Dyslexia (reply)

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In a message dated 10/29/2006 12:37:50 P.M. Mountain Standard Time,

tinklee writes:

 

*********Jenny, I was once where you are with my youngest daughter, BUT YOU

CAN WIN THE WAR, you just have to pick and choose your battles. Did you say

you are a stay at home mom and can home school? I'm going to take your email

in sections and try and explain what I had to do. I would also be happy to

give you my telephone number to call if you like. YOU CAN DO THIS MOM, you

just need the guidance and the strategy.

 

My son is in the 4th grade. At the end of his first grade year he was

diagnosed by the school for dyslexia. He only had a couple of weeks at

the end of the school year in the dyslexia class.

*******Did they speak to you about " Spatial Learning " ? Our school systems

teach sequentially, but 70% of the children/adults in the US learn spatially.

Yes, that is right. Makes you angry that our education system is so lame.

They do test your child in " special needs " classes for spatial, BUT it is a

wee part of the testing evaluation, when in fact IT SHOULD BE THE BIGGEST PART

of evaluation. I learned this the hard way. Here are hundreds of thousands

of URL's on Spatial Learning.....read each one of them and print them out.

Make a journal. There will be times you will need to copy this journal for

the lame teachers you come across, like the ones you have already encountered.

 

_spatial learning,teaching - Google Search_

(http://www.google.com/search?hl=en & ie=ISO-8859-1 & q=spatial+learning,teaching)

 

They told me it started with having him use something that helps him hold

the pencilto help him write in cursive. They said writing in cursive would

help

him but that is all he had because it was the end of the school year.

********Yes, writing in cursive will help with the Dyslexia, BUT the most

important thing that you can do for you son for Dyslexia is READING.....I don't

care what he reads, JUST READ everything you can get him to read. Is he

into sports? Is he into automotive (cars/trucks)?

Does he have favorite cartoon/hero characters? ANYTHING, hell even cereal

box's...Find out what he wants to read then flood him with those things. Have

him start a journal of book reports for your home schooling, even if you

have him back in a public school (under your circumstances I would not do

it),for learning. Make it fun and give him rewards....NOT food rewards, but

stickers, etc., and make a READING CHART and keep track and when he hits 10

books,

take him someplace special....THIS CAN BE FUN FOR BOTH MOM AND CHILD.

I've been there and done it, AND IT WORKS!!

 

 

Plus his teacher said he was going to the bathroom a lot and playing.

I told her to send someone in there to make sure he was going but she

didn't have time to do that.

*******What an idiot, and to think they are in charge of these

minds....GRRRRRRRRrrr She should have sent him to the nurse and hopefully she

would have

figured it out. If the nurse is not too bright, then take him to your

doctor. This obviously should have been recognized by the school and they

missed

it.

 

So he failed first grade. I put him in a

private school for his second first grade year. The teacher said he is

going to the bathroom a lot have him checked for diabetes. So I found

out he was diabetic (he was 7).

********What a blessing, and kudo's to this fantastic teacher. Have you

thanked her personally for making that recomendation?

 

She had a small class so she said she

can work with him on the reading. He went to a different school for

second grade ( I couldn't afford private school) and there the teacher

told me he was stupid not dyslexic. I had a talk with the principal.

He said she was with my son more then I was so she probably knows what

my son needs better then I do.

*******I would have gone to the district on this one. RULE # 1 YOU NEVER

EVER TELL A CHILD OR PARENT THEY ARE STUPID!!! I would have demanded that

district put a reprimand in her personnel file, plus I would have written a

letter

to be put in that personnel file. Should this EVER happen again or actually

I would do it now, even though it is past tense, BUT write a letter to the

district, send it registered mail, return receipt to district. You send a

carbon copy to the teacher, and principal too. One of the things you have on

your side is the ADA (American Disabilities Act)....in your letter to the

district/principal/teachers you mention the ADA. Trust me, they will scramble,

because if you file a complaint with the ADA, the district/school stands a

chance of loosing all their FEDERAL FUNDING. Like I said, they will scramble.

This law was passed to protect parents like you and your child.

 

They wanted me to put him with this

teacher after school for reading. I said no because she thinks he's

stupid and I don't trust her to help him.

*******This was wise, as she could have done more psychological damage to

your little man.

 

At the end of the school

year they decided to put him in a dyslexic class. In third grade he

went to another school (I moved). I told them he was dyslexic and

diabetic. I had a conference with his teachers, the nurse, the

dyslexic teacher, and the vice principal. The dyslexic teacher said

that they were suppose to give him less work, read it to him, and more

time to do it. She also said if he needs extra help in reading and

they don't have the time send him to her. Also he was suppose to go to

her for 45 minutes a day for a dyslexic class.

**********Yes, the ADA law provides this for your child. IF, they don't

comply they again they stand a chance of loosing funding...IF, they don't have

these " special needs " teacher and classes, THEN the district MUST provide this

for you outside of school OR hire in a special needs teacher to meet your

sons needs. They also have to provide transportation for your son to attend

these special classes, if it is outside of the school.

 

In that class he said

he played on the computer. He said they made him click on the color

the computer told him.

********This is good for Dyslexia.....I was always a mom who limited

computer and/or video games, but I stopped limiting this, as I was instructed

that

this was GREAT training for Dyslexia children. Great for eye-hand

coordination.

 

Well that school had the best nurse for his

diabetes that I found but since he had to go to her for snacks, before

& after pe, before lunch, and sometimes whenever he felt bad.

********BRAVO for this school nurse....she too needs a letter of thank you

for her help. Copies of these thank you letters need to be a part of your

journal that YOU keep during this war. What I would do is send the letter to

Distict, Principal and hand-deliver letter to person it is intended for.

Politics sometimes can push authorities in school settings to not be honest and

to

cover their butts. You MUST stay a step ahead of them.

 

The

teachers didn't like him leaving and they wouldn't let him go for the

extra help.

********OHHHHHHHHhhhhhh......the ADA would chew them up and they would be in

BIG trouble...THEY CAN NOT DO THIS.....they are violating a federal law, by

denying him his right to proper education.

 

Also from the work he brought home it wasn't shortened

like the dyslexic teacher told them to do. His spelling test were

multiple choice he had 5 words to choose from. They only marked out 1

of the 5 mispelled words to make it shorter. He also had to do a word

search every week for spelling. His dyslexic teacher would do some for

him when he went for the 45 minute class.

********AGAIN, this shows the ignorance of these teachers...GRRRRRRRRRrr

Short sessions are extremely important, as you want to keep the child in a

positive mode. Children tend to get demoralized and depressed, as well as

disappointed that they can't perform academically and this YOU DON'T

WANT.....Dyslexic and spatial learners get bored too. If you are home

schooling, I would

limit learning sessions to 20 min. There will be times that 10 min. is

enough. However, you do several of these daily in home-schooling....make it

fun.

 

Plus the teacher wanted him

to read a book everyday and write about it but she didn't like the

books he chose. He told me when he turned it in she would just put an

F on it because she knows it was a book she didn't want him to read.

********Talk about STUPID!! The goal is to get him to read and that means

anything that strikes his interest. This also should have been reported to

DISTRICT in writing. Very poor teaching qualities to say the least.

 

 

Also I was suppose to sign a calender everyday so she knows I looked

at his behavior for the day. Well one day I signed it but when I

looked at it the next day she marked out my signature and wrote that I need

to sign it. So Iwrote to her I signed it already but you marked it out if you

want

my signature don't mark it off. She wrote back to me she didn't

write on the calender so she marked off my signature.

********I would have marched this into the principal and CC'd the district.

This teacher needed to be replaced period. How unprofessional, and showing

of her OWN ignorance!! She was doing this for spite....I would have chewed

her up and spit her out....

 

I wrote back

that I'm not signing again if she is going to be stupid and mark it

off then tell me to sign it again. I'm so fed up with how he is

treated. He

has been in 5 different schools and he has been treated bad in every

one of them.

*********Transferring schools so much for a child that has special learning

needs is not good for the child. Especially if the schools were not doing

their jobs. STAND YOUR GROUND AND STAY IN THEIR FACES, in a polite manner. It

is called being assertive.... let me tell you, they hated me, but I could

have given a rats patooty, they were going to do their jobs.

 

He also gets beat up in the bathroom a lot and the

teachers don't do anything about it.

**********OHHhhhhhhhhh.....you should have put this in writing to district

and principal. The school IS responsible for his SAFE-KEEPING in a SAVE

ENVIRONMENT for learning while he is in their presences. This goes for all

kids,

BUT when you have a special needs child, then you get the ADA involved.

 

This year I decided to homeschool

him but I'm not sure how to teach him to read with the dyslexia.

********Go to your STATE BOARD of EDUCATION and they will give you the

guidance with the proper tools for home schooling. The SBE is charged with

this

responsibility per Federal Law. They are not help responsible if you do not

do your job, but they have the recommend tools to guide you. STAND YOUR

GROUNDS......Plus, the Internet is FULL of tools to use.

They will also test your child to see how he is advancing.

 

_Tools for teaching a dyslexic child - Google Search_

(http://www.google.com/search?hl=en & ie=UTF-8 & sa=X & oi=spell & resnum=0 & ct=result & cd\

=1 & q=Tools+for+teachi

ng+a+dyslexic+child & spell=1)

 

_Home schooling tools - Google Search_

(http://www.google.com/search?hl=en & ie=ISO-8859-1 & q=Home+schooling+tools)

 

I know I can control the diabetes better and I can give him more one on

one attention. But I need to know how to teach him with the dyslexia.

I moved back but the school he will be in is the same one for second

grade where the principal said the teacher knows him better and what

he needs more then I do. His dyslexic teacher said good when I told

her I was going to homeschool him. Well if anyone can help I would

greatly appreciate it.

 

*********If you can for this next year, I would home school. IF, that is

not possible, then you have to excerise your rights to receive the education

that your son deserves PER FEDERAL LAW....Put the pressure on them, I will help

guide you and will give you my telephone number to walk with you through

this WAR. Just take the attitude that you will not stand by and let them

violate your child's right to a proper education. THEY MUST CONFORM TO THE

FEDERAL

LAW AND TO THE ADA, or they will loose federal funding and believe you me the

y will scramble. I had friends tell me to tread lightly, as they might take

it out on my child, well that fueled me up and I put in writing, to

district, principal and his teaching team, that you expect your child to get

treated

properly and IF they take your actions out on him, that you will take it to

the State Board of Education. hehehehehe trust me, they will treat him as a

" special " child, not just a " special needs " child.

 

*********Jenny, this war will be fought through every school you

attend....grade school, middle school and high school. ALL learned who I was,

and that

I was one to not push around. I was told my daughter would never graduate

high school. Well she did graduate with a 3.0 and went to college. I made

sure every DWEEB that I had had to deal with along the way, had a copy of her

diploma and grade transcripts when she graduated.

 

********The one thing I did manage to accomplish with our education system,

is in middle school, her teaching team met with me monthly AND I got them free

classes on how to teach spatially to children. They found out that ALL

grades were improved class wide when the teachers used spatial tools to teach.

Even their A students became A+ students. To this day (14 yrs later) her

middle school utilizes spatial learning tools. When you read about spatial

learning you will find they use overhead machines, lecturing and most

importantly

using examples that showed the " WHOLE " picture. Example: Learning the

levels of government, was learned more quickly by providing a diagram of the

white house in the middle and each executive branch listed with arrows. Math

is

best learned by lecture and black board examples.

 

*********Make sure you read thoroughly the spatial learning URL's I sent

you, so that you can see how easy it is to teach dyslexia students by using

spatial techniques. ALSO, spatial learners do not test well sequentially, as

they must be tested orally. In those spatial URL's you will find testing you

can do at home to see if your child is also a spatial learner. USE THESE

MATERIALS TO MAKE YOUR POINT WITH THE DISTRICT. There is a lady on Colorado,

who

was a spatial learner herself and who founded an organization to help those

who learn spatially, especially those who are flunking sequentially.

You will find her in those URL's.

 

Let me give you another example....in order to graduate 8th grade here in

Arizona, it is a requirement to pass a government test. My daughter's history

teacher was a butt-nugget and hated both myself and my daughter, because he

was made to teach part of each class spatially and he had to give her oral

test. I had a meeting with him, the principal, my daughter and myself

regarding

the test for graduation. The history teacher didn't want to test her

orally, BUT the principal knew me and knew if they didn't meet my daughters

needs

his butt would be sitting at district with me reporting to the school board

the problem. I couldn't believe the teacher sat there and refused to test her

orally. The principal spoke up and said he himself would test her orally.

Pished off the teacher. Well my daughter spoke up and told the principal

that she would take the written test, IF they didn't count it and would let her

then test with the principal orally. The principal smiled, (I was so proud

of her speaking up and having this idea) and said " ok, then it is a

deal " ....to make a long story short, she took the written test and flunked and

took the

oral and got 98%....the principal was blown away and called me and thanked

me for helping him to understand spatial learning. It was from that day

forward that the principal had ALL his teachers teaching portions of their

classes

spatially. He is retired today and I ran into him in the store, after he

had received a copy of my daughter's high school diploma and grade transcript.

(which I sent them all) He approached me and thanked me profusely for

teaching him something he had never been taught and he said " because of your

efforts, I feel more children who graduated my middle school, left with better

learning skills " .....I was stunned....

 

*********SOOOOOOOOOOOo....please get your facts, get organized and be

prepared to fight this battle until graduation from high school. BTW, there is

MORE help on the college level for special needs students. No fight there,

they

even have a department to handle these situations. They pay a student to

set in class and take study notes. GREAT tool and source.....Just a note to

the end results, these types of students have GREAT success with hands-on jobs

and make SUPERIOR supervisors and bosses. I know a woman who was seriously

dyslexic and who graduated with a PhD in education. She claims she read

EVERYTHING she could get her hands on.

 

Let me know if I can help further.

 

Keep a smile on your face, love in your heart and walk with the angels,

holding hands in the " chain of love " ....

 

Angel Huggzzz

Linda or Angel

 

PS.....Let me say this, I have a high regards and respect for our teachers,

there are just some real DWEEBS out there and it is scary. That is why I

tell parents to STAY INVOLVED. I always had a rule with my kids, if you get in

trouble at school then you will get in DOUBLE trouble at home. Kids will be

kids and will act out. I have O tolerance for that type of behavior from my

children and they knew it. Sometimes special needs kids will act out,

because they think they can get by with it, so we as parents have to be on our

toes

and figure this out, then apply the appropriate punishment. IF, you think

your child is taking advantage with the situation (because of their learning

disabilities) then you come down HARD on that kid. Let them know you have O

tolerance for this type of behavior. There were times it broke my heart at

what I had to do, but I DID IT.....My baby is 26 yrs old and all will tell you

they are thankful for how I handled them during these times. It is called

TOUGH LOVE.....