteria for an evaluation, get an outside opinion. It is worth it. Now our son will not have to go through life wondering why some things are hard. Having an answer for him is great, even if he doesn't really understand it now. There are so many smart kids like my son whose gifts and disabilities are both missed by the school. Spend the money, get the right answers for your kid.

My 2 cents.
[Modified by: Elle76 on March 16, 2013 08:22 PM]