That is of course the ideal situation and you were lucky to have it back then. Sadly, times have changed, and many school psychologists are simply overloaded with evaluations and deadlines. Also, the definiton of Dyslexia was modified by the IDA in 2002 [The</a> International Dyslexia Association Promoting literacy through research, education and advocacy](<a href=“Interdys.org”>Interdys.org) Note that it says that most dyslexics are of Average to Above Average ability. The fact that the neurological underpinnings of the disorder are not correlated with innate intelligence is nothing new, so again the NIH funded research posted in the OP is simply underscoring what we already knew.</p>
<p>I was involved in research on the prediction and diagnosis of reading disorders back in grad school, and I do private neuropsych evaluations, so am pretty familiar with this stuff. Private evaluations in my state do not officially have to be accepted by the school systems here. I have had many discussions with folks to figure out how to get the kids the services they need. We might say “they need X” and they would say “but they qualify for Y”. We’d have to get creative to get then kids what they need. Also, with the relatively new “response to intervention” measures in the schools, they have to tailor the interventions somewhat differently. I still can’t get my head entirely wrapped around the RTI stuff. Maybe someone else her can help?</p>
<p>What amazes me is that, when I talk to teachers and parents, they are fighting the same and even bigger battles than we fought 30 years ago. We thought we had figured out so many things back then and the model we used was really incredibly effective. Rarely did I serve a child who didn’t make huge strides in an environment of holistic support. Most of the kids I worked with had no understanding of the nature of the services they were receiving. There was no stigma to it at all. When I showed up at the door of the classroom to take a child to my room, I was always met with a huge grin. Every day, kids would come up to me and ask why I couldn’t work with them. Of course, that was in a K-5 school and I knew things changed in the upper grades.</p>
<p>cartera- I think your model was absolutely brilliant, but it was expensive,
and the DEMAND for these services has SOARED. WHY? That is another big question…</p>
<p>p.s. Three of my brothers were LD (dyslexic, dysgraphic, probably more). It was in the 70’s, and little was know or done, even at private schools. There were a few lone tutors out there for those who could afford it. But it usually got swept under the carpet, “Boys will be boys”…</p>
<p>p.p.s. My Ds’ best K teacher of all was one who was SE trained. She was the ideal teacher for 4, 5, 6 years olds as they tackled structured learning, reading, arithmetic, copying, listening, following instructions, sitting still for the first time. In two weeks, she gave a through assessment of each child to the parents, and then we set appropriate individualized goals for each child- it was amazing!</p>
<p>p.p.s. On a lighter note, is there something called “dystypia”? I cannot learn to touch-type well… My brain is stuck in the dark ages in that area!!! I am the queen of typos.</p>
<p>Yeah, cartera… the more things change, the more they stay the same :(</p>
<p>*** edit to add** </p>
<p>I am right there with you on typos, performersmom! What happens is what is referred to as “muscle memory” (motor learning). Once we make typos aour fingers want to keep making those same typos.</p>
<p>“dystypia” - LOL. Dystouchscreenopia. Me too. I watch the kids go to town and I’m just a huntin’ and a peckin’. </p>
<p>Way back when, we went out of our way not to label a child. It had nothing to do with funding. We truly felt that much of what was wrong was our fault or the parents’ fault and it was not fair to label the child for something that we created. Our first “go to” was that there was a failure at teaching or parenting, not a problem with the kids. Neither ADD nor ADHD existed for us, but we did deal with hyperactivity. Many times, we were told the kids were hyperactive by their parents because they had heard about this wonder drug, Ritalin, that calmed the kids down. It was scary how many parents clamored for it. Teachers also complained to us about hyperactivity, but often it was just that a young child couldn’t sit at his desk for hours. They often didn’t like our response, which was “so don’t make them.” The vast majority of time, the school psychologist and I could map out a behavioral plan to deal with it. If the parents and teachers were on board with us and implemented what we suggested at home, we had great success. Again, they had lots of support from us but we changed things drastically for a lot of kids without putting a label on them. We didn’t have to label kids to get help for them. I think that has changed.</p>
<p>Yes, and the “take a Pill and it will go way” mentality, as opposed to “Let’s see what you are really going through as an individual, and come up with a personalized plan of action, which will take work from you, too. You will be fine, just come for the ride with us.”</p>
<p>Labelling and medicating really do seem to be the easy fix, the cheaper way out, so I guess it is human nature- SIGH.</p>
<p>Yes, sadly things have changed. Now there is commonly a need to label in order to qualify for services, since the implementation of teh Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) <a href=“http://idea.ed.gov/[/url]”>http://idea.ed.gov/</a> . ADHD, for example falls under “other health impaired”.</p>
<p>My daughter struggled so much with math that I had her tested, privately, when she was in 3rd grade. She was in a very competitive private school and there was no support for kids who struggled. I was told she had a problem with working memory - a term I was not even aware of. We worked with short term memory a lot when I taught but this was a new term. It was recommended that I take her out of private school and put her in a good public school in case she needed special services. I was told she could either compensate brilliantly of continue to fall further and further behind. Fortunately, her verbal and other cognitive skills were well about average. When I enrolled her in 4th grade at the public school, I brought some of her work to discuss with the assistant principal. She took one look at her handwriting and “diagnosed” her on the spot with ADD. I was horrified that a principal would do that. She was ready to have her evaluated day one in order to get special services. I took her back to the doctor who did the testing and asked for a specific battery for ADD. After the testing, the doctor told me she was the least ADD kid she had seen and that she had to be forced off task. Fortunately the asst. principal dropped the issue. Had I not had the money to have her tested privately, things might have been very different. I became my daughter’s advocate and worked closely with every teacher she had from then until she graduated high school, making sure they understood the way she was learning to cope with the memory problem. Fortunately, she is an incredibly hard worker and went the “compensate brilliantly” path and she never needed special services beyond a tutor here and there.</p>
<p>Congrats on your daughter doing so well, cartera. The beauty of private schools is that they have a lot of lattitude to do what they want for each of their students. Public schools have to abide by all the regulations and requirements.</p>
<p>Thanks jym. Yes, it was pretty much up or out at the private school. They always had a waiting list so there was no incentive to provide any support for kids who struggled. My pleasant surprise was that I found the teachers at the public school to be as good and often better than those at the private school and they used the same language and math curriculum so my D fell right into step when we moved.</p>
<p>Public schools have to abide by rules and regs yes, but individual teachers can make a huge difference. Cartera mentioned it earlier but sometimes it is a matter of finding the method that works for the kid. I had one that never learned phonics but learned to read visually. When I asked the teacher about this she told me that every once in a while a chid (like mine) comes along who just has to learn “a different way.” I also have a dyslexic son and once we (teachers and I) figured out systematically how to teach him to read we made forward motion albeit slowly, but forward motion and it took all of us observing and working with my son and comparing notes. There is very much a holistic aspect to teaching very young kids. My dyslexic child was actually diagnosed in first grade and it was the teachers who first contacted me before they even spoke to the principal. I fully understand that many public systems are not fortunate to have teachers that have the experience and latitude and support to be this proactive. Many through the years have asked me “how” we got where we are with #3 and he does have a fairly high IQ and incredible drive so that helped, but the answer rests largely with the teachers both mainstream elementary teachers and the special education (or whatever that is called these days) teachers. I am often surprised at the intelligence of many people I meet who are dyslexic. It’s an interesting situation.</p>
<p>When one considers that universal literacy is a 20th century notion, and that the human brain is of a much older design, the fact that so many of us do learn to apply various subsets of the inherent visual and language abilities of our brains for the purpose of interpreting text is truly a wonderment.</p>
<p>The key people in the equation for me as to whether the child met with success or not were the parents. The school at which I taught was in a very challenging socioeconomic area. There was an army base nearby so it was a somewhat transient population also. I worked with excellent to not so hot teachers, but if the parents were involved and willing to work really hard with the kids at home, then there was always some degree of success. No matter the teacher, if the parents refused to or were incapable of implementing changes at home, there was little progress. Parents have to advocate for their kids and they have to partner with the teachers. Some parents won’t do that and some parents just can’t.</p>
<p>I know many brilliant dyslexics–one is a professor & chair of our board, one runs his own alternative energy company, and so many more. It amazes me that NIH funded a study on the subject, since I hadn’t realized there was any dispute that dyslexia has no connection with IQ.</p>
<p>HImom - according to the study, those with below average IQs can be classified as dyslexic also. For many years, part of the model for identifying dyslexics was a finding of an average of above average IQ, similar to the people you describe. Those who did not may not be eligible to receive services.</p>
<p>OK, it makes sense to me that dyslexics would have the entire range of IQs, just like everyone else. Not sure why–I’m sure it’s easier and cheaper to suspect that only the most dramatic examples–brilliant folks who have a tough time reading, etc. have dyslexia but that just makes no sense. Hope there isn’t a huge slew of copycat study, consuming huge resources to confirm this finding that all ranges of IQs can have dyslexia. Such a waste of resources.</p>
<p>The study was done with MRI technology which wasn’t in use until the late 70s - I believe. It was probably too expensive for a number of years to be used for a study like this. It was not universally accepted that dyslexia is caused by a detectable neurological deficit.</p>