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Thank you Yemaya. It very well may be dyslexia. She has a couple of the signs, but not most. She is good at sequencing. She excels at math. Her handwriting is excellent. Her speech is mature and she shas always been on target for speech development. She usus very sophisticated words and sentence structure - so much so that people who don't know her will lean over and ask me where she goes to school - remarking on how well she speaks. She doesn't have directional confusion - she knows to read left to right and always does. This is why I didn't think it was dyslexia.
Musicmom - She is in private school. The reading tutor takes her out of class to the trailer a few times a week. Early in the year the teacher recognized that she was falling behind. She was referred to the program and a form came home for me to sign to have her begin working with the Elwyn Program. When I met wiht the teacher about a month later, I asked what the diagnosis had been. But, there wasn't one. It seems that there were no tests or evaluations given, just enrichment for reading. Between that news and the lack of progress, I decided that the program wasn't going to fix this. It also adds more stress to her work because she has to make up, at home, what she misses in class. Thus, her homework time has significantly increased. She is already having so much trouble with the reading homework and now she does more - simply more of the same stuff that isn't working and homework has become an intense time of frustration. She dreads it. To add insult to injury, the teacher puts sad faces on her papers or those big red Xs. We already know she can't do the work, so why mark up her papers like that? I am frustrated with the entire school enviroment, at this point, because they don't seem to be abale to adapt to a difference.
I don't expect anyone here to be ableto diagnose this, as you cautioned. I agree with you 100%.. I am moreso looking for advice on how to go about inserting myself into the framework of the system so that I can understand what's available and how to take advantage of the resources. Do I go to the public district for testing? Do I need to hire a private evaluator? What tests should she be given? How do I know if it's appropriate to move her to a special school? I've heard that getting kids into Center School requires an act of God or political connections in the right places. What if the teacher suggests holding her back a year?
I just ahve no idea about any of this. My son (the 17 y/o) went to school and learned to read with no intervention from home. I recall that his school used "Writing to Read". This school isn't using any formal methods.
I guess I'll start by calling my District on Monday to see what my options are. Frankly, sometimes those calls don't always get answered by the most helpful people or people who know the answers or care to get them. So a little knowledge on my part is needed as I deal with the district and their endless red tape.
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