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This is my son Alejandro. During first grade we transferred him to a private school near our house.
He was tested for reading and math and we were shocked to find out that he was
behind in reading. In an effort to help him catch up, he met with the school's resource teacher
and he met with a reading tutor. Unfortunately, he was still behind at the end of first grade.
So at the recommendation of his teacher and the principal, we held him back. I will always
regret that decision because it is something that still haunts him to this day.
Halfway through second grade, it was my mother who suggested to us that we have him tested for
dyslexia. We did and the results came back that he was indeed dyslexic. We went to his
school and told the principal and his teacher that he had been diagnosed and that he was
going to need accommodations and the school was actually really good about that.
At the same meeting I remember asking the principal about the best way of telling Ale that he
was dyslexic and I remember the principal telling us that she didn't like to use the
'D' word and that labeling children is a bad thing and we shouldn't do it. I thought that
was a really strange answer because here was a child who was struggling and he knew
he was struggling. I felt that we should tell him and we should help him understand what
dyslexia is and what it means for him. So we did. Since then, Ale's confidence has soared
and with the help of the school's resource teacher and now a private dyslexia tutor,
he has become a much stronger reader and continues to improve. Learning about dyslexia and
embracing it has changed our lives for the better.
Dyslexia is a neurologically based disability. It affects the ability of the child to, or
the person, to acquire written language. It's very hereditary and it's generally, if there's
a father who is dyslexic, or a mother, one of their children is going to be dyslexic.
Sometimes even it won't affect the mother and father, but when you talk to them and
you find out, well, there is an aunt or there's an uncle, or there is somebody in their family
who has had a similar problem with acquiring written language. It can be unexpected and
if the child appears to be very bright, which dyslexic children are very bright, and in
many cases, the high cognitive ability can almost work against them. Their compensating
so much and people don't realize that they're really struggling. And so they may go on and
perhaps do average work. But maybe they were meant to do more than that. You know maybe
they were meant to do above average work. And they were meant to be super successful
students, and they never get their chance because the right tools were not there to
find out what was really going on with them.
Before Kendyl was diagnosed with dyslexia, she was frustrated, I was frustrated, it was
very difficult. I assumed she was being stubborn; I was very *** her when it came time to
read because the teachers kept telling me you need to spend more time with her, spend
more time with her. And I felt like we were adequately spending the time she needed to
learn how to read, she just couldn't pronounce the words, follow the story.
She didn't know how to read.
Early on in Logan's school career, I would say as early as preschool, we noticed struggles.
Struggles learning his letters, his numbers, retaining that information in his head. When
we would talk to the teachers almost always we would hear that he's not reading at grade
level, that he's struggling with his spelling. We would also get some reports about behavior
issues, because he was struggling, and sometimes he would just give up. And then when there
was nothing to do in the classroom because you don't understand what you're reading,
a second grader, a third grader, can became a behavior problem.
Jessica was in third grade when we kind of hit a wall here at home with homework.
She had been fine up until then and then it came to a point where she would just get frustrated
almost immediately. She would spend hours just doing simple things that were sent home.
And there were a lot of tears, a lot of late nights, a lot of fits. We slowly started to
see her self-confidence just tank. I mean it just went down and down and down. She started
to feel really stupid and didn't want to go to school. And it was a hard time.
I noticed that Lauren was having difficulties between kindergarten and first grade. Actually
in kindergarten her teacher approached us toward the end of the school year and said;
I think that Lauren needs some extra help with reading. She's not grasping some of the
concepts. She had difficulty decoding words. She would recognize a word and then not be
able to say it again ten seconds later. And that was when I noticed that there were some issues.
Before Cole was diagnosed with dyslexia, doing homework was a very stressful time of the
day, both for us and for him. Part of it's because, you know, we didn't know what his
troubles were. We didn't understand it.
I had heard from his teachers that, you know, he was being lazy. Not wanting to do his work.
So that's what I thought it was. And in reality he wasn't grasping it. So it was frustrating
for both of us as a parent. I just, I thought he could do better, you know, because I was
listening to them telling me he was lazy. So it was just very frustrating. And I remember
him crying, and then I would cry, and then it just, it became horrible. So it was not
a good time at all for us.
First grade was much like kindergarten, you know, with the coloring and the playing with
the toys and all that. I remember sitting at the table, in the classroom, you know,
that's the way the teacher had everything set up. And we can play with the toys and
stuff, but you had to finish your homework assignment, usually a classroom assignment.
And I'm sitting there trying to figure out, well, I don't get it. I don't understand it.
I'm looking at these words because at that particular time I didn't know how to read.
Now I don't know if you're supposed to know how to read in the first grade, I knew I didn't
know how to read in the first grade. So by the time I got to second grade it was just,
I was just there, just looking at this book, and all these words, and supposed to know
this stuff. You know, because I didn't, I didn't pass, I failed. In fact they held me
back. Then the rest of it is pretty much a blur somewhat. But I kind of figured out that
I wasn't going to get this, and this is as far as I was going to go. So what I did was
learn how to be quiet. Try to be as invisible as possible, you know what I'm saying because
you don't want to draw any attention to yourself. And I was aware that the other kids were getting
it, I wasn't. And so drawing is what I pretty much started doing to keep my, I mean, other
than just being, feeling like part of the furniture, giving myself something to do while
I was sitting there. I knew there was a problem, but it seemed like nobody around me seemed
to respond to it, you know. My mother was trying to be supportive of my circumstances,
because she knew something wasn't quite right, and I do remember her buying like paper, and
pencils, and would sit me down and try to work with me and all this kind of stuff. But
my father, his thing was, he just blamed me, he said I was stupid and dumb and would never
amount to anything, because he was in agreement with the teachers and stuff. So, you know,
he made matters a little, he made it a lot worse than it should've been. Presently I'm
suffering from that. I'm paying a great cost because I'm shy of everything, because at
49, I have no formal education. I've never been to high school. Never been to college.
My schooling stopped at, to me, in the second grade as far as I'm concerned. I think that's
where it all stopped, to be perfectly honest, because when I failed, somebody should've
did something. When I was in grade school, I had always wanted to actually be a pilot,
because I love airplanes. You know, then and now. But as time went on with my drawing,
I started realizing I was more interested in designing aircraft more so than flying
aircraft. Because now I'm to the point where I want to get into designing space craft.
But unfortunately, due to my circumstances, it's just, that's just a dead dream right
now. And I hate that. I really hate that.
School, for me, was not easy. It had various different levels of failure. It had various
different levels of success, especially in my elementary days. I definitely had the teachers
that saw me as lazy, wasn't trying. And I had the teachers that, you know, just viewed
it as; oh, he'll get it someday. And then high school I was definitely a C student.
I mean the only thing I got an A in was gym, and I was happy that was my one A. And although
I liked history, so I would do fairly well in history, but English, and math, any of
that stuff was big struggles for me. When I took my ACT for the first time, to get into
college, I think I scored a 13 on it, which wasn't great. But then somehow through the
resource in high school I got to take the ACT again and I scored a 19 on it. And that
time it was read to me, and it was also non timed. I still remember, to this day, sitting
with my high school advisor, as you're getting ready to start looking at colleges. And he
said you should stop thinking about college, start looking into trade schools, and you
know, that's probably the path that you're going to end up in life. And I walked out
... (choking up) ... I walked out of that situation feeling, okay, you can accept that,
or you can change it. And the way you're going to change it is ... by not giving up, you
know? It's easy to throw in the towel and say, okay, I'm dumb, I'm stupid. This is your
lot in life. But I knew I wasn't dumb, I knew I wasn't stupid. I had value, I had a lot
to offer. I found myself, I'm, I was very social, I was very creative, I didn't have
problems speaking in public, so you know, to me that piece was the part that I was going
to go for. So then when I went to college I knew that I had to find a school that was
not the big mega school. If I had the big mega school I would've been lost. So I found
a smaller school. I went to Bradley University. The classroom sizes were smaller. It was only
about 4,000 students on campus. The teachers were actually, the classes were actually taught
by the professors versus a TA. The average class size was 25 to 30 kids. So it was almost
like going to high school, but you had more independence. I mean I knew my professors,
and I would go to my professors, and they would work with me. So that, to me, was huge.
And again I had to take the philosophy, and I joke about it today to my kids, I said,
C's get degrees, because that's what I had to get. I had to get C's, I'd get B's every
once in a while, but at the end of the day I got a degree. And I'm happy for that.
Some of the common myths about dyslexia fall under common questions, and common characteristics
of dyslexia. For example, reversals. Many people think that individuals with dyslexia
see things backwards, when in fact that is a myth. They don't see things backwards, it's
actually a neurologically, a neurological issue within the brain. Another myth is that
dyslexia is rare. And in fact dyslexia is not rare. One out of five people have dyslexia.
And most of them will go undiagnosed their whole life and will struggle.
Some of the myths is that it's a vision problem. And it's not a vision problem, it cannot be
corrected by colored lenses or overlays. It cannot be corrected by any kind of vision
therapy. If vision therapy does correct the problem, then it's not dyslexia. There's a
common misconception that it's a hearing a problem or an auditory processing problem,
which is different than phonological processing.
Another thing that people believe is that dyslexics cannot read. That is absolutely
not true. Dyslexics can read up to a point, but around third grade, if not sooner, they
hit the wall in reading development. Another myth is that people believe dyslexics will
never read well. In fact dyslexics can become excellent readers, great spellers, wonderful
writers, if they are given the proper interventions.
Often times I am told, oh that's just kind of a junk term. It doesn't mean anything anymore.
I even recently had a parent that took their child's results after being diagnosed with
dyslexia to the principal, and the principal said it does not exist, there's no such thing
as dyslexia.
Some of the comments and stories that we get from parents, you're not sure if you want
to laugh or if you want to cry about them, because they're just, they don't make any
sense. We'll have a parent say, you know, my child's in third grade and he's not reading,
but the teacher is telling me that he's not trying hard enough, or he's just a little
slow, or he'll grow into it. Yeah, I had one parent tell me, from a very affluent school
district, when her child was in first grade, that the teacher said to them, or it might've
been an administrator, that not everybody's child can be smart and somebody has to stock
the shelves at Wal-Mart. How do you tell that to a first grader? How do you sell them that
short, that early?
If I could do anything for the children and individuals with dyslexia, it is to root out
this insidious myth that children who can't learn to read are dumb, or are stupid, or
not working to potential. What I want everyone to understand that there is reading, and there
is intelligence. And the reading circuit is about putting together all these parts with
a child's intelligence. The intelligence of a child is not shown by whether they can learn
to read or not. And it is an assumption that is shared by so many people, and makes children
who can't learn to read feel stupid.
So we have a big problem in American education. The problem many of us are trying to work
on in this field that affects anywhere from 2.5 million to 10 million school kids, we're
not allowed to name when we're working with kids in schools, dyslexia. But what I think
is important about labeling is that context matters. Labeling is not always bad, neither
is it always good. And it can be disabling if what you're saying to a child is that dyslexia
is a litany of deficiency. A list of things you ain't good at. It doesn't have to be that
way. But we have a duty. We, who are adults, have a duty to change perceptions, so that
people understand the talents that go along with dyslexia, and those who have it in the
way their brains operate. It's a package of strengths, and some areas of challenge. More
to the school system, however, is labeling is sometimes relieving to a child. And that's
true whether it's a mental health issue, or a learning issue. Or a health issue that's
beyond a mental health issue. People need to get a handhold on something in order to
know it's not about them. That whatever they're contending with that might be a challenge
is not a character flaw.
I know that people don't like to refer to the word dyslexia. Administrators, teachers,
even parents perhaps, don't want to acknowledge that that's it. Or say the word. Or address
it. And all I can say from a parent's perspective is we saw our son hit a wall. Emotionally
we were frightened for him because he was shutting down on every level, felt so frustrated,
felt so unworthy, really, and incapable. And that word, dyslexia, changed everything for
him. It gave a reason for why he struggled, so much so that he wanted to do his end of
the year fifth grade report and presentation on dyslexia, presented it to his classroom,
felt empowered like this is why I struggle. There's actually a word for it. There's a
reason for it. I'm not stupid. I'm not lazy. I work hard, probably harder than most of
you have to work, for maybe a lesser grade. But this is why. And so that word gave him
purpose, and meaning, and it really did change everything for him. We were able to point
to other people, professionals, inventors, presidents, lots of people in powerful positions
who had dyslexia too. And it allowed him to believe in himself again. Like, oh, I can
do it too. And I can excel at other things, and I can be, I can be successful.
Well after the diagnosis we reviewed the material, my husband and I, with the physician that
diagnosed her. We had some interest, you know, our list of things that we could do to help
Kendyl. We brought that information back to her teachers, and to the principal, and we
spoke with them. The teacher still did not quite understand what dyslexia was. That was
kind of difficult. I mean, she tried, I mean, she tried to figure out, you know, tried to
help us and figure out what that was, but the understanding is it's not there yet quite
in the community. I mean she didn't grasp the concept that this wasn't something that
she was just going to outgrow. Now talking with Kendyl, she was a little bit more disappointed
and devastated. She didn't quite understand it. You know, I'm just like everybody else.
She didn't want to go to resource classes. She didn't want to do the things that she
needed to progress with her reading and with her understanding in how to learn. And then
once we sat down on several occasions and we went through the different information
with her, one day she was like, wow, mommy, this is working. And she'd sit down and do
her homework and she wasn't as frustrated, there wasn't as much crying, you know, no
more temper tantrums. And I think she was understanding that, you know, this is okay.
This is, you know, this is okay, this is who I am, and I'm special, and I'm going to use
what I have and it's not a bad thing.
Personally I think Cole, when he was first diagnosed, he was very embarrassed about the
fact that he had dyslexia. He was always saying, why do I have this? How come I get everything?
And it wasn't until I sat him down one day, because he was getting teased at school, that
I suggested his tutor come into his classroom and talk to the kids, because he doesn't have
a physical disability that they see. And ever since then Cole has become more proud of the
fact that he has dyslexia and it's not such a curse to him anymore.
Most public schools give a standard battery of tests that has three reading tests on it.
It has a test of comprehension, a test of vocabulary, and a decoding test. And that's
it. Some have a fluency test. And so they take those, they average them together, and
then they tell you, well, what the average is and where your child lies on that on a
standard scale. But you need to know more about a child's reading than that. You need
to have a good decoding survey. You have to know where is the breakdown in the reading.
You know? Where is it happening? Is it happening at the decoding level? Is it happening at
the comprehension level? Is it happening at the word level with vocabulary? And you don't
get that from a regular public school evaluation.
When a parent thinks that their child might have dyslexia, and are looking to find somebody
to test them, to determine whether or not that is their problem, they need to make sure
that they are looking for a person who is qualified to test their child with dyslexia.
So that person needs to have a real understanding of what dyslexia is. The need to ask them
for what types of tests they're going to be using, and there are lists of tests that are
accepted in the dyslexia community as having the ability to determine whether or not somebody
has dyslexia. They need to believe in dyslexia, and that it's real, and be able to use the
term in their reports, that they give them a really nice, long report that shows them
what their scores are, and how that backs up their diagnosis. So it needs to be very
detailed and it needs to be explained to the parent in a way that they understand. And
they need to have the educational level that would qualify them to be able to do that.
For parents who are just getting the knowledge, the information that their child is being
diagnosed with dyslexia, it can be very scary. And I believe it's scary because they don't
understand or they don't have enough information. And I think it's important that they take
a deep breath and make a commitment to do some research and read the good books that
are out there. It's not a death sentence at all. And the more information they have, the
better they're going to feel, and the exciting part is with that information they're going
to be able to help their child learn to read. And that's the goal. It's the parent, I believe,
that is so afraid that they keep their eyes shut, and they don't get the information they
need, so they can't parent that child and advocate for that child. And then the child
struggles to learn to read, and we want to get past that. We want the child to learn
to read and then become the whole human being that the child wants to be.
A dyslexic person primarily needs two things. They need Orton-Gillingham tutoring, and they
need accommodations. And those are the two things to fight for. Now you might, and most
likely, will have go to and seek elsewhere outside of the school, to get the Orton-Gillingham
tutoring. But that is critical. And it is obtainable. It is something you can provide.
And so you, as a parent, have to weigh, am I going to wait for the school to catch up
and figure this out? Or am I going to take the bull by the horns and seek the help that
I know my child needs, that I know is successful, researched based, scientifically proven, and
most supportive for my child. I just got to do it.
I used Orton-Gillingham for probably 25 years. And it's just a successful program. I think
it's successful because it is so structured. You don't leave room for error. You teach
every letter, you teach every sound. You don't go on until the child knows what has been
previously taught. You're always building on success. I think the multi-sensory part
of it is one of the most important parts, the child hears it. They see it. They feel
lit.
There are several Orton-Gillingham programs tutors may use to teach dyslexics to read.
It is really, really important that the tutor is well trained and certified in the program
in which they will be using. As a tutor I have seen firsthand the impact tutoring can
have on a child. When they start with me they're an emotional mess. They're, very low self-esteem,
failing school. After the proper intervention and hard work they have become successful
students. Their confidence is growing. And they have gotten to the point where they actually
enjoy reading.
Actually last summer after Logan had been tutoring for about a year and a half he read
two novels over the summer, which was so unusual. I'd come up into his bedroom and he'd be reading
a book. And so that was amazing. We have noticed in even the standardized test scores, that
just came home this summer, what an improvement his were over last year. So we know, we know.
I can see his spelling improving. I can see his writing, and he still struggles with getting
his thoughts on paper, and there's still other tools that we use to help with that. But we
are definitely seeing an improvement, and just his self-esteem that he's capable, and
able, to do it has been really, really neat to see.
Every day I see a little light come in her face when she does something, spells something,
when she reads something, that she wasn't able to do before the tutoring. And Alexia
is in third grade, her sister, and Alexia yelled out, how do you spell whatever? And
Jess yelled out how to spell it. And I was like, oh, hurray! So I see many celebrations
every day in her progress. And it's so exciting to me to see her confidence just build and
build and build.
From the moment she was diagnosed to now, where it's what, two years later, she's just
done phenomenally. She actually had the choice last year in school towards the halfway period
of school if she wanted to participate in spelling tests. And it was her choice. And
she chose to do so and she did very well. Her math skills have went up greatly, and
she's reading, and wanting to read. She no longer, you know, comes home and says; I hate
reading, I don't want to read ever. She's asking me to order certain books for her.
You know, certain books that she's now interested in, chapter books. I mean that's a huge step
for us because she wants to know what the next chapter is going to be, you know, what's
the next book is about. So she's excited about reading. She's excited about school. And for
us, that's, that's just a joy. It's a joy to see in her.
Classroom accommodations are essential for students with dyslexia who have either not
gotten the right type of intervention yet, or it hasn't, they haven't had it long enough
that the gap is closed. Classroom accommodations are something the regular teacher does to
do two things; one, to avoid accidentally humiliating this child. How do you humiliate
a child with dyslexia? You accidentally reveal their weaknesses to their friends. So things
they shouldn't do; ask them to read out loud in class. Make them participate in a spelling
bee. Have them come up to the board and write the answers to the homework where they'll
see his spelling issues, and his handwriting issues and so on. The most important thing
for a teacher is to keep his struggles private. His academic struggles are nobody else's business
but his, the parents, and the teachers. Nobody else should be aware of it. But there are
other types of accommodations that teachers should also provide, so that he can access
the same curriculum as everyone else and prove his knowledge, even though he cannot yet read,
write and spell at grade level. So, for instance, he needs to learn what's in the textbook,
but he can't read within the textbook yet. So allow him to listen to his textbook on
audio. He knows the answer to questions. Trust me, he's spent hours, and hours, and hours
studying for tests, but he can't write down the answers that he knows in acceptable form,
so allow him to just do oral testing. If he does have to write answers, or essays, grade
it on content and ignore the spelling. Simple, easy things, that cost no money. They don't
require changing the curriculum. They just require an awareness by the teacher that these
are necessary. And how to provide them in a way that doesn't make him look different.
Early intervention in the classroom, even before they get to the classroom if you possibly
can do it, can really make a big difference in the outcomes. And the sooner, the better,
because their brains are more plastic when they're younger. The sooner, the better, because
they can, if you can short-circuit that failure cycle, which carries lifelong scars, all the
better. Outside of the classroom it's also important. They need all kinds of supports
that feed their self-image because most of the day in the school they're getting negative
messages about themselves. So if there are things that can be done that allow them to
work on their strengths, or do things that they enjoy, positive support from the family
or activities, all of that is really important, because it feeds their self-esteem, and they
have to have a healthy sense of self to do that fight, to do that battle during the school
day.
Despite their areas of struggle, dyslexics tend to be gifted in other areas: People skills.
They can make outstanding teachers, politician, motivational speakers, and community leaders.
They tend to have amazing visual abilities. This helps them to become amazing artists,
sculptures, filmmakers, hairdressers, architects. Dyslexics can become strong athletes based
on their intuition and discipline skills. And due to their logical and hands on way
of learning and thinking, they can excel in the scientific area such as medicine, engineering
and computers.
They're not afraid to take risks, which is a wonderful quality. It can be frustrating
if you're the parent of an eight year old child who is jumping out of trees, or doing
things that are seemingly impulsive, but it's a great quality if you struggle with some
things, but you pick yourself back up and you say; you know what? I'm going to try it
a different way this time. There are an estimated 35% they say of entrepreneurs are dyslexic.
And an entrepreneur is a risk taker, right? It's somebody who sees things differently.
We talk about the out of the box thinkers who might look at something completely differently
than the average person and come up with an idea that no one else has thought of because
of those skills, those talents.
I think it's tremendously important to foster the strengths if you have a child with dyslexia.
I think that they spend a lot of their early educational experience in what feels like
failure, and as parents and people who know them intimately, they're so much more than
that, and they might need some convincing in those early years. So really celebrate
and give them many, many opportunities to feel and experience what success is like,
because for many of our kids it can be the lifeline that gets them through the rough
patches.
Becoming an Illinois Supreme Court Judge probably is the result of my entire life having someone
helping me along the way and directing me. For instance, when I was a little girl, I
really didn't do well in school. Now I know why, it was because I had dyslexia, I have
dyslexia. But people would encourage me, you know, you are doing really well. It's not,
it's okay, my mom and dad never really cared whether I got A's. I got C's. But what they
did encourage me to be was a happy kid. Do what you like to do. So off I went. I went
to be a gym teacher for the Chicago Park District, very successful. I ran programs for several
hundred kids, day camps. I started the Special Olympics in 1968 and was very successful.
I got married and my husband encouraged me to go to law school. He says, you know all
these things about kids with disabilities. You should be using it to help them. And I
said, but law school? You know, I can hardly read, I can't spell. He said I'll help you.
So I did. I was successful. I got C's, I only got one or two A's my whole law school career,
but I had that person encouraging me about what I could do.
Some of Lauren's strengths, you know, creativity, you know, art. That's something that we've
been pretty happy about and when she draws something, or paints something. You know,
it's, she does a really nice job with that kind of a thing. She also has a really good
big picture understanding of things. Yeah, even to get, even math, yeah. She's not great
at math, but she understands at a high level the concepts here, the macro level of what's
going on. Getting the nuts of bolts is kind of difficult for her to put all of that together,
but she does understand what's going on. Socially, she's a very socially aware young girl. And
she's very well-liked by I think everybody in her class. Everyone in her school really
seems to like her. You know, they hug her when they see her, and she seems to really
have a great rapport with just about everybody.
I see dyslexia as a gift, especially in Jessica, with her heart for other struggling people.
And I think that for her that's grown a sense of compassion in her, and a love for people
that she might not have had if she hadn't had to walk through this journey the way that
she has already. And to me that's a gift because I get the blessing of that as well by her
love. But she's so good with other people, and a couple of weeks ago she told her tutor
that one day she might like to help kids that are struggling like she is. And it almost
made me cry because it's just such a gift that she could find a purpose in what the
world wants to say is no good, or a stigma, or stupid, but that she could find hope in
that, and a way to make it a good thing.
We need to be very mindful of not making enemies of those we need to be part of changing American
education. My sister is a school teacher in Wyoming. My sister in law is a special education
school teacher in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Around the Thanksgiving dinner table I'd get
in trouble talking bad about teachers, nor do I want to. But if you remember the phrase
Army Strong, I think we need to come up with something called Teacher Strong. And if you're
going to be Teacher Strong, you are going to have to endure that you are operating in
a very big system that does not always provide you the rewards you deserve. You're going
to have to find a way, as many teachers do, and I admire them for it, to provide your
own rewards. So remind yourself you're there for the kids. And to take some risks. It's
not easy, and it is not often rewarded by the system, but it is rewarded by what teachers
care about most, and that is results with the kids. Now, I want to be clear, this means
high standards for teachers. This means doing the things you need to do in a system, to
take those who are really not motivated by doing well and giving them something else
to do. But for those who are doing well, find more and more ways of celebrating their success.
None of this is easy, I don't want it to sound Pollyanish, and I'm not doing this just to
have a good Thanksgiving dinner with my sister and sister in law. I believe in this very
deeply, I have the greatest admiration for what teachers do. And yet we know that teachers
need to be a part of the change.
I think most teachers want the best for their students, I think they really want them to
do all that they can. I think they want children who are achieving. I think they want, they're
in teaching because they love children and that's what they want to do. I think sometimes
just because of the situations, the many children, the lack of materials, the administrative
complaints. There's a million things in a day that can pull you down. And I think that
also can affect the way that we look at children. A child who can't read all of the sudden becomes
a problem instead of a challenge. I think you have to look at kids as a whole child.
You can't look at, well, this one can't read, and this one can't do math, and this one can't
write. You have to look at them, and you always have to look at them in terms of what are
the things that they can do? If you look at their gifts and you concentrate on those,
you're going to be able to help with the deficits.
We've got to start with the universities, because if the teachers coming out don't know
any more than the teachers from 30 or 40 years ago, we're not fixing anything. We need the
universities to start working in, you know, their programs. They need to teach, especially
Special Ed teachers, the reading teachers. These teachers need to know what dyslexia
is. I had a couple of friends that went back to college and they said they learned more
about dyslexia from me than they learned in any of your classes. And one did go back with
a Special Ed certificate. And she said, maybe we got five minutes about dyslexia, if that.
And that's now. And I might've expected that 20 years ago, but not now.
When we work with teachers they say we want this information. They email us all the time,
they come into our classes and they say we really want this information and then they
always put, in big capital letters, with an exclamation point, why didn't I learn this
in teacher training school? So they really want this information. And the ones that are
going out there and getting it themselves, I applaud them, but it's not as many as it
needs to be.
Every teacher should be required to have one course on dyslexia in order to graduate. What
it is. What the warning signs are. How to help. What won't help. Because unfortunately
dyslexia follows them all life long, so I'll tell you, I talk to a lot of junior high school
teachers, and high school teachers, who say I can't believe how many children I have coming
in as a freshman in high school who are reading at the third grade level. What am I supposed
to do with them? How do I teach them high school science when they can't read the book?
So it's not just elementary schoolteachers who need to know about this, all teachers,
in public school and private school, should have a class on dyslexia before they're allowed
to hit the classroom. So they'll understand what they're looking at and what needs to
be done. And they can warn parents, so that parents can take action early.
I think the biggest challenge to raise awareness with educators on what is dyslexia is first
getting the states to acknowledge that dyslexia is neurobiological. A lot of states don't
even have it, at all, and don't recognize it. And thus these kids who could be identified
so early, they could be screened in pre-K and kindergarten, and then provide it in general
education, great supports that really aren't that difficult and science tell us work for
these children. They'll be all reading by the second or third grade, almost all, at
least 98% of them. So the states have to acknowledge it, our policymakers have to acknowledge it,
and then we have to give the tools to our teachers.
When anyone asks me what we could do about children with dyslexia, the first thing I
want the world to know is that it exists. It is a different organization of a brain
that is a wonderful brain, a brain that has been here long before reading occurs. So the
absolute first thing is a reconceptualization of dyslexia for everyone. The second is that
that understanding is made available to the child, to the parent, to the peers, and to
the teachers. And to the school systems not just in this country, but around the world.
Literacy affects everyone. Our children with dyslexia should never be deprived of access
to literacy. This is probably one of our most interesting brains as a species. We cannot
have it lost in its contribution to society.
Right now much of what we know about dyslexia comes from the careful work of many, many
people over many years showing the importance of phonologic ability and the importance of
early environment, stimulative language, proper instruction in how to read. Reading can be
mis-taught. We have, it's very easy to create what are called curriculum casualties, where
you do you not appreciate how reading is built and what should be reinforced. Emphasizing
phonological skills, phonics, alphabetic principal vocabulary, these are things that have been
recommended by the National Reading Panel that are healthy and important. Currently
brain science doesn't add much to that, but it offers a promise that we can begin to understand
differences between people that are very subtle, and yet very profound.
I think in this day and age, with after 20, 30 years of science, that has proven; one,
that dyslexia does indeed exist, that it's not reading or writing backwards, and that
there's real methodology to help these children learn, that the time has come we've got to
stop the cycle. And we want, we need parents to speak out and that's one reason we came
up with decoding dyslexia groups.
We are looking to raise dyslexia awareness. We're hoping to get parents to resources and
supports in a timely fashion, quicker than we may have gotten there ourselves, and we
also want to make sure that we're out there sharing our story with policymakers and people
who actually have the ability to effect change. From that three point mission statement, we've
developed also talking points, or policy goals, and those are to have a unified definition
of dyslexia in state education codes, to mandate early screening, early intervention, teacher
training, and access to assistive technologies.
Dyslexia is a global issue. It affects up to 20% of the population. That's a lot of
people. Every classroom has at least one student who struggles to some degree with reading,
writing, and spelling. Parents are frustrated because they don't understand why and teachers
want to help these students but don't know how. One word — dyslexia — can change
all that. But it requires knowledge, understanding, and support to move forward. Parents... It's
really important to know that it's never too late to get help for your struggling child.
No matter how old they are when they are diagnosed you can get them help, they can become proficient
readers, and they can get their self-esteem back. It's not a hopeless situation. But it
does require work on your part. You will have to do research. You will have to educate yourself
so that you can learn how best to support your child at home and advocate for him in
school. Teachers... How many of you have students in your classroom who seem so smart but yet
they struggle so much? How often have you been banging your head against the wall trying
to figure out what you can do to help this child, believing there is an answer but not
knowing where to find that answer. Take it upon yourself to learn more about dyslexia.
You can help give parents an answer and you can be the reason a child with dyslexia will
find the road to success instead of the road of constant struggle. Schools... If your primary
function is to education ALL children, then you cannot keep turning a blind eye to something
that affects 1 out of 5 of your student population. Dyslexia is real. And please understand that
early dyslexia screening and intervention is smart, it makes sense, it saves time and
money and most importantly it removes roadblocks that can keep our children with dyslexia from
reaching their full potential. And finally, policymakers... You have the ability to pass
laws that make it mandatory for all schools to screen every single student for dyslexia
and to also provide children with dyslexia with scientifically proven instruction. You
also have the ability to pass laws that require every teacher training college to include
at least one course on dyslexia so that new teachers can be better prepared to meet the
needs of all of their students. With all of the dyslexia research that exists, there is
no reason why a child who struggles with reading, writing and spelling cannot get the help that
they need to become successful students. Please visit embracingdyslexia.com where you
will find links to websites that provide more information about dyslexia and to organizations
that have made it their mission to raise dyslexia awareness around the world. Every child deserves
the opportunity to be successful. We can do this. We must do this but we have to do it
together.