“Your child is reading 7 grade levels below his peers.” How
would you like to hear these words? That is what we heard after
years of working with the school on behalf of our son who has
ADD/LD and dyslexia. He was going into 8th grade as a primer
(first grade) reader. He could comprehend at grade level but
could not read, write, or spell at grade level. He was good in
math and all other subjects. We learned late about his diagnosis
of dyslexia. His IQ was in the normal range, but he had a
reading and writing disability. We had been working with the
schools since he was in 2nd grade and we noticed that he had
severe problems in reading and writing. These problems got worse
as he continued in school but did not get the help he needed.
This is what we did … We Knew We Had to Do Something –
Requesting Evaluations We requested many reading and writing
evaluations from the school. We also requested outside
evaluations. IDEA provides parents the right to request outside
evaluations (paid by the school) if you disagr