I have a 9 year old ADD (inattentive) daughter who has always struggled with reading. Her tutor (a literacy specialist) says she has mild to moderate visual dyslexia - I agree with her diagnosis and my daughter has all the symptoms, including the red flags when she was younger. The school recently tested her to determine her eligibility for services. Their evaluation showed that while she is below average in word recognition and fluency, all other areas are within a normal (low average) range. They seem to really skirt around saying the word "dyslexia". Is there a reason the school would want to avoid labeling a child as dyslexic? She already qualifies for 504 accommodations based on her ADD diagnosis, so what's the difference if we add a dyslexia diagnosis?

They seem to really skirt around saying the word "dyslexia". Is there a reason the school would want to avoid labeling a child as dyslexic? She already qualifies for 504 accommodations based on her ADD diagnosis, so what's the difference if we add a dyslexia diagnosis?


It could be any thing from political correctness to an attempt to avoid providing specialized reading instructions - ADD diagnosis doesn't require as much in the way of special instruction and a diagnosed learning disorder?

m1229, I would call your school district office and ask to speak to someone who can tell you if your daughter's school is allowed to diagnose dyslexia.

I'm a little dubious of the qualifications of the people diagnosing your child. I would seek out a qualified medical expert to diagnose your child's dyslexia.

It's not uncommon for kids with ADHD to have other learning disabilities- we found my son's ADHD because I was worried that he had dyslexia!

The issue with the school is that she may require additional services and a formal IEP- I would recommend checking out Peter Wright's Wrightslaw web page to get a handle on what to do to meet all the legal requirements for getting services from school (ie. you have to make a request for testing in writing and give your consent and the same time, to trigger the clock rolling for how long they have to do the tests....)

Do consider a full neuropsychological/educational testing done by an independent practitioner. You can often find them through your pediatrician or local children's hospital. These evaluations can sometimes be pricey, but it will give you a formal batch of testing to compare to that of the schools- the school might accept your expert's as well; it's an opinion unbiased of the delivery of the service, so no one has their thumb on the proverbial scale in making any decisions. I never regret spending the money we spent on testing- knowing more about how my son learns, his real strengths as well as weaknesses has been key in helping him succeed in school, and for me to understand what parts of school might cause him trouble- and to be able to head off those issues in advance.


In the meantime, there are many great things you can do to help kids with dyslexia- audio books are great; audible.com has a new kids section. There are fantastic reading programs like Wilson reading, LETRS and Linda Mood Bell that can really help kids with dyslexia break the code and learn to read well.

Best of luck and let us know what happens-

Whitney

IRC, dyslexia is more of a medical diagnosis/term. I'm not even sure it is the term used in the DSM-IV (psychiatrists diagnostic bible) as a type of learning disability (instead, they use the term learning disorder in reading or something similar). In other words, it may just be a vocabulary issue, rather than an attempt to skirt the issues.

Thanks to all of you for your input.

It's been quite interesting as I've done a bit more research on the school's role in diagnosing dyslexia. I've discovered that most schools don't test for a particular learning disability. The school assessments are focused on determining whether or not a child is eligible for special ed (i.e. discrepancy between IQ and performance) - and that's it.

This discovery really upset me because the school never told me this - even when I came right out and asked if they thought my daughter had dyslexia! So, last week I asked the special ed teacher why they wouldn't address dyslexia directly and she said it was because if they use that term many people (teacher's included) think the child is then unable to learn to read. Personally, I don't buy this explanation or they would have told me that when we met to talk about my daughter's evaluation results.

This makes me so angry because all the research shows that these kids can be identified with fairly high accuracy at a young age (1st grade) and interventions put in place to prevent them from getting behind in reading. There are many accommodations and strategies that are quite effective and we could have saved my child the last 3 years of extreme frustration. Not to mention the next couple years of private tutoring outside of school and being pulled out of class for special help to catch her up with her reading.

We are going to have her tested privately to determine exactly where her strengths and weaknesses are. It is quite expensive ($1500), but I think it will be worth every penny.

.... here I also want to ask... Has your daughter had a full eye exam? Sometimes, problems reading come from not being able to see properly.

But also... if she is truly dyslexic, there are ways to overcome. Try using colored plastic overlays. Place it over what you want her to read... and see if it makes a difference.

Glasses with a darker gray tinted lense has also been known to help *see* the words.. instead of a mass of black on paper.

It brings the words to the forefront.

I'll be waiting to read the results from the doctor.


We have a search engine on site... search for: dyslexia, Irlen's Syndrome
If you can't find it.. pm me. I'll do the searching.
Or you can google.