Building A Dyslexia Parent Group - Step 1

STEP 1 - GLOSSARY DEFINITIONS - CHILD FIND

Child Find refers to the public schools' federal obligation to look for, find and identify, children with the specific learning disability (SLD) of dyslexia, and then provide FAPE. Schools must find and evaluate students thought to have disabilities—at no cost to families. Child Find means that the public school should find your child with dyslexia. They have an affirmative obligation to look for and help children with dyslexia. If they are not doing this they are failing their federal obligations. You are not asking for favors, only that your school district follows federal law. 

STEP 1 - GLOSSARY DEFINITIONS - DECODING DYSLEXIA

Decoding Dyslexia is a network of parent-led grassroots movements across the country concerned with the limited access to educational interventions for dyslexia within the public education system. Decoding Dyslexia aims to raise dyslexia awareness, empower families to support their children and inform policy-makers on best practices to identify, remediate and support students with dyslexia.

STEP 1 - GLOSSARY DEFINITIONS - FAPE

FAPE refers to the idea that your child (identified with dyslexia) is entitled to learn to read in the public schools at no charge to the family. The key here is that your public school has a federal obligation to teach your child how to read, so you are not asking for special favors or something above and beyond what they are federally required to provide.

STEP 1 - GLOSSARY DEFINITIONS - INDIVIDUALIZED EDUCATION PLAN/PROGRAM (IEP)

An IEP is the written legal document that lays out the unique plan or program of special education instruction, supports and services that your child needs to make progress in school. Parents are part of the IEP team and you do not have to sign the IEP unless you feel your child’s unique needs are being met.

STEP 1 - GLOSSARY DEFINITIONS - INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES EDUCATION ACT (IDEA)

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires public schools to provide special education services to eligible students. It is the federal law that protects your child with dyslexia and requires public school districts to, among other things, find children with dyslexia (commonly referred to as Child Find) and provide them with a fair and appropriate public education (commonly referred to as FAPE). By familiarizing yourselves with the concepts generally and using these terms, you will put your district on notice that you know the federal law that protects your child, the obligations the district has under it and the powers you have if they do not meet those obligations. You are not asking for any favors, only that your district follow federal law.

STEP 1 - GLOSSARY DEFINITIONS - INTERNATIONAL DYSLEXIA ASSOCIATION (IDA)

The International Dyslexia Association is the international non-profit whose mission is ‘To create a future for all individuals who struggle with dyslexia and other related reading differences so that they may have richer, more robust lives and access to the tools and resources they need.’ The website is a great resource for everything related to dyslexia. There are chapters all over the world that you can become involved in locally.

STEP 1 - GLOSSARY DEFINITIONS - INTERVENTION SPECIALIST (IS)

An IS is the public school teacher specially trained to help children with reading difficulties. The IS will work with your child over and above the regular education classroom teacher. The most important thing about your child’s IS is that they are trained with fidelity in a program that is scientifically proven to help children with dyslexia, including the structured literacy approaches of Orton-Gillingham, Wilson etc. You also want your child to feel comfortable with their IS. The older the child the more trauma they may have related to learning to read. Ideally this will be a close relationship based in trust where your child can be vulnerable and learn to read.

STEP 1 - GLOSSARY DEFINITIONS - NEUROPLASTICITY

Neuroplasticity refers to the brain’s ability to form new neural pathways. For children with dyslexia, this is our hope. Our children can learn to read and with effective reading instruction, their brains can be rewired to function more like an intuitive reader. One important aspect of neuroplasticity is to understand that it diminishes with time, so the earlier your child can get effective reading instruction, the better.

STEP 1 - GLOSSARY DEFINITIONS - ORTON-GILLINGHAM (OG)

Orton-Gillingham is a multi-sensory approach we found to be a very effective method for helping children with dyslexia learn to read. Several different organizations offer IDA accredited training programs. Just make sure your OG tutor has completed a practicum. Many practicums are up to 100 hours long. For a full list of IDA accredited programs go to link below.

STEP 1 - GLOSSARY DEFINITIONS - SCIENCE OF READING (SoR)

The Science of Reading refers to the body of peer reviewed scientific research that studies how children best learn to read. Professor Timothy Shanahan states, ‘Any real “Science of Reading” would include all the methods or approaches that have been found, through research, to give children a learning advantage in reading.’ Most colleges of education don’t teach their students to utilize the Science of Reading, instead they push outdated philosophies. Most of the cutting edge scientific research is being done in the departments of Cognitive Neuroscience, Speech and Hearing, etc. The Colleges of Education exist in their own silos, and have largely remained resistant to the Science of Reading.

STEP 1 - GLOSSARY DEFINITIONS - STRUCTURED LITERACY

“The IDA Knowledge and Practice Standards for Teachers of Reading (Knowledge and Practice Standards) provide a comprehensive research based framework that articulates what all reading teachers and specialists should know and be able to demonstrate to teach reading successfully to all students. The focus of the Knowledge and Practice Standards is the structure of language and its component systems, their connections to design and delivery of instruction and the complex nature of skilled reading. Such knowledge is critical in teaching those with dyslexia and other struggling readers, but all students can benefit from the Structured Literacy approach.”

- Taken from IDA’s Knowledge and Practice Standards for Teachers of Reading.

STEP 1 - GLOSSARY DEFINITIONS - SYSTEMIC GROUP COMPLAINT

A systemic group complaint filed with the state Department of Education alleging that the school district is failing children with dyslexia all across the district is a very powerful tool. Filing a complaint with the state is one way parents can allege a violation of special education law. The other way is to file a request for due process. Due process requests often end in settlements and commonly come with gag orders. We chose a state complaint because if we won, it could send a message to other school districts that they need to change what they’re doing for students with dyslexia allowing the potential for a much broader impact! As an example, we share our systemic complaint in the link below.

STEP 1 - GLOSSARY DEFINITIONS - WILSON READING SYSTEM (WRS)

WRS is another multi-sensory approach derived from Orton-Gillingham that we found is effective in helping children with dyslexia learn to read. It is another widely used method of remediation.

Step 1 - Closing Thoughts