I have an 8 year old DD who just finished 2nd grade. After asking since the end of 1st grade she finally was tested for dyslexia on the last week of school. The Monday of the week they got out of school I met with the counselor, teacher, and dyslexia specialist. Her results are that she is dyslexic. Her IQ tested at 120 but most of her "skills" test at around 100 and a couple are around 90. Thye use the original IQ score and then any difference of 15 points or more is considered a "problem". So we made a list of "accomodations" for the classroom. Nothing too drastic since she is very smart and they don't want her having it too easy.

I am soooo new to this I just don't know where to start. Based on her "accomodations" she will not be getting any extra tutoring or classes. So what do I do with her this summer? I am thinking I don't change our normal summer routine - which involves some educational stuff, reading, projects etc.....and the normal lots of playing, swimming.

Does anyone else have a child with dyslexia that can point me to some good websites with information?

Oh and to top it off we are moving this summer and the new school syas they "take the kids out of the classroom to spend time one on one with the special education teacher" I don't want her taken out of the classroom - she doesn't need that and I don't like her being singled out like that. From what little I know I thought they had to make it the least noticible to the other kids - so she wouldn't get picked on. Am i right to ask that she not be taken out of the classroom? BTW I am in Texas.
Thanks
L

I know that when my son was in school he had adhd, the rule of special education is to place the child in the LEAST restrictive environment. Also, I was able to prove that he would regress over the summer and that opened up a summer program for him which the district paid for.

Good Luck!

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Sometimes the elevator often the shaft

You definitely have to do what you believe is best for your child. When it comes to taking her out of the classroom, I would weight the negatives against the positives. The final decision is always yours.
One thing I would definitely consider is the type of classroom she will be in. We recently put an IEP in place for my son, who is completing first grade. He is removed from the classroom twice a day for reading and math help. Since he started about 6 weeks ago, he has almost caught up with his classmates. We are thrilled with his progress. However, I found out last week that the special education program at my son's school places children with behavior problems into the same special education classroom as kids with other needs. I'm now finding that being exposed to the behavior he is seeing in this classroom on a regular basis is having a negative impact on his own behavior. I am now having a very difficult time deciding what to do next year. We labored over our decision to remove him from the "regular" classroom twice a day, but finally decided it was what's best for him. However, now we are reconsidering that decision.

My son has dyslexia. He went to the reading specialist several times a week for 2 years. His grades improved a LOT. He also felt better about reading. I'd insist on it if you, it makes a huge difference in their lives. And after being classified as dyslexic, they're obligated to get your child help w/ it at no cost to you.

ETA: there's no reason for your child to go a special education classroom. EVERY public school here in Texas has a reading specialist.

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"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? " ~Epicurus

I would take every available extra resource that the school district has to offer your child. I would also research what they should be offering your child but she is not getting. Please allow the specialists to help your daughter separately. Their job is to get her on track and teach her skills to work around her dyslexia challenges. Once she has mastered these skills, she will not need to be necesssarily separated for long. I work in a middle school with Special Needs and Emotionally disturbed kids. Believe it or not, these particular students for some reason face less teasing and bullying than the "general ed" students that I work with in school. The fear of teasing should not take away from the opportunities that will help your daughter for the remainder of her life.

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"Well-Behaved Women SELDOM make history."Laurel Thatcher Ulrich


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Have the courage to be yourself.

When my children were in 2nd and 3rd grade they got pulled out of class 3 times a week to see the reading specialist. Many, many kids did this too. Nobody ever said anything to them about it.

Check with your local Masons, many areas have FREE assistance for learning disabilities. Here is the link to my local group. You do not need to be related in any way to any Mason to take part in this program. I'm not sure if they have summer classes but what can it hurt to look into.

Childrens Learning Center

Good Luck
Laura

is really such a big deal... kids get pulled out for reading, math, orchestra, gifted.. and some kids go out for a few weeks and stop, and then it's someone else.. depending on the classroom content. I've asked my DD why someone is leaving and she doesn't usually know or care. (She's in 3rd grade.)

I wouldn't turn down any resources that are there to help.

Good luck..

I'm wondering if you can go back in your mind as to why you had her tested to start with... Maybe that would help you to gain some clarity as to what should be done with her at home and at school.

Your concern sounds like you are worried that the new school will change the plan that you made with the old school (ie accomodations in the regular classroom)??? I'm having difficulty following it. Most kids who are doing fine in school don't get tested.

I'd obtain a copy of her IEP and be sure that it gets to the new school so that they can make the accomodations there... since they already seem to be working with her.

You are in AWESOME State when it comes to special education, Texas is very good, my friend moved from there to VA when her DH got transferred with the Navy and its like night and day. My son is believe it or not in both the Gifted and Talentd Program and in Special Education. He receives minimal services through his IEP. His disgnosis is ADHD and Dysgraphia which actually falls under the same category as dyslexia when you look it up through 9 times out of 10 you will find them talked about together. Once a week he is pulled out of his classroom to work with the Occupational Therapist for his Dysgraphia, which is basically a fine visual motor skill processing problem he will have for life. The Special Ed teacher comes in to work with him and others on social skills and his handwriting also and she will on occasion pull him out of the classroom for one on one work, he is also pulled out of the classroom for the GT program.

I have found that my son has never been picked on about this trust me he would tell me I hear about everything in the classroom and some things I dont want to hear about. Yes kids can be cruel, but they dont always know why the other child is being taken out of the classroom and that the child has a educational problem. As for changing anything I would keep the routine the same, do searches on Google, I have to run for a bunch of Doctors appts today I think I have some bookmarks to some sites that dealt wit both dysgraphia and dyslexia. My son gets homeschooled on top of public school, I print off worksheets from various websites that I found here on MC in I think its the Freebies sections for homeschoolers to help with his handwriting and they do have other worksheets you could use.

Dont worry you have that IEP in place if you EVER feel that youd DD is NOT getting the services she needs you have the right to call another meeting and revamp that IEP, but Texas man its an awesome state. My friend had to fight here in VA to get the smae services for her Autistic sons she was getting in TX, the county kept telling her that in spite of the IEP from TX they were making up their own. Your are your childs best advocate and you know what she needs.

If I find that I saved the links I will try to get them to you either here in the post or via PM later today

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~ Christine ~
Grammie to Trinity Lorayne Jean Keens Born June 9, 2011 Loving my awesome guitar picking 100% Country Boy boyfriend Kenny !
RIP Daddy~ 01/24/1930-06/01/2007 I miss you !
Dont Think you Can .. know you can ~ Jeff Hardy

Here is one of the links its to the National Center for Learning Disabilties this link will take you to dysgraphia since that is what I bookmarked, but go to the home link and do a search from there its a great site and should help.

NCLD - Dysgraphia

HTH

__________________
~ Christine ~
Grammie to Trinity Lorayne Jean Keens Born June 9, 2011 Loving my awesome guitar picking 100% Country Boy boyfriend Kenny !
RIP Daddy~ 01/24/1930-06/01/2007 I miss you !
Dont Think you Can .. know you can ~ Jeff Hardy

Thank you for all the replies. I wanted to answer some questions....
reason for testing: since she was little she has been wonderful at writing everything backwards....cute when she was 3 not so cute in 2nd grade. During her testing she took over a minute and a half to write her alphabet, she used her fingers to help her with b and d and had to repeat the alphabet outloud in order to get all the letters in there...and then she still had just about every letter that could be -backwards. By 2nd grade she should know the alphabet backwards and FORWARDS (most important ).
Most important this past year I have noticed she sees a whole page of homework and PANICS....before she would even start she would be crying it was too much. HW was such a struggle. If I gave her 4 problems to do a night and a couple to do in the mornings she could handle it. But a whole page was un-approachable.
She LOVES books but hates reading to us, she would rather us read to her.
And spelling was awful she would constantly get anywhere from a 0-70 on all her spelling tests. She could repeat a lot of the spelling to me but when writing she would mess up so bad it was almost unrecognizable. And normal everyday words she can't spell consistently and sometime can't recognize them while reading.

So, a lot of her problems (aside from the alphabet letters and numbers) are just problems that I feel like can be addressed in the classroom. And her current school seemed to agree. So, when I called the new school that said they take them out of the classroom I got concerned. Also she was tested got GT before the dyslexia testing and she was right on the edge of the cut off so she could be considered GT with some accomodations....I don't want her getting too much intervention that she begins to believe she needs someone sitting right there with her at all times, I want her to adjust for herself.

So, with all that said I will reconsider the new schools ideas. I see your points about what is necessary and I will get more info from them about how long this would be happening and her dependence on it.
Oh and yes I know TX has awesomes programs, that's why I mentioned we live in TX because I know our state will not let her fall behind and will back me up with whatever I feel like she needs

Thanks again!
L