Decoding Dyslexia Indiana

Dear Senator,

I am a resident of IN and I am writing to you to share our struggles to receive identification and appropriate interventions for our son who is dyslexic.

There is a gap between what is known (and has been known for some time) about dyslexia and what is currently available in our education system.  I run a parent group for our state and am in touch with parents from across the country through social media and while our children may present differently, the stories of the parents who struggle trying to get services are remarkably similar.

Our son’s struggles were evident as early as his second year of preschool when he was only 3 years old.  He attended 3 years of preschool, 2 years of Kindergarten, and a year of first grade with a certified reading specialist as his teacher.  From his first year of Kindergarten, he received response to intervention and extra supports.  I was not aware through those years that the extra help he was receiving was not help that matched his needs.  Basically he was getting more of the same type of instruction that had not worked for him in the general education setting, only in a four to one or one to one delivery.  We were encouraged by the teachers’ words though that he was making progress and they felt like things had turned around.  At the beginning of second grade, when he couldn’t read even one sentence to do his homework, we asked that he be tested by the school.  They did and identified him as specifically learning disabled.  Upon asking what that meant specifically, we didn’t really get a response, but were assured that he would now get extra help that would make a difference.  At the end of that year, after the extra help, he had only increased 5 words per minute over the entire year.  At the end of second grade, he was still reading at a low Kindergarten level.

We then sought an outside evaluation and were told that our son was severely dyslexic.  When we took this information back to the school it didn’t change the type of instruction we received because dyslexia training and dyslexia specific interventions had not been a part of the training for our educators.  But, when we took the diagnosis back to our son, he slowly broke into a smile and said “I just always thought I was stupid”.  With a little bit of research we were able to find the type of instruction that benefits dyslexic children outside of our school.  It is costly and has greatly impacted our family budget, but our son is now thriving and no longer believes himself to be worthless or stupid.  In my work with parents across the state, I often talk with families who could never afford to pay for tutoring and my heart breaks every time…they shouldn’t have to pay for what they should be able to access in school.

Dyslexia affects 1 in 5, but only about 5% are ever identified.  When we match those numbers up with 4th grade reading scores it begs the question what might happen if we took a proactive stance with early identification and appropriate intervention.    Our teachers need to be given the advantage of dyslexia training and dyslexia intervention as a part of their teacher training.  My son is not disabled, he is dyslexic.  Dyslexia was not my son’s problem, lack of early intervention and appropriate instruction was what left him feeling defeated and stupid.  I have watched him transform through the benefits of his tutoring and, now, his 6 year old brother who is also severely dyslexic is able to walk a much different path because of early identification and intervention.  Every child should be allowed the same chance through their free and appropriate public education.