I Think My Child Is Dyselxic. Now What?

First thing first: If you suspect your child has dyslexia, consult with an educational psychologist who can perform a psycho-educational evaluation to look at areas of academic functioning as well as cognitive or intellectual capability.

On par with how your public school district’s child study team will find eligibility, the evaluator will look for an achievement-aptitude discrepancy of a minimum of 19 points or 1 standard deviation. Request that your evaluator further administer a dyslexia assessment, such as the Feifer Assessment of Reading or the Feifer Assessment of Writing to determine the type of dyslexia or dysgraphia. This will further allow your evaluator to determine if your child meets the criteria for a specific learning disability within the area of reading, writing, or reading comprehension.

Once you have this diagnosis, request an initial identification meeting with the school's child study team. Put your request in writing via an email and/or a physical letter that can be handed to the assistant to the director of special services. (A sample letter can be found at the end of this post.) Request a date stamp and a copy of your stamped letter. Once you are sitting with the child study team for an initial identification meeting, share a copy of the evaluator's report and request an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) for your child under the eligibility category of "specific learning disability."

You are then requesting pull-out resource within the areas of reading and writing with a special education teacher who can modify the curriculum for your child. The program that is most empirically validated for dyslexia is known as the Orton Gillingham or Wilson program, a multisensory instructional system.

Classroom Accommodations

The following is a list of accommodations that could be incorporated into your child’s IEP:

• Provide multisensory instruction as well as the multisensory demonstration of a task.
• Provide a visual (e.g., a manipulative, video, or physical demonstration) in conjunction with a newly learned concept to help the student develop a visual representation. This will serve to improve memory and learning for future recall.
• Present one or two directions or tasks, as the student is likely to become overwhelmed and struggle with follow-through.
• Present small chunks of new information that contain many details and allow for consolidation of information before presenting more new information.
• Present less information and greater white space on a worksheet or handout.
• Ask the student if he/she is ready prior to presenting new information or providing instructions.
• Read out loud to the student as this will improve comprehension as well as the ability to make connections.
• Use a visual-graphic organizer to brainstorm ideas for written work.
• Break down a complex task into smaller tasks (no more than one or two steps).
• Provide assessments that use multiple choice rather than fill-in-the-blank or an open-ended format, as the student is better able to recognize rather than retrieve the information he has learned.
• Discuss newly presented information out loud as this helps the student to make connections and engage in higher-level thinking.
• Allow the student to brainstorm out loud while a teacher or paraprofessional scribes thoughts when preparing an essay or written response.
• Provide audio books so the student can see and hear the correct pronunciation of words. This will also serve to improve comprehension.
• Encourage the student to edit written work out loud so that he/she may hear where there may be words or punctuation missing, inconsistencies in logic, and areas where more information is needed.
• Provide the student with positive praise, encouragement, and feedback on a consistent basis.
• Ask the student to repeat instructions or information to ensure accuracy of comprehension.

Sample letter requesting an initial identification meeting with your child study team:

Dear [name of director of special services]:

I am writing to you on behalf of my child, [first and last name], who is presently in [your child’s grade], with [teacher’s name].

At this time, I would like to request a child study team meeting in order to review my child’s academic progress and needs.

Kindly advise of a date for our meeting within the next 20 days.

Sincerely,

[your name, phone number, and email]