Hello everyone, I am so happy to find this group! My son is 8 years
old, in 3rd grade, and is reading at 1st grade level. I sent off for
information from the International Dyslexia Assn and nearly all of
the signs of dyslexia from their fact sheet are consistent with my
son. However I have been a lousy advocate. Problems really began in
1st grade, as his teacher complained about his being in constant
motion, and easily distracted. I sat in in her class and understood
why--she was an 'old school' teacher who wanted her charges sitting
up straight and paying attention while she droned on in her monotone,
all auditory very little visual or kinesthetic in her approach. I
took to the internet and read reams of data about all sorts of
things, and finally figured out how to get him tested.

His physician (based on a checklist) diagnosed ADD inattentive, and
suggested meds but I was (still am but to a lesser degree) opposed to
that for lots of reasons. I made the mistake of sharing that with
the school and that's all they have hung over my head since. The
evaluations in 1st grade pointed to sensory integration dysfunction,
and he has an IEP and goes to OT 30 min a week. Also he has been
going to speech since kindergarten. His phonemic awareness was in
the 1st percentile, but I was told his reading scores did not warrent
an IEP for reading. For the last 2 years I have followed the advice
of the school and his reading plan, just lots of one on one time with
reading but he is not getting it. His SRI test score for Jan just
came in and his score has dropped since oct. Now they are trying
the 'attentional issues' card again. The state sped coordinator
says the system does not recognze dyslexia, only 'psycological
processing deficits' and his reading teacher just sent me an email
that dyslexia is a 'medical condition' and not one the school can
evaluate.

Any suggestions where to go from here? Sorry so long but I am so mad
I can't think straight.
Donna